Title of a True Cosplayer, which are you?

Before i start, i would like to make some claims.
* This blog entry is only but my mere opinion.
* It is in no way directed at anyone, anywhere, any society, any government, any whatever.
* Not an entry to flame, not an entry to troll, but an entry to be pondered upon.
* It is an entry made for the love of cosplay and also to argue back on my own thoughts.
* It is my blog, you abhor what i say, you leave. As simple as that ^_^
* I welcome comments and constructive debates. Trolls can just GTFO ^^
* This will be one heck of a long entry.

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 hmm.....i've been pondering on this once again and everytime i see this crap pops up, i'll be thinking ' AW MAN, not another one of this..?!?!'

but then this time, it has indirectly been directed at not only me, but most of the other cosplayers out there.
heck cares if you cosplay, cosmodel,cosmanequin, cosfuck, coswhatever.........
it's a hobby to be shared by all. Our community is already a minority and if we divide ourselves even more by categorizing, wouldn't that make matters worse?

What happened to ' We should stick together, we should enjoy this together, sportsmanship in competitions '.....where are those values now?
5 years ago, although the cosplay community was small, it was one of the best i would say. Although not many knew about cosplaying, it was, in my opinion, at it's prime.
We'd see a whole lot of variety in cosplay....from old schools to newly released series. Now? well....it is always that ' IF-IT-IS-NOT-POPULAR-I-M-NOT-COSPLAYING' mentality...or 'IF-IT-IS-NOT-EPIC-ENOUGH-I-M-NOT-COSPLAYING' mentality.

I thought cosplaying is about the love for the series and character? correct me if i'm wrong, but all i see now is kiasu-ism....
i have to be more AWESOME than you, my costume has to be more poofy...blablabla...
and now, well...there's a certain arguement that popped out in a certain social networking system.

let me quote and summarize

a cosplayer who only does photoshoots = CosMODELLER
a cosplayer who does photoshoots + joins competition = TRUE COSPLAYER
a cosplayer who buys everything and nothing DIY-ed = CosMannequin

hmm.......what do you think?
if i were to categorize myself in this context, i'd be a cosmodeller (WOOT! I AM A MODEL!!!! XD)
yeah, i only do photoshoots and NEVER had i joined any competitions on my own name. I did help out for friend's performance but that's it. Does that make me a fake cosplayer?
however, think about this...

I never participated in competitions, but when i cosplay, i immerse my mind, my body and soul into the very character i'm cosplaying. HECK, it was so scary that i even picked up loving desserts and sweet food after cosplaying a certain character.
I try my utmost best to understand that certain character before i actually put on that costume. So, does that still make me a cosmodeller? (if that word even exist..LOL coz i see red lines underlining it..LOL)

I do not sew my own costumes, but i make alterations.....
i researched on the costume, trying my very best to make it as accurate as possible....
I lose weight, i pile muscles, control my diet so that when i cosplay that certain character, i'll be logically be as accurate as possible.
I do not choose famous characters, rather characters that i love and has little screen time (Heine Westenfluss..T^T died in 3 episodes, tell me...how many of you actually remembers him?)

i'm not trying to blow my own horn here (well, even if i am, heck! it's my blog...*sticks tongue out*) it's just that.... i was a little bit insulted and annoyed when i read that sentence.
There are a few reasons as to why i do not participate in competitions....
1. Too hectic
I go to events to have fun, not to compete. BUT i salute you guys out there who joins the competition.
2. Time constraints
I do not wanna be under time constraints when i go to events. I wanna wander everywhere, anytime and at my own pace. I was involved in competitions as a fellow helper once, and for us to hang around the place with schedule being delayed wasn't a very pleasant experience.
3. Same faces
hmm......well, nothing much to be said here except i always see the same faces during competitions. Not that that is bad, because you guys have the fighting spirit to join over and over again.....kudos to you guys, but well.....i'm not that type of a person you see...

ALSO, i do not consider myself a veteran, intermediate, master, pro, whatever......
I'm still a beginner.......we're all still learning and we help each other out during the times we get together.
We make mistakes, we learn from it.
We face problems, we solve it together.
We laugh together, We go through difficulties together.
We share skills, we teach each other what we know individually...

Isn't that all part of cosplaying? isn't that what makes cosplaying a beautiful hobby?
So, ask yourself......are you a :-

1 True cosplayer A
Joins competitions
Does photoshoots
REALLLLYYY popular

or

2 True cosplayer B
Cosplaying for the love of it
Getting together with friend who share the same hobby
Learning as well as teaching others at the same time

What are you.....A or B?

also, i would like to quote from a friend's FB..

You do not claim yourself to be EPIC. Others tell you that you are EPIC

Listening to : Tackey & Tsubasa - Yumemonogatari
Mood : .......lazy....