Cosplay is a short form of "Costume play" and it deals with dressing up as a fictional character mostly but not limited to Japanese games, anime and manga. Cosplayer /Layer are terms for people who do cosplay Cosplay Conventions are gatherings for competitions, stores and booths that have goods and products related to but not limited to Japanese games, anime and manga. Top 3 Misconceptions:
Attractiveness is required and chosen
While we do have an administering body for conventions and such, no one has a say who has a right to cosplay (Except your parents... Learn to listen to them!!). Again, similar to drawing, gaming and reading books, if you can afford it or have a way to access materials needed for it (renting a costume, buying it or making it) and YOU want to do it. head on to your nearest convention or photoshoot with friends and JUST DO IT! : )
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LISTEN to those around you, they will offer you a good point of view to something you probably can't see on your own. We as supposedly open minded individuals (Come on, we watch things with non existent technology, time leaps and magical girls!) should be the one's to see that there is a point to some of what our parents our siblings are saying.
Social Behavior This is a general thing, when in public do not talk in such a loud voice that the person peeing at the farthest cubicle can hear every bit of your conversation. Keep private matters private, even if you're so goddamed proud of what you did with your wig and how you had to save it to make it look like it does. As for changing into costumes, do not occupy an entire sink just for your stuff. That isn't your bathroom. It's for everyone! And if you don't want people wanting us cosplayers gone from those areas then the best we can do is share and be polite about it. We aren't paying anything extra to make use of the public toilet so we shouldn't be expecting special treatment. And when a guard is yelling into a megaphone straight into your ears, resist the urge to kick or yell at him and simply do what you're told. Though a friendly, "Kuya/Sir I can hear you just fine" with a laugh even if the guard looks mean or pissed wouldn't hurt. From Admiration to Stalking Just imagine, if you had a little sister, and she tells you that a group of guys are blatantly waiting for her outside of the comfort room area or in a staircase to her class or office wouldn't you fear for her? A GROUP OF GUYS WAITING is never a good thing more so if you don't even know them, it's one of the scariest things to actually experience. If it's something that would cause someone discomfort or fear, than that's definitely stalking. Conventions are different as people there are in the area for good reason, to share a commonality that is the hobby. But to randomly approach a stranger just because they look like a 'cosplayer' or that she or he is REALLY so goddamned cute, is NEVER a good thing. THERE ARE PLACES to make friends and outside a comfort room is NOT IT. Or a staircase or an elevator, if you make the person feel like they're 'cornered' into talking to you. That won't lead to anything good, it might even get you into prison for harassment. There is no need for links here, you only need to do an FB name search and you can get it. If you were expecting ME and my nakedness? You're better off waiting for male pregnancy to happen. Because only the doctors who operated on my mom during pregnancy, my mom, my childhood nanny and my future husband is allowed that. It's EXCLUSIVE, which no amount of likes or money can EVER hope to buy. If I were a guy, I'd find this day and age absolutely easy to get my 'game-on', 'do the dirty do, 'a date with Ms Right' easily. How so? If you have to ask, then please talk to me and let's be friends because I need people who are not yet tainted with this thing we call the internet. But then again, if you're reading my blog, that just means you're very adept with it as this is a very tiny corner of this vast world. On to the point: There was instant sharing of food/location, there were ways to easily cancel appointments, and book flights, and now even pleasure and showing off how slutty you are is as easy as pressing a button and ta-dah! The whole world can see all of your soul if you still have it Am not a huge fan of naming names and bashing people, but since she likes attention so much I'll give her my 10 minutes and an article here in my blog. She might even all caps glory me to death or enjoy the 'attention' (or rather dislike) she's gotten from me. Minding my own business I'M TRYING, I've seen her page and posts through a friend around a month ago but as a girl who gets cat calls and such? She's becoming much worse and I find being disrespected as a girl seriously degrading. And when one person acts and tends to represent an entire 'hobby' it becomes so easy to generalize for people who don't want to give it a second thought. (Which is possibly 99.9% of this world's populace -- ok maybe 70% and the other 30% are rare pokemons) She supposedly does 'cosplays' which is in seriously mediocre to almost awful quality which really hurts the purist inside of me. My views on Baring Skin It's one thing to be sexy even without taking your clothes off, honestly I've become really aware of my behind due to several friends and total strangers commenting on it. As much as I TRY NOT to draw attention from it, people seem to really like to comment on how 'big' it is and such. So even at this degree wherein I'm more or less clad (Good example is the SnK Mikasa cosplay on Left hand side) it was still considered a 'sexy cosplay' But more or less I can standby on the fact that my MAIN MOTIVE WAS TO PORTRAY MIKASA. Not show off my goddamned ass. I've never shown cleavage or even so much as a bare butt cheek in my cosplays. I try to be as 'child friendly' as I can but I can't help who sees the photos so that's a risk I've been taking. For girls who feel the need You might want to firstly, tell your parents about your path to whore-dom. Or maybe not, maybe whores don't really value any form of respect at all. Being naked, or merely covering your nipples with hands or other objects--- is just plain porn. What was/is your motive? I doubt it's an act of being naive, I'd rather see girls act cutesy then be an outright slut. As I've said before. I have no qualms about sexy cosplay, it's just the emphasis should still be on COSPLAY and not the SEXY. If you're really rocking that accurately made costume then being sexy is just a plus. Being a bait and tempting people Not everyone who sees your photos are fine with just letting their hands do the work, sometimes that might fuel a desire far greater and animalistic. Anything anyone does has a direct effect to everyone else, or at least that's how I view this life. And when you post nude or almost nude photos, you tempt someone. It's not as big an effect as dressing up scantily, you directly affect yourself when you do that. And you WILL BE a walking temptation and are easy to act on. It's all about caring about OTHER PEOPLE and YOURSELF a little more. If you REALLY REALLY (x10) HAVE to be a slut I'll go martial law on you in this one, so you're tempting people? You're posing with nothing but bottle caps or your hands? Let them do the deed with you or basically use you up as you seem to be happy being fap material anyway, so maybe since you enjoy eyes on you so much invite EVERYONE of your pervert kingdom. Facebook is so easily accessible and seeing as people seem to enjoy exposing themselves in it, it's not impossible that YOU (YES YOU) might have inadvertently cause someone pain with whatever you posted. RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS should have been a basic thing your mom or dad taught you, but seeing as sluts grew boobs instead of brains I guess we have to live in a world where there's just free porn for everyone, like it or not. What I just don't like is the fact that people spread it around like wildfire. If people can't post responsibly, at least share responsibly. If it's a post you don't want your dad or mom to see, chances are there IS SOMETHING wrong with it. To Online Harassers + Trolls
Please, please, please just leave us quiet one's out of this and just go to people like that who obviously enjoy the attention. We might want a bit of appreciation from time to time but trust us, we don't mind being left in the dust when it comes down to it. We can just smile to ourselves in content. Don't pick on the innocent, go to the one's who are definitions of 'dolts' and 'perverse' just like you. First having a sexy Nishikino Maki image. Now, let's start with the overall quality before we go to the thing I was slightly disappointed in. Color/Quality/Price Price: $16- $22 Quality: Heat resistant/non-shiney (But doesn't seem to curl with a curling iron) Thickness: Average to somewhat disappointingly thin (Will expound on this later) Color/Style: VERY close to the sample photos on actual but on cameras the color can vary of course Overall judgement: 7/10
Wrapping it up: One last bit, is the fact that it's just awful at the scalp area. I've seen this sickness before in Grandyoung wigs, via friends and their wigs. And wished that I'll never encounter a wig with this issue. This and the weird gloss of Grandyoung wigs caused me to stop buying that brand. But now even Lucaille has it which just narrows down my trusted brands to around 2: JIUWIHU and CosplayC/CosC which are both photogenic wigs. It's not obvious from the front or sides though, just really messy on the top which really irritates the OC-ness in me. I've tried to brush it but it's not that simple to fix it seems. All in all, it's a good enough Maki wig or the price. But am no longer going to get Lucaille. Not as brutal as “the strong shall live, and the weak shall die” sort, but for those who have the drive there are huge chances for success (Even in a thankless hobby like cosplay)
Life will never go backwards, it can only go forward. No matter how much you cry, scream or cuss – it won’t do anything. All you can do is move on, and if you can move faster than time allows then go ahead. (Multi task and accomplish EVERYTHING you want to accomplish) I'm not telling you that you can get rich or go get 10 girlfriends because that’s what you want. I’m saying don't put off plans, and NEVER EVER pass up a good opportunity. People’s schedules are erratic and so is the weather. Re-scheduling is as much a risk as shooting on the day itself in rainy weather. And besides that, people will always have different priorities, and if at any point it was their priority to be with you-- then consider yourself lucky and don't take them for granted. With that said, I hope everyone is safe and dry Cheers! Thank you for reading I have not been able to update, so much has happened and most of it unseemly. Life just wants to sucks sometimes, and when it does you might simply want to throw the towel in and give up. Am no superhero, I've tried giving up once or twice with no success. I'd admit, it's rather hard not to be able to give up but it's also a little more interesting this way.
Even though we have to smile or act like there's nothing wrong in cosplay we do have problems. And even though anime characters are simply so flawless and don't get fat -- we do. So don't be so hard on yourself!! I'm trying to say this to myself more often as I'm really a hard critic on myself but it's not working. :| The world in itself, the people in it, your boss, your co-worker may already be hard on you even the economy might be hard on you (Even the traffic) Try to ease up on yourself cause no one else will know when you need a breather more than YOU.
No matter how heavy the makeup is, or how wide and long the falsies are, there is a heart beating inside that binded/dolled up chest and there are feelings that get hurt when things get said. No matter how you feel the need to be mean, rude or derogatory keep it to yourself. There's always room to be civil in the wide world of the internet. And as a last tip to people out there who are so engrossed in the hobby:
Unless you're making a stable livelihood at this, I won't suggest making it your entire life. As much as we want to, believe me I'd rather stay at home daily and do shoots and whatnot there's "REAL LIFE" waiting for me 5 days of the week + extra sidelines whenever I need the cash for extravagant locations and materials. I have absolutely ZERO return financially in this costume hobby. And honestly I regret nothing. If you're fine with this, and can support it go ahead. But if you're bothering someone else for money -- then I suggest you learn that it's a tougher world. But if you're quite the independent person... Remember to always have people who support you, remember that no matter how introverted you are --You still need other people (to talk to/to smile with/and to be weird around) We've already agreed on the fact that anime characters are just too damned unrealistic. One of the most unrealistic things will be tackled here, the oh-so cute mouths of the younger characters we see in our beloved moving drawings.
I hope this is of help to anyone,
Am not an expert in makeup and I simply read ebooks and online tutorials as well and apply whatever I learn wherever possible! If you have tips on improving this, please do share! Thank you for reading! Alodia Gosiengfiao is one of the names that I had to be compard to since I was younger, I wasn't aware of her yet back then but there were friends of mine who approached me due to the supposed resemblance.
We all have those days, wherein we hardly even put on makeup..we didn't even know the difference between direct flash and having ambient light (Although that technical aspect of lighting isn't really something you need to know it helps in terms of ambiance)
Not perfect: But aiming for it We all improve gradually
Not at the same rate, but we all do... just keep that in mind and stop looking at other people and comparing yourself. There are a lot of differences between people. (Circumstances/ resources like money and time) they all differ. And it would only cause you a load of stress and maybe even a bit of sadness if you do. So just take it at a stride! Study whenever you can regarding the components you see yourself as lacking. Save for that "One big photo shoot",or that "one big costume project" that am sure will be worth all the time. If you're not seeing any improvements in your final output? Maybe try re-thinking whatever your into, in this case cosplay. If you aren't really interested in seeing better results or going over your own limits...don't expect better results.
Making it affordable: Bluntly put, at around 6,000 pesos you can already get a high quality blade of your own. You can go look that up, compare it, and find that this is possibly one of the best offers for this sort of quality. I like the fact that they cater to two markets, as they have the cheaper alternative to the pricier hand forged beauties. Mainly their swords go through 6 stages:
They are what they sell:What do I mean? The owners know what they’re doing, they know the processes, the differences in metals and they obviously love what they’re doing. An easy example of just how much they love the craft is when there was this FB user who commented on ‘why’ their machine made blades are cheaper—plainly he stated that it’s because of the metal they use has carbon. And that it rusts easily, and then came their reply. (They give out an extensive article about “Carbon-content” in steel here. But basically the higher the content, the harder and long-lasting the edge is for example 1-1.5% is what a Nihonto contains) I rummaged through FB and couldn't find it anymore, but I remember it so much that I had to put it here. Basically the conversation went something like this: FB User: The metal they use have carbon in them and rust easily, that's why it's cheap (Or something like that) As I read that comment I was happy that they made someone know their place. There isn’t anything wrong with stating facts if you REALLY KNOW what you’re talking about. There’s nothing wrong with correcting people and giving out opinions either. It’s just that, too bad for Mr FB User, Sir Aldwin wasn’t going to let it slide. In any case who would? I can’t stress it enough, they KNOW what they’re doing and they’re amazing that way. Some sellers would just slap on the word “Authentic” and hope you’d buy it. With them it’s different; I even learned carbon metal content and hardness, real’ katana or a Nihonto against souvenir blades.
Personal Wishlist:This is ranked from your left hand side to the right: The left being a sword I still regret not having/saving up for...probably will carry that regret to my grave. Seriously look at that red blade...it's like a blade made up of blood! While the 2nd one being Saber/Arthuria's Excalibur as my target...am still figuring out how to get my hands on even the machine forged beauty. 3rd to 5th on this list are whims...heck a girl can dream.
Short but sweetA Wrap-up:
Interested in owning your own glorious fantasy blade? Or adding to your collection for cutting practice? Where: They’re located in Mandaluyong City, Philippines How: They do meet-ups and only ship LOCALLY for now Price: Prices vary from 6,500 onwards Quality: Doesn’t get better than this Authentic: If by 'authentic' you mean a Nihonto...well the productions of these are regulated and will cost you an arm and a leg to buy. Their swords are high quality though and as is thoroughly explained in their website, it is forged as close to the traditional means as possible. Hanggang payong ka na lang ba? Or rather, Will you only ever own an umbrella with a plastic sword hilt? And if you’re getting one, maybe grab one for me? Haha…nothing wrong with wishful thinking |
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