The Illusion of Cosplay by Pikmin Link

The Cosplay community and how it’s viewed changed a lot in the years. Watching it change makes me wonder why I still do it sometimes. One reason is because it’s fun and I ENJOY It. I love making cosplay. Some people show their love for their fandoms in different ways. I do it by cosplay. I love bringing my favorite characters to life.

Its sad to see how much of a deal gender is in cosplay now. You know what? Gender is not important. If I saw a dude pull off a really good female character and they’re able to fool you, that just goes to show that people are able to do more other than make/buy a costume and put it on. It shows that they put more work into the ‘image’ of the character. Same goes for a girl who pulls off a guy character the same way. It’s sad to see gender being a huge thing now that THAT is what decides a good cosplay. Now there are people out there that feel that they don’t want to question their sexuality because of them. You know what? You liked what you saw, not who they really are. There’s a difference. I’ve seen cosplayers pull off amazing opposite gender cosplays to the point where you can’t even tell. And when I find out who they are, I think to myself.. ‘wow, that was really cool!’ It shows how much work they put into this ‘illusion’. If they fooled you, that means they were successful.

And then there is this word- Crossplay. What is that?? Since when is the word “cosplay” a gender related word? ‘Cosplay (コスプレ, kosupure?), short for “costume play”,[1] is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea.’ There’s no crossplay in the original description for cosplay. Regardless of gender, it’s still a costume play -cosplay.

 I think cosplay is about fun, and bringing characters to life and pulling them out of their world and bringing them into ours. It shouldn’t be about whats in their pants. It’s not like anything is going to happen from that anyway.

– this was from her Facebook notes. i couldn’t agree more. it’s all about execution. if you can pull it off really well, then i bow to you

*her official webpage: www.pikminlink.com