Imagine walking through a big room. Imagine it’s full of people. Now picture yourself wearing what are basically half a gimp mask and a waiter outfit, while wading through said amorphous mass of costumed limbs.
Now you hear a shout, “Kaneki Ken! Look, it’s Kaneki Ken!” A tug on your arm bids you to turn. A young couple asks you if they can take a photo, no ridicule, just a genuine want to have a picture taken with you. Nonchalant pose assumed and snap.
Moments later, standing alone, there is another shout, “Hey Kaneki Ken!” You’ve started answering to another name. More friends wanting a picture with you, even a few compliments on a nicely put (cobbled) together costume and you can’t help but smile.
That was a very rough approximation of my time at comic-con. What you need to understand first is I’m not one to leave my comfort zone often. Going somewhere in costume, other than at Halloween, has never been a situation I thought I would enjoy let alone do again.
It’s quite hard to explain the appeal of cosplaying. At first I felt weird, quite rightly so for what I was gallivanting around in. Then being surrounded by people who were having a great time gave me what I can only imagine was a contact high. All of a sudden there was always a smile at the corner of my mouth, and then came this inexplicable sense of elation.
Getting asked to take a photo with 6 or 7 different people was really cool. You made them happy and because of that you got happy as well, I was trapped in an infinite loop of endorphins. I’d recommend cosplaying to anyone, I can’t wait to get another chance myself, just pick a character and go!
Photos by Calum McCormack.
