COSPLAY
Chloe's Dir en grey collage
©vanessa bertozzi 2005
After a con, part of the pleasure is going onto the internet to find pictures of yourself and your friends.
Chloe shows a photo of herself in costume Photoshopped next to the Japanese reference photo. "This is my collage that I put on cosplaylab.com."
"This one is the first serious costume that I made. It’s based off a costume worn by this guy named Kyo—his real name is Nishimura Touru. He’s the vocalist in this band Dir en grey, which is my favorite band in the whole world. They’re pretty much top of the genre right now in Japan. They’re not really well known outside of the genre, but they’re doing pretty well."

Josh, a 20-year-old from Amherst chimed in, “It makes you feel special.” He went on to talk about the importance of the social exchange between cosplayers at cons. It’s about being able to go right up to someone and ask to take their photo. If Kevin’s photography provides an instantaneous image, then the con also provides instantaneous friends. There’s a satisfaction, as Josh says “because they know who I’m trying to be.” His buddy Alex sums up what perhaps is the hidden agenda of young people wanting to be different: “Being ignored is worse than being criticized.” Josh says “It’s really a way to bond with people. They have a mutual respect. People who don’t cosplay are afraid.”


Josh and Alex aka “blueNINE” are really tight. In fact Josh says he calls Alex’s mom “Mom” too—that’s in addition to his mom. He says he loves the women in his life. “I call Grandma to help me sew my costumes. She’s great. I send her reference pictures.” Alex pipes in, “You need a reference picture throughout the process.”
Then it seems as though you become a living reference photo, or at least a record of the event. Most people use cosplay.com or cosplaylab.com where you can have a profile and share info. Sometimes cosplayers have their own websites but mostly they congregate on one of the group sites. “After a con you see yourself online and thousands of people look at it!’ There’s an awe and a feeling of belonging to such a community.