WHO should I cosplay!? - The Art of Choosing a Character

Maybe it's just me and 8 years of this, but it somewhat annoys me when a person asks someone else - especially people that do not personally KNOW them - who they should cosplay. But let's back it up a couple of steps before i get into that...

Choosing who to cosplay is probably one of - if not THE MOST - important steps of cosplaying. Of course it is. You have to be able to CHOOSE something to cosplay before cosplaying - duh. With the thousands of possibilities out there, it is perfectly fine to become overwhelmed at who, what, etc to cosplay. It is intimidating to see many cosplayers choose cosplay after cosplay with (seemingly) no problems.

And even if you consider yourself a pro at choosing costumes, you still might become conflicted about choosing what to cosplay NEXT after a project is completed.



Now, it annoys me when people ask who they should cosplay not because i feel like some pro at choosing who to cosplay (far from it actually), but because it is difficult to just randomly pick a character out of the THOUSANDS That someone might actually WANT to cosplay AT THAT MOMENT in their life. That difficulty increases when i dont know the person. I dont know their likes, their dislikes, their skill level, their budget, their this, their that.

And dont get me started on the "What character do i look like?" questions. Even if someone happens to find one character that they look like, is that ALL they are going to cosplay forever?

There are various ways to pick a costume and be happy with it. I outline a few of them here:

1.) The "I love this character!" Way: Basically, you love this character. You are obsessed with this character. You would have this character's babies if possible. *cough* This is a basic way to pick a costume, cosplay who you LIKE. What character do you like the most? Whose your favorite? Disregard race, gender, nationailty, or whether its even human and decide for yourself if you can pull it off. This is my favorite way to choose a costume because its simple!

2.) The "I love that design!" Way: You might not really know much (or anything) about a character, but there's always research, right? Maybe you fell in love with a characters clothes. Cosplay is about making clothes so this seems like a good way to choose a costume. Perhaps you stumbled upon a design that you like and want to cosplay it. That's a good way to choose a costume - as long as you research!

3.) The "My friends are doing a GROUP!" Way: Maybe your friends are better at picking costumes then you, so they're forming a group. Well, JOIN IN! This is especially great for series that have large casts. It also narrows your pool of possible costume choices if you're only picking from one series and not the ENTIRE anime/video game/book/movie world.

4.) The "That voice actor will be at the CON!!!" Way: Perhaps your favorite voice actor will be attending the next convention or event that you will be attending yourself. If you like the voice actor, why not show them that you like them by cosplaying their characters? If you're big on guest appreciation then there's no other way to show you're a fan then by cosplaying.

5.) The "Hop on the Bandwagon!" Way: Choose from a popular series. This narrows down what you cosplay from and its a way to get recognized and find many other fans from the series.

These are just a few ways, but they are the most common (and helpful) ways to choose what to cosplay! Simply cosplay what you LIKE and do not rely on others to tell you what to cosplay. That does not seem like a very successful way to choose and it certainly makes things less fun if you just do what others say and not what your heart says :)