Oh, and on top of all this, I find out Marty Gear died. WTF?!

::putting on my old woman hat and cane::

State of the hobby is laughable. You used to be quite sure of three things when you met a cosplayer.

1.You can discuss the thing they are dressed up as ad nauseum. They knew damn near everything and man were they excited to talk about it.
2. They loved whatever they were dressed up as. There was no "this was the only spot in the group or this is who I look most like so I did it instead of the character I liked"
3. They put every stitch and coat of paint on their work because it was a fucking labor of love and damn right they wanted to be part of everything on it and not "I just want to look good"

I'm lucky if I can find one of those on your typical cosplayer now. They've seen 3 episodes, and bought it off ebay. They had their cosplay friend make it and are only there to fill in a group. They want to be famous and have the most facebook likes and they like another character better but this one shows off more skin. Any combo of those as well.

TL;DR: We care more about looks than content. Same as the rest of the world. shrug

On the bright side we have way more access to character sheets, techniques, and photos.

>>7001676
I think that's because the barrier of entry has be easier to get through. Some people wear outfits just to be a part of the convention atmosphere and others are more serious about the crafting aspects and improving their skills

>>7001676
THIS.
I used to make lots of friends at cons by talking to cosplayers doing the same thing as me. This is no longer the case. I have even cosplayed hamsteak and amazingly even the older crowd of that bunch hasn't read the damn comic half the time. I still make friends, but I meet them at con bars, not by their cosplay.

Fuck last year was the last time I even tried. There was a group cosplaying the Sentry, Ares and Phoenix and I was all "wow guys, incredible work. I never see anyone cosplay Sentry" and he just fucking stuck up his nose at me and made some kind of "tch" noise and said yeah okay".

I will also say what's so crazy to me is how much more complex, impressive and over the top the average costume gets every year. I mean, it's awesome but it's so weird to me when I remember a time when everyone used fucking satin and made props out of cardboard. It's so nice to actually KNOW what we're doing now instead of bumbling around in the dark like we once did.

>>7001774
>Some people wear outfits just to be a part of the convention atmosphere

It used to be that those people were content with wearing the t shirt of their favorite anime/game. They were very much part of the con atmosphere. If prompted why they didn't cosplay they would usually say, "Oh man I do not have any idea how to make anything." Someone would then tell them to start simply and it's ok that it doesn't look awesome because we ALL had first cosplays that were really ugh.

I've seen that played out on the COSP and in front of me so many times I have lost count.

Now people are like "I just wanna have fun" as if you needed a costume to have fun. You don't. They know the attention a good cosplay gets and they want that too, without the annoyance of learning anything.

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>>7001774
"Barrier of entry" becoming easier is a good way to explain how the entire anime fanbase has gotten assbackwards stupid and immature over time.

Pulling out my own old lady cane, but there's good reason why cons in 2000 weren't full of kids. There was little anime available on tv and those of us who pursued it had to go to the effort to order and purchase or trade vhs tapes. It gradually got a bit easier when Napster came out, but now you can fucking stream anything anywhere and there's piles of shit like Naruto on tv that pulls in young idiots.

Cosplay is much the same, all these kids just cosplay to have even more fun acting idiotic while unsupervised at a con. Teens in general are a different group of people from the teens of 10+ years ago.

And yeah you also have all those attention whores otherwise.

I only still cosplay because I get a chance to get together with friends and I can act like the character. I love the artistic elements of the hobby. We are so ridiculously hermit-like at cons though. Almost every time I talk to a new person I'm disappointed.

At least PT will never change.

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There's also a plethora of resources and ready-made items available. Need a specific color of wig, got it. NO MORE PARTING FOR PIGTAILS and the horrors and smell of burnt plastic. Oh hey, here's an accessory. Here's a detailed tutorial. Here's the exact costume you need.

Back in the day, we had to hunt down and draft our patterns, modge podge stuff together from existing items if you didn't know how to draft or read patterns. You used your real hair with colored spray or used a halloween wig because that was all that was availble. If you got lucky, you might find a better quality costume wig to work with for $50-60. But your options were, cleo, cleo bob, godiva, wig with no bangs (but a sewn in part, no skin top) and punky. Your anime color options were about 6-8 plus natural colors which were in abundance. There were also the same handful of series cosplayed over and over again. So at a large con, there'd be lots of the same character (and you'd bond over that shit) And you know what? That was considered good. You'd get a ton of pictures taken, meet all kinds of new friends and have a grand old time.

Now it's like, unless you are cosplaying the current popular favorite, attractive, and doing an amazing cosplay, no1curr. I feel the odd one out most of the time because if I wander away from my circle of friends, I find myself surrounded by kids. I have no issues making friends at cons anymore, I go away with at least one or two new contacts. But it's not the same as it used to be. A lot of times, I just feel this urge to roam around the con, knowing I'm going to meet a cool person, take some pictures of cool costumes, see an old friend. Then I just feel like a lost face in the crowd.

>>7002040
But typically when you just wear an ebay costume or a bad costume you don't get any attention as its given to the cosplayers that actually try.

Good job you bought a generic ebay outfit. Say hello to the other 20 people at the same event who did the same thing.

I easily made friends at my first anime con in '99. We hung out all night on Saturday and wandered around Baltimore. And none of us were younger than 17. And that was me, actually. I was the youngest, but I always had older friends and a job and that's how I afforded cons and anime. Now the kids are 13 or 14, and they're running around like little assholes, and you can't meet anyone worthwhile.

>>7002123
>Now it's like, unless you are cosplaying the current popular favorite, attractive, and doing an amazing cosplay, no1curr.

Older series stand out more at the cons so by going old school you become a bit of a mini celebrity. Most of my outfits are from series that are at least 4 years old and people don't have an issue recognizing them.

>>7002157
Except when you cosplay from old video games and get mistaken three times in the span of 20 minutes by 13-17 year olds as teenybopper pop singers.

Celes Chere =/= Hanna Montana

Are you just doing it for fun, and if not, can you hack it now? The scene is tougher than even four years ago. Mid-tier cosplayers from 2007 can probably out-sew you now. If you can del with that, come back in and have fun. If not, maybe it's best to pretend to retire gracefully.

>>7002164
It comes with the territory, I'm guilty of confusing new characters with older ones. It's give and take. Just remember that by going as older characters, whoever recognizes you is going to be really into the series so you'll have better conversations.