Beginner Cosplayer, First Time At An Event (Part 1)

 

This time, using my own actual experience, I asked an imaginary otaku girl to tell the story of my experience of participating in my first event as a beginner cosplayer. These types of events are held a bit differently than they normally are right now due to recent events in society, but still I hope that I can give you a taste of what it’s like.

 

 

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Hi! It’s nice to meet you! I’m a local 2D otaku uni student! I was still cosplaying at home up until just recently… I started… at-home-cosplay (Is that what it’s called?) and posting pictures on Twitter, and I secretly enjoyed it. I finally was able to make a friend who was experienced in cosplay and got to speak about all kinds of things. My friend asked me to go with them to an event and I was anxious right up until the day before.

 

I packed up everything I needed for the event just like my friend told me to, but there was so much that it couldn’t fit in a backpack… (…time to get out the rolling suitcase). Let’s see… other than my costume, wigs and makeup kit, I had things like a standing mirror, makeup wipes, cover-up stockings, leggings, etc. those I could understand, but things like safety pins, double-sided tape and clear liquid glue… Are we going to be building the event venue as well?   

 

Even though there are a lot of things that I still don’t know, I am super excited for myself. Each and every item in my case is a piece of my transformation. Up until now, cosplaying was dressing up by myself in my home and taking selfies, but tomorrow I get to go to an event with tonnes of cosplayers and get to mingle with them and take pictures together. I even prepared candy to give to the new people that I meet. Even if I put everything including my futon in my bag and rigorously prepared for the next day, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all. Ah, I remember the day before the event well. 

 

Today’s the day; it’s bright and sunny! My suitcase is like a rock but I made it to the train just in time… People around me scrutinized my giant suitcase and it made me feel self conscious and alone, but I look at my Twitter feed and I see messages from others who are on the way to the same event that I am. As I post the comment “See you all there!” I felt warm and fuzzy inside.

 

 

I meet my friends at the nearest station and continue to the event amongst streets filled with others wheeling their own suitcases to the venue. Everyone is heading on one path to the same place with the same ambition… It’s almost like a scene from The Avengers!! 

 

We make it safely to the event venue. We quickly join an intimidating line of hundreds of people and my friend calms my nerves by suggesting that the line would be a good time for us to chat. And just like that the line moved quickly and we finished our registration in tens of minutes. 

 

Me: With this amount of people won’t the change rooms be rammed?

 

Friend: Don’t worry once you get inside you’ll see.

 

Once the event staff ushered me into the change room I finally understood.

 

It’s a large open space with nothing but the floor, walls and lights, filled with women sitting side by side with their large suitcases. It’s sectioned off with tape and each section is so compact it’s akin to a high school classroom crammed with 100 people. We’re packed in like sushi! It’s so strange… It’s bizarre! There’s no way to separate yourself as, there is virtually no space between you and the person next to you… Thank goodness the people next to me were friends.

 

Secure a spot of your own and set the standing mirror on top of your suitcase and your makeshift dresser is complete. I should start getting ready like I do at home starting with the makeup… but I couldn’t help but to be curious about what cosplay the people in front of us are doing. I mean, wouldn’t it be interesting to watch people make their transformations in this dull, dreary room? I was knocked out of my daydreaming when a friend nudged me to say not to lag behind. I snapped out of it, opened my make-up pouch and got to work. Afterall, mistakes are easily made when you’re rushing. 

 

Me: I got the sleeve of my costume dirty with eyeliner!

 

Friend: If you dab it with a makeup wipe it’ll be fine.

 

Me: The decoration on my hat came off on the way here!

 

Friend: Just use some double sided tape and it’ll be good as new~

 

Me: The fastener on my skirt broke…

 

Friend: This situation is exactly what we bring safety pins for!

 

It seems that I unknowingly had everything I needed with me all along; I had the power! Speaking of which, I thought my friend really had some unique solutions like using the clear, liquid glue directly to the face and sticking the edges of the wig down (It apparently hides the edges of the wig and makes the style look closer to the original).

 

The two of us finally finish getting ready, leave our things in the changing room and head out to the shooting area. Today’s cosplay is an anime idol duo! It’s what they call an awase* photoshoot (*group photo). It’s an otaku’s gift to be able to hold it together while on the inside be bursting with giddiness and thinking things like “OMG!! So and so is standing next to so and so! Ah!… THIS IS THE BEST!!!”

 

As soon as I stepped foot in the space, the image it all resonated with the cosplay event in my own heart and that feeling bubbled up inside of me. Yes, This is it! The place of chaos where cosplayers from east and west come together with countless photographers. You can see vibrant wigs and dazzling costumes, amongst neverending ringing of single lens cameras and the sounds of shutters, all on top of anime music you can hear in the distance. There’s absolutely no reason why we should be waiting to join in on the fun!! And with that we dived right in!

 

 

(Continue to the second half)

 

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