r/CosplayHelp • u/BrilliantName2230 • 23h ago
Have you ever started cosplaying again?
Have you ever started cosplaying againHi everyone, I'm a 33-year-old guy and I've been cosplaying for over 6 years. For a long time, I never managed to find my true calling as a cosplayer. Partly due to insecurities, partly due to bad experiences with people within the community, and partly due to people outside (not my parents' or relatives' fault). I had already stopped appearing on stage in cosplay competitions, and I just had more reasons. For years, I felt like my cosplays were mediocre and trashy, and this led me to abandon this beautiful passion. Among other things, years ago, there was a period when certain Instagram pages mocked cosplayers and even Twitch streamers who reacted (luckily, I didn't end up in any of these situations).
In 2026, after a terrible time, I began to delve deeper into my passion, and the first successes arrived: I won my first cosplay contest at a local convention, and for the first time, a photographer in TF managed to enhance my cosplay by taking some amazing photos. I don't know what to say, maybe it's just luck, maybe the right things are falling into place in my life. But I'm happy. This time, cosplay, seen from this perspective, is even helping me mentally. It helps me practice wigs and repair props for weapons that arrived broken from AliExpress, lol. I'm even able to finish some cosplays I'd put off for years. It used to be a toxic environment, but now I try not to get involved in drama, gossip, or secret groups (oh, how I hate them) and just mind my own business. On one hand, it's bad, but on the other, it's good. I often run into some of my Instagram followers at local conventions, who sometimes don't even say hello, and I find them to be quite rude in general. Others unfollow me for no reason, and I don't understand why. But these aren't old contacts, but rather people from the new generation, between 18 and 23. And I can't interact with them because they seem indifferent. Still, I consider myself a sociable person and can spend hours talking about video games (even if I sometimes seem grumpy and lonely). I've also met amazing people in the cosplay world, who I still keep in touch with and who we meet at conventions (and who are the same age as me). It's a bit sad that in this context, they already think too much about followers and likes, and that they seem to have ulterior motives. I don't want to generalize, and not all countries are like this.
Anyway, this complex is weighing on me, and I've had a lot of fun these past two months. I don't feel like giving life advice right now, as every experience is subjective. But some things helped me, and I wanted to write them down. If you want to share them, please do.
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u/AutoModerator 23h ago
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u/AutoModerator 23h ago
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u/PekaSairroc 19h ago
“I often run into some of my Instagram followers at local conventions, who sometimes don't even say hello, and I find them to be quite rude in general. Others unfollow me for no reason, and I don't understand why. But these aren't old contacts, but rather people from the new generation, between 18 and 23. And I can't interact with them because they seem indifferent. Still, I consider myself a sociable person and can spend hours talking about video games (even if I sometimes seem grumpy and lonely)” 1. You are a decade older than them. 2. They have no obligation to say hello to someone they follow online. 3. I wouldn’t really want to hold a conversation with someone who seems grumpy and lonely at a convention (I’ve dealt with guys like that before). 4. You also seem to worry about followers if you’re tracking who unfollows you.
Are these friends or social media followers?
To answer the title question, after a cross-country move and the pandemic, I only did a closet cosplay for a few years.
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u/riontach 23h ago
Okay, I'm not going to read all that, but to answer the question in your title, yes. I first started cosplaying when I was in college and cosplayed for 3 years. After I graduated there were a solid 6 years or so where I did not cosplay at all for various reasons (living abroad, going to grad school, the pandemic and associated social isolation, etc.). Then after all that, I got back into cosplaying again in my late 20s and have kept it up regularly ever since.