Cosplay-The magic of bringing a character to life

In recent years, cosplay has evolved exponentially, allowing the quality of cosplays to increase accordingly, but what does it mean to cosplay? In the following article, I will tell you a little about my opinion about it, come with me to see the magic of bringing a fictional character to life, so let's begin.

Where does the term cosplay come from?

Before talking about magic, we first have to put ourselves in context, since cosplay is not something that can be understood as soon as you listen to it, let's put a little meaning from the Oxford dictionary.

Activity that consists of dressing up as a fictional character, generally from a comic or a movie, but also from other cultural fields.

As we could see, we cannot understand cosplay as dressing up as an anime or comic character, it can also be historical characters, or representative figures such as pirates and knights for example, however, what differentiates a costume from a cosplay? That brings us to the next point.

Cosplay and Costume.

Surely you have dressed up a lot of times for occasions such as Halloween parties, or at parties with this theme on other dates of the year, but it is also very likely that the word cosplay has not crossed your mind at any time, and I will tell you why, the reason is because you were thinking of a dress, a suit and not an interpretation.

In my point of view, the difference between one and the other is the objective, where the objective of a costume is to bring a striking appearance or with the objective of generating different reactions in those who witness it, while cosplay has the objective of bringing to life a character, whether fictional or not as we mentioned earlier.

The process of cosplaying.

Currently, there are a wide variety of stores that make cosplaying a cosplay much easier, stores that sell unique accessories, and stores that specialize in creating complete costumes, wigs, or basic costumes that the buyer can modify to their liking to give them the look they want. or this they wish.

But not everyone has access to this type of resource, sometimes due to the lack of stores of this nature in their places of residence, and although online stores provide a fairly efficient outlet when it comes to bringing products from other cities or countries, they do not always meet the quality that some expect.

In this part, an important section enters and that is to make the cosplay itself, and although you are thinking that it is extremely complicated (without detracting from its degree of complexity) on the internet there are very well detailed guides where they explain the step by step.

For example, if you are looking for how to make a costume of a popular character, you will probably find a guide that tells you:

The types of fabric most suitable for her. The molds for the corresponding pieces (sleeve, back, false, etc.) The step by step to assemble the garment.

In the case of accessories, it is practically the same, since you will find guides that will indicate the appropriate materials to make an adequate replica, something that we see on a recurring basis in accessories such as swords and edged weapons, since logically the vast majority do not have from a forge in his house to make a pair of swords.

Cosplay exhibition.

While a few years ago the internet was not filled with images of people playing their favorite characters on this scale, today we can find a lot of beautiful and detailed cosplay on the internet, but today's cosplayer is not limited to just costumes and tools. , currently go one step further and there are even studios with different scenarios dedicated solely to this type of event.

Adapting the space where the character's personality, attitudes and aptitudes would best fit is one more example of the commitment given to cosplay today, which allows us to appreciate real backgrounds, artificial backgrounds and digitally created backgrounds, but does not They detract from the quality of the cosplays.

Another of the points that enter the exhibition are the events, places where cosplayers meet to appreciate the work, of course, those who do not carry out the activity can also enjoy and appreciate this type of event. Such as Comic Con in different countries promote this practice, as well as events such as the Yukai Fest in Brazil that are purely dedicated to the exhibition of cosplays.

Bring a character to life.

Going back to the interpretation section, it is incredible to see how a person brings to life a character adapting to his personality, some being at the level of the performance of a role, this not only provides more quality to the interpretation itself, it also allows viewers to feel integrated into the performance, with some feeling their favorite characters come to life and interact with them.

This is the most beautiful thing about cosplay, that feeling of seeing a character and forgetting that it is a "person in disguise" to a certain extent, feeling that you are in front of a character that you like and you can share a little with him or her.

hobby and profession.

Cosplay can be classified as a hobby or hobby, and it is wrong because to a large extent most of those who do cosplay do it for fun and for love of the character or the definition of the word. However, there is also a small percentage (small does not mean few people, but it falls short in relation to those who practice it as a hobby) of people who dedicate their lives and time to cosplay as a way of making a living.

Whether manufacturing them, using them or both combined, there are many incredible cosplayers who strive to live from the ones they like the most, resulting in the highest attainable quality, where they even travel to other countries in order to have the stage. original of some scene, or the scenario that comes closest to it without the use of studies.

A World to explore and evolve.

While it has evolved a lot in recent years, this world is far from reaching its peak, as the advancement of technology also increases the number of characters that can be almost perfectly played. Likewise, as long as the works continue to evolve and we continue to have new characters, we will always have new interpretations.

Finally, I would like to highlight the work of all cosplayers, who dedicate time, resources and passion to bring to life so many characters that meant something in our lives, hoping that they continue to love this practice and continue to impress us with new and fantastic