Cosplay at a con - How much attention do you want?

I have to say I like the attention. To me cons are sober Halloween x10, which was already my favorite party of the year. I just accept that I won't be able to get around quickly at all and so have no set schedule when in costume. Next month in my upgraded near-9' Devastator costume it will be even more so. Whomever is with me knows the drill as well, so it's all good.

This'll be my 3rd con...here are how I appeared as Optimus Prime 9.1 scale toy, and Megatron cartoon. the Devatator pic is from Halloween...upgrades will be going on until the last hour I'm sure..!

I really feed off of other peoples' energy, so I really like taking pictures with people and getting stopped by people. I usually do costumes that have a pretty large following, but I typically don't do costumes that have a HUGE following (I've never done a Marvel character).

If I am going to put on a costume that is hot, I can't hardly see out of, and is hard to move around in... I really hope it brings joy and excitement to some people seeing a character in person. That's really why I do it.

kialna said:

I like to compete, just to perform in front of an audience. When I wear a costume, I become a character. Showing it off to an audience, and have a reaction from that audience, makes me feel amazing. I've had the biggest applause in three consecutive years, but not because my costumes were the very best. But because I play with the people. This sometimes continues off-stage. It gives you a kind of attention but I don't know... I like seeing some pictures, but generally i just enjoy hanging around with my friend and have fun times. Or nice photoshoots with scenery.

Click to expand...

I feel the exact same way! We all cosplay for different reasons and I think the attention factor definitely stems from why we like to cosplay in the first place! I cosplay because I absolutely love trying to do the characters I choose justice (like most cosplayers), I love thoroughly becoming the character in their personality as well, it just means that I get to BE my favorite people for a day and that's the best feeling in the world. I choose characters not based on the "WOW" factor but based on who I love regardless of if they will gain loads of attention or none at all.
That being said, I really dislike the attention that some of the men at conventions seem give to women, it goes hand in hand with the whole "cosplay is not consent" movement. I often got treated pretty poorly when cosplaying as female characters. After this happened I decided it was much better to crossplay because when I did, I would get noticed for my craftsmanship WAY more. Even though I cosplay both men and women at conventions, I tend to solely do male characters now. I really like when people admire the work and talent behind the costume and when I get noticed for my attention to detail and accuracy Turning heads because people think you look EXACTLY like the character you're portraying is the best kind of attention, although any positive attention is amazing! It's always the best when you get the hardcore fans totally geeking out over you and you can just share what you love about the character/series and maybe even make new friends.
I also really love attention from other cosplayers, because you can share tips/tricks etc and having a fellow cosplayer comment on your costume really makes you feel good about your work because they know the kind of hard work that goes into it all.

I have been to load of cons but yet to go in costume, a trend that I find concerning is recently I seen video production companies filming female cosplayers in what I presume there's or some ones hotel room I understand photo shoots, videos in and around the convention but where is filming a cosplayer in her room leading to also i think we all agree with cosplay is not consent but if video production companies are taking lingering cleavage and almost upskirt shots is that not portraying and image that cosplayers would rather avoid and though those shots may have been taken on the day some one edited the footage and kept it in. The cosplay community should be promoted not prostituted.


Oxford Dictionaries: prostitued


put (oneself or one's talents) to an unworthy or corrupt use for personal or financial gain:

ECCC is going to be the first con that I wear an armor cosplay at and I have no idea what to expect as far as attention goes.

I'm cosplaying as a battle damaged Samus, so there's the fear that no one will recognize my cosplay or I'll receive criticism for having her armor blown off because "that would never happen to the real Samus" or "that zero suit doesn't go with that varia suit variation" and blaaahhhh.

I want to get some professional photos done, but it didn't even occur to me to schedule any photoshoots at the con until it was too late. I'm secretly hoping that people would want to take photos of me and that might be a little vain of me, but at the same time I've worked on my cosplay for months and it would be nice to have someone appreciate the finished product.

So my philosophy is expect the worst but hope for the best.

Personally I'm not to keen on the attention cosplaying brings, which is maybe why I go for costumes that cover the face. I do for the fun, because I enjoyed seeing all these like minded folks around dressed in costumes and discussing with them about it. Then there are also these kind of moments :

Which are well worth sweating like a pig in an expensive suit you're kinda afraid of breaking if you move too much :lol Seriously, seeing the smile on that kid's face, and his parents, made my day. It happens every con, and I look forward to it every time.

gothic said:

I have been to load of cons but yet to go in costume, a trend that I find concerning is recently I seen video production companies filming female cosplayers in what I presume there's or some ones hotel room I understand photo shoots, videos in and around the convention but where is filming a cosplayer in her room leading to also i think we all agree with cosplay is not consent but if video production companies are taking lingering cleavage and almost upskirt shots is that not portraying and image that cosplayers would rather avoid and though those shots may have been taken on the day some one edited the footage and kept it in. The cosplay community should be promoted not prostituted.


Oxford Dictionaries: prostitued


put (oneself or one's talents) to an unworthy or corrupt use for personal or financial gain:

Click to expand...

I have to agree. Those videos are almost entirely focusing on female cosplayers with "sexy" outfits. They seem to go for sex appeal rather than showing off the craftsmanship and passion that cosplay is all about. It's kinda sad to see.

i just think its an insult to all the cosplayers who spend months planning and executing there costumes who get upstaged by a production company who motives are not in keeping with the event but with a sexy sells agenda . cosplayers should be able to wear there costumes without being objectified are sexualised. were all aware that some cosplay outfits are revealing some by there original design and some adapted to be more revealing in particular some of the professional cosplayers seem to go out of there way to make them more revealing because they need to make a living selling there pictures.
but at what point dose it stop being cosplay and start being about selling yourself dose a tiny bikini and a set of ewok ears mean your cosplaying an ewok ?

After many cons spent being amazed by the costumes, the wife and I decided two years ago to jump into the deep end of the pool (despite us both being very introverted and normally loathe being the center of attention) and went as Skeksi from the Dark Crystal. The attention was at times annoying (took us almost 4 hours to cross the venue and ended up with a voulenteer stepping in to do crowd dispersal and us missing the costume contest sign ups) in the end it made it all incredible. The amazed looks from kids were awesome, but the best kicks I got were from the adults who's jaws dropped and they proceeded to babble about how they adored the movie and hadn't thought about or seen it in years, but we rekindled their excitement/horror (that I still don't get) that they felt decades ago watching it. We got stopped for ages by people asking for pics with the "vulture people", but the ones that "got it" made all the work, tears, hot glue burns, and late night swearing rants totally worth it.

Always love being asked about how we make stuff as well, and have spent hours talking to others (cosplayers and non-cosplayers) about making this or that (and have ended up creating a few converts as a bonus). Leaving new stuff and trading ideas is great fun and helps out everyone overall.

I also agree that there is a line between cosplayer and model that seems to get blurred or forgotten by a lot of the general public (and even the usual con-going population). I don't feel characters need to be "sexed up" personally. If that's your thing then go for it...just don't pass one off as the other.

I think the model element is the root cause of the harassment cosplayers they seem to go out of there way for the attention and limelight and wrongly people think that everyone else want that attention too. Cosplayers are there to have a good day as there favourite character and if someone takes there photo or praises there costume it a compliment. I know its sounds like I'm being anti female cosplay but I'm a big fan of female cosplayers like Lighting cosplay, Axceleration cosplay, Kamui cosplay they offer great hep and advise and online tutorials to help other cosplayers and people like Mango sirene offer positive outlook on the cosplay community. they all are offering there advice and talent not themselves.

Attention does not bother me. I have to say if attention bothers you and you plan on wearing a costume to a con you might want to think again about it. Depending on the co nand costume you can get a lot of attention while dressed as a character.