So a couple of days ago, I was talking with a customer on the phone at work, and he ended the call with: “Saw that interview with you, that cosplay thing you do is pretty cool!” 

Since I had no idea the interview was posted (or, indeed, was sure which one it was) I was a bit surprised, but thanked him and hung up – and continued to search news pages for the interview. It was posted on one of the national news outlet’s Facebook pages. I’ll post the link at the end of my post. 

First – let me back up a bit. A couple of weeks ago, I was at Gamebox Festival. This was a LAN-party/eSport convention and cosplay was not the main event. A lot of the attendees didn’t know what cosplay it, or had only a vague idea. Many think it’s the same as live roleplay even. Together with my cosplay group, Warcrafters, I hosted a Cosplay Lounge, where other cosplayers could change and rest in the sofas. Another thing we did was exhibit our cosplays and show people what cosplay is. We had a little display with materials and props in progress to show how we make our cosplays. A lot of people found it very interesting – especially since we stood out with our colourful tent and props and very different booth from the others. We also had radio stations, tv- and news outlets stop by and ask us about cosplay. One of these recorded an interview with me, which is the one I’m talking about.

In the interview, I explain how some people at first find cosplay an odd thing to do, but once they learn more about what it is, they see that it’s not just a childish hobby. I go on to talk about how I make my own costumes and learn to work with different materials and also about how I gained most of my friends through this hobby.

I think they made a pretty good little video and I’m happy to represent adult cosplayers. It’s part of the reason why Warcrafters go to events – we really want to show people that cosplay is so much more than just dressing up in a costume. I think there’s a lot of aspects to cosplay that many non-cosplayers don’t realize.

When I first started, I was kind of camera-shy and actually, just shy in general. I had been sewing a bit with my mom, but I only knew the very basics. I didn’t really know anything about carving or sculpting, and painting was something I had mostly done in 2D. Cosplay allowed me to gain so many skills that are not just useful for cosplay – I sew many of my own clothes now, home renovation projects are easier, because I have learned to work with many tools through cosplay and I even am a much more outgoing person with small-talk skills that I definitely did not have before I started cosplaying. Add to that that cosplay is (to me, at least) also about marketing yourself as a sort of brand. Working with social media, working on this webpage, editing photos and videos – more things that I now also use in my professional job.

So I guess my point of this post is just this – I wanted to share my happiness that this message is getting passed on to the mainstream media and I hope it will inspire people to join in and try out cosplay.

Last – here’s the video!

Source: Jyllandsposten