Cosplay Ranting

[thehefner]

Once I saw the photograph* accompanying the A.V. Club's coverage of Comic Con, an unpleasant thought occurred to me, and I immediately sought verification by calling up angrylemur, who actually is attending Nerd Prom.

I asked her, "How many Heath Ledger Jokers have you seen?"

Unflinchingly, and with a telling weariness, she replied, "Too many to count."

Yep, exactly as I feared.

Y'know, going to Ren Fest these past couple years, I've noticed that there always at least two Captain Jack Sparrows. Ren Fest peeps, you can verify this, can you not? How many do you see on any given day? How about season?

Now, I'm far from a Ren Fest purist, and while I love dressing up for photos and whatnot, I generally have little interest in outright cosplay. But it seems to me that the Captain Jack Sparrows (who also go to comic cons that way) and the Heath Ledger Jokers are cut from the same cloth: specifically, I mean "poseur douchebag with no sense of originality" cloth. I hear they sell it at Jo-Ann Fabrics now.

Seriously, how lame do you have to be to put so much time and effort in a Jack Sparrow or Heath Ledger Joker costume? Christ, people, show a little effort. But no, I fear we're just gonna be seeing more and more of these unimaginative, lame-o geeks in the coming years.

To a lesser extent, what's up with people who dress as Stormtroopers? Like, just regular ol' Stormtroopers, just like the same boring old Stormtroopers year in year out. What's the point? Aren't you trying to stand out and be cool?

I mean, look, Darth Vader's always gonna look awesome, but really, why would you want to be yet another plain ol' regular Darth Vader when instead you could be doing something like this:



Really. What's the point of being a geek if you're just going to be boring and vapid like everybody else? We could all learn a lesson from the awesomeness that is Hello Kitty Darth Vader.

God. And some people wonder why I dress up as Bill the Butcher at Ren Fest.** Christ, I should just take this as my cue to dress that way all the time. Just to provide some karmic balance.



*And really, what is up with that picture? Who's he trying to be: Griffin Dunne as Heath Ledger as the Joker?

**Well, aside from the fact that it makes me look AWESOME.

Comments

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

I am unfamilier with Bill the Butcher and would like to see pictures.

As for the stormtroopers, I think at least part of it is being in the 501st leigion and being with these other people --safety in numbers or something.

I don't cosplay, but the costumes that I've considered making tend to be obscure, cool, things like the character Hermione Hatchett from the book The Pirates Mixed Up Voyage. She is a doctor of literature and has a sword and a pistol and a spiked belt.

My current beef with cosplayers is Sweeney Todd. I still haven't seen an original staging (as opposed to the reprisal staging) but come onnnn. Does every fucking thirteen year old have to dress up as Johnny Depp as Todd? I would give good money to see someone put that much recreation effort into making a Sweeney Todd costume from the stage show, and not just the movie.

Uhm. Yeah.

~Sor

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I don't think I have any pictures of myself as Bill off-hand. One of these days, I will get a professional shoot of me in various Bill outfits. But till then, behold the utter awesomeness that is Daniel Day-Lewis:











Oh wait, I tell a lie, I have *one*:



Definitely gonna need to get that photo shoot one of these days.

Ugh, I haven't seen a single Sweeney Todd cosplayer, but I am so not surprised they exist. If only there were some George Hearn cosplayers out there, that'd be super-sweet:

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

My clone (who is made of win and awesome) has not yet done a George Hern Sweeney, but for the movie she dressed up as Cerevis!Sweeney, and for going to see it last weekend, she dressed up like 'String of Pearls'!Sweeney.

I'm sure Hern is going to show up in her wardrobe any day now.

~Sor

[scarydavedc.livejournal.com]

You tend to be able to spot at least two at any given time. This is not, however, including John Wren. John Wren was around before Jack Sparrow, he only assumed that name after the movie hit to mock the Jack Sparrow folks. He will, however, play along if it means booze or booty (of the tail varitey) are to be had.

[charisma18.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we pretty much play "Count the Jack Sparrows" on Faire days... I am sadly compelled to agree that we'll be seeing the same bumper crop of Joker wannabes in the years to come. But if you create that memorable a character, I guess it comes with the territory.

[tonks07.livejournal.com]

I will be sad if Heath Joker folks outnumber comic Joker costumes at freakin Comic Con.Not that I don't love Heath's Joker(I majorly do) but I imagine it's called comic con for a reason. I have to admit I am impressed at people who dress up as Stormtrooper just because it's got to suck to be stuffed in there all day, and they look like it's a pain in the butt to put on.

I don't understand Jack Sparrows at Ren Fairs...isn't the Golden Age of piracy a bit after ren fairs time period? Tell them to shove off and find a pirate festival.

Is that last picture of Bill the Butcher you? If it is-where is your giant pimp top hat? The hats in that movie are pretty epic.As are most of the costumes. /film geek moment.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh heck, really, how many people in costume at any Ren Fest are actually period appropriate as it is? That's why I go as Bill, purely as a commentary on it all, while looking pimptastic at the same time.

Indeed, the last one is me! And your inquiry about the giant pimp top hat is a VERY good question. I have spent years... YEARS... trying to find one. They don't make stovepipe top hats anymore! Try a google search, and all you'll find are Cat In The Hat hats and crappy short cheap top hats. That is, until an alert friend of mine discovered that someone else seems to have noticed the lack of GONY hats and has decided to rectify this.

I may need to buy two. One brown to match the custom-made Bill coat and one black, just cuz.

[scarydavedc.livejournal.com]

While Jack Sparrow is a bit after most Renn Faire timee periods, piracy are not. The problem is that most folks think pirate and think new world, while piracy can be traced back as long as we have ben at sea.

Privateers (basicly state sponsered pirates) really started hitting the scene during the end of the 16th Century, which saw the end of Tudor era and the begining of the Elizabethan, both of which are considered part of the Renaissance.

[whimmydiddle.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere once about a group that does Stormtroopers. I mean a large group. And they put money & effort into high-quality Stormtrooper costumes, and they go places like charity events en masse and volunteer, doing stuff like crowd control or whatever. And they make a big impression, with that many of them. One Stormtrooper may look lame for those of us who are jaded by all this stuff now, but that group... I can get behind them.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Was that the thing Sor was mentioning above? Because yeah, that would make more sense, sure. I was just trying to use Stormtroopers as a single example of a bigger problem, but perhaps I chose poorly, to mix my Lucasian quotes.

[whimmydiddle.livejournal.com]

I don't believe that's what she's referring to. She has a friend she calls her clone because they resemble each other.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Erm... nnnnoooo, I meant the "501st legion" thing she was referring to. :)

[holli.livejournal.com]

Since I am planning a lazy-ass costume for Dragoncon, I guess I can't judge these people. However, my lazy-ass costume is Misfit-- I figure, if you're going to but corners on the costume, at least be someone unexpected.

Also, I am considering trying to talk the friend I'm going with into attempting girl versions of Hank and Dean Venture. Because that should exist.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

See? That... that is exactly the kind of thing of which we simply need to see more. Go Team Girl Venture!

[princessebee.livejournal.com]

welp, I LOVE my Harley costume to nertz to you! :P

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Well obviously you're different. Because you work it!

[insaneboingo.livejournal.com]

THIS is by far my favorite Joker this year (Please to be disregarding my craptacular camera).

He had the greatest laugh, which you could heard throughout the exhibit hall.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Hell yeah, there we go!

[dhairya.livejournal.com]

My booth also has "count the Sparrows". Best Sparrow costume sometimes gets called over and given a prize. Also, if we see two Sparrows around the same time we try to get them to fight to the death in front of our booth. Good Times

[scarydavedc.livejournal.com]

What booth do you work at? My wife and I have been with House of Musical Traditions for almost a decade.

[tamburlaine.livejournal.com]

Uh. Not to be rude or anything, but you're missing something very crucial in the equation here.


Doing a good job dressing up Jack Sparrow or Heath Ledger Joker almost guarantees you will get a whooole buncha laydeez up in your crotchal zone. At least when I saw a couple of pictures of Joker cosplayers or whatever you want to call them at SDCC... I was like, "Oh shit I'd hit it. I'D HIT IT GOD HELP ME I'D HIT IT."

Those guys have a Pussy Agenda, dude. Deal wif it. XD

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Wow. Now I hate them all the more.

Eh, then again, I'm not sure I'd want to be with a girl who'd go for a generic (however well-done, they're still generic) Captain Jack or Heath Joker rather that hit a sweet sexy bit of Bill the Butcher or Harvey Dent ass.

[dhairya.livejournal.com]

FUCK YES.

Jack Sparrow can suck an egg. Bill the Butcher gets the panties coming OFF

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

My kinda gal! Wanna ride the handlebars?

[heykidzcomix.livejournal.com]

The real question: how many Drs. Horrible or Captains Hammer did she see? Those would be the Perfect Storm of repulsive dorkicity.

[angrylemur.livejournal.com]

I saw a couple Drs. Horrible. No Captains Hammer, though.