The traditional cosplay competition will also take place at the digital gamescom 2021. That’s what’s behind the impressive costumes.
Video game developers design the most interesting characters with which to conquer the infinite virtual worlds. Some fans go a step further and finally bring the heroes to life themselves through hours of painstaking work through cosplays. Where the cosplay phenomenon comes from and why it is more than just a disguise.
If you have ever visited gamescom, you have certainly wandered through the Cosplay Village and seen the impressive, detailed costumes of the many artists. This year, too, there will be a digital competition and other content about the costumes. Cosplay is a portmanteau of costume and play, which was coined in Japan in the 1980s. The name says it all: performance art is about visually reproducing a character and behaving accordingly. It is possible to cosplay just about anything and anyone, from video game heroes, film characters or manga figures to real people or one’s own creations.
But why the effort? That’s something the cosplayers decide for themselves. Some cosplayers focus on the construction of the costumes, others on acting because they identify with the characters. Still others just want to have fun with friends or discover how they can use photography and image editing to stage the characters even better.
Not cheap disguises, but elaborate craftsmanship
What was often ridiculed as a strange disguise in this country a few years ago has now established itself as a profession for some cosplayers. Among other things, money can be earned with sponsorships from video game developers, tutorials or commissioned work.
Creating cosplays is extremely time-consuming. It is true that clothing in particular can often be bought on cosplay sites. However, if you want to create your entire cosplay on your own, you have to master a number of skills. Depending on the cosplay, there are various tasks, such as:
– Designing patterns, printing or dyeing fabrics, sewing and embroidering.
– Cut, dye, style or sew together wigs.
– Create casting moulds, for example, to make crystals for accessories out of cast resin.
– Build and paint weapons and armour from wood, foam, Worbla, EVA foam and more.
– Carve, sculpt, sand, engrave, draw, etc.
– Soldering LEDs, programming light patterns of LEDs, installing small fog machines.
– Create virtual 3D models of accessories or weapons, 3D printing.
– Makeup as well as special effects makeup.
Some cosplay projects are therefore correspondingly expensive and lengthy. Costs can quickly run into three or four figures. Svetlana Quindt, better known as Kamui Cosplay, for example, needed over one and a half years for the demon version of the Overwatch character Brigitte.
My Brigitte Diablo shield has 560 LEDs and even smokes! It‘s also extremely cute! 👉👈❤️ @Diablo @Blizzard_Ent pic.twitter.com/c0AMpGswMf
— Kamui (@KamuiCosplay) March 31, 2021
Cosplay competitions at fairs and Esports tournaments
For video game developers, cosplayers are a welcome phenomenon, as they often automatically serve as a walking billboard for their games, so to speak. Accordingly, for example, cosplay competitions are often held at Esports tournaments such as The International in Dota 2, where several thousand euros in prize money await the winners. For first place at TI 2019, 15,000 US dollars awaited.
However, anyone who encounters cosplayers at a trade fair or tournament should always remember to ask for permission to take a photo beforehand. Unasked touching of the costumes is also taboo.
