"When I Grow Up I Wanna Have Groupies..."

“…be careful what you wish for cause you just might get it” - Pussycat Dolls

An interesting topic of conversation came up in my beloved Black Cosplayers thread on Cosplay.Com. Just a quick note on the thread, it has been going on for nearly eight years so we recycle topics a lot, but since there are always new posters there are always some fresh perspective. I like to think we’re cool. Cause we are.

Anyway, the topic came up about famous cosplayers. Even now it kind of escapes me how we came on the subject, but I proceeded to rant…then went back and edited my post because it is not fair for me to rant in the thread. But, I can rant in this blog, cant I?

I will preface by saying that I have nothing against these “famous” cosplayers. I do, however, take a problem with the word famous being used. How exactly are they famous? Sure the basic definition of famous is “well known by many people”. I would rather use the word “popular” when talking about a single subculture of people. Famous tends to put these people on this whole ‘nother, untouchable level. Which pretty much leads into my next point:

SO WHAT if these people are popular? Popular at what, being geeks? Maybe even a bigger geek then me as they have perfected a skill to make geeky costumes? I don’t know, its all geek to me. It’s like high school all over again where the popular people have the best clothes.

I think I would find it so difficult if I received thousands of good comments and - oh forbid - fans. How would I ever get the true appreciative comments that surprise me so much at conventions if I’m forever receiving them just because I’m some cosplay household name.

An example would be the girl at Momocon that was excited to see me in person and my costume, a girl that exclaimed “I look at your costumes all the time! You’re awesome!” and wanted my picture. And her rude little friend that said, “If you don’t want pictures taken then don’t wear a good costume.” Err, thanks? Even still, this was one of those shining moments where it felt good for someone to appreciate my costume.

Maybe when you are cosplay famous, you get your kicks by just being proud of your work. Sometimes, I still need that little validation from the outsider since the devil on my shoulder likes to tell me that I suck. The angel, well, she likes to take days off. A lot.

So, maybe I don’t have a wall full of geeky awards. Maybe I don’t have a dozen or so closets devoted to geeky costumes. Perhaps I don’t go to geeky conventions every geeky weekend. Heck, that all costs too much money. Even still, I do love this hobby and have loved it for eight years. And counting.

Excuse me now. Going to go run and pose around my room in my newest costume.


EDIT: I wrote this blog last week sometime, so this morning i randomly googled "famous cosplayers" to see what popped up. It was interesting nonetheless. Only one American cosplayer can be found on the first two image pages [and i'm sure everyone can guess who that is]