Great Cosplay Stores

So there are a ton of cosplay stores online. When you’re looking for a good cosplay store, you might come across several that sell low-quality junk at ridiculously marked up prices. That’s almost exclusively what you’ll find on eBay unless you’re lucky or spend a good deal of time searching. That’s why finding a good cosplay store can be pretty time consuming.

Cosplay Magic is probably the most widely recognized place that sells cosplays. They’ve been around for a really freaking long time, and nearly everyone has a story – mostly good, a few here and there bad, about their outfits. If you’re looking for a store that has sold a ton of costumes to other people, this one is pretty well and widely known.

A relatively new, but heavily advertising store is Miccostumes. Interesting name there. Some of their costumes can be pretty dang inexpensive. But cost tends to compare with quality, so the cheaper the costume you buy, the worse it will probably be. A lower quality costume can tend to rip easier than a better costume, and some pieces may not fit well. In the worst cases, they can be totally the wrong color.

If you want more, you can probably check out my cosplay store page.

Fox Cosplays

Fox cosplaying is pretty close to my heart. It’s a little more underground than kitty girl cosplayers and yet provides a persona that is recognizably cute and hug worthy. It’s at the top of my recommendation list for new cosplayers or ladies and gents who are looking for some low-key, easy to assemble or last minute cosplays. Really all that’s required is a pair of oversized pointy fox ears (or re-vamped kitty ears) and maybe a fuzzy tail. Collar and leash totally not required but they make a nice addition.  Color scheme of your ears/tail is entirely your choice (though I prefer bright orange). Total amount that you spend shouldn’t top out at more then thirty bucks.

To make your cosplay believable (and increase cuteness by tenfold) remember your fox sounds. Unlike their neko cousins, they do not meow! It’s more of a mrawr or nyar. Purring is acceptable, however. Remember that foxes are not members of the feline family, they’re more K-9. You should get along with dogs much better than catgirls. Go find Inuyasha and scratch his furry ears!

Dragon Con 2011 Pictures and more

With even CNN covering it, Dragon Con is a pretty darn big thing. But all the pictures we see from various news websites are pretty bleh. They don’t have much focus or a very good composition. However, we just found a place with some really neat Dragon Con pictures.

To the right -> a Dragon Con picture from a news website which we didn’t think was very great.

I’m surprised these are what was featured, out of the 40,000+ people at Dragon Con.

~~~~

Here’s some of the good Dragon Con 2011 Pictures from UpcomingCons.com:

How To Cosplay… Correctly.

Something of a cosplay hate group has sprung up on Facebook – disparaging people who cosplay as anime characters, if they are not Asian. You may have thought this would be a blog post about how to cosplay correctly, which it is, but it’s also an important statement.

It’s very hard to cosplay incorrectly.

But that’s not what the “Anti-Western Cosplayers” Facebook group says. No, they expect all people who cosplay to be asian. While, admittedly, there are some terrible-to-look-at western cosplayers, these can be found across any race. Here’s a picture that someone else posted to the group:

Here’s what looks like a pretty good western cosplayer on the right, and a not-as-fun-to-look-at cosplayer on the left. Whether or not the left cosplayer is actually asian, as was disputed in the group, is beyond the point. The fact that not all characters represented in anime are intended to be Asian (Edward Elric and FMA is set in a Germany like setting) is not the point either. The point is: Both people are probably having fun. And that’s what really matters.

And that’s where I get to telling you how to cosplay. The first step: remember that cosplaying is about having fun, enjoying acting as another character, and making friends with people who like the same things. You might not have a ton of time and money to make the perfect outfit. But that doesn’t matter so long as you enjoy doing it. You can cosplay Cid Highwind and look awesome, but even if you don’t look that perfect, it doesn’t matter – it’s still fun.

World Cosplay Summit Winner

And the world cosplay summit 2011 winner is… Brazil! What an interesting result… I would have expected something more like the US or Japan.

The World Cosplay Summit was created to “promote international exchange through the Japanese youth culture of manga and anime.” In short, it’s one giant cosplay competition. The cosplay summit started in 2005, in the third largest city in Japan – Nagoya, and has had official government support since 2008. It garners tons of attention from across the world, and takes place across two days.

Each country gets to be represented by two cosplayers. Costumes are two be hand-made, by the contestants (and possibly family and friends). It’s not clear if this means a sewing machine can be used… probably. Finally, the costumes must be based on anime/manga/video games, obviously.

Brazil also won in 2006 and 2008. What did they wear this year? Diao Chan and Cai Wenji from Dynasty Warriors 7.

Worst Best Group Cosplay I’ve Seen

Today I was googling for cosplay pictures, and found this…. I’ve decided to name it the Worst Best group cosplay I’ve ever seen. I mean, they all look basically like the correct Dragon Ball Z characters. But they look like plastic J-pop version of the characters. I don’t know what anime con this is from, but it’s still a lot better than many cosplays I’ve seen – and no one in the group is particularly better than any of the others. Maybe it’s just the lighting, but I swear that Cell is made of plastic. Something’s making these guys just a little too shiny 😉

Side note: When I went to the FUNimation site, there was an obnoxious ad for some stupid non-anime cartoon… they need to pick better sponsors.

Hetalia Cosplay!

It’s decided! My next cosplay will be America from Hetalia! Because I’m the hero! ❤

Why America? Well, here’s his bio from Wikipedia:

“America is an energetic and headstrong character. In the series, he is raised by England and later fights for his independence. America is very similar in appearance to Canada, who is often forgotten and was seen “invisible” by other nations. The self-proclaimed leader of the Allied Forces, his catchphrase is “I’m the hero!” His ideas for solving international problems are often absurd, but he is usually oblivious to the opinions of others. America’s ideas and inventions are grand, but rarely go anywhere.”

Sounds a lot like me, haha!

See you later!

Things Not To Do At Anime Conventions

Here is a list of things not to do at anime conventions!

1. Don’t ask random strangers to glomp you. Also, don’t glomp random strangers.
2. Don’t forget to eat and shower daily. Hurting yourself by forgetting is very dangerous.
3. Offer to give away free stuff without having plenty of it to give away.
4. Bring props that are ridiculously too big. Leave the giant mechas at home.
5. Don’t wear just a Leaf Village Headband and pretend to be cosplaying from Naruto.
6. Don’t stalk the guests of honor. You can wait for autograph signing times to get them to autograph you.
7. Do not mess with the elevators.
8. Do not mess with the fire alarms.
9. Do not have more than eight people in one room. It can be dangerous, gets really messy, and is a pain for everyone.
10. Don’t be mean to staff and other attendees.
11. Don’t give alcohol to underage attendees, or drink too heavily if you are overage.
12. Don’t leave your fancy electronics lying around to be stolen.
13. Don’t volunteer and then quit your shift early, nor forget your shift.
14. Don’t forget to get names and phone numbers from all your newfound friends.
15. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water.
16. Remember to pick up after yourself. Do not litter everywhere.
17. Don’t take a new congoer to a con and then forget them, letting them fend for themselves in a strange environment filled with cosplayers.
18. Don’t break glowsticks and get them all over the place.
19. Don’t break parts of the hotel, particularly including pieces of hotel furniture that might happen to be in the hallways.
20. Don’t run through the hallways screaming while panels and other events are going on. Some people like to hear what the speaker or presenter is saying.
21. Don’t sleep in con-spaces, like the video rooms. Not only is it rude, but people might draw stuff on you. Free canvas!

Hello world!

This is my Cosplay sharing blog! I love cosplaying, and this is my blog about it. Let me know what kinds of things you want me to talk about here!