Ah, conventions. There’s plenty every year for just about any interest. You can go to conventions for anime, for Japanese pop culture, for Star Wars, for sci-fi, for horror, for comics, just about any media you can think of. At these conventions, you can buy cool merchandise, get autographs from celebrities, meet new friends with similar interests and even cosplay. Cosplay is like Halloween anytime. It’s when you dress up as something or someone from a movie, book or anime for a convention.

    I only have any knowledge about anime and J-pop cons. When you go to these conventions, you meet lots of people, hang out with voice actors, dance, shop and cosplay. With cosplay, you can be anyone you want to be, and possibly even win money or merchandise in contests. However, there are some basic rules of thumb that you should follow when cosplaying.

1. Cosplay is dressing up as a specific character from a show or movie you like. Get the costume right and pay attention to details. We WILL notice and we will laugh if you get it wrong. You can buy a costume, or make it, but don’t simply settle because it’s similar to the character.

2. When choosing who to cosplay as, consider your physical appearance in contrast to the character. You are welcome to crossplay, which is cosplay cross dressing, as long as it’s not overly disturbing to others, ie a male Sailor Moon with super hairy legs. You can use wigs and makeup to be more accurate, a corset is helpful if you need an hourglass shape but you normally have a form more akin to an apple. If you are very overweight, do us all a favor and don’t pick a character with skin tight clothes or belly shirts. No one likes a Tifa with more rolls than a bakery. Pick someone who looks a bit like you. 

3. Try to act a little like the character you are playing. I’ve seen people cosplay and look amazing, but didn’t know a thing about the character. People at cons will come up to you and expect you to play along with the role, at least a little. It makes the costume seem even better. Example: I met a man at Megacon 2011 who was wearing a trenchcoat and sunglasses and he was built like a brick wall. I had no idea who he was cosplaying as until he spoke in an “Arnold” voice and said, “I’ll be back.”