Why I love to Cosplay too! =)

One of my many past times is people watching. I’ve always been interested in how people interact and how they handle everyday situations. I always like to try and understand why we do the things we do and how we handle ourselves when the situation changes. This is a type of observation and it is present in almost every thing that we do. 

In observing their are the observers and the participants. Each participant seems to take on some sort of role. Cosplayers get into character. Fans seek out answers/opinions to their fandom. Everything becomes part of the set (including the convention itself) and the role in which the audience is interacting. In such it is not real, but depicts a very real situation, one in which everything is genuine. 

From an outsider point of view however this behavior might be considered weird. What is it that draws these people to a convention? Why do people take on these roles? In my own observations I realized two things- 1) everyone who goes, goes with the intent on meeting someone, being introduced to some new idea, or to make new friends with similar interests and 2) we take on these roles because the characters mean something to us and because it is fun to play the role of someone else. It allows the freedom to express creativity and break free from the monotony of how we normally act.

Another form of cosplay I really enjoy is the Renaissance Faire. I always find it fun to dress up as someone and play pretend. My favorite cosplay thus far is a tie between a lowly peasant girl, my steampunk convention character, and Ramona Flowers. I also dressed up as Hermione Granger for five years in a row for Halloween. Other times I have played a fairy and an elf (in our D&D campaign). Currently I am looking forward to dressing up as someone from Legend of Zelda for the next gaming convention and a fox girl for King Richard's Faire in the Fall. So I pose this question to you: why do you cosplay and who is your favorite to dress up as?