Nerd Blackface: Dressing Up

Wearing costumes and role playing doesn’t make us losers.

Let me start by saying that cosplay and LARPing are different. Costume play (cosplay) is just dressing up. Some folks do the full character but most are just themselves. Live Action Role Play (LARP) involves a group all playing characters as part of pre-established scenario. Since LARPing can involve fantasy elements, it is different from the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) which focuses heavily on historical accuracy.

None of the above are automatic losers. People dress up in costume to communicate their passion and excitement for a particular character at events with likeminded people. Since it’s all in good fun, there’s rarely any drama over people being the same character.

Some cosplayers do it for the attention. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a tiny factor in my decision. Mostly, I love finding the different pieces and putting it all together. I have a bunch of funky things in my wardrobe and do the same thing when I go out. I loved playing dress-up as kid. Why shouldn’t I get to do it as a grown-up?

I’m debuting two costumes in the next month or so and I’m really excited about it. I’d love to do a Dr Who cosplay with Boy Toy. I’m doing one with two of my girlfriends for Shore Leave this weekend.

LARPers dress up as characters within their scenario. They play roles and they generally don’t have issues with overlap. It can be fairly similar to the DND-style tabletop games. It can also be very physical which minimizes the fat virgin in the basement stereotype. One I know is quite attractive and a bit of a womanizer.

I’ve never LARPed before so I can’t say too much more about it. IMHO, if cosplay is like dress-up, LARP is like playing make believe with your friends. The main difference is the level of forethought, detail, and quality of weapons. Leather armor and a foam sword beat the hell out of the stick that fell off the tree last week.

Adult life with desk jobs, mortgages, car payments, and bad TV can be such a slog. Nerds have unabashed permission to go out and have fun like we used to as kids. When was the last time you saw an adult more enthusiastic than a kid? Some even get their kids in on it. I saw a Pokémon family at awesome con. The parents were Brock and Misty, the six year old was Ash, and the baby was in a Pikachu onesie.

To quote the Doctor, “There’s no point in being grown-up if you can’t be childish sometimes.”

Music: Do You Want to Date My Avatar by The Guild