Cosplay Island | Live Action Cosplay

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31 Mar 2010 - 00:49	29068
ActuallyEJG Joined: 22 Feb 2010 Posts: 1	Live Action Cosplay How do people feel about live action cosplay on this site? I tend to only do live action characters so was quite surprised when someone said to me that they didn't know people cosplayed live action. I notice there's a lot more popularity surrounding anime and game cosplays on sites like this one and deviantART. So I was wondering if you think this is down to recognition of those characters more or people seem to expect them to be cosplayed, what are your views?

31 Mar 2010 - 01:56	29070
xaerael Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 530	costuming as live action characters has been around in the west a lot longer than "cosplay", so people generally don't associate most live action costumers as "cosplayers". (eg, the stormtrooper guys at expo, etc as an extreme example). cosplay, and the term "cosplay" only came over here in a big way when anime finally became popular, and people started to discover the different aspects of the anime/VG community in japan. with it being mostly the UK anime community who use the term "cosplay", you're most likely to find with 99% of instances where "cosplay" is used to describe costuming, the source will be anime/VG related. as another example, you wouldn't call a non-media related fursuiter a cosplayer. they're a fursuiter. __________________ Last edited by xaerael (31 Mar 2010 - 01:57)

31 Mar 2010 - 11:16	29084
NixieThePixie Joined: 12 Jan 2010 Posts: 2011	I think what it really is honestly is that you have to look a lot more accurate to pull of a live action character and thus people generally avoid it. In Anime/Manga/etc, the characters really can be from anywhere - they have western characteristics as well as eastern ones. In live action, they look rather specific. For example, to pull of Booth from Bones (http://sharetv.org/images/bones/cast/large/special_agent_seeley_booth.jpg) you're gonna have to look somewhat similar to him, and you have to be white for it to work and to look more like him. __________________

31 Mar 2010 - 13:34	29091
Wyrdsister Joined: 30 Nov 2009 Posts: 77	do you mean wearing costume from films/movies /tv rather than anime or video games? That would be what I do, I consider myself as a costumer rather than a cosplayer but in the end it's more or less the same hobby/ craft/ passion /creative outlet. As for having to be more accurate, I dont think that's true. I have seen amazing anime costume as well as amazing live action costume. That's all down to the person making the costume. Of course if you look like a film/tv actor, then you're away, but that's all relative as well. It all depends what kind of character you want to portray. The Booth exeemple is a good one, as he wears a suit and thats a bit tricky to pull off if you don't look like him. Cosplay started off as costuming in the US and was embrassed by the japanese who put their anime stamp on it. Last edited by Wyrdsister (31 Mar 2010 - 13:40)

31 Mar 2010 - 13:46	29093
Odangochan Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 304	It pretty much boils down to the events you attend. I started my costume-making at science-fiction events, so they were all "live action", to use your term. And I still make the odd LA costume here and there, too, but for the most part, the live action costumers go to one kind of event, and the anime/game costumers go to another. I fell out of love with the sci-fi con scene and switched to anime, thus my costumes are largely anime/game related now as that's what the events I now attend really cater for. Some events, like the London Expos, LFCC, Memorabilia etc are equally welcoming of both, of course. I've noticed that there seems to be three categories of costume maker. There's the historical type, who usually goes for historical reproduction-type costumes, and will sometimes venture into other types of costume that have a similar bent, such as Lord of the Rings. These people often have sewing as a main hobby and are slightly older. Their events are usually just about costumes, or may be literary-based, and craftsmanship is highly prized. There's the sci-fi costumer, of the type I used to be, who generally does the costumes purely for fun; it's not uncommon to see stuff that's mostly bought, because the competitions tend not to be based heavily on craftsmanship but rather originality and performance - the conventions are based more around guests from media than costumes. And there's the "cosplayers", who mostly do costumes from anime and games, to varying levels of seriousness. Anime/game events very actively encourage cosplaying just on a social basis. The third group has, somehow, become the largest, and as such this site primarily caters for them, but the origins of the word "cosplay", though Japanese, are simply the words "costume" and "play". So if you make ANY kind of costume, and have fun in it, I reckon you can call that cosplay. And as such it's welcome on this site

31 Mar 2010 - 15:00	29094
xaerael Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 530	i so shouldn't post at 2am while waiting for lost to appear... my post is gibberish! Quote Odangochan: So if you make ANY kind of costume, and have fun in it, I reckon you can call that cosplay. And as such it's welcome on this site and THIS. totally. you just have to remember we're doing this for fun. doesn't matter what you're costuming in, doesn't matter whether you make or buy, doesn't matter if you do one costume or a thousand. __________________ Last edited by xaerael (31 Mar 2010 - 15:09)

31 Mar 2010 - 15:05	29095
FairyPorchQueen Joined: 12 May 2009 Posts: 301	i DONT KNOW WHAT I AM ANYMORE NOW! lol haha, so confused! I do a bit of all of them __________________ ~~If You'll Be My Star, I'll Be Your Sky~~

31 Mar 2010 - 15:10	29096
xaerael Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 530	Quote FairyPorchQueen: i DONT KNOW WHAT I AM ANYMORE NOW! lol haha, so confused! I do a bit of all of them haha, me too. i do anime, live action, fursuits, puppets, originals.... xD __________________

31 Mar 2010 - 16:26	29098
Joshua Joined: 05 Sep 2009 Posts: 64	Live action hero It never occured to me that live action was anything but cosplay, but I see where you are coming from. I think the barriers, if existant at all, are blurred anyway. Think of the manga/anime like DOA made as live action films, and then further cross overs with "Beowulf" and "300" which were motion/action capture. If you cosplay them, which or what, are you cosplaying. I could go on for ages.......and all to often do........ __________________ Joshua

31 Mar 2010 - 20:05	29112
Sephirayne Joined: 21 Feb 2008 Posts: 1776	Quote Odangochan: It pretty much boils down to the events you attend. I started my costume-making at science-fiction events, so they were all "live action", to use your term. And I still make the odd LA costume here and there, too, but for the most part, the live action costumers go to one kind of event, and the anime/game costumers go to another. I fell out of love with the sci-fi con scene and switched to anime, thus my costumes are largely anime/game related now as that's what the events I now attend really cater for. Some events, like the London Expos, LFCC, Memorabilia etc are equally welcoming of both, of course. I've noticed that there seems to be three categories of costume maker. There's the historical type, who usually goes for historical reproduction-type costumes, and will sometimes venture into other types of costume that have a similar bent, such as Lord of the Rings. These people often have sewing as a main hobby and are slightly older. Their events are usually just about costumes, or may be literary-based, and craftsmanship is highly prized. There's the sci-fi costumer, of the type I used to be, who generally does the costumes purely for fun; it's not uncommon to see stuff that's mostly bought, because the competitions tend not to be based heavily on craftsmanship but rather originality and performance - the conventions are based more around guests from media than costumes. And there's the "cosplayers", who mostly do costumes from anime and games, to varying levels of seriousness. Anime/game events very actively encourage cosplaying just on a social basis. The third group has, somehow, become the largest, and as such this site primarily caters for them, but the origins of the word "cosplay", though Japanese, are simply the words "costume" and "play". So if you make ANY kind of costume, and have fun in it, I reckon you can call that cosplay. And as such it's welcome on this site I couldn't put it better myself. Great post. Basically I'm the same as Odangochan (we knew each other from sci-fi events). I started out as a sci-fi costumer in the late 80's early 90's. It was all about showing which character/ species you were a fan of. Also about haviung fun. Most costumes were done for laughs. My love for sci-fi cons did lessen. I still go to them but not as much as used to. I discovered anime/gaming cons only recently (had a love for it for years). I did notice that cosplay was taken more seriously and more character play was involved. I do love LA cosplay and still do some to this day. I think all forms of cosplay are welcome here as its all part of being part of a community thats creative and fun. __________________

31 Mar 2010 - 21:19	29122
Ranma1-2 Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 527	Quote ActuallyEJG: How do people feel about live action cosplay on this site? I tend to only do live action characters so was quite surprised when someone said to me that they didn't know people cosplayed live action. I notice there's a lot more popularity surrounding anime and game cosplays on sites like this one and deviantART. So I was wondering if you think this is down to recognition of those characters more or people seem to expect them to be cosplayed, what are your views? I don't think of any distinctions between live action or anime, etc. To me any character can be cosplayed. Wearing the costume and role playing the character make it cosplay imo, weather it's Harry Potter or Sailor Moon, Lady GaGa or Chun Li. My last cosplay was Velma Kelly from a live action film Chicago, and I did it at Midland Expo. No-one boo'd me for that ..it went down really well. The only distinctions I see are in the events themselves, eg some cons are anime only, some cons are sci-fi only. And if a person turns up wearing the 'wrong' genre some folks can get upperty about it. I personally preferr the events where any and all characters are welcome so there's none of those bad feelings. Here on this site there is a mixed bag actually, and we all get along really nicely without seeing those distinctions, just cosplayers having fun and making costumes. I think it is fair to say there is quite a young demographic and outlook here as well. And that is why there is a large proportion of anime and game chars represented. People do the characters they are interested in. In my experience some of the older costumers like to call themselves costumers rather than cosplayers becasue they think of cosplayers as amatures 'playing'. They are more serious about it all, and you will find them on their own specialised forums and fan sites.

01 Apr 2010 - 01:40	29133
Wyrdsister Joined: 30 Nov 2009 Posts: 77	Quote Ranma1-2: In my experience some of the older costumers like to call themselves costumers rather than cosplayers becasue they think of cosplayers as amatures 'playing'. They are more serious about it all, and you will find them on their own specialised forums and fan sites. I don't know...I think there's an element of roleplay with cosplayers than you don't find with costumers...or at least not to the same degree. I don't think it's a question of amateurism.

02 Apr 2010 - 00:48	29166
Ranma1-2 Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 527	Quote Wyrdsister: I don't know...I think there's an element of roleplay with cosplayers than you don't find with costumers...or at least not to the same degree. I don't think it's a question of amateurism. The costumers distance themselves from cosplay because they see the play part as being like as in childsplay. When in fact we know that it is more to do with roleplay. It's a misconception about the meaning of the word. But also I do think they look down on cosplayers costumes as being amaturish compared to their own often expensive 'screen accurate' costumes. This is my experience from talking with costumers about how they see cosplayers. It's also why I really didn't want to join them. I found much more love and fun with cosplayers. So that's why even though I am a lot older I still stick around. I'd rather be a cosplayer and have fun.

05 Apr 2010 - 18:10	29291
Otaku-Trioka Joined: 29 Aug 2009 Posts: 12	Quote Ranma1-2: I'd rather be a cosplayer and have fun. Agreed. I'm not really an anime fan at all but I think that whole element brought into Cosplay by anime fans is definately a large part of what makes cosplay so popular now. The main difference as far as i've seen is the enthusiasm for the character- as apposed to enthusiasm for the costume- which just lifts the mood. Sure, I was making costumes from sci-fi shows long before I joined the Trioka, but I only really began to enjoy it once I was emersed in the Cosplay environment. Our group only ever cosplays Anime characters, despite my urging otherwise, but doing that means that when I do individual live action cosplays, I can enjoy it alot more. As people have said, it's hard to cosplay a live-action character if you don't resemble them even a little, but like with any character, that can be worked on with make-up, and providing you don't care too much about being recognised it's (i personally find) actually easier to hold onto the essense of a character and have some fun with it; since a lot of anime characters are so un-naturalistic and over the top. The best part about live-action cosplay as far as i'm concerned is how well you can get fabrics/ hair etc. to behave exactly as they should for a character, since some costume worker has already done it on camera for you to see and learn from. Like with all cosplay it can be as accurate as you want to make it (for example, my Miho cosplay from Sin City: I'm not asian but the costume is as accurate as possible and - with any luck- gives off the same de-saturated look/style)but what really matters is whether you enjoy playing the character (with which i mean, to play/to act/to performance, not to play/to game). <<< a convoluted way of saying: live action cosplay is just the same as any other kind of cosplay. enjoy it and it's worth it.

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