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My first cosplay experience was like that. I wore a pink wig and traditional male Asian wear... I was cosplaying a boy... puppet. The boy I was cosplaying had red hair in the anime but pink, red, brown hair in the manga. Pink was the only wig I could get a hold of at the time. People kept asking me if I was some female character from Samurai Kyo or something. I was Ukon from Ayatsuri Sakon. But then again, Sakon was fairly new at the time.
Took second place Individualist at that con, though ^w^ I think they liked the hand made wooden shoes and uniqueness of the character.

I have a question, two, in fact:

Why do people think it's okay to abandon an unconscious friend in a hallway, usually on the floor?

When I went to anime punch, I saw it everywhere. People literally passed out against the wall, usually by themselves, and they'd be there for hours before one of their friend's would come over and nudge them awake. I can understand if you came alone and (did something incredibly stupid like) passed out in the hall after a rough all nighter, but when your there with friends, why do they think it's cool to just leave you there, exposed?

Better yet, why do people think they it's smart to plan on sleeping in the halls at a hotel and convention center? I know lots of people who will base their entire trip on waking up every hour to move to a different room in the convention center and sleep some more. If you have the money to buy a rare, $200 figurine of Sailor Saturn, I think you can afford to get yourself a room.

For the giant props, I'm sure a lot of them have that mentality of "Why should I watch where I'm going? THEY should watch where I'm going!" A lot of people in my high school had that mentality...

I've been known to take naps in the hall at OMGcon. ninja It's not that I don't have a room, it's that the event starts in an hour and I have nothing better to do, but I don't want to go all the way back to the room! xp But I dunno why people just sleep in the convention center, period. That seems stupid. Maybe it's part of their adventure, like mine is singing at karaoke even though I have stage fright.

You don't have to have a lot of ruffles on in lolita. As long as you have your petticoat you should be fine.

Example
http://fanplusfriend.com/catalog/Gothic_Lolita_Dress_JSK_DR00072_01.jpg

It doesn't have too many.

Anyway to answer some of the previous questions.

I find the plushies totally annoying... sometimes it is not that bad if you have other characters from the anime. My problem is when you are cosplaying L and you are carrying around an L plushie. Why excentuate that your costume sucks by showing what the character really looks like?

Now as for Half assed cosplays well it depends on the situation. For a convention I went to in January I spent two months finding the peices I needed to create my May cosplay because there was going to be a Poke rave but I ran into the problem that I couldn't finish it. I needed shoes and a couple details that I just couldn't get before the convention. In a situation like this it was a bit harder to fix things being I was staying in the hotel room and my mom wouldn't exactly let me take my sewing machine and I had no opportunity to buy shoes. I needed the may costume for that weekend so I just had to wear it. I will be changing it later on though because my half assed May makes me want to cry. I also did a very horrible Princess Kraehe. People told me I did amazing just because they knew how much effort I had put into it but the costume was total fail. For the sake of modesty I changed the bodice to cover more of my body. Also it turns out I did not have enough fabric to make the skirt have the look I wanted it too... For this one I probably should not have made it the night before the con. I also should not have made that my first ever sewing project. Half assed cosplays really depend on the situation and they may not actually be half assed. Now when it comes to some closet cosplays that is where I have the problem. When little or no effort is put in. If you can't buy a wig you die your hair or make sure your character has your exact hair. Plus if you cannot die your hair Walgreens sells a temporary fix. Colored hair gel. Enough of that and you will have not only the correct style but the correct color as well. I am a poor cosplayer so I know how much closet cosplays and goodwill finds help. Oh god yes they help. but you have to have the hair and that costs money. You cannot just go in your closet and pull out L like clothes and have brown hair. Inquire with friends. They may sometimes have a wig you can borrow. Plus think about your closet cosplay. Is it Male or Female? If you are female and it is Male you may want to go to the store and buy MALE clothes. Sorry girly but girls clothes just don't equal guy.

Now for the ten different costumes at one convention I am guilty of that one. I seriously have twenty on my list for one convention right now. Talk about needing to cut down. The problem is that some people are brought into cosplay groups and they can't get out of them very easily. For one convention in May I seriously have to be a vocaloid, Rukia and Orihime, a Kyo Kara Maoh character, Yuki from Gravitation, a Loveless character, Sailor Mercury, a Kuragehime character, Kyouya from Ouran, and those are just thew ones for groups. I also have two others that I have been working on and that I was supposed to be doing on my own. Such as my May and my Lucy from Voyage of the Dawn treader. I can't get out of a single one of these groups and by god I hope I don't get pulled into another one. Thank goodness though some are only for a small photoshoot or the masquerade and then they go back in my suitcase. The other thing is that I have to be a Lolita sometime between these. Atleast Rukia and Orihime are a simple change. People have reasons for participating in this madness. I just wish I could back out of it now.

People hate dance skits because by god I have seen Hare hare yukai and Caramell Dansen way to many times. Just like if you are watching Princess Tutu skits that all dance to DDR or Hall Mig Nu... Freakin dance some actual ballet after training for it or be creative that is the way to go. I trained for three years before dancing in the masquerade at a convention and people loved it because it was something different and there was so much hard work put into it! If you are going to do something prechoreographed then do something that has never been done before!

Not all popular cosplayers are jerks. Example the Electric lady and Sheila Santa Maria. They are amazing and will usually take time out of their busy day to talk to their fans. The Electric lady actually helped convince my mom to let me go to a convention!

Ok and for my last little bit Kingdom Hearts cosplayers are gods in Arizona as long as they do it right!


Sorry for my bits ranting and droning and to much talking sorry I got a bit carried away. I write cosplay advice columns so sometimes I don't know how to shut up.

Your supposed to turn it twice?!!!! I just started sewing my cosplays and I did not turn it twice for Meiko... I did for my Maron but that is because it was way wo long!

O-o yeah, a friend of mine told me to turn the fabric twice and I was confused because I didn't recall EVER turning the fabric twice to hem when I took Home Ec.

@Bermese: LOL, I...actually can't answer that, but I've wondered that, too.

How come it seems like cosplaying from a popular series is like a fad? I'm serious. I can't even keep up. First it was Naruto, then Kingdom Hearts, then Bleach, APH, and now Kuroshitsuji. Is it because of the photoshoots?

Yeah, I've seen MANY Ciels. Well, not the normal Ciel. They wore the dress version. I forget which episode that was. I'd better be careful, then! I wanna crossplay as Haruka from Tactics soon and I don't want people saying, "OMG ARE YOU SEBASTIAN!?"

I could understand if it was for a photoshoot, but just because it's the "new thing" is kinda shallow. I remember my cosplay group did a Hetalia group cosplay last year and EVERYONE did the same cosplay. It kinda got annoying cause I couldn't find my friends. If I was behind an America or a France I would think, "Uhh is that so and so? Hm.."