Michi's Cosplay

silencedrowns:

Someone directed my attention to a post in a thread not on tumblr related to me at Youmacon. What it said:

Why the fuck does she hand out cards?

“LOOK AT ME I’M SO QUALITY THIS IS HOW TO BE AS GREAT AS ME” ?

And you know, I realized… cosplay cards aren’t super accepted in the American cosplay community, and I wanted to speak yet again about why I do it.

First off, anybody who thinks that my point of parading around at conventions in silly clothes is to show everybody how “quality” I am, is wrong. I enjoy making costumes. I enjoy wearing costumes. Often the two are related, occasionally they are not (I have some storebought costumes and I’ll happily identify which are bought and which costumes heavily rely on purchased base pieces). I do my best to do a good job with my hobby, but that’s because I enjoy it more when I’m not doing what is TO ME a half-assed job.

I never judge people by the standards I set for my personal outfits. That’d just be dumb. My own personal standards are just that: personal. And even more than being a fan of seeing cosplay pictures, what I’m a fan of is cosplay. The hobby. As in watching people put on silly clothing and have fun wearing it. I don’t care if your costume is a work of fine art winning every award at the masquerade and getting you featured on websites, or if it’s your very first outfit and you don’t really have a clue what you’re doing. When you’re putting in the effort and having fun, I’m honestly delighted to see you, and I mean that. (I’ll also give constructive criticism WHEN ASKED, but that’s an entirely different beast.)

Anyway, I used to actually be on the side of people who thought cards were really stuck up and self-absorbed and shit! But then I had to have some made for when I went to Comiket, where it’d be incredibly rude to NOT have any. I then had a bunch left over, so I started handing them out at the conventions I attended afterwards. I was really surprised how much nicer it made things. If I was having a conversation with someone and I really wanted to continue it but we both had to dash, here’s something a lot easier to remember than tumblr names scrawled on a piece of paper; I reconnected with a bunch of people that way. To photographers, handing them my card meant that I got a lot more photos back rather than having to trawl through the messy layouts of Facebook con albums and search everything I can think of on Flickr. And for the few of my friends who had them, I viewed them like trading cards: Gotta catch ‘em all, gotta get all of my own friends’ various designs.

Also, ngl: I’m hoping to open up commissions for wig styling, small accessories, and a very few costumes next year. If you seemed interested, I definitely handed you a card, because I could use some extra cashmonies and it’s easier for you to find me if you have my info.

If I handed you a card, it was because you took my photo and I wanted a hope of seeing it after the con, because we were having a conversation and one of us had to jet and I thought you might want my contact info, because you expressed interest in accessory commissions, or because you were an existing friend of mine who wanted one for some reason. Period.

I am not perfect by any means, but although the thread where this is brought up is dead, the fact that it bothered some people made me feel like discussing it was a good idea.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in a reply, in my ask (anon or with your name, although I’ll have to answer anon publicly), or any other way you can find on a website I routinely use. Coming off as a stuck-up bitch? NEVER my intention. Ever.

I wanted to share this, as I’ve had the same worries about my own cosplay cards. I have had some great success handing them out, and then getting photos back from photographers much easier than trying to hunt them down otherwise. I’ve also used them when making new friends as a very easy way to share my contact info. I used to think it was a weird concept, but yeah, I felt pretty silly when I cosplayed in Japan and didn’t have any to share with EVERY Japanese cosplayer that had them. I love collecting cards now!

I’m so sorry you had people talking about you like this though, Hanyaan!