Tuesday, September 16, 2014 On Cosplay and Doing Good Stuffs for Peeps.

It has become all too common nowanddays for me to see regular occurences of folks who are part of the Cosplay Culture tear each other apart, try to destroy each other's credibility, and devolve into screaming matches over social media of what should be considered intolerable conduct between professional entities. With how many folks doing anything possible to become "#CosFamous" (Yes this apparently is a real term and it's really no bueno), why are Cosplayers going into battles on a weekly, if not daily basis? I think what we are seeing right now is a culture that is in the process of maturation. I am aware that Costuming has existed within the Science Fiction & Fantasy Fandom for many years, but the culture of "Cosplay" has just now in the last couple of decades begun to take prominice in the greater landscape of not only general fandom, but also mainstream culture as well. This is a culture that tends to skewer young as a result as Cosplay has distinct origins from Costuming in that Cosplay has more of a basis in Anime/Manga and Videogames, subject matter which has been embraced by the Teen-to-20s Crowd. Now it's great that such a young demographic has embraced aspects of Nerdom/Geekdom, but unfortunately that also brings in the Attitudes of those who are in their Teens or Early 20s, which is needless to say, very crappy. We all went through that phase when we were younger, the "I'm going to tell it like it is and #%$# all who don't like that $#*#!" state of being in which we didn't care about how many people we hurt or how badly it could burn bridges professionally or personally between friends, co-workers, or family/loved ones, it was about "#$%#$ YOU, I GOT MINE!!!!!!" basically. It would essentially take burning and pillaging throughout most of your 20s to get to the point where you realized that maybe being completely self-absorbed wasn't the greatest idea, and it might be fun to actually care about other things in life for once that don't completely revolve around you. Upon coming to that realization, you start to finally make amends, settle down, maybe raise a family or join a group or two, basically so that you can start to balance out the negative karma you've racked up throughout the years. I think a really good personal example of this was during my time as staff for MidSouthCon. I spent a good chunk of time trying to fight for more space for Video Games, and then later Anime, but with wayyyy too much concentration for making myself look good instead of concentrating on what really should've mattered, which was helping to provide resources to help people read. It actually took a couple of years for me to reflect on that to finally get it, that I need to concentrate on the bigger picture which was greater than myself. This is kinda what I think is going on with Cosplayers, too many folks trying to reach the brass ring and not enough foresight to keep in mind why they started Cosplaying in the first place, and I think we are nearing that point of clarity, that instance of humility, we just need a trigger to set things off. My general thought is that there are many Cosplayers who get into the culture for different reasons. Some do it because they love the characters, some do it because they want to connect with other people and this is the best way for them to break out of their shells, and some do it for the cashflow as Cosplay can be very profitable and can lead to Careers in Modeling, Photography, Costuming, Acting, and the list goes on. The thing that a lot of them are either not realizing or have lost sight of is the hidden #2 Reason of Cosplay, which is to be the hero for those whom need it. It could be a child who needs a Wonder Woman, a teen who is excited to see someone with an 80s Shredder look, or even a 40-year old who is stoked about the kid who is Rick Hunter from Robotech. I think if most of the Cosplayers could get a better sense of the positivity that they are capable of, it might just help color their perspectives a little bit. Just a little. Now there are obvious technical things that could help the Cosplay Culture such as Business Tutoring, Seperating Professional from Personal Personas and such, but that will come in due time. First, as a Fandom we have to learn to feel, then crawl, walking will come in a bit. I would urge those in Cosplay to look at Volunteering, either for a Convention or for any other organization, simply because it helps with personal growth and perspective. Go break out that Costume and head to a hospital to drop off presents for kids and spend some time with them, even a Gaara can lighten up someone's day. If you do end up in a Cosplay War online, take a moment to relax, go into your online albums, and just pull up a random picture of you in Cosplay that someone tagged you in, not because it was a professional shot meant to emphasize your best side in the greatest sun, but because it was in a hallway and that 8-year old was really happy to see Korra there. This is just a ramble though, take-it-or-leave-it. This series of thoughts have been gestating for a while now, and I figured now would be the best time to get it out while I'm not drowned in work or caregiving. For those few who do read this, if you do know any active Cosplay groups working for Charity in the Dallas area, point them in my general direction as I would like to get some folks together to do Hospital Visits, or maybe a Parade Walk, even working a Soup Kitchen. I'll keep searching myself, if I can't really find anything I might just start up something. When I moved to Dallas I pretty much abandoned any extensive Volunteer Work in order to concentrate on being a Caregiver for my Dad, that there were plenty of Anime/Gaming Groups to where I didn't feel compelled to help start up a group like MOOGLE, but I'm starting to believe that it's time to jump back into the midst of things. Every enlightenment just needs a trigger.