[Q] Cosplays

[mindsend]

*brainbreak* Perhaps you could tell us the comic and character in question so we can have a standpoint to work from? This is certainly an interesting conundrum, considering this is an OC that other people can get before you do as a cosplay.  

[Andranis]

Not a staff point, obviously, but... May I suggest PMing the staff about it? That way, as it's an OC of YOURS, you won't have everyone all over it trying to get it as a cosplay before you the person who made the character can, but the staff can accurately answer the question. More a.. "This might be a wise thing to do" idea than anything ^^;;  

[slimycrow]

I don't have an answer, but I didn't know you did Comics Lyda! That's really cool : )  

[Faid Shadowlight]

My two cents on this 'cause I was just debating this with Mal.

A cosplay is to me a copy/costume of a character from a published media.

An OC is a character that I created (at least it is if its my OC )

My thinking is that even if I am Stan Lee Spiderman is still a cosplay because anyone can get him and he is a recognised character, so even if I (as Stan Lee) get Spiderman as a pet its a cosplay.

However if I get my OC Fey as a pet... no one will know who the heck it is and so it is not a cosplay.

Its kind of like not going to a convention as Cloud Strife and wearing baggy jeans and a tank top... Sure you have the hair and maybe the sword but no one will look at you and go "Hey your Cloud! Awesome!"  

[Faid Shadowlight]

LydaLynn

Except, Spiderman still is Stan Lee's original character. He created that character. It is original to him. At least, until other people were allowed to write and create for that character. At which point, it is a company's character. Marvel has Spiderman, thus it isn't Stan Lee's anymore, even though he created it.

On the other hand, Robert Kirkman has been the only one really writing for Walking Dead - both the comic and the TV show. Those characters are still his because he has retained all creative license to them for himself.

But that's just semantics. If it is no longer an OC because it is published, I can live with that as a shop rule. I just think a little differently, but I'm okay with that as the answer.

I'm not saying its the answer I have no say in shop policy what so ever. For me the deviding line between the OC and the cosplay comes from the part where others beyond yourself can get it. Lets face it if its not published somewhere / somehow then its unlikely anyone will know about the character or quest for it. As soon as its out there, available for other to read or watch then the line starts to shift.

I have an OC in a fan fic I have started publishing online... is that a cosplay... not to me... why not... because its only out there because I posted it on FanFic.net .... However if I was approached and my OC was used as a character in that universe it goes from OC to cosplay...

Its a nasty little grey area, but at the same time it is such a rare thing that I doubt anyone will face the issue again, and if they do kudos to them. However soquili has a LOT of rules, not all of which are easily or clearly defined, and even if they were, there's always grey areas that pop up eventually. I just feel that something like this needs a simple and definitive definition and saying its a cosplay because its been published nationwide and other people could potentially quest it seems cut and dry to me.

But then in the end every character started out as someones OC but it would make it very difficult to classify them all that way.  

[Malis Vitterfolk]

A good example for this could be WoW NPCs. I have a fellow cosplayer who now has her character in the game (Aimee, Dalaran pie vender) and she cosplayed her at Blizzcon'11. Ever since that character got put into game someone else who didn't know the connection could look at the NPC and go "Oh! I want to cosplay as that!" and they would be in their rights to do so even though the original creation of the characters look came from Amy.

I have an NPC in game too but mine is Nekali (yup, Malis' baby sister) and thankfully not someone who people will probably want to run around as :p While it would have been cool to see Malis in game, I picked Nekali instead because of that very reason. As soon as it is used in major publication it kinda becomes a free-for-all (as long as credit is given of course.)