/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

I've been into cosplay since I was young, probably like 13 like many of us. I didn't have the money or ability when I was that young, though, so I never did anything.

The first time I ever cosplayed was last Fall, and the first con I ever went to was Dragoncon. Definitely a very shocking introduction to the con world lol. I wore a star trek dress and carried around a phaser. I don't think the cosplay was that bad, so no embarrassing stories there I guess.

On another day to the con I wore a Dana the Intern costume from Welcome to Night Vale. It wasn't so much a costume as some random stuff thrown together from my closet + some fake blood and a nametag. I dont think my costume was particularly embarrassing, but it was my first real live introduction to fandom. I was embarrassed for the fandom, and have since stayed away from meetups haha.

Here's a really crappy picture of me.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying it I'm glad I finally started cosplaying when I was much older. I saw so many greasy little teenagers...I dont understand how they can run around like that and not be embarrassed.

I've committed so many crimes against cosplay my first few years.

>bad visual kei costume
>obligatory overpriced seifuku
>canned colored hair spray
>yaoi anime character

I can honestly say that /cgl/ was what got me out of that. Up until a friend showed me /cgl/ I was so used to all the asspats on Coscom so I thought I was good when I was actually really bad. I had a lot of fun so I don't regret my past but I cringe remembering a lot of my weeaboo days.

Worse costume was not even one of my first. It was pretty recent.
>Go see Wreck it Ralph in theaters. Instantly want to cosplay Calhoun with my husband as felix
>Never did armor before. Decide to use craft foam/ floor wax method
>hold off til a few weeks before con, scramble to finish.
>fabric glue the terrible stiff armor to black l/s and a pair of liquid leggings
>round face so the wig makes me look extra chubby, husband looks cute as fuck though so I feel like I need to wear it
> Really hot out so the glue pretty much melts off after about an hour. Whole thing is trashy gluey mess
I know there's pictures out there of it and I dread the day I find any. It just looked so terrible.

In 2003, I cosplayed Mana.
It was made out of a bedsheet.
As far as I know, no pictures survive.

>>7535258
Do you have any pictures of it to share?

>borrowed a friend's old long wig
>cut it for short-hair character
>wasn't my first time cutting a wig, but that doesn't mean I was any good at it
>fibers didn't like being short, so they stuck out all over
>looked like a short choppier version of pic related
>borrow some hair-wax stuff and basically put it on the entire wig
>still choppy, but at least flattened down
>felt disgusting to touch though
>still looks terrible
I hate every thing I wore that wig to.

So when I was about 12 I made friends with some really cool people who were doing group cosplays and I wanted to join in. So I did. With a glow in the dark wig.

>>7535416
Who were you cosplaying that led you to buy a glow in the dark wig?

>>7535416
>glow in the dark wig
....I didn't know they made those.

I've been cosplaying for a while now but when I started out I was really bad. I wanted to make my own cosplay and most came out ok. Problem is I looked like I was 20 when I was 10 and I was a really dark f-ugly asian girl. I grew out of the ugly duckling stage and my cosplays look better and my craftsmanship improved.

Anyway pic is me. I regret this so much but can't help but love it.

>>7535388
no and if I did I probably would not post them out of embarrassment. I found one or two but took a glance and closed the tab as fast as possible

I was a facepaint Monokuma before I realized that that was a creepy and terrible idea.

>Katsucon 2014
>Worked on Jaune from RWBY
>wore everything for first time and went to gathering
>armor fell apart

Next time I'm doing test runs on my armor..

It was supposed to be Lupin...

I don't really want to find the photo because I know my friends browse /cgl/ from time to time.

I was 14 and my friend was having a Heroes and Villains party. And because I was going through my massive weeb stage and decided Trigun was my favourite anime eer, so I decided to go dressed as Legato.

It consisted of:
-A shitty blue party wig
-Black school shoes
-Black turtle kneck
-Black Jeans
-A dressing gown that was bought from an op-shop that mum chucked brown strips of fabric on the sleeves and bottom of the gown
-And much embarrassment 10 years later when I look back on it.

If I feel like it later and this thread is still around I might find the only picture of the costume and post it.

>>7535670
Damn, son. U ugly!

#hideous #would_not_hug

A really crappy Vriska. I even had to buy the aviators on the day. it was my first cosplay ever and I wish it wasn't.

>>7535437
You were really 10? You were uh, pretty grown I guess then.

>>7535953
mean!

>>7535437
I think you look very cute in that picture. :3

Would lovingly take your virginity while you take mine. Together, we learn the pleasures of love.

Only a few years ago, so fairly recent.

- Joined a group that were doing 'fancy' versions of characters.
- Wasn't really into the character I was asked to be but didn't want to let the group down
- All the ruffles. I hate ruffles.
- Got made unemployed.
- Suddenly no income to buy more fabric for this cosplay.
- Don't want to ruin the full group. Especially since they're planning a skit.
- Keep making the cosplay while cutting corners. Nowhere near enough fabric.
- No money for a wig, borrow a friend's old one.
- Its ratty and messy but try and style it anyway.
- Everyone looks stunning and gorgeous. I look awkward and ugly as heck.
- Usually pride myself on craftmanship but this was an abomination
- Hate and delete every picture with me in it.
- End up on here with people saying how bad my outfit is. Yeah, I know.
- Get rid of the dress immediately after the convention.

The performance was pretty terrible as it was anyway. I never want to be in that situation again.

Whoo boy. I tried to cosplay Nastasia from Super Paper Mario when I was first starting out. In certain lights, my cheap Halloween face paint was dark enough to look like black face, and by the end of the few hours I was in the costume, I had blue smudges all over my white shirt from failing to seal the paint. And my cheap, neon pink Halloween wig had all but fallen apart.

While I have plenty of duck taped together monstrosities from my earlier cosplay attempts in the mid 90's - early 2000's that probably look a lot worse... Here's a recent one with the story to go with it!

>Group of 5+ friends want to do a Miyazaki group.
>Offer to help with sewing and wig styling because they're all pretty new to cosplay.
>Wigs have all come in except mine, and we're in the crunch hour.
>Our Ashitaka drops out a week before the con.
>Day before the con, still no wig due to reasons but everything else is done.
>Ask to borrow Ashitaka's wig and style it, he lends it to me but does not let me style it.
>While packing forget my birdcage cover at home along with my Jiji.
>Night of day zero, run to nearby Wallgreens, buy a shitty yellow tank top and cut it up to try and make a makeshift cover.
>After cringing over the idea for hours, finally decide to put "You lost the game" in the cage because Jiji left me and my cage was lonely looking.
>Day of con, put on dress, only to find massive hole that showed my bloomered diaper looking ass in the back.
>With the fury of a thousand suns begin hacking at the bottom with a pair of scissors in the bathroom.
>Run the mangled bottom through my machine to give it a scrunched up hem.
>Howl asks for last minute styling help with his wig.
>Hack at the wig with scissor rage while walking down the hall to friends room.
>Dress is ruined, wig is ruined all because of scissor rage.

I learned after that to stay away from scissors when I'm angry. My dress went from resting just bellow my knees, to right above my butt cheeks in a few foul swoops. My friends all lovingly called me slutty kiki for the rest of the day, so I kept telling people I was Kiki after a massive growth spurt.

Despite all the embarrassment over bad meme jokes, unstyled wig and unintentionally slutffying a childhood favorite character last minute, I had a good time.

>Pic related, it's what I did to my dress and Howl's wig.

>>7535219
>Anyway, I guess what I'm saying it I'm glad I finally started cosplaying when I was much older. I saw so many greasy little teenagers...
So true anon, for the first time in my life I'm glad I was such a fucking slacker when I was a teen.

This quite recently, however:
>Spent a lot of time doing a costume and some stupid hair accesorizes the character had. Save the top part for last.
>Con's in a few days, start finally doing the top.
>Due to some unexpected events, didn't have the sewing machine with me. Had to do it by hand and in a rush.
>When I finished it looked like it was 3 sizes small for me. Didn't have time to redo it.
>Finally recieved the wig the day BEFORE the Con.
>It's awful. Colour's wrong and it's curly as fuck.
>Tried to style it a bit without succes due to anxiety attack and lack of time.
>Hair accessorizes won't stand still. Accidentally stained the top with makeup.
>Wear the trainwreck anyway, I spent so much time doing it for nothing.

There were some parts salvaged but the shitty ones were more noticeable. It was few months ago so I still don't know what I was thinking atm.
Fortunately very few recognized me so there's little to none photos around, but I come to the bad cosplay threads in fear of seeing a photo of myself there.

>>7535232
>canned colored hairspray
this reminded me of the one time I cosplayed a homestuck troll, it was a lazy last minute thing (my horns were made out of stuffed socks colored with markers lol) I decided to use some of this stuff...well it was an outdoor con and the black paint just melted EVERYWHERE it was so awful. I didn't even bother with the gray paint, but i'm sue that would've melted too if I had.

Dug this up especially for you /cgl/.
Me on the left
>weeb with no friends
>take babby's first sewing class
>refuse to do any of the normal patterns, insist on this cosplay
>"lol, I don't need a wig or shoes to match the costume!"
actually looking at this now, it could have been a lot worse. At least we don't have any cons in my country so this was only worn at a Halloween type thing

Around 2004-2006 or so, raver versions of characters was a thing.
I had the bright idea of making something horrible for shits and giggles
Rave of the Fireflies

Nobody got it.

I looked like a hobo with glowsticks.

Mine's pretty simple and typical for a baby weeb in the early 00s.

>first time going to a con ever, with cool (not cool) older friends
>age 15 in 2005, you know what that means
>L
>hair down to mid-back, attempt to "spike it"
>crusty dreadlocks
>looked more like the chick from the Ring than anything

But I'll always remember this group of AMAZING Trinity Blood cosplayers who were in the games room at the same time as us, and one of them either took pity on me or decided to document the trainwreck to laugh at later, because she thought my crack about looking more like Sadako/Samara was funny and took a photo.

everythingwentbetterthanexpected.jpg

Definitely my first con, AX 05, at age 12, when I went as Haruno Sakura. The costume itself was pretty decent-- only because I bought it on the spot from the dealer hall-- but it was the accessories that truly made it.

>Neon orange wig cap, peeking out under the bangs of wig in every picture
>Wig not pinned on, basically falling off my head
>Boxer briefs borrowed from little brother instead of proper under shorts

Still not as bad as my first lolita "coord" bought and worn the next day, though: an overpriced ita mess of a dress worn with cat ears, a paper parasol, and.... running sneakers.

>>7536125
Oh god, I just had a PTSD flashback to a memory I'm pretty sure I buried.
I did a shitty hand-sewn Rinoa cosplay when I was 12 and I once wore it to school. So much cringe.

I was supposed to be misa...
The death note was made of paper hole punched and held together with string. I took some old halloween trick or treat bag and cut it up and hot glued the fabric to the outside. Then I used white out for the outside. Borrowed dress, no wig, my moms boots, cheapo black knee highs, claires arm things.
At least I showered.

>>7536175
Anon, that's awful. Grave of the Fireflies made me so sad and angry.

I'm the Kisuke on the right.
I was at least 40lbs heavier than I am now, had practically un-bindable tit ( considering the character) and had only seen three seasons of bleach when I cosplayed him. Makeup was an unknown substance and I hadn't wore sunscreen so I had perpetual shiny redface.

Nowadays I only cosplay characters from series I've seen completely, have basic knowledge of makeup, and I live by the motto "Know your limit and dress within it"

>>7535151
my first ever cosplay was a handmade pikachu gijinka. didn't have a sewing machine so i hand sewed it, the wire in my tail wasn't strong enough so it kept crumpling. it was terrible.

>>7535437
But anon, Lucky star didn't even exist back that far.

>>7535953
>#would_not_hug
I'm stealing that

Huh... my first cosplay was when I was 15, and I think it came out pretty damn good for someone who'd never cosplayed before and the dress I ordered only arrived the day before. Only terribad decision I can remember is this:
>Wearing short dress
>Like really short
>Barely covered my ass and sometimes not even then short
>Only had nude coloured boyshorts on under
>HEY LOOK A TREE I THINK I SHOULD CLIMB IT
Needless to say, that did not end well.

Pretty much my very first homestuck cosplay. Some fucking awful Nepeta from homestuck... My horns were attached to the wig and kept falling off and I know nothing about how to actually cosplay... I still cringe.

>>7538526
horns were attatched to the hat*

This thread is hilarious xD

Oh god i can't even find any pictures of it i think i deleted them all. It was my very first one and it was supposed to be Yui in the first K-On ending. I sewed the dress with some help from my mom. We couldn't get the beading for the straps to work so we just used ribbons for straps, we used black gathered lace for the frills, i somehow sewed on the black sequence that was supposed to be those three black dots on in the wrong pattern, and i had tights that were striped the wrong way with flats instead of heels and no wig or hair accessories. I was a hot mess. Thank god i only really wore it for Halloween in like 7th grade.

>>7541142
Was going to jump at you about how K-ON only came out a couple years ago, you're definitely underage if you did it somewhere around 7th-8th grade.
But then I looked it up.
Holy, was it really that long ago?

A few years back when I was first getting into anime and was, just like most people when they first get into anime when they're young, a total weeb.
I decided I wanted to cosplay Light from Death Note, except I had no idea how to actually cosplay.
>Men's suit bought from the thrift shop, way too big for me
>Costume store wig dyed brown, the dye made it stringy and sticky, absolutely disgusting
>Notebook with "DEATH NOTE" scribbled over the front
Thankfully, I never wore it to a con, just to the mall, which might actually be a bit more embarrassing than wearing it to a con.

>>7536681
My first ""cosplay"" was of Misa too, and I was even worse than you.

I dyed my hair for the fisrt time for it and i wasn't even close to Misa. Random goth clothes, totally wrong bodytipe and went with an apple.

At least that was the Death Note cosplay year and there were about 50 L and Misas, and I wasnt, by far the worst, if you can imagine.

>>7535437
You're 10 there?? How the fuck?? Do you mean you looked 10 when you were 20 or???? God

>>7538526
its not that bad anon, your horns are just not the best

>>7536681
>>7541230

Check out my death note cosplay - no wig, "kitty" ears, didn't bind, no makeup other than raccoon eyes, overweight, and I was wearing some shitty neon bracelets from Claire's or something.

Try and top this, motherfuckers.

>>7541230
>>7536681
I have both your Misa's beat in shittiness. I have nothing to say in my defense.

My first "cosplay" - I found this old square dancing dress for like 3 dollars at a thrift store. Somehow I thought it was perfect for Chii. This was 7 years ago, hah.
I'm definitely going to cosplay her again, properly, just for nostalgia's sake though.

Last Halloween, there was a cosplay contest in the forums for an MMORPG I play and the five best costumes won 275 premium currency, which are hard to come by for free. It was two weeks until the date, so I went to Walmart and bought gold poster paper, foam core, one yard of brown flannel, body paint, and tacky glue. The entire thing cost me under $15. The process was lazy and the end product was terrible. I knew very well how awful it was, but I still had to try.

Only five people submitted costumes, so yeah, I got the prize. What blows my mind though is that I actually got a compliment on the piece of shit.

>>7541331
Anon, you are really cute, and the dress fits Chii clothing style in general. And for 3 dollars it was definitely a good deal, haha

>>7541230
>>7541325
>>7536681
All these Misas. Though, the problem with mine is that I put it together fairly recently. Wore a 3 sizes too small Hot Topic bustier (i-it fit the last time I wore it...2 years ago) and a skirt I bought at the con that didn't even match. Had on some giant platform boots, ebay accessories, and a blonde wig that barely fit because I had sewn in hair underneath. I'd have been better off having the wrong hair color because blonde looks terrible on me.

How I wish I could spoiler images.

However, I have indeed learned the error of my ways and am such a perfectionist now that if I can't get something to look right, I just wont wear it at all. Spent over $300 on a cosplay because both my orders came in wrong in some way. That money could have went to a sewing machine, materials, and lessons. I'm done with buying commissions.

My first cosplay was Haruko.

Thank fuck my mom did most of the sewing. I love her more than anything for it, since I really enjoyed myself.

I was such a weeaboo and just thought that I looked so kuh-wai uguu. I used the wrong fabric color, my mom's belt, my casual old boots, my Youmu wig, who needs to bind tits and the fact that I have no knowledge of how clothing sizing worked. Still I have a lot of failed cosplays, took me like 4 years to learn and I still suck.

When I was thirteen I cosplayed Edward Elric for Halloween by wearing this red raincoat my mom had. My best friend was Alphonse and we literally just wrapped him in tinfoil, it was so bad. While we were trick or treating all of the houses we stopped at thought he was a Chipotle burrito.

>>7536681
>>7538526
>>7535437
its good not excellent though.

>>7536024
what the fuck