Why so serious?

[InaFromChina 10]

So I just came back from Conneticon and I saw a ton of awsome jokers [batman] there... it got me wondering... what do you all think of cosplays that have nothing to do with the japanese culture... does the fact that it IS a cosplay make it part of the otakon way? what are people thoughts on the matter? i just randomly thought of it... i personally think that if you have the skill to make something spiffy you should show it off with pride but for some reason seeing well made non-anime characters (aka sponge bob) and stull always gave me the giggles and makes me think "woohoo genius!"

edit: come to think of it... this topic would be better suited for the cosplay section... can someone move it for me (please and think you!)

Edited August 5, 2008 by Neko_chan911

[Malacore 0]

Well.....I feel that Otakon (and most cons in general) is supposed to be full of Asian culture....stuff....so when I see Star Wars and Futurama cosplayers running around, part of me feels...well...weird about it. BUT at the same time, I feel like "Oh, that's a pretty cool looking Bender! And his...flapthingy opens!". BUT AGAIN, at the same time, I see stuff like Doctor Who and ...SpongeBob...and am like "Wtf? Why...?"

I don't know. I might just like the cosplays from shows/movies/stuff I know and love and the others are meh to me. I guess my answer is very unclear and I really don't have an opinion either way but I will say this. If I had to choose a side between all Asian Culture Cosplays or the other for Otakon, I'd have to side with Asian.

[Meru 0]

while cosplaying may have been primarily meant to describe asian culture, i don't believe it should be so strictly adhered to here in america. we've adopted cosplay and made it our own, just as we have with anime. it's only natural that american culture (spongebob, batman, etc.) will supplant itself smoothly alongside the adopted asian culture (anime, manga, etc.). so yes, in summary, i think it's a good thing. behold, the great melting pot at work!

oh, and if the deli's still open, there's a cat playing bagpipes.

(sorry - got too serious for my own good - had to let slip a little crazy)

[syntaxerror37 0]

Honestly, as long as it is a good cosplay I don't care whether it is western or eastern in origin. It's all geek to me.

[Muramasa 0]

IMO the con itself is supposed to adhere to the mission, but there's nothing requiring every attendee to come dressed as an anime or video game character. Granted, I have more fun when I get several days to be away from being saturated in American culture, but that's just me.

Edited August 5, 2008 by Muramasa

[IceCreamGuitar 0]

Mhm...well, this is just me but...if I ever see a Joker at Otakon, and he's decent, there's no WAY I'm passing up a decent photo. I mean, sure, 'anime convention' but...there are a lot of American things that have really spiffy costumes too. =O

Then again, this'll be my first con so I'm not trained in the ways of congoing.

[conraptor64 0]

I think it's wonderful that there is always such a wide range of cosplays at cons. I think that each con should be have a cosplay population that is mostly based on what that con is all about (whether it be sci-fi, star wars, fantasy, or anime) but there's nothing wrong with other fandom cosplays participating. I've seen Ghostbusters, Harry Potter, Jedi, american superheros, and even pop-culture references like Dave Chappelle's version of Prince and the Jolly Green Giant at Anime conventions, jsut like I've seen Lupin the 3rd and Sailor Moon cosplayers at sci-fi conventions. A good ratio for anime cons in my mind is 75% anime and video game cosplayers, 23% other geek cosplayers, and 2% pop-culture references and internet memes. Like syntaxerror37 said, it's all geek to me!

[syntaxerror37 0]

A good ratio for anime cons in my mind is 75% anime and video game cosplayers, 23% other geek cosplayers, and 2% pop-culture references and internet memes. Like syntaxerror37 said, it's all geek to me!

[Zateran Hisuitsume 0]

We think about how the very word cosplay breaks down, we see that it means essentially costume play. Therefore by it's very definition it includes anything that involves dressing up in a unique costume that is either different from everyday wear or a unique combination of closet wear that makes a reference to a specific character. Correct me if my research is wrong, but this term itself was originally created by the Japanese as a fusion of the two words costume and play with their quirk to shorten and meld words to create new terms to describe brand new phenomenon. Therefore we can suppose that it was meant to apply to everything and not just to the anime subculture. However, like any cultural facets that are imported from other countries, cosplay has an entirely different meaning to most of the mainstream otaku community. Here cosplay is nearly the same thing as the otaku subculture in America. So interpreting it within a whole different set of guidelines, it means something else entirely to those of us within the US. But that doesn't mean that his definition can't change to accommodate non-anime and Asian culture costume plays as well.

Personally I'd have to say that while seeing good cosplayers are a joy regardless of whether their character is from an Asian subculture or not, it does unsettle me to a tiny small point to see the number of non-Asian cosplayers increasing every year when the whole point of the anime/otaku subculture here in America is I think to merge it into American culture, accepting it as an enjoyable part of another culture that has a place here in ours. I don't see it as an interesting concept that we can corrupt and create our own perverted version of the original. Frankly, that's a habit we as Americans tend to do quite often whenever something we like falls into our hands. Instead of enjoying it in its original form we have to Americanize it first before we completely accept it into the mainstream culture. I recognize that most everyone, including even yours truly has done this time and time again. Though even though I say this, the number of anime cosplayers at the moment still by far outnumber those who are not in Asian culture cosplay as we can clearly see by the sheer number of Naruto and Bleach cosplayers every year at nearly every convention there is, no to include the multitude of cosplayers from other series.

[conraptor64 0]

So I did an informal count while I was there and I counted at least 23 different Jokers.

[Katty Hooves 0]

I saw a lot of Jokers too, but it was nice to see Sailor Moon cosplays make a big comeback this year!

[killerrobo 0]

I'm kinda an all around nerd, so I enjoy the sci-fi/western cosplayers as much as the others. Provided the costume is done well, of course.

As long as I've been going to Otakon, I've seen all sorts of cosplay, so I always figured it was the Otakon way.

There were a TON of Jokers this year. I made it a point to get pictures of as many as possible, including the few in the nurse's outfits.

Also, there were what, 3 Doctor Whos? They made my day.

[LinkOcarinaMan 0]

Yeah, I personally hate seeing non anime/videogame cosplay and it seemed worse this year than it ever was. Like somebody said above, I come to a place like Otakon to get away from the constant saturation of american culture. It's bad enough to constantly hear about stuff like The Dark Knight and Family Guy when I'm going about my everyday life, but when I have to be bombarded with it at Otakon, it just ticks me off. Also, for the record, I think seeing stuff like random Family Guy clips in an ANIME music video is even worse than the cosplay thing.

Oh well, unfortunately there is no way to fix these things so I just have to deal with it, lol.