Cosplay: Alcohol for Nerds

If there’s one thing that’ll lower your respectability as a member of the press, it’s cosplay. A bank heist mask doesn’t scream professionalism, a fake gun doesn’t indicate a serious attitude and a character-based swagger doesn’t do a lot of good for your journalistic integrity. It’s not a huge surprise then, that a member of the media wearing cosplay is something of a rare sight, sad to say. We’re not (all) snobs, I promise. It’s just difficult to balance that professionalism with what is, let’s be honest and open here, dress up time for adults. Sometimes though, we get an opportunity to ‘let our hair down’ and for me, this past weekend at the London MCM expo was that opportunity. I’ve always been interested in cosplay, but I think that after this past weekend I finally get it.

I’ve only cosplayed once before, a pretty mediocre effort as Phineas and Ferb’s Dr Doofenshmirtz, so the prospect of cosplaying properly for the first time was genuinely quite exciting. Myself and my three friends Guy, Ed and Ryan (I’d be shot for not name dropping), decided back at the beginning of the year to create a proper PayDay cosplay. I was inspired by a couple of guys who did the same thing at 2013’s Eurogamer Expo; but I figured that playing it with the full four man crew would complete the look. It’s not, as we were well aware, the most original or inventive concept, but we couldn’t find many examples online of a PayDay cosplay done right. People had either gone with the wrong number of people or bought their masks online; fair efforts all round, but we knew we could do better. So the plans were drawn up, the suits were bought, and the masks built from scratch in tremendous style by my mate Guy. We headed to expo knowing we had a cool cosplay, but we didn’t expect the reaction we received.

Admiration, you see, is the ultimate aim of cosplay. We nerdy folk can say what we like about cosplay being an artistic expression, a connection with our inner-child, or an opportunity to represent our beloved characters. It is all those things, but ultimately we’ve all got a desire to be admired. To have a our own little ‘celebrity moments’ within the only situation in which we can. I’d also dare say that cosplay is, for a group of people generally on the more restrained side, an opportunity to gain a temporary boost in worldly confidence. To go a little wild and feel comfortable amongst a large group of people who understand you and your perceived weirdness. I’m at risk of taring a lot of people with the same brush, but this is something I can, after cosplaying myself, happily admit. There’s so much more to it than the simple fun of ‘dressing up’, even if that is physically all it is.

The PayDay cosplay, you see, was a roaring success. At points during the expo it was difficult for us to take ten steps without being asked for a photograph. I was genuinely surprised by how many people actually recognised the get up, and even those who didn’t clearly found it interesting. Here’s the crux of my fascination with cosplay: it felt great to hear people say “hey, nice costumes guys”, “oh man that’s cool”, and the random cries of “PayDay!”were particularly enjoyable. I was grinning behind my mask as much as my mask was grinning. Certainly a part of the good feeling was from months of planning and preparation finally paying off, but there was something inanely selfish about the whole thing. It was all very “you like me, you really like me!”, to misquote Sally Field. We all crave a little bit of appreciation, and cosplaying as the PayDay crew provided my little crew of nerds with an immense feeling of appreciation, probably beyond anything we’d ever received.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8QTUJcuPBw

That’s a difficult feeling to quantify, and it’s also a difficult one to admit. Which, I believe, is why so many people don’t understand cosplaying as both a fun fling and a hobby. People buy nice cars, compete in sports and all manner of things for the same reasons. It is, in essence, alcohol for nerds. I mean, it has similar effects: providing a temporary boost in confidence while making you demand attention and admiration (don’t deny it). Sure, we “nerdy” folk like our alcohol too, but this is the real deal. God, so much generalisation. I would just like to point out that at this stage the english language has let me down. I’m not a fan of assigning everyone that cosplays or attends a comic expo as ‘nerds’ (even if I’d personally consider the phrase something of a plus point), but it makes this splurge of thoughts a little easier to jot down.

Anyway, there is something incredibly wonderful about cosplaying that I don’t totally understand. It’s the suspension of disbelief, the point at which it almost becomes real. There were some moments during the weekend, while strolling through the masses, where I felt like a real badass. Though it may be a damning fact of our society, guns feel cool to hold - even fake ones. The fact that we were wearing a cosplay that features the use of suits helped too. I’d also venture to say that the PayDay cosplay worked so well because it’s grounded in reality. While costumes based on outlandish anime characters can be very impressive, it’s difficult to see them as anything other than cosplay. Our get up, however, looked real. That’s what made it so satisfying to wear. Yet despite this elevation of confidence, I most certainly am not in any way whatsoever a badass, a bank robber, nor an especially confident individual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsO4Fu93AZk

Yet there I was posing and waving like a celebrity, often oblivious of that fact that I’m not actually a character from PayDay. Just a student and journalist from southern England. So perhaps there is a degree of escapism involved, even if the life we’re ‘escaping’ isn’t so bad in the first place. I loved the whole experience and was sad to see it end. While I had only been to one MCM expo before, my friends had been to several; they agreed that this year was the best one yet for them, completely and utterly due to the cosplay. I’m amazed that such a simple act like dressing up can make such a big difference on one’s experience of an event. It’s an incredible thing, really, and I’m proud to have been a small part of it.

There was one element to cosplay I didn’t mention earlier that I feel is one of the most important factors: the sense of community. At these events like London MCM, likeminded people can gather and celebrate what they love. This, I feel, is the ultimate satisfaction of cosplay and the reason so many partake. Our interests may not be the most popular or socially accepted, but when we’re together they become not something to be weary or ashamed of, but something to flaunt, to admire and to enjoy.

Look out for us at Eurogamer 2014, we’ll be back in bank robbing action.