/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

Before I tried cosplaying I didn't really get why people did it. But after I cosplayed for the first time it clicked, it's truly all about attention. I have a penis and even I'll admit that being in costume and having random people come up to give you high fives, compliments, and snap a picture is like a pure adrenaline shot to the ego. There is another component however, and that's passion. Passion is what makes beautiful cosplay that people remember for a lifetime. While people who tend to cosplay more popular characters get more attention, it isn't necessarily ethical to simply cosplay popular characters to get said glorious attention. One's personal passion should be the source of inspiration for the costume.

It's hard for a guy to have a costume that will pop with the audience. Men don't have nearly as many resources to make that sort of crowd pleasing costume. They can't just show some midriff and suddenly everyone will love them. They have to craft complicated and accurate outfits to stand out as much as most female cosplayers do. Men who are 'fake nerds' usually wouldn't even bother with cosplay in the first place since it takes so much effort. But with women, it's easy to just pick a character that's popular and cute and get that glorious attention for little to no effort.

If you don't like them, don't give them the attention. Only ask for pictures from the most well crafted outfits, male or female. Encourage your passionate friends to make those hard or underdone costumes that people maybe didn't know they wanted to see. Maybe you won't get as much attention as a hand crafted Akari from Aria as you would as ebay bought Madoka, but cosplay should always be for the passion first, the attention should just be a bi-product of the passion.