Cosplay Problems - Tumblr Posts
Today, I learned a valuable lesson. Never wait to order your wigs. I waited until I had a month to the con. And look what happened. Arda didn't have one of the wigs I needed in stock, either in the color I needed or a color that would have been an acceptable substitute. They also didn't have any wigs in stock that were the right color and a similar style (there were four others that could have worked, but all of the reds were out of stock). So I had to resort to getting the right color in a style that they actually had and I'll have to cut and style it myself. Damn it. (They at least had the other one I needed in the right color, so there's that.) And the micro SD card in my phone bit the dust. My phone hasn't been working right the last few days and completely stopped working yesterday until I pulled the card (which I suspected was the problem when none of the apps, pictures, or music stored on it would load before everything froze up). Fortunately, I was able to pull almost everything off the bad card but I still lost some stuff T_T (and all this after attempting a factory reset to see if that would fix the problem, so now all my phone settings are wrong DX) So another lesson learned: back up the card periodically. And save the factory resetting for AFTER you've attempted absolutely everything.
The weird thing is that I apply these “don’t cosplay what you don’t look like” rules to myself first and foremost.
You don’t see me cosplaying Jojo or any buff or fat/chubby characters because I’m a goddamn stick. You won’t see me full-on crossplaying beyond androgyny and characters that crossdress because I don’t have a body considered feminine enough.
The exceptions would be things like Homestuck and possibly Undertale, since they’re constructed in a way that openly allows and encourages various headcanons of race/weight/identity etc.
There’s a reason cosplays become popular - because they look like those characters would in real life - after the usual excessive Photoshop at least - but that’s not counting the “candid” ones in conventions. Like how a Bioshock cosplayer looked so good that she actually became part of the game’s marketing.
Call it a stigma, but it’s one that sticks and I’m not gonna risk standing up to it.
Rules for Steven Universe cosplay:
-if you’re cis, don’t cosplay Stevonnie. They are nonbinary, so cis people hands off. -if you’re skinny, don’t cosplay Rose or Amethyst. They are both fat characters and good, non-ridiculing representation is hard to find. -if you’re afab, don’t cosplay Jasper. She is coded as amab trans, just leave her alone please. -above all, do not hypersexualise whatever character you play. Doing so alienates the younger fanbase that SU is actually meant for. Keep your Steven Galaxy shit out of the public sector.
There are others (concerning Garnet, Pearl and other racially coded characters) but that is not my place to speak on. Others may add to the list to fill these in.
