Cosplay

[Juggalette]

do guys really find this hot?

and if so why?

is it the facination of being with some Anime Character? I dunno why, but this keeps on bothering me, I was reading at another message board, about ppl getting their coustumes ready for some CON, and I was amazed at how many guys were all drooling over girls in COSPLAY. really kinda sick if you ask me.

but maybe I dont understand the whole reason behind their facinations.

Anyone got some input?


I am not saying I am against it, I did dress up a few times as Harley Quinn, and Felicia from Dark Stalkers. But what buggs me is guys getting off on it....
I posted a pic once and I had so many guys sending me pm's and it got annyoing.
I think it's cool and all! :D Just confused on the whole guys liking that more than a regular lookin girl. :o

[Buzz Dixon]

My daughter is interested in costuming. I like the costumes for the skill that goes into them and the imagination behind many of the original ones.

What you're describing sounds more like a fetish, which is to say a projection of sexual desire onto an inanimate object, in this case costumes based on anime characters. Mind you, some of those costumes can be sexy and attractive, but if a person can only get aroused by cosplay (or anime or manga, for that manner), then they potentially have a fetish.

[KameTen]

Simple. Being able to see and interact with a fantasy character or element in one's real life can be an incredible turn on. Wish fufillment and the like.

Though that you have dressed as both Felicia and Harley Quinn, and don't understand why guys would leer either means that you're naive or a incredible tease ;)

Jeebus, I hope you're kidding around.

[Steve]

Do I find it hot? Not really.

But my mind could be changed if someone with a bodacious bod came up to me a dressed like Kekko Kamen.

[Juggalette]

actually when i dressed it wasnt a big deal, I went to an AKON in dallas no biggie.

but when i posted the pics at another forum, it was like i had dropped bloody meat in a pool of sharks, and it was the remarks and comments that came flying after that.

and how most said OH any girl could dress up as Asuka Langley Soryu from evangelion, and they wouldnt care who was beneath the coustume, as long as she was dressed as their fav character.

I guess I can see it being a fetish, but what wanted to know is if guys really do find it HOT? or sexy?

is it like a furry thing?

I mean ive seen Star Wars ppl get married in teh whole getup, is it like that?

[Robin3]

It's amazing that this question is serious. Felicia?

Yes, costumes are hot, and it's not a fetish for most people, just an enhancement.

I had dreads for a while, and it was easier to get women to respond to me. Why? You need something to stand you out.

Add to that the fact that
1. anime heroine costumes are designed to enhance the character's sexual attractiveness, and
2. the characters may represent a behavioral ideal, and you've got instant Mojo.

1. In detail, look at the cosplay felicia picture attached:http://motleycrow.com/imagehost/cosplay%20-%20Darkstalkers%20-%20Felicia.jpg
A. Her arms are bare, but there are rings around the arms, which draw more attention to the bareness than naked arms alone.
B. The tops of her legs are bare going up to the hips, with the attention-drawing rings again. Plus, since the butt isn't fully covered, it adds to the sense of sexual preparedness.
C . In her torso, she's only got her breasts covered with taped-on 'fur'. This hides any imperfects in her areola, plus acts as a highlight once again to draw attention to her chest.
D. The pose she's sitting is a submissive one, which for men, is sexually attractive. You can complain about this, but it's reality.


2. And what I meant by "behavioral ideal", The characters in anime can sometimes act in ways that normal woman can't keep up all the time, but are attractive to men. An example would be Belldandy, the "perfect woman type". If you dress as Belldandy, you are, for the moment, appealing to that fantasy. The hope is, that your real personality is somewhere close.

Women have behavioral ideals too, hence the sale of romance novels as a major driving force of the book market. As a real man, I know I can't act like a romance novel guy nonstop, but it doesn't bother me to know that that's what's attractive.

By the way, that woman's nose is too big and from the looks of her legs, she might be too tall. However, the costuming helps work around those flaws just like good fashion.

[KameTen]

Thank you for writing that down Robin3.

But with that aside, how old are you Juggalette?

[M203]

I wouldn't honestly worry about the remarks you get actually, and I concede that some of the costumes are extremely difficult to build. I really can't understand it either. We were talking about just this in class[Uni] sometime last year and we pretty much agreed that the people who exhibit such behaviour do have some "fetishes" towards 2D objects, so to speak. This is their private life so they should be more than welcome to go about it as they please, but I would be reporting users who approach you in such a manner to the Admin or moderators on the forum you post on.

It is one matter to fantisize about being with a character, but mistaking a costume for said character and ignoring another Cosplayer's effort put into their handiwork, that's freakin' low.

Yes, I know how it feels. I did a cosplay once as Initial D's Seiji Iwaki and plenty of people mistook the fact that we were there to Cosplay and not act like pricks[which in the series, pretty much portrays the character.]

[Robin3]

No, I totally disagree with the advice posted by M203. If you don't want contact from someone of the opposite (and sometimes same) sex then don't post sexy pictures of yourself on the internet. Seems like common sense. Sicking the mods on the ones you don't find attractive is a very weak way of dealing with the scenario you created. If someone sends something repeatedly or of a highly explicit nature to you, fair game, zap 'em. But just being contacted by someone to express sexual interest is something that will happen with what you're involved in.

You might want to pick another hobby or less risque' costumes.

Now I know how the fathers of teenage girls feel when they're trying to explain to them why they shouldn't dress immodestly, or be shocked when they get the results that they do, when they do.

[Chocolove]

Simple. Being able to see and interact with a fantasy character or element in one's real life can be an incredible turn on. Wish fufillment and the like.

Nothing more needs to be said, but...

Fetishism is a bit more complex than one would think. What Buzz described as a fetish is technically correct, but not socially accurate; a fetish as commony known and referred to by the masses is by no means a bonafide disorder, it is simply an attracttion that is 'out of the normal' with the most classic example being the foot fetish. Now why would being attracted to feet the same way most men are attracted to breasts or butts be considered a fetish ? There's no real reason for that besides society's own perceptions of what is attractive. Why would you find someone's feces factory more attractive anyway ? Well it's roundand soft, etc. But feet can be considered well-sculpted or shapely, etc. This is the problem with how we describe a fetish, as from a technical definition this is considered partialism, but not EVERY person attracted to feet has partialism. As has likely been noted the confusion comes from the misuse of information by the everyman and the medicalization of American society.

A 'fetish' as most think of it is simply a taboo form of stimulation that most people don't ascribe to. It's difficult to comprehend how many of those fetishes come to be (such as for the jockstrap), but ultimately what it provides the individual is no different from T&A, its simply 'not normal'. Now a fetish taken to the point where only the fetish itself can provide arousal and release is the technical definition and /is/ a disorder. The whole 'I'd do anyone in an Asuka outfit' falls into this technical definition, though this wouldn't necessarily exclude other stimulations.

But for most con-goers it's the fantasy-meet-reality aspect. Keep in mind that when you crack open a book, watch a sticom or illegally download anime from the internet ( :) ) you are going ot be introduced to characters that are likely to be seen as 'real' people. This is the strength of a good writer, but it is also the weakness of a good reader; these characters become people who matter (just visit any comic forum or take a look at the Death Spiral thread in the Rumbles forum) regardless of the fact they are fictional. They are characters that you can love and hate and be fairly ambivalent to, characters that you can develop bonds with and have those bonds strengthened and destroyed. For those whose bonds are strengthened, to see Kagome or Ranma in the flesh can literally be like a dream come true, even more so if the cosplayer is in-character or has said character's general personality traits. Most people are aware these are fictional characters and don't get much more than thrill out of seeing pencil and paper become flesh and blood. Other people get... other things.

But it isn't unheard of for someone to say 'this boy I met today acts like Ranma/Kenshin, those personality quirks turn me on' and to have that be an obvious advantage in the poor guy's favor. To simplify the whole thing; fictional people, when done right, are like regular people. Draw your own conclusions.

[G. Wayne]

On a lighthearted note, I find it amusing that someone who titles themselves "Joker Lover" in reference to the Batman character, is intrigued by males being interested in women in costumes.

Anyway...

I consider myself an admirer of females who put costumery together. I wouldn't really go so far as to say it's a turn-on, but I do enjoy seeing it. That's actually part of the reason I go to conventions, to see the women in costumes. For that matter, a highlight of one a few years ago was a girl in a Harley Quinn costume. :D

But I do the same thing at the gothic/industrial clubs and shows I go to, I look for the women who go just a little farther with their outfit. Really couldn't say why, never thought about it.

Mind you though, I don't go out of my way for this or anything. I just consider it an added bonus of going to a concert or convention.

[Buzz Dixon]

re fetish/es, there's this old saying:

"Kinky is a feather.

"Sick is the whole chicken."

That being said, I once worked for a guy who was Colonel Sanders. =YIKES!!!= :eek:

[The Xenos]

Well, it ain't just guys who drool over female cosplayers. I hqd a friend go as Vash and, dear crap, you should ahve seen the girls all over him. Of course a good majority of them were jailbait.

Of course, I went as Legato recently. That costume has spikes and I still got glomped. Though I also did a Blame! cosplay and that was so obscure not many people knew what I was.

Oh and as for the Felicia cosplayer, I dunno, the nose looks fine.

[The Real Nemo]

Thank you for writing that down Robin3.

But with that aside, how old are you Juggalette?
According to her profile she's 26.

[Juggalette]

Yes yes I am.


All i wanted to know is if GUYS really did FIND this HOT??

either YES or NO

and Robin3 pointed it out very clearly.. YEAH a response!


I just didint know if it was cuz of the character, or more like a fetish... Do guys find it hot or not. YES! I guess so.

and when i dressed for AKON, i was helping a friend work a booth, and i was like a teenager back then. I think I was 17 the first time.

Just THat I dont find guys hot when they are dressed as Anime Characeters. I prefer their natural character.

Joker Lover or not, I would not fall head over heals for a guy dressed like JOker, I may take a picture with him, but that is about it. :P

gee dont get ur self worked up over nothing...
_______________________________________________
"AWWW shucks MR. J , and we were just gettin started"

[Buzz Dixon]

Some guys might find it hot, some not.

Some guys find tall women hot, some guys find short men hot.

It takes all kinds to make a world.