Tag: personal

Halloween from a Cosplayer’s Perspective

Halloween is the one night a year a cosplayer can cosplay in public and not be stared at, laughed at, or generally ridiculed. Cosplay has definitely become more mainstream over the last few years, but as someone who’s been in cosplay communities since the early 2010s, it has not alway been this peachy. There has always been confusion in where the line is drawn between cosplay and simply dressing up, but I’m here to explain it (at least from my own opinion and experiences). 

I’ve seen a lot of people using the term “cosplay” to refer to basically any form of acting like or dressing up as something. For instance, when Carhartt clothes grew popular amongst more wealthy people, many used the phrase “cosplaying blue collar” to describe their style. Another example is when “underconsumption core” became a popular idea on Tik Tok, many wealthy creators were called out for “cosplaying poverty” because they were taking many things that lower class families have to do to get by and reframing them as aesthetic. 

I hate that cosplay is being thrown around like this. First of all, it’s not the correct use of the word. I suggest using “roleplaying as ___” or simply “pretending to be ___”. Secondly, the term cosplay was created with the Japanese word “kosupure” in mind, which means “costume play” in English. Kosupure refers to a specific performance art of dressing up as characters from media. It’s not “costume play” if someone isn’t dressing as a character… I could go on this rant forever. Stop using “cosplay” when you mean something entirely different.

Rant over, let’s talk about Halloween. So what’s the difference between cosplay and dressing up on halloween? Ultimately, not much. In my opinion, the key difference is the motivation for dressing up. Cosplay is tied to 80s-90s nerd/geek culture and began as a form of self expression and a way to show one’s dedication to a character/piece of media. For many years, cosplayers crafted their own cosplays and props and many still do today. You can still be a cosplayer if you don’t make your entire piece on your own, but cosplay’s origins almost always portray cosplay as just as much of a craft as it is a hobby. On Halloween, you might build your entire costume and dress up as that specific character because you love them dearly, but this is when you need to ask yourself an important question: Would you be doing this if it wasn’t Halloween? If the answer is no, I believe that is the key factor separating cosplay and Halloween costumes. If the answer is yes, then you should! You don’t have to post about it or anything, just have fun as your favorite character. I hope to see you at the next local cosplay convention.

Surprises in Unlikely Places

Last weekend my family and I were deep cleaning our house in preparation for a party. My grandfather’s birthday is October 27th and we’ve agreed to host his birthday dinner at our house. We aren’t necessarily messy people, but we’re a family of four creatives who also have issues with hoarding sentimental objects so our main issue is organization. My dad and I were focused on moving things to storage that no longer needed to be at our house while my sibling and mom focused on cleaning the inside and fixing up some broken appliances. 

My dad and I spent most of our time outside on the side porch. There were two large boxes full of cleaning supplies, caked in dust and grime. After going through them, most were things my mom had been looking for and they were quickly re-organized inside where they belong. There were also two medium sized containers of pet treatments, all of which were 10 or more years old. To my dad’s disappointment, we had to throw away at least one full bottle of flea treatment. 

Once the side porch was cleared of all unnecessary things, my dad swept and dusted as best he could. Later, my sibling and I helped my dad move an outside table from the front porch to the newly cleaned side porch. While we were moving the table, we decided to finally open the large, industrial freezer-shaped box that sits in the corner of the porch. We hadn’t opened it because we assumed it was more outside items that needed to be there, but our curiosity got the best of us. There were a load of unlabeled boxes and bags, none of which needed to sit outside any longer. My dad started rifling through one of the boxes and found a bunch of plates, napkins, utensils, and decorations for a birthday party. We immediately decided to store them for my grandad’s upcoming party. 

My dad pulled out a drawstring bag that had my deadname written on it and handed it to me as he continued to rifle through the trunk. I opened the bag and found at least half of a collection that I had convinced myself I’d lost years ago. Deep in this dirty bag, buried in a trunk out on my porch for the past however many years- my Monster High dolls. There were a few Ever After High dolls and even one My Little Pony doll as well. I was hit with immediate excitement, nostalgia, and indescribable joy. I took the bag inside to begin sorting through what all was in there. It was not my complete collection, but it gave me the confidence that I would find the rest of them.