I don't see a problem with it as long as they don't try to pass it as their own.

Who're you to say what and what isn't cosplay? It's being in a costume and having fun. People shouldn't take it so dire serious.

I think if your going to be lazy and buy the costume you should at least earn the money for it yourself. Making your parents pay an expensive amount for a costume your only going to wear 3 days is not the most dignified thing...

I can't sew, and don't even own I sewing machine. SO it's pretty much my only option right now.
However i would not consider myself lazy since I make all the props and weapons for my cosplays, and make sure the costumes I buy are as accurate as possible. I wear wigs with all my costumes and I use contacts and makeup for my characters if needed.

if anyone says I'm not a "true-cosplayer" because I simply didn't sew it together, then I don't really give a damn.

shut the fuck up
so what if they can't sew and wanna look half decent at a con?

as long as you don't pass it off as your own work.
There are two types of cosplayers those that make costumes as a hobby and those that buy a costume to wear to a con

long as they don't claim that they made it or try to act like hot shit because of it there's nothing wrong with a store bought anything.

As soon as cons start getting flooded with ebayed costumes that are half-decent, or better than anything I could make myself, I lose interest in cosplaying from it.

I've given up on D.Gray-Man and Vocaloid because of this. Self-made costumes no longer stand out so you might as well spend a hundred bucks on Yahoo-Japan and save yourself the stress.

Not everyone can sew. So what if they bought it?

Sometimes people forget cosplay is a HOBBY - and people do it to have FUN. Not everyone goes to a con to cosplay, and not everyone cosplays to go to compete and do photoshoots. Many people cosplay because they genuinely love the character, and this is just another means of expressing it. I don't see why buying a costume is a bad thing.

I make my costumes and still see people in the same ones... if you're going for complete accuracy, and especially a popular character, chances are you won't be the only one. Meh.. I don't dress up to be original/stand out, I do it just because I love the characters.

tl;dr who cares, find somewhere else to rage about your friend.

If you want to spend all the time making a costume, good for you! You'll probably enjoy wearing it (if it came out well) infinitely more than someone who bought it

However, from what most people say, it takes 30+ hours to make a costume? Even with a shit job it's easy to make over a $100 in that time.

And honestly there isn't much that is more sad than someone wearing a costume made of felt and shit. I've never cosplayed but by far my favorite thing about cons is cosplayers.

bought costumes aren't a bad thing. everyone has to start somewhere and not everyone can sew. also, an bought/ebay costume might not be as accurate or have as much quality as one that is made by yourself. it really is about having fun and whatever someone else wants to wear is their own buisness.

>>1981364
But it is so, so easy to learn. I picked up the basics in a day. The 'I can't sew!" thing isn't much of an excuse.

>>1981415
Yes, it is an excuse, because not everyone has the skills nor the ability to sew. And some people don't have time in the day to put aside for sewing lessons, or time to make a costume.

>>1981415
I agree... Yeah you might suck at first but you get better and better with each costume.

>>1981422
/thread

>>1981415
It may be easy to learn the basics, but it takes years to perfect the skills and make high quality work.

I bought a costume off ebay for Anime North this year, and it turned out fucking fantastic. There was one other person at the con dressed as the came character as me, with a costume that was clearly home-made, and it...wasn't as nice. Not knocking her or anything, she obviously put time and effort into it, but I'd rather look awesome than work super hard, only to have my costume come out mediocre.

I do agree that those of us who buy their costumes online shouldn't make any claims about it being their own work. That's just being a pathetic attention whore.

At times I find it depressing to look at the eBay costumes. For an extra $50 I can get something that will take me 5 hours to fix up, rather than 40 hours to make.

My first few cosplays were schoolgirls; I'd find the outfit in a thrift shop, and add the details myself. Not completely self-made, but not completely purchased. I didn't have the skill, time, or money to make it entirely myself. (pleats are a bitch!)

If you just want to be dressed as your favorite character, and have the money, then buying a costume is fine. Not everyone has the skill to mix and match various patterns, materials, and whatnot in order to make their cosplay, not to mention the time.

I'm looking at over $100 in materials for my cosplay, and have already put in about 20 hours of cutting/sewing/guesstimating, only to be halfway done.

It's easy to learn to sew, yes. But hand-sewing an entire costume would drive me insane, and buying a sewing machine is a big investment for someone who may only cosplay a few times in their whole life.


The difference between making and buying is a difference in dedication to cosplaying, in my opinion.
You want to dress up as a character you like or look like, and have money but not time - buy a costume.
You love to cosplay and are really dedicated to having an accurate costume, even if it requires several dozen hours and lots of frustrating guesswork - make it.

>>1981422
You don't need lessons ..

Buying cosplay is something I can not stand. Your not a cosplayer, your a want to be model.

Think aboout it. When you comment on a cosplay or talk about an "amazing cosplayer" are you saying that because of how they smile in a photo? About how they pose that left arm perfectly? About how they smile with their eyes?

No! It's there cosplay, their costume, their wig, their prop. Not for how well they use paypal.

Agreed with >>1981345 and >>1981422

As long as they aren't claiming they made it...I think that is the important thing.

I personally like buying costumes and making my own alterations to it (to make it fit better and to make it more accurate.) I make my own props though...and everything I buy is with my own money.

I get slightly annoyed when people have their parents buy them things when they can work/pay for it...but that goes for everything regardless. But, meh.

>>1981460
I get more annoyed when adults get their parents to make their costume.

Cosplaying any popular character doesn't allow for any individuality. I've seen hundreds of Misa cosplays, and there have been a lot of different takes on her, but my thoughts are always "boring, yet another Misa."

Chances are, the better your cosplay the less individual it will be. Isn't the goal of cosplaying to be as close as possible to the original?

Op, I'll come out and say it. I'm with you. It seems so pointless if it's bought. A lot of the fun is figuring stuff out even if you suck at first.
You do eventually figure things out, have even more fun, and learn a valuable lesson about doing things yourself. A lesson so few people have now.

I'm up for the argument that if you earned or saved up for buying it... that's closer to the point, but it still misses it. It's no different than saving up for that new Old Navy hoodie. Yeah you are happy you got it, but you didn't really get anything out of it like you could have if you made something.

With making something you get the saving up for fabric, learning to work with materials like plastic, tagboard, resin, cardboard, metal, interfacing, wire, paper. You learn to finagle things until they work. You learn serious critical thinking to work problems out. You lean that your own two hands are some of the most amazing tools you have.
That really does help you along in life. When I moved out on my own I made my curtains, made my coffee table, painted my rooms, made pillows and rugs, ect.
All things I learned from cosplay.

Seeing the same ebay costume over and over again makes it less interesting anyways. It then begins a new way to distinguish who has money rather than who has skills.

Just wear your anime fan Tshirt and call it a day. It's no different than your ebay cosplay.

Bought costumes are good for people who can't sew but they shouldn't try to say they're a better cosplayer than someone who makes it themselves with better to equal quality.

>>1981488
Well said, I've learned some of the best problem solving skills from cosplay.

I work almost constantly. I don't have the time to sit around sewing a costume that wouldn't come out very well if I put it together, so I have my friends that DO have that kind of time do it for me. I pay them, and they like being able to see their work on someone else, so it's a win-win. I style my own wigs and make my own props and do sew SOME of my costumes and slight alterations, but most of the work is done by other people.

I wish I could make my own cosplays. I took three years worth of textiles classes only to finally realize that unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I simply didn't have the patience to sew. Nothing I made would fit, my lines were never straight, and try as I may, I couldn't find the enjoyment in removing mistake after mistake after mistake on a garment that, sadly, wouldn't fit in the end anyhow.

However, the enjoyment in finding the right wig, the right shoes, perfect contacts and hunting for accessories and those little bits and pieces that make the costume perfect I can totally still find enjoyment in. Going to a convention not in costume is significantly less fun for me (I've tried with and without), so I'll go with my purchased costumes.

Don't get me wrong, though. I don't consider myself a 'cosplayer', more someone who wears a costume once or twice a year, simply because I can't make my own; those who put all the effort into the costumes, in my opinion, are the 'real cosplayers', rather than just someone wearing a costume (me!).

>>1981455
>buying a sewing machine is a big investment

If you're considering spending $100 on an eBay'd costume, you can shell out the $30 it takes to find a decent sewing machine on craigslist.

Doing TF2 costumes is an art bitches.

I've cosplayed the last 2 years as an aperture scientist. I spent a lot of time hand tracing the decals on my labcoat and mocking up an employee badge, not to mention the hours I spent papercrafting a companion cube out of foam core. Granted, all in all NOT a very a hard costume to make, but I'm damn proud of it because I made it myself.

>>1981362

I will tell you right now that eBay and D.Gray-Man should not be in the same sentence as 'good', or any other word that means the same general thing. It's like the Chinese are blind or something, they can't figure out the damn designs despite there being multiple references for EVERYTHING.

Must be the squinty eyes.

Beyond that, though- make what you can, buy what you can't. That's always been my philosophy.

>>1981618
Note that I said Yahoo-Japan and not Ebay.

>>1981627

...

Silly me. Either way, the buyable DGM costumes still make me facepalm pretty damn hard.

You spend $100 dollars on a costume that does not look much like what your trying to cosplay,
I spend $25 for fabric and other things, and find everything else at home. You see what I did there?

So far, I have seven costume, all non store-bought. I'm one hell of a proud cosplayer.

>>1981722
Why would people ever want to save money! thats just silly...

>>1981458

I'm sorry, but are you purposely trying to give English majors heart attacks?

And the fact is you aren't even consistent. In the same sentence you switched between "there" and "their" though it should have been "their" for all four instances.

But back to the topic at hand, I understand that a major part of cosplaying is making your own costume but a lot of us go to conventions just to have fun. Just being in a costume makes these things a lot more fun and I'm sure being a home-made costume makes it all the better as you get to show off your handiwork.

I myself did not show up in a costume and just bought one from the dealer's room. It consisted of nothing more than akatsuki attire and a guy fawkes mask. Sure, I was lauded for this "interesting combination" and walking down the streets brings about comments from normals on how great my costume was but I always tried to be humble and remind them that the home-made ones are the real amazing ones.

When I first decided to make a costume (haruhi uniform) and had finished it, I was proud of my work. But I never wore it to any conventions. Why? It was my first costume I made, so of course it looked.....okay. But I'm still proud of it.
Poeple say they can't sew, I say all people CAN sew, just too damn lazy to try and put effort onto it, instead they buy the costume and complain how other's costumes are horrible compared to there's. Ask yourself this: can YOU do that?

>>1981584
>>1981722
See: NOT EVERYONE CAN SEW. Yeah, it's rewarding to make your own costumes, but some people just don't have the time or energy to devote themselves to making a costume that they undoubtedly want to come off looking absolutely perfect. Stuff like that requires experience and ability that, frankly? Some people lack.

Echoing what everyone else has been saying, there's no harm in it either if you don't try to pass off a bought/commissioned costume as your own. Why take the piss out of someone's fun just because they haven't slaved over a sewing machine for hours like you did?

>>1981349
>I can't sew, and don't even own I sewing machine.

Because everyone was born with great sewing skils without practicing and received free sewing machines from out of nowhere, amirite?

most of you that are saying "it's fine if they buy their costumes as long as they say they didnt make it" is kind of just making an excuse in order to tolerate them. you know you dont agree with it, but you deal with it because theyre not going away. and most of the people who DO buy costumes, seem to be making up alot of excuses as well, for why they dont make their own...

so that leads me to this important fact; everybody wants to make their own costume. you know why? because in it's stupid way, a person who made their own costume, waves their nerd flag just a little bit higher than the person who clicked "purchase" on an ebay auction.
nerds, geeks, etc...we all want to show our dedication and fanatacism, not just by how much we collect, but by how far we're willing to go in sacrificing our free time to it. someone who took the time to perfect every detail of a costume to make it spot-on, says "look how much of a fan i am!" and a store bought just cant really win that competition...and it doesnt even matter if a store bought is better than a self made satin monstrosity; at least they TRIED, and will learn, and get better...ebayers will never know that feeling, because it seems to me theyre too damn scared to even take that first step.

my advice? accept the fact that your first self-made costume is going to look like shit. that's how it is for just about everybody. and if you keep at it, it will be the ONLY costume you make that will look like shit: every one after that will look better and better. stop being afraid of failure, because it's going to happen no matter what.

Not everyone can sew. Period. I took classes, I tried for years to improve. Try as I might, I suck. If I want to dress up as a character because I like them, I will go buy my costume and save myself some tears.

I made all my costumes without sewing classes.
I'm not saying you have to make a costume to be a true cosplayer and that everyone like me deserves praise and admiration but people judge other people's costumes, either hand sewed or store bought. Give some credit to those who hand sewed costumes and decided to generously sell them to buyers and those who are trully committed to cosplaying by making or buying costumes and not cosplay just for the sake of popularity

you can also sew for years and years and still be a shitty cosplayer if you

-ignore small details
-end up rushing and make too many shortcuts
-dont understand what looks good on you or what proportion is
-don't bother with makeup and props for the complete package.

guess what, the same can happen even if you bought the costume.

i dont care if you do category A or category B, or something in the middle. the pitfalls are always there.

all of you buy costumes, so shut the fuck up

I look at it this way, some people go to conventions and just want to dress as their favorite character, just like a kid wants to dress as a favorite character for Halloween. No one is calling those kids "wanna be models" or "attention whores".

Now, I'm not saying those people don't exist in the cosplay world, they do. But if someone buys a costume because they genuinely like a character and have actually watched the show/movie/anime/etc. that character is from, where is the harm? They shouldn't claim to have made it or participate in any competitions, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with them dressing as a character they love at a convention to just have fun with friends.

Stop being arrogant, stuck up assholes and lighten up.

Geez by the way some people are going about it people just about hate it when people buy any aspect of a costume. If I were to cosplay as a Turkk I should not even cosider buying my suit cheap or using something in my own closet. No, I would have to build and sew every single piece or else I'll be ruining the cosplay commuity with my store bought stuff.

anyone who says they can't sew is a fucking idiot. Machines are easy enough to figure out and what is so hard about holding fabric and sewing in a straight line?

I goto school and have a job so saying you have no time is a pathetic excuse. Just admit that you are lazy

I think you should pull that stick out of your ass. You like making your own costumes, that's great for you. Some of us are awful at sewing and don't want to walk around a con in a shitty costume. In fact, not all of us WANT to make our own costumes. Cosplay is costume play. Nowhere is it written that making your own is what makes it cosplay. Again, good for you for making your own, but chill out and let people wear their ebay costumes if they want. This is just for fun, it's not a religion.

>>1981928
>what is so hard about holding fabric and sewing in a straight line?

I don't know, but I'm fucking incapable of it. True story. And sewing is NOT easy, people spend years mastering it. Just because you can hem a skirt doesn't make you a seamstress. Making costumes is very difficult and time-consuming. Some people have a natural knack for it, a lot of us don't.

>>1981928
I think the word you're looking for is 'incompetent'

>>1981345

This. Christ.

I would like to experience this big satisfaction/pride everyone talks about when you finish a really complex costume, but I can barely manage a t-shirt. I'll gladly settle for the Christmas-morning-like feeling I get from receiving a costume in the mail, or just the fun of wearing it around a con and posing for pictures.

I'm one hell of a cosplayer, no doubt. But I don't make my costumes. Why? Because I'm a perfectionist with a stickler for accuracy. SO, what I do is buy a costume online and alter the hell out of it. I'm the kind of sewer who needs a premade "base" so to speak to work with.

I bought a Belarus costume online and it was the wrong color and a few other things. So I took it, dyed it, and fixed it up so it looked much better than it did when it came to my house in the mail.

I'm a full-time college student sharing a room with two others. I don't own a sewing machine and the only place I would use it is in the costume shop across campus. I'm no procrastinator so it would kill me to work on it during the summer, when most of my conventions are.

Buying works for me. I know how to sew and I'm working on getting better to the more complicated things, but until then I prefer to buy and then alter to make it perfect. That way I can still say I put work into it and anything I can't do is taken care of already.

>>1981458 Think about it. When you comment on a cosplay or talk about an "amazing cosplayer" are you saying that because of how they smile in a photo? About how they pose that left arm perfectly? About how they smile with their eyes? No! It's their cosplay, their costume, their wig, their prop. Not for how well they use paypal.

You butchered the English...but I get what you are saying and I agree.
When you compliment someone here you compliment their skills. Until you say "I bought it" everyone assumes you made it.

My first couple of costumes were school girls I got skirts, shirts, ect for and such. After that I took on easy cosplay like a sun dress from an episode, then PJs from another episode, then a skirt, then pants, and then outfits. That took about 3 months/2 outfits to get any good at it. I'm no genius seamstress either.


Believe me, I have one store bought cosplay and it just doesn't bring me the same joy as stuff I made. I have barely worn it twice and I've had it for 3 years.

Pic not related... just needed something funny to go there.

As someone who doesn't cosplay but enjoy looking at cosplays, it doesn't matter if you made it or brought it. As long as the person looks good, that's all that matters. I'm pretty sure most of the con goers don't give a shit. The good ones will stand out from the bad ones, so you might as well wear something that looks nice, so you can shine out.

I honestly don't care how much time you spent on your costume, if you're over weight and look like you don't take care of yourself, that's bad cosplay. It doesn't matter if the costume looks good, the way you present it is also important.

I find it interesting that there are certain costumes that can't be done by sewing alone. You have to buy shit in order to make it work.

Pic related. I seriously doubt you could make your own Riot Armor or make your own Motorcycle Helmet in your garage or workroom.

>>1982062

Um.. yes you could.

If you live in an apartment like I do, making certain props becomes a lot harder, if not impossible.

>>1982088

Prove it then.

Woah. Seriously. I have full time job and try to have somewhat of a life outside of anime and work. I go out of town almost every weekend. The rest of my free time I really spend on drawing an art. That's what I'M passionate about.

I love cosplay. I love cosplay more when I see and meet people who make their own costumes. I appreciate the work they put into them. I recognize it as another art that some people are truly passionate about it. Wig styling, costume making, prop making, fanfiction, fanart. . .come on. We're all fans expressing ourselves in some way.

I choose fanart and spend the majority of time doing that. When I put on one of my costumes for fun, it's just that. It's for fun. For me to run around with my friends and meet other fans of series that I am in to. I don't go posting my pics on here and I don't go around showing off ( even the stuff I DO manage to make myself. ).

There are costumes I would LOVE to try making someday, especially since a lot of the characters I want to cosplay I can't just go buy a costume of. And someday I will. Just currently? Not much of an option for me.

if i could cut corners for my cosplays i would... but i don't trust other ppl to make things for me, that way when i think it looks wrong i can only blame myself... plus pre made ones quality and accuracy may be off, plus pre made ones may not match your body, and buying a pre made one to alter is just stupid unless it's cheap... which it usually isn't when you include shipping...

i think cosplay is just about dressing up and taking photos of each other (assuming you have cosplay buddies) if you look "bad" big deal, just post it up anyways. coscom ppl are always nice about it, if you look "good" good for you.

premade ones are for ppl that are:
1. too busy have absolutely no time to make costumes
2. are too lazy to make stuff they are not familiar with(aka too lazy to use their heads)

>>1982398
3. Don't WANT to make their costumes.

Who cares if you make or buys costumes? I make all my costumes. I cosplay characters that I look like. Some, if not all only care about cosplayers that ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE the characters they are cosplaying. We make fun of cosplayers not only by how bad their costumes are, but how they don't look anything at all like the character.

Funny thing is that it was a Japanese Fab to cosplay for fun, buy cosplay at a local retail go to a Con and rock it out. Wouldn't be much of a business if everyone made costumes themselves....... IRONY!!

>>1982536

The REAL irony is that cosplay is originally an AMERICAN thing. An American thing where people made their own shit.

Not until the Japanese commercialized it were people like "why make it, buy it" lazy asses.

I think if you're going to buy your whole outfit for cosplay, you should make a competition out of it somehow, at least give it a challenge. I think a great idea would be getting a large group (10-20 people) and setting specific rules. Things like limiting certain series as too easy (no FMA, Naruto, Final Fantasy, etc), to only certain stores or locations that you can buy from (best and fastest dealer-room-only costume?), and having an external, neutral judge at the end. Then you can at least say you _worked_

>>1983616

...you're an idiot.

I agree

Not all of us have the time, inclination, desire, or equipment for making costumes.

And wearing a costume someone else made is better then running around in jeans and a t-shirt.

>>1981345
>>1981346
>>1981349
>>1981364
>>1981378
>>1981378
>>1981378
>>1981378
>>1981394
>>1981455
>>1981568
>>1981914
>>1981914
>>1981914
>>1981941

I'm so glad that not everyone in /cgl/ is an elitist asshole.

Sewing with a sewing machine may not be that difficult but there IS a level of skill to more complex stuff. Yeah it's easy to fix a seam but to sew something like a hakama and not have it look like absolute trash (no pleats, doesn't fall right, etc.) takes experience and skill.

Some people don't have the space or time to learn and waste the time and money on making a few shitty costumes before they master the art.

Just because YOU might live in a small apartment and work and go to college and still have the time, space, and money to make a work-of-art doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else. Pat yourself on the back but don't assume that everyone else is a lazy, incompetent retard.

It's the only way I can get my boyfriend to cosplay with me, since my own costumes keep me too busy to make his. He doesn't have the time or talent to make them himself either, and he isn't an elitist. So if it makes someone happy and they don't try to pass it off as their own, why not? Who cares?

>>Putting time and effort into and costume is what cosplay is all about.

COSPLAY IS ABOUT DRESSING UP IN A FUCKING COSTUME. Not about being the coolest, most skilled kid on the block. That's what contests and masquerades are for.

As long as the buyer doesn't claim to have made it, more power to them. It's better than making something that looks absolutely terrible.