#cosplay history

[pants-magic-pants]

okok, one more ✨

so i know you would like to make the other Goblin King outfits. but are there any other characters you would like to cosplay? or that you have already cosplayed?

Thank you for asking! Yeah, I have cosplayed before. None of the proof of it's here because I've designated it as a Labyrinth blog. My interests and projects do not resemble each other at all, and my cosplay history reflects that. hahahaha

Anyway, my last cosplay was the Mad Hatter from Disney's 1992 series "Adventures in Wonderland". The show is extremely dear to me, and I also love the costumes, so I made his entire outfit (vest, tailcoat, pants, spats, collar, bowtie, hat), which were my introductions to making clothes. Didn't crawl before I ran. hahaha It took about 10 months to complete in 2021. A couple of videos of him can be found on my youtube channel.

Before that, I had been closet-cosplaying Dance Magic Jareth from time to time, and had made a much easier less screen accurate version of his ballroom attire minus the coat, and this blog has that content under the "jareth cosplay" tag.

Before that, I closet-cosplayed Kurama from the anime Yu Yu Hakusho from 2017-2018. I was obsessed with the show and characters, and having a quarter life crisis, so I dyed my hair red and let him consume my entire being.

Before that, I for some reason had a fixation with Jared Leto's Joker from Suicide Squad (2016)... Don't judge me, I know he wasn't a very good joker! I just didn't care! I didn't know how to sew yet, so all the pieces were collected, the bowtie was commissioned, and I had to go all around town trying to find dress shirts for my tiny body. All the while, I holed up in my room practicing his makeup. It took about 3-4 months? @mistahgrape was my handle on instagram and tumblr.

Then finally, there was my first cosplay which is also my cosplans for the future. I used to closet-cosplay Nosferatu when I was a bub (2011-2013) the whole time I was away in film school. I have a degree in film which was heavily focused on the German silent era, so he meant/means a lot, and I would make videos pretending like he visited me in my apartment. lol The blog strange--cargo is all about that. I desperately wanted to commission a screen accurate outfit but just never did, so I'm going to make my dreams come true and hopefully take him to cons and make people laugh/creep them out.

watch out!!

#cosplay history #nosferatu #yu yu hakusho #suicide squad #adventures in wonderland

[cosplayinamerica]

by Anna-Neko

Before all the endless online, digital everything, before FB and Insta, the “don’t u know how many followers…” & influencers nonsense, there was this man!

Kevin would take your photo, make small-talk & drop encouraging comments and make you feel a star! A former cosplay partner still fondly remembers how he would always know what she was cosplaying as! No matter how obscure! If he didn’t know the cosplay – he would ask about it! The interest always genuine. He seemed to remember everyone from con to con, and in later years when instead of running around he would set up a corner with a backdrop and do photos this way – he would jot down file numbers & email me full-size images after the event if asked.

So just a quick scene setting up. It is very easy to forget, but back then (1999 to maybe 2002~ish) there was waaaaay less conventions. There wasn’t an event happening every weekend, much less multiple events at same time! Digital cameras were not a thing. Well, obviously they existed, but your average otaku heading to an anime con might bring a cheap 35mm disposable camera (or maybe 3, if CVS had a multi-pack sale!).

Kevin’s FansView website was THE cosplay/cons site. He updated multiple times throughout the event, 2 or 3 times each day! There weren’t just photos of “hot people”, he tirelessly took photos of regular attendees, cosplayers of various ages and skill levels, guest & panel highlights…. If you weren’t lucky enough to be at the convention itself, seeing all his photos was the next best thing! In a few years we’d have con report galleries on Cosplay.com, Geocities and LinusLam …. but all these were _after the fact_, not during. Not quite the same, ya know?)

Even my mom knew his website, and during cons I’d call home during the weekend and she would excitedly tell me she was just on Kevin’s site and saw my photo!

Like, seriously…. we’d joke a con wasn’t a con until you either a) saw House of Anime truck in the parking lot, or b) ran into Mr Lillard.

Over the years there’s been all sorts of amazing run-ins with him. He would always make some jokes, and go above and beyond helping a fellow nerd – like the time my brand~new digital camera (in 2000! quite the expense!) suddenly died (6 AA batteries the monster ate) and he kindly tried to help me with both fresh batteries and advice, and when it looked like the camera wasn’t coming back he straight up took out his FILM CAMERA (again, this man was a pro! He always had a backup) and took photos of my cosplay and friends’, and handed me the finished roll

OR that other time my memory card was already full within literally first few hours of the convention (circa 2000, CompactFlash. Gigs? ha! Your PC might have 2 gigs hard drive and be a luxury. Memory cards ran in the Megabites) and this SAINT of a man helped by using HIS LAPTOP to let me clear out the card, email the zip file to myself then and there, and thus have memory space to take another 30~40 photos

or this Other OTHER time we were talking about shitty hotel hallway lights… And asked if he would mind popping with us outside real quick? He took the time to go! Outdoors into the sunshine! On the lawns by the hotel for a good 30 minutes! Thus giving us our first ‘proper’ cosplay photoshoot no less!! (freakin 2001, people!! pro~photoshoots or sheduling time-slots with an online-famous photog was not a thing. Not yet, not for another few years)

He made all us awkward weebs feel welcome from the get~go! Nobody had internet once left the house. No cellphones. Especially not a phone that could double as a hi-res camera. You came to the convention with a cheap disposable film camera, or none at all – hoping your friends brought one. Conventions didn’t have photo suites, no staff photogs… it was not a thing yet.

The other joke used to be “oh you’re at so-and-so con? Did you run into Kevin yet??” or “no no no, don’t change yet! We need to find Kevin!! You must be documented” (and if you had insane luck, you may even see that photo as convention cosplay coverage in an issue of Animerica months later!) For some of us, the only photos of those early costumes only exist because Kevin was there to take it.

#cosplayhistory

#cosplay #cosplay history

[anna-neko]

When I say am an oldtaku, that is in no way or shape a lie. Not even an exaggeration anymore

how old is this nerd? Old enuff to show up in someone's VHS footage** of an anime con trip

they did a live-stream of some tapes, while digitizing it ... and ... damn! Just, holy fuck

Seeing so many long-forgotten yet still familiar faces, like heeeey this person lives in a whole diff state now. This one does professional advertising. This person not only is a serious adult, but is married with a child!

.... and then u see yourself. In full teen awkwardness, proud of your lil cosplay

**it ain't just ancient, its a literal miracle. The poor cassette was warping with both age & mold. Amazed we could even watch it

#i call myself oldtaku for a reason #nerd culture #fandom history #cosplay history #early anime con culture #anime cons #oldtaku cosplayers shout out! #damn what even is time #cosplay #Anime Weekend Atlanta

[tygerland]

Maxfield Parrish The Lantern Bearers. 1908. Oil on canvas: 101 × 81 cm (40 × 32 in).

#1900s #painting #maxfield parrish #vintage #night #lights #sunset #nature #fantasy #retro #beauty #surreal #moon #magic #cosplay #garden #lifestyle #art history #design #culture #🌛

[archaalen]

PSA: Cosplay: A History audiobook is $8

#cosplay #cosplay history #writing

[birdsheadrevisited]

Jay Kay Klein - Early Trekkies at sci-fi cons, 1966-69

#star trek #star trek tos #sci-fi #science fiction #fandom history #fandom #vintage #1960s #trekkies #spock #cosplay #TV

[ineffableigh]

The costume details in Good Omens never cease to amaze me

I was working on cosplay research and looked up 'men's dress shirt rounded collar' since I noticed Aziraphale's blue dress shirt collar is rounded, not pointed:

So it turns out...

"The rounded collar was part of Eton College‘s dress code beginning in the mid-1800s. Because men wanted to be perceived as belonging to this exclusive club, the rounded, or “club” collar was copied by the masses." (Source)

Between that and the fact that Aziraphale's waistcoat, from what I can find, most closely matches shawl collar waistcoat designs from the 1830s, and his waistcoat at Saint James Park in 1862 is the first one we see him wear that most closely resembles his 'modern day' one, it's safe to say our lad is stuck at the start of the 19th century.

Which COULD be hilarious given undergarment styles of the time:

Through the late 19th century - union suits! Lovely for cold London winters.

1907...

However, I suspect 1940s style to be most likely, as it seems to be what he emulated when pretending to be Crowley at the end of Season 1.

1940s undergarments:

Anyway this has been your fashion history dork brain dump LOL

#fashion history #historical fashion #good omens #good omens costumes #good omens cosplay #aziraphale #crowley #IneffabLeigh's Meta Tag

[persephonaae]

Here are some of the pictures of the Minoan/Mycenaean look I did yesterday! Mind you, it's all very generalized since I haven't made any clothing studies from these time periods yet, so I had just grabbed random clothes and jewelry from my closet that I could at least pass off as the ~vibe~ . I went for a pretty simple interpretation of makeup back then and ended up not really putting a whole lot on my face before the decorative elements, just a very thin amount of white foundation, but even so I figured my skin is pretty pale as it is that if this were historical I probably would have just been fairly bare faced anyway in a similar fashion. I tried to stay pretty close to how makeup might be applied back then and not go too anachronistic, and if I did it was for photographic or artistic purposes (namely, light contouring on my nose not for any sort of like, modern feature minimization, but to make sure my own Greek ethnic features weren't flattened by lighting levels or camera perspective)

Overall this was a really fun exploration of historic culture! Seeing the finished makeup on myself kind of brought over this cultural euphoria for me, even though many things have changed since ancient Mediterranean civilizations, there's almost a feeling of sameness in exploring the history of your heritage and seeing someone who looks or feels like you in ancient art. (But also a brief little disclaimer: the Mediterranean has been an extremely diverse region for thousands of years! I'm just one way of looking and that absolutely isn't representative of all people of Greece, neither then nor now!) I want to explore more historical fashions within this realm, and next time try a more extreme version of the makeup, something that feels more on the ceremonial side than casual like this one.

#wahoo! yippee!!! anywho enjoy and sorry i rambled a lot in the post im not good at being a brief person lol #historical fashion #ancient greece #minoan #mycenaean #greece #greek #history #antiquity #ancient greek #my cosplay

[the-bar-sinister]

It drives me nuts that nobody acknowledges that James Sunderland's jacket is a specific military jacket-- the M-65 field jacket-- and not the now-standard horror protagonist "LL. Bean" jacket. (like Ethan Winters wears)

it is important because it is a specific reference to the film Jacob's ladder, where the character is a Vietnam veteran.

#james sunderland #silent hill #silent hill 2 #jacob's ladder #classic film #film history #media analysis #silent hill meta #silent hill 2 meta #cosplay reference #cosplay resources

[veryinterestingbutstupid]

Royal Navy Commander Undress

Circa 1805

#cosplay #cosplayer #Navy #Historical #napoleonic wars #Ship #tall ship #history #uniform #1800s #British #Royal Navy #Hornblower #master and commander #Jack Aubrey #horatio hornblower

[fibula-rasa]

Cosplay the Classics: Elizabeth Montgomery in “Two”

“Two” first aired on 15 September 1961 and is the first episode of the third season of The Twilight Zone. Sadly, “Two” is the only episode that features Elizabeth Montgomery.

Montgomery was nearly ten years into her professional career in 1961. She had already carved out a solid resume in television, appearing prolifically on anthology and episodic shows and occasionally stretched her legs on the New York stage. Samantha Stephens was still three years away when Montgomery took her voyage through The Twilight Zone.

In its five seasons, The Twilight Zone was a crossroads of up-and-coming and well-established performers. “Two” paired the rising star Montgomery with Charles Bronson, who had a decade more acting experience in TV and film than Montgomery. Though Bronson was the more established star, “Two” is Montgomery’s showcase.

Read on below the jump!

“Two” relies on minimal dialogue throughout and notably Montgomery only has a single line spoken. The role relies almost entirely on Montgomery’s action/reaction, expression, and styling. The episode begins on Montgomery as The Woman wandering an abandoned city. The first nine minutes of the episode pass with no dialogue, with context given by visual elements and Serling’s opening narration. The entire episode takes place on a small section of city street (at the old Hal Roach studios, conveniently already in disrepair). 

We learn through newspapers and magazines that this city is in The Man’s homeland, invaded by The Woman’s nation’s army. Signs of the city’s long five-year abandonment are everywhere, including full skeletons left where they fell. (The macabre element of skeletons is used sparingly across the Twilight Zone and usually in circumstances less grounded in reality than “Two,” such as “Long Live Walter Jameson” and “Queen of the Nile.”) As The Man mulls over his first encounter with The Woman a dove flies up behind him as a symbol of his genuine desire for peace. Through a variety of posters and advertisements, we learn that The Man’s homeland had a culture heavily invested in war.

Collage of the war-related paraphernalia in “Two”

All of that is solid storytelling, but Montgomery’s acting adds an extra something. When The Woman first encounters The Man, Montgomery performs hair-trigger reactivity. Despite The Woman’s dire situation—a stranded foreigner in a decimated country with seemingly no chance to ever return home—her reluctance to trust The Man is significant. Pairing Montgomery’s wordless portrayal of these responses with the jingoistic quality of The Man’s homeland and the notable length of time that the city has been abandoned makes me feel that her feelings might not be a simple holdover of wartime hostility on her part but potentially extended trauma. Perhaps The Woman had previous awful experiences with other straggling remnants of The Man’s military, who may not have been as ready as The Man to give up wartime attitudes in spite of the war clearly being over.

The Woman is understandably acting like a cornered animal. As the episode progresses, The Man tries to be as calculated as possible in communicating to The Woman that he doesn’t want a fight through his actions, turning his back to her, and not retaliating the third time she launches an attack on him. Montgomery, in turn, does a great job of drawing out the cornered animal characterization—alternating between curiosity, hope, mistrust, and open hostility. Montgomery’s characterization gives the role the added dimension that saves the episode from feeling too much like an overly simple fable.

Unfortunately, it’s in executing the fabular aspect of the story where “Two” falters. The opening narration by Serling specifies: 

“It’s been five years since a human being walked these streets. This is the first day of the sixth year as man used to measure time.  “The time: perhaps a hundred years from now, or sooner, or perhaps it’s already happened two-million years ago. The place: The signposts are in English so that we may read them more easily, but the place is The Twilight Zone.”

It’s established here that the location is meant to be a stand-in for any city in any country, and that the use of English is merely a storytelling convenience. So, even though “Two” is intended as a Cold-War era anti-war statement, they are intentionally distancing the fiction from the contemporary real-world conflict. To create further distance from a contemporary place/time, they establish that the rifles are laser guns.

But, then, that one line that Montgomery speaks in “Two,” seventeen minutes in, is “Prekrasny” or “прекрасны,” a Russian word for beautiful or pretty. This pretty much grinds to a halt the concept that this is a cautionary fable and not a vision of a dark future where the Soviet Union and the United States moved to open warfare. While I’ll admit that the conventions used to establish “Two” as a fable are cheeky and a little on the corny side, the episode itself would have been stronger without the suggestion that The Woman is Russian.

I’m not sure who made the call to use a Russian word. I wonder if perhaps Serling wrote his introduction and he had a different read on the story than its writer, Montgomery Pittman. Maybe Pittman intended “Two” to be more of a dark premonition with a twist of optimism and Serling thought of it more as a fable and the two approaches hampered each other in the final product? This is pure speculation on my part of course, but it’s a black mark on what I think could have been an even better episode than it is.

Regardless, I think “Two” is a strong episode and a fine example of a Serling-esque story written by someone brought on to lighten the load of Serling, who worked himself to the bone on Twilight Zone. I also appreciate Pittman’s confidence to rely so heavily on visual storytelling techniques, taking into account that the high quality at which we watch the show now does not reflect the quality home viewers would have had in 1961. It reflects both Serling and the producers belief that viewers would be fully engaged in watching the show as it aired rather than just passively having it on in the family room while unwinding after dinner. 

Elizabeth Montgomery’s performance heightens the whole affair considerably. That’s no shade on Charles Bronson, in fact I think the monologuing he’s given could have come off as unbearably hokey if delivered by a lesser actor.

If you can believe it, this is my very first time cosplaying The Twilight Zone! (Though I did play Rod Serling in a set of sketches in high school. I was as weird as a teenager as I am an adult, okay?) If you didn’t already know, I run another blog called Twilight Zone in Close-ups, examining the powerful use of close-up shots on the show by testing out how much of each episode’s story can be communicated solely by its close-up shots.

☕ Buy me a coffee! ☕

#1960s #1961 #elizabeth montgomery #the twilight zone #Twilight Zone #rod serling #classic television #television #closet cosplay #cosplay #television history #OTD #science fiction #speculative fiction #horror #1960s tv #tv

[oliveroctavius]

I got this ask on main but thought I'd pick it up here, my comics history/fashion ramble blog. I'd been wondering this exact same thing recently, and Google initially wasn't much help—Rocketeer replica jackets describe themselves only as "Rocketeer jackets" and the one Lobster Johnson cosplay thread just suggested ordering one of those.

The most curious part is the double seam and horizonal row of buttons that mark out the entire front as possibly being an unbuttonable "bib", like a plastron front. (Please don't ask how late in the game I worked out that "plastron" is the right word for that.)

The closest genuine Golden Age example of a plastron jacket I found was the military tunic style uniform of Blackhawk, created in 1941.

(Pics from the '52 movie serial (right) really show how awkward it is to combine open lapels + plastron. On a double breasted coat, that chest panel IS the bottom lapel, folded shut.)

Here's the thing: This outfit mirrors that of the Nazi ace pilot he fights in the origin issue, von Tepp (middle). And compare further to the far right: real life WWI flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, AKA the Red Baron, in imperial German Uhlan (lance cavalry) uniform.

"The Germans had designed such great costumes, we decided to use them ourselves," co-creator Cuidera is quoted as saying in Steranko's History of Comics, which (more dubiously, in my opinion) compares the look to the Gestapo or SS. Breeches or jodhpurs weren't strictly a Nazi thing at the time, but they do add to the overall effect.

Compare two other military tunic themed costumes from 1940, on Captain Marvel and Bucky Barnes. These are asymmetrically buttoned, and switch to a more classic circus strongman look below the waist.

But somewhere around 1975, with the Invaders book, Bucky gets a buttoned bib! There's something infectious about it—the symmetry, maybe. (Even re: the characters we started with; Mignola didn't draw Lobster Johnson with buttons down the right side, but every artist after does. And Spider-Noir wore a sweater under his coat until Shattered Dimensions introduced the double-breasted vest.)

If it didn't reach his belt, Barnes' button-on front + shirt collar combo would resemble a bib-front western shirt, like the one that became the Rawhide Kid's signature look in '56. (Or Texas Twister's in '76.)

This shirt entered the old-West-obsessed public imagination in the 1940s/50s largely because John Wayne wore it in several cowboy movies. In reality it was rare among cowboys, more common with firefighters and civil war era militia.

Military tunics, Western shirts, alright, but does anything match the style and material and era, or are these jackets a total anachronism? I tried looking into 1930s leather flight jackets and was surprised when the closest-looking results were marked as Luftwaffe.

It took me a bit to work out why: USAF and RAF issued standard flight jackets with a center closure. The Luftwaffe instead let their pilots buy non-standardized ones. The 'weird' double-breasted black German flight jackets were in fact fairly normal (but repurposed) motorcycle racing jackets.

Far left is an English biker's jacket that dates back to the 1920s. Even without the bib, this may be as close as you'll get to an authentic Rocketeer. The jodhpurs were pretty common to complete the look. (What was an early motorcycle anyways, if not a weird metal horse?) The first biker jacket with the now iconic off-center diagonal zip was designed in America in 1928 and yet as far as I can tell, not a single actual pre-war pulp hero wore one.

The greatest weakness of this post is that I haven't been able to find any of these artists' notes on how, exactly, they arrived at similar versions of this iconic Pulp Front Panel Jacket. I'm sure I've missed some things. But as far as I can tell, this jacket is an odd bit of convergent stylistic evolution from the above influences that's picked up enough momentum to now be self-perpetuating.

The problem with pulp heroes is that for the most part, they just wore clothes. The appeal of this jacket is actually very similar to what the 1940s thought the appeal of the bib-front shirt in westerns was: It's alien enough to feel "old". It looks like something invented before zippers or synthetic fabrics. It looks formal and militant but also renegade, rebellious. It also looks a little mad-sciencey*. It's a costume, but you can nearly fool yourself into thinking the past was weird enough that you could find something this cool on the rack.

If I wanted to end on some grand point, I could try to argue that there's a thematic throughline between fascist fashion, John Wayne movies, and throwback pulp. A manufactured aesthetic valorizing the violence of a fictional golden age... but I think the noir stylings of the post-Rocketeer comics in this lineup mean that, at least on some level, they know the "good guys" didn't dress like this.

*If I had another couple weeks of time to burn, I'd try to trace the visual history of the Howie coat in popular culture and investigate its possible connections to this. Alas, I do actually have a life.

#thank you for reading. also don't read golden age blackhawks the racism is awful even by era standards. #comics history #costume taxonomy #<- forgot I had that tag. #not to be like ''in MY favorite comics...'' again but may I point out that Hellboy and Robo and Tom Strong just wear... clothes #like. yknow. A pulp series that had confidence in itself rather than trying to cosplay as eras it thinks were cooler might do- #[I am yanked offstage before I can restart that rant] #the rocketeer

[cosplayinamerica]

A selection of cosplay photos taken by Hayama-SB at Otakon 1998 as found on FLickr.

#cosplay #cosplay history #otakon #otakon 1998

[anna-neko]

...sorry, every1 probly sick of this, but I still cannot wrap my brain around this very simple fact - when am remembered**

Just.... be me. Pop onto a Twitch to watch some ancient nerdy VHS stream (it was being digitized, and the person threw the gates wide open)

Now important note here: dunno about you kids and your carefully created "brand" on socials (what with adding "official" or "the" etc).... but back in da day of AOL/AIM you picked a weeb-name and that is forever ya damn name on everything since!

so anyway! I pop in, and my screen-name on there is some benign nonsense Them: hey there , welcome Me: <<< ---- anna Them: Annanekochan?! oh shiz me: the one and only!

That very specific combination of letters ain't been used since recorded history doesn't go back that far at least 2002 and holy fuck dude, you remembered me?!?!?! From that freakin long ago!??!!? was ready to straight up start bawling at my screen Is this how the Soap Opera grandmas feel when they are suddenly called by ages-long-abandoned nickname?

Like sure, the East Coast cosplay scene was way smaller then, but even by those numbers the fact am remembered is absolutely making me full of feels over here

**not like, "oh saw you last year" but seriously, we talkin decade+ timelines here. People met me ahlf a lifetime ago and somehow still recall? Positive nerd stories? BLESS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

anyway, perhaps some more history-inclined have heard legends of Man-Faye, or Sailor Bubba .... but are you deep-cut lore enuff to have heard of SAILOR BACON! (or a Dan Hibiki cosplayer snortin pixie-sticks. It was a dumb goof that one time)

#i call myself oldtaku for a reason #cosplay #fandom history #cosplay history #early anime con culture #anime cons #oldtaku cosplayers shout out! #damn what even is time #this idiot has a very fragile delicate ego and damn did teh refill meter just fill up for a week

[tygerland]

Anton Yelchin - 2012 - from the book In Case of Fire (Cash Machine, 2019) .

#anton yelchin #gender #cosplay #books #photos #people #culture #lifestyle #2010s #celebs #actor #actors #scene #the secret history #guys #movies #motel #portrait #nightlife #aesthetic #🕊️

[astriiformes]

Comparing your work to other people's is a great way to kill your joy for a thing so let me be clear and say this is not that, I am just a human person with human emotions and sometimes that means needing to be the tiniest bit petty and then moving on. You know. For your health or something.

There is a very popular cosplayer who coincidentally keeps doing the same costumes as me, and I am just the tiniest bit annoyed about it, because as is the case with many (...most) very popular cosplayers, they have a very specific, airbrushed, conventionally attractive, perfect makeup, etc aesthetic to all their photos that is. Not what I personally value in cosplay, at least. Which is fine! Different people having different approaches to costumes is part of what makes cosplay such an interesting hobby!

But it does bother me a tiny bit that the work I put into my costumes is not necessarily the kind of work that gets attention, and it does make it a little glaringly obvious when it's The Same Characters.

(Also you all know the kinds of characters I cosplay. I gravitate towards them in part because they have weird energy, not super put together attractive energy. But that's only part of my point.)

Anyways. I do not follow them on Instagram because why would I do that, but nonetheless I saw that they're apparently also doing a Laois cosplay now, which I guarantee will get lots more attention than mine. And for the most part that's fine, I love cosplay and I love doing my weird little thing and I especially love that I do in fact know other people that value the same things as me & that we have fun together. I will have a great time in my fun little costume, dressing up with my friends in their fun little costumes and I am looking forward to it. And I do not actually need likes to validate that I am becoming a pretty damn good cosplayer (whose stuff is better quality than many popular cosplayers' because I care more about craftsmanship than I do getting attention). I am even thinking pretty seriously about having Laois be my first ever competition costume if the armor turns out alright, because I think I'm genuinely getting to that level.

But it would just be kind of neat if being a weird little guy with weird little ideas who is into the hobby because I like sourcing historical patterns and materials and thinking about the worldbuilding that goes into costumes and creating neat little "in-universe" ephemera to hand out to people and all the things I like didn't always mean getting overshadowed by Instagram Perfect Attractive People.

Alas. Okay glad that's out of my system I'm normal again. I'm going to make some more chain mail.

#me with my 150 whole instagram followers: what do you mean the people aren't into gremlins who make their own chainmail #i got spoiled with andreas because there are like three andreas cosplayers in the entire world and we're all feral history nerds #who have geeked out together about the character/costume #but alas. i like a popular thing again #actually okay i have one more serious thing to say and that's that i don't even have it the worst #i've seen friends who are way more self conscious about their bodies than me get really sad over this before #and i do not blame them because they are all really talented cosplayers who do not get the attention that they deserve #i wish people got as excited about passion and good craftsmanship as they do. well. you know #anyways. that's why i like my little cosplay circle so much. i'm glad i've found people with the same priorities as me