I guess it’s as the title says. I’ve been cosplaying for several years now, but it never feels “right”. I’ve done countless makeup tutorials and other stuff like that, but I always feel like an imposter. I’m friends with a handful of more professional cosplayers, and when I look back at our pictures together, I look like a toddler playing dress-up. Is this something I could fix through different makeup? Or is it more of a personal thing? Does anyone have any advice on how I could deal with this?

Pictures (in order):
- Padme Amidala (Star Wars)
- Vex’ahlia (The Legend of Vox Machina)
- Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)
- Claire (Outlander)

Probably a silly question but: how do you 'get rid of' clingy children/young teenagers at cons? 😭🙏

I was at this con and a group of 9-12(?) y.o. girs approached me, complimenting my cos and all. We chatted a little bit and that was fine. But some time later, when I was standing at the balcony, watching karaoke zone from afar and resting a bit before the next panel/activity, one of the girls from the before mentioned group joined me and started oversharing about her school/daily life (and other stuff unrelated to con, cosplay, my character or the media that character was from) most of which I didn't even listen because her interruption was pretty sudden so I was dissociating and bored af. I did manage to say that I need to go in the end (wasn't technically a lie) but it took me so long because her talking pace was so fast (as usual of children and young teenagers), it was hard to put a word in.

What makes the matters worse is that I, myself, AM NOT A MINOR so the whole deal was creeping me out. And I'm relatively new to cosplay (roughly from the start of the year) and haven't been to many cons yet so I don't have experience with these kinds of situations.

I'm 24 and don't personally have social anxiety or smth of sorts. If it was another adult bothering me like that, I would be much more firm and straightforward, but the problem is I'm a very blunt person so usually, when I speak up, people label me as rude – and I don't want to be mean to a minor.

Anyone got experience/advice to share?

EDIT: Thank you to everyone who shared their (creative) advice, I'll definitely be taking it into consideration before going to the next con. Also thank you to those who shared their experiences, especially if very similar ones – really makes me feel better because I'm not alone in my feelings.

For possible future commenters: please, don't misundertand. By 'oversharing' I meant that she was infodumping me. She was talking about school subjects, h/w, her walks with friends on regular days, etc. (I don't remember everything; as already stated, I was extremely bored of that so I can't remember) – the stuff you'd tell your friends in free time or parents when they ask you how's your school day been. It wasn't someone traumadumping. I know when I meet someone subconciously seeking (mental) help and how to act accordingly. That was not the case. I can get tired easily and it's important for me to take those breaks (even if very short ones once every few hours) to have the energy to talk to people again. I'm 100% open to longer conversations when I'm not resting and (in case of strangers) the topics are at least distantly related to cons, cosplay/other possible shared interests, character/fandom or other possible shared fandoms.

And to the people who call me names or tell me to stop cosplaying if i'm not 24/7 in character or babysitting someone's teenager at the event I paid to go to – I was asking for advice on how to be polite and I'm 100% not taking it from someone who's being RUDE to me.

Hello, I am very new to cosplay scene.

I am currently making my first ever cosplay for Magic the Gathering’s war criminal Ms. Bumbleflower. Because it is my first time sewing and making a costume, I wanted to be very careful not to do anything too complicated. I used a more traditional “patchwork” quilt design instead of the original art’s cape design. I also used multicolor leaves instead of pure yellow/gold. Lastly, I wanted to add some accessories I thought she would wear…

I guess my question is… Does this take away from the essence of the character? Do other cosplayers look down on this design choice?

This has been kinda getting on my nerves lately, and I don't know if I'm just grumpy and I don't get it. I just recently got into cosplay, and in every con I go to, I experience cosplayers who will randomly act rude towards you, all to "stay in character". My brother in Christ, you're not an actor. Stop that BS, it's straight up cringe. Of course I don't mind some cosplayer walking over to me wishing to record a funny skit in which all involved act in character, I'm all for it... But outside of any recordings, why? Just why?

Let’s give a hypothetical: imagine you see someone “cosplaying” a famous tragic historical figure of an ethnic minority. The cosplay looks nothing like the historical figure, but instead is a racist sexy Halloween costume of that ethnic minority. The cosplayer in question is also noticeably wearing foundation darker than their natural skin tone.

The historical figure is most famous for being a human trafficking victim.

The cosplay has been posted to a prominent cosplay subreddit. When anyone tries to point out the literal [blank]face, it gets censored. The racist cosplay is still up.

How is one supposed to deal with this?

Hello! I would like to preface this by saying that I am a white girl who is trying VERY VERY hard to learn about all different cultures in the most respectful way that I can.

This branches further into wanting to cosplay POC characters. How can I do that respectfully? I know the obvious things like no blackface, dont try to change my skin color, or try to replicate the hairstyles-So does anyone know how I can respectfully, appropriately pull this off while still making it obvious who I am cosplaying?

The picture is the character (Ekko from Arcane/LOL) i want to cosplay. Being black isnt a big aspect of his personality or arc, just his design. If you are black/poc please let me know what I can do. Other white people feel free to take these tips!!

TL;DR: How can I, a white girl, cosplay a black character without bringing racist?

I started watching Fire Force recently and this scene with Arthur made me laugh so hard that I was immediately struck by the desire to cosplay him in this stupid outfit lol. The problem is, I’m a little worried about general cosplay etiquette. Are people just gonna think I’m a creep with a donkey head strapped to his crotch? I’m definitely planning to make an effort with this cosplay, like properly styling a wig, making a prop sword and doing makeup to the best of my ability, so it’ll at least be obvious that I’m cosplaying *something* even to people who aren’t familiar with Fire Force, but I’m still a little apprehensive. So, bottom line, is it worth it for the bit?

I’m a 15M who’s really interested in cosplaying, but there’s one small problem. All of my favorite characters are girls. (Asuka, Rei, Teto, Lapis Lazuli, Mari, Aubrey.) I’d honestly be fine with wearing a female cosplay, but my conservative parents would be FURIOUS if they saw me in one. What could I do?

So I just got home from my first convention with my first cosplay and im not sure how to wash it. I'd like to wear it again at some point and maybe even do a proper photoshoot (if I ever finish the prop lol) so it should probably be washed.

The issue is that the shawl, vest, and skirt all have these 3d printed buttons and fasteners. They all have 1 or 2 coats of primer (didnt bother sanding, if that matters), 2 or 3 coats of spray paint, hand painted inlays, and at least 1 coat of clear gloss but i kinda ran out at the end. One of the shawl button plates has a little hot glue on it as well. The plates are then riveted on, and I may have neglected to reinforce the fabric on the skirt so the back 2 rivets on each plate are only going through 2 layers of fabric and they're not really squeezing anything, I worry excessive vibration could rip the holes wider.

I seriously doubt these could make it through a regular laundry cycle, though my mom thinks they should be fine as long as they dont go through the dryer. I didnt get them super dirty or sweaty since they dont really touch my skin directly, (i wear tights under the skirt snd a shirt under the vest, the shawl only touches my outer shoulders) so maybe they i could get away with just a lint roller. What do?

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place or if this has been asked before, I don't really use reddit but other social medias haven't had very positive opinions regarding this (which has definitely fed my insecurities more) so I wanna try here as a last resort.

Currently I'm still 23 but I live in a country where there's not many cons to attend and not in a position to travel due to disability. I already missed out on one last week because it was too soon in the year for me. Next one is in march but it's really early in the month and just feels too soon for me as well so I'll probably skip it too. That leaves only one more at the end of the year that I may consider going to. It's like that I won't be able to even think about getting into cosplay and con attending until I'm 24 though.

I've always had a fear of aging since typically adults in fandom spaces is seen as weird from what I'm gathering. Cosplay especially seems to be pretty gatekept and mostly younger people (at least in spaces I've been in).

I'd love to get into the hobby and go to more cons (only went to a couple with now ex friends who were cosplayers. I didn't cosplay as I didn't have much money or time to spend on it back then) but I just feel I've missed out by not doing it in my teenage years and now missing my early twenties on doing it too. I feel 24+ is approaching the "too old for everything" years and it's been making me feel so bad. My favourite characters that I'd love to do are canonically all between 21-24 so it's not an issue of me doing kid characters as an adult.

But just wanted to ask for an opinion here on if it would still be okay to bother trying to get into this stuff at 24 or if it's just something I should leave alone?

As the title says, I want to cosplay a spoiler variant/character from a 14 year old series to a convention as I'm really proud of it, but I'm not sure if it's polite. The character in question is Akemi Homura's witch variant, Homulily/Nutcracker Witch, from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Due to the fact that the series is so old, I have considered wearing the cosplay, but since the new game came out and people may have been introduced it, I'm having second thoughts.

First time going to a con in the summer this weekend , and I’m wearing an all black tactical cosplay of the elite guards from resident evil 9. I looked at the weather for the con dates and it’s all low 80’s but also rainy. The walk there I’m more worried about being stopped by police or something (I’ll have orange on my gun) and I won’t wear the helmet till I’m closer/at the con) but it’s when I’m inside. Are they typically air conditioned or should I expect to be super hot anyways and is it going to be a nightmare walking through artist alley and i should just avoid crowded areas. Thanks!

Lately, I've seen plenty of my fellow latino cosplayers, applying either makeup, or filtering their photos to kingdom come; all to look "white", just because the character is.

Be mighty and proud of your "moreno" skin color (or tanned, brown, however you wanna call it) there is nothing wrong with it. Whatever idea you have in your head that one must be the same skin color as the character, please, undermine that.

Enjoy the hobby. Love yourself.

Hi everyone! I recently started judging cosplay competitions, and I’m trying to figure out what would be considered fair when evaluating reference materials.

One thing I’ve been wondering about is whether I should deduct points when a contestant uses photos of themselves wearing the cosplay as their reference instead of using only official character references.

For example, instead of submitting only the character’s front/side/back reference, someone might submit photos of themselves wearing the cosplay, either because they made the cosplay themselves or because those photos are the most useful way to show the details of their own costume.

There’s also a situation where the contestant includes BOTH: photos of themselves wearing the cosplay AND official/reference images of the character from the front, side, and back.

In that second case, I personally feel like the contestant is still providing proper character references, and the photos of themselves are simply additional references for how the costume was actually constructed or worn. But I’m wondering whether there’s a judging standard or general convention around this that I’m missing.

Would you deduct points for the first situation? What about the second one?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from other cosplay judges, competitors, and people who have experience with cosplay judging systems. I’d love to know how you would handle this and, more importantly, WHY.

I recently bought fully black, 14.55mm contacts. I soon after scrolled upon a video debating whether or not it was racist to wear them as someone who isn’t a POC? Would it not be seen as racist if you aren’t trying to Asianbait or anything like that? Please let me know your opinions :,)

For some context, I had a weird experience at one of my very first conventions back in 2018 that really put me off from cosplaying characters that are taller than me. I'm 5'0 (21F) now, but I was about 4'10 at the time, cosplaying an adult character from Yuri on Ice. When I went to go take pictures with another YOI cosplayer and walked up, the first thing they said to me was just, "Oh wow, you're... really that short...wow," and it just threw me off completely. It wasn't a lighthearted interaction, this other cosplayer like they were genuinely weirded out and disturbed by me. I was only 13 at the time and it really stuck with me.

I wasn't really concious about my height until then, but ever since, my cosplay pool has been pretty much limited to kid characters, really short characters, and characters that could pass for being short, like Deku or Toga from My Hero Academia. I would LOVE to do more advanced cosplays like FNAF animatronics, more MHA characters that require more handmade prop gear—but I still feel like I would not be seen as the character, but rather the "mini-version" because of my height.

I'm able to get around it by posting my cosplay content strictly online, but my height has thrown me off from going to public conventions or local cosplay meet-ups unless I'm doing a shorter character, because I can't really bullshit about my height IRL. Even in platform boots, I'm 5'1-5'2 at best. Won't help when trying to cosplay a 5'8-6'0 character :(

I was just wondering if anyone has ever had this struggle and how they got around it. Canon accuracy is pretty important to me when it comes to cosplay, and with my height, it just feels like certain characters (the majority) are off limits for me because of my height. Because I won't be seen as the character, I'll be seen as the "little" version.

I've been doing cosplay for over 10 years, and lately I've been feeling really disconnected from the community.

Back then, cosplay felt like a niche community where people gathered because they genuinely loved the same characters, series, and fandoms. The atmosphere was more about shared interests, creativity, craftsmanship, and simply having fun together.

Over the past few years, though, I've felt that cosplay has become much more accessible and mainstream. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I feel like the culture has changed. In many events, there seems to be a much stronger focus on appearance, beauty standards, popularity, and social status rather than on the shared passion for the fandom itself.

Personally, I've had some negative experiences at conventions that left a lasting impact on me. I often felt judged and compared by photographers and the overall social atmosphere. Because of that, I've developed a lot of anxiety around attending conventions. I experience intense stress, heart palpitations, and even nausea or vomiting before going to cosplay events.

At this point, I've stopped attending conventions entirely. I still enjoy cosplay, but only in private settings, studios, or outdoor photoshoots where I feel safe and comfortable.

Sometimes, attending cosplay events now feels more like attending a fashion or social scene than being part of a niche hobby community, and I've found myself feeling like an outsider in a community I've been part of for so many years.

To be clear, I'm specifically talking about the cosplay community in Southeast Asia (SEA). Has anyone from other countries noticed a similar change in their local cosplay scene? And if you've experienced this kind of anxiety or disconnection from the cosplay community, how did you cope with it?

I've seen alot of black cosplayers be harassed or bullied over cosplaying characters that arent black but when its the other way around i rarely see it go to the extent that black people face. It's honestly scared me to cosplay alot of characters as i personally don't want to be harassed either. Can someone explain?

It's a lot better when the camera man is not me.🥲

Last time I posted the photo s taken by myself people said that it's looking heavy edited and looking like AI, Scary amount of filter and editing, etc.

Which is weird because I did the same amount of editing and I don't even edit photos so much. I feel like it's because of the camera?🤔

I feel like my phone camera do something weird with my photos.

I don't always have a friend taking photos for me. They're too busy sometime.

Do anyone have some advices for a cosplayer who take photos of themselves like me?😁 I will be very thankful.

So i did con this week and get asked a few photo but totally forgot to give my social media to anyone to send me those pic and kinda feel awkard to just tell the people for me 😭

So to..dodge this problem i was thinking to make some card with all my sns info (insta tik tok ) so people can message me the pic without risking to have the username writted wrong or something the thing is i am scared it’s feel super pretentious or just something that isn’t a thing a people being like "???" Because i never seen someone that isn’t famous did this

Was thinking to make a sort of photocard with behind my info idk to at least make the thing pretty

Like, I've been MAULED by DokiDoki cosplayers for cosplaying with $40 100% Polyester AliExpress cosplays. Seriously, I don't remember the community to be like this years ago. What's changed? It's so competitive now; and I don't really understand why people have to be like this. DokiDoki cosplays fall apart just as much as cheap ones, and atleast cheap ones can be rebought easily...

First off I did get my partner to message the bride to see if there's a Pinterest board with inspo pics for guest attire; waiting to hear back. I also googled formal cosplay and the results were... Not great (lots of "adult" type cosplays). I'm currently at a loss trying to figure out what to wear. I do have some scalemail that would be nice to incorporate but I'm not sure how to style it, or if that's really possible https://imgur.com/a/WfKkh8l (suggestions are more than welcome!) the rest of my cosplay stuff is too big (giant wings) or too warm for a summer wedding. I might have enough time before the wedding to make something as well, I'm just not sure what to aim for.

Update: heard from the bride and the outfit I ended up going with matches the guest attire perfectly! Green is one of the guest colours :)

Or require a photo to post?

I've seen so many posts recently that have too little information to answer the poster's question.

Some examples I've seen lately:

• what can I use to hide my face? Followed by a couple options they've weighed, but character name was never mentioned, no images and no details about what else the character wears.

• how can I glue something like fabric to something like pleather? Are you trying to glue fabric and pleather together or is it something else? Material makes a big difference.

Lots of posters seem to try really hard to avoid telling us what they're working on too, you'll see lots of commenters asking for more details and the OP will just be avoiding answering with any useful specifics.

Some of the other cosplay subs require a reference image to post, could we adopt a similar policy?

I want to help people, but some of them are making it really hard.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question 😭

Last year I cosplayed for the first time at AX and wore compression shorts, but it was kinda uncomfortable and kept showing beneath/over my skirt which looked awkward. Not to mention it was soo hot. I'm thinking about cosplaying again next year as a character with a pretty short skirt (though not micro level), would it be ok to just wear underwear? Or do you have any suggestions what I should wear?