Convention Survival Tips

Tip #3: To cosplay or not to cosplay

I know some of you are asking, "What is cosplay? What does it mean?" Well, cosplay means costume play. It is a little like LARPing, but with fandom. You can go to a convention in your everyday clothes or go in costume.

You can find already made cosplays online, like Amazon, eBay, Etsy or any site that sells custom made cosplays and props. It depends how much money you want spend on the costume because they tend to be a little pricey. Also it's a bit easy if you don't know how to sew or just crappy with a sewing machine and/or glue gun.

You can find costume and makeup tutorials on YouTube to help on a cosplay, like for instance PinkStylist.

Or you can make it yourself. If you're on a very tight budget or it's at the last minute, You can rummage around your closet or chest of drawers to find a item of clothing that's similar to your chosen character's clothes or go to a second hand store to find items to put the cosplay together.

Like for instance, Neil Gaiman's Death from the graphic novel, Sandman. Black cami vest, studded belt, ankh, white make up, black eye liner, black lipstick, black skinny jean/leggings/jeggings/yoga pants, black wig and black boots.

If you want to make your cosplay by hand so it's the exact replica as your chosen character and it's you need to go to craft and hobby stores, shopping websites, fabric stores and maybe a second hand store to find the material for the cosplay. It may take days, weeks or even months to make it. People sometimes spend from £/$50 to god knows on the cosplay.

Certain cosplays that may take time on making like Rose Quartz from Steven Universe or Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.

Best thing to do is to start really early on it. Like weeks or months ahead. If your cosplay isn't finished or arrived by the post by the time the convention comes around, The best thing to do in that situation is have a backup cosplay that you can easily whip up the night before.

Just don't go to con with a t-shirt that reads: "This is my costume/cosplay" as a actual costume. It highly frowned upon in the cosplay community. It maybe hilarious for Halloween for a joke at a party, but not so much while claiming it's a cosplay in a con.

You may get dirty looks or face palms at your direction from other cosplayers, sometimes an earful from them. You're giving them the hint that you don't give a crap about cosplaying even though you don't mean to.

If you're buying a cosplay online, please know your own measurements. Read the description of the cosplay for the measurements and where it's coming from. Because if you are buying a cosplay that's a size medium or large and it ends up being a smaller or bigger size than your own. I recommend getting a size that is one or two bigger (or smaller) than your own dress size because cosplay may come from a different country that the dress sizes maybe different from where you're from. This is one of the major reasons why people make their own cosplays. So that the costume fits them perfectly. Also look at what material that the costume is made from. If you're on the hefty side (or leaning to it) and you're a little skeptic on it, try to find cosplays that is made from stretchy material.

Like for example, say that you're a size US 12 and you ordered a shirt from the UK that's size 12. When you get it, you try it on and it's on the small side. A size 12 in the US isn't the same as size 12 over in the U.K. Please do a comparison of sizes from different countries. It'll help you on the long run. Believe me. It'll save you wasting your own money and save some trouble.

I highly recommend bring make-up to touch up on your cosplay (if you're cosplaying a troll from Homestuck or a gem from Steven Universe). Also bring a small repair kit (like thread, needle and glue) for your cosplay in case your cosplay falls apart. There's a station at the con to repair your cosplay.