"It's an Asian thing".

[seiza]

Thus far, I've had two separate lectures dealing with cosplay by the same researcher. The findings haven't changed much over the two years:

Comments

[kc_anathema]

I have seen the fat dude cosplaying as Sailor Moon. It burned, but nothing was as traumatic as Man-Faye.

[araeli]

Going by what I've seen at the largest anime convention in the states-- Asians get technical points for their costumes and Americans get points for creativity in my book

[madsqueeble]

>>fat dude who dresses as Sailormoon

Sailor Bubba. Did anyone speak of Man-Faye, too? I'm not sure about the former, but for the latter it's definitely a matter of expression and fandom.

[silvertones]

I think Westerners are just a lot more laid back. Some costumes are very well made, some are thrown together, but it's more for the fun and being part of the experience that SERIOUS BUSINESS IC-NESS. Often it's just so that people can go, "Oh, you're so-and-so!", join a group of people from their fandom, and make friends.

This reminds me of this book I found in NY on cosplay...the Japanese cosplayers were all perfect, and they picked the WORST of the worst to represent American cosplayers. Not to mention, I think people also forget Americans cosplay as things other than Japanese anime. Have these people ever seen some of the epic shit at Comic Con? Stormtroopers, Transformers, there was a disturbingly well crafted and accurate ninja turtle at one con.

[inuyatta]

Lol, fail. Cosplay is supposed to be fun, and I find it funny that of all things, they pulled up 'Sailor Bubba' as an example of Western Cosplay.

I have seen amazing cosplayers from all over the world, just as I have seen epic failures all over the world. There isn't one better than the other.

Interesting note--if Japanese cosplayers look 'perfect' all the time, there's a chance that they bought a manufactured costume. I don't think many other countries have the luxury of factory cosplay.