Standing Out

I'm the kind of girl who is almost repelled by popularity. If I see something is getting an abnormally large amount of fans, I tend to avoid it. Unless a personal friend or someone I admire recommends it, of course, because I will give just about anything a try. It's not really so much that I dislike something because it's popular, but more because I like to go for the underdog. I think like this, "Well, that's getting a lot of attention, it doesn't really need more. Let's find something that isn't getting the appreciation it deserves."

So I've been studying trends in cosplay and trying to find what people are saying isn't being cosplayed enough. I want to do something different from the overly cosplayed characters. I want to give something to the fans who are like me, who gravitate towards shows and games that don't get enough attention. Unfortunately, the results of my search were unhelpful. While I also loved quite a few suggestions, a lot of them were from the slice-of-life/high school genre.

These shows are great, they truly are. They often have very deep stories, complicated characters, and beautiful artwork and music. They are appealing because there is always something or someone we can relate to. But they are horrible for choosing cosplay costumes! Why? Because the costumes are all very ordinary.

I don't like to admit it, but part of why I cosplay is because I want to stand out. I want to get noticed. I want people to flock to me and want my picture. I spend so much of my life hiding behind the scenes. I don't demand to get noticed in every day life, I just like to keep things under control so others can have more time enjoying themselves. I kid you not, there is a video of me at a friend's 4th birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese, and while everyone is playing in the ballpit, laughing and throwing balls at each other and whatnot, I'm walking around the outside picking up stray balls and gently placing them back in.

That is why, just for a short weekend out of each year, I'd like to go to a convention and be noticed. I'm not about to spend all this time sewing a costume for Generic High School Girl C to be cast off as a closet cosplay or even a non-cosplaying attendee. And it's not just about the attention, it's also for the challenge. How is a basic shirt and skirt going to challenge my sewing abilities? It won't. And something I've always believed is anything worth doing in life is the most challenging. There is no joy or sense of accomplishment in doing something easy.

I believe the best genres for choosing a cosplay is from fantasy and sci-fi. The costumes and characters are extraordinary and eye-catching. They provide so much for creativity. The costumes call for great amounts of detail and the stories provide out-of-this-world fodder for skits and videos. We spend so much time as ordinary people in real life, isn't cosplay our opportunity to step out of that for a little while and be someone different? So why would we cosplay High School Girl when we could stand out for once as Sky Pirate Captain?