I have been waiting forever for you to show us pics of your suit and Wow you can never disappoint.
Lunaman,
Great stuff as always.
Haha, thanks guys.
Question for you and other experienced cosplayers: when you suit up and head to a public place like a movie theater for the fun of it, do you just show up and wait for the photo ops? Or do you have any sort of "performance" planned? Just curious as I'm more on the shy side, but want to show off my suit a bit and make the kids smile. Thanks in advance.
Well, for starters, call the theater ahead of time and ask about their costume policy and inform them that you'll be suiting up, make sure they're alright with you doing so. Some places have security concerns when it comes to concealing your face, even cinemas (in the wake of the theater shooting at a midnight screening of the Dark Knight Rises a couple years ago). So when they know you'll be there and security is understanding, you can ask where it's appropriate to hang out, you don't want to cause a traffic jam near ticket lines or what have you because people have their phones up.
I usually just find a spot where I can perch on a bench or something (with permission) and then wave or say hi to anybody that stops to look. People are more willing to come up to you or ask for a photo if you acknowledge them when they are looking at you. Some kids are really shy and need to know they are "allowed" to go up to you, you'll often have moments where parents are having the "Just go up to him, I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you" discussion and if you can look over and wave and be friendly it makes the parent's job easier. Just keep an ear out.
You don't need a set performance, just behave as an ambassador for the character when people talk and ask questions, the act of dressing up is enough to draw people's curiosity and attention if they are spider-fans (and you'll have to remember that not everyone is a fan, and that's ok). You have to think of things from the perspective of the people walking by: there's a cool costume there, and if it's somewhere they can see it and they love the character, they might come say hi or ask for a pic, but if they're not into it, they can just keep walking and their evening is still pleasant. I'd rather have that setup than one where's I'm doing a noisy or acrobatic 'performance' that people can't ignore if they choose to. I err on the reserved side, though I will happily do a cool pose or whatever once someone opens up the interaction and interacts with me or requests it, but I don't feel like I should impose myself on people. I think the somewhat less frequent "Well, I could go for some ice cream...wait a second, is that spider-man over there? Whoa, holy crap, he's real!" reaction is much more rewarding than the polite clapping or nodding along the lines of "Oh, yea, there's a guy doing his Spider-Man schtick, I guess it's nice that the kids like him" reaction that would be more common if you're in people's faces a bit.
Just listen to people and respond from a place of love for the character, you'll get a sense of the common conversations pretty quickly. And for some reason a certain portion of people just want to shout or say something quick at you as they walk by, they're not trying to be rude, it's like a nervous social quirk where they kind of want to participate or provoke a response, but they don't want to have a full interaction. So when people just say "It's Spider-Man!" or "Look!" or "What's he doing here?" you can just respond with a quick "Hey, how's it going!" or "What's going on?" or "Just hanging around!" and they'll feel acknowleded and you don't have to stop their momentum.
Sometimes you'll get people with silly questions or demands like "Climb that wall!" or "Do a backflip!"
I usually respond with "You first!" and follow it up with "Haha, I don't do requests!" or "Maybe later!"
The majority of the time, the interaction is either a very simple "Cool suit" "Thank you!" or if they ask for a picture it's :
"Uh, hey, can I take a picture with/of you?"
"Absolutely! How are you guys doing tonight?"
"Haha, good!" *Click*
"Right on! ...Yea, put two fingers in the middle down like that. Yea, you got it."
"Thanks." *Click* *Click*
"Yea, sure! Does it look good? You can take another if it's blurry."
"It's great! New profile picture, thanks!"
"Sure thing, hope you guys have a good night!"
"Thanks, you too!"
And that's it.
If you're talking to a kid, just engage with them on their level, it's special that they feel acknowledged. As them what their name is, then use their name, ask them where they're from, how old they are, if they've seen the movies, who's their favorite villain, whatever gets them sharing a little and less nervous. Make it clear that
you're excited to meet
them. Then use their name again when they leave and say goodbye.