What You Should Never Say To A Cosplayer - Arisia 2020 

I heard a quote that said ' cosplay is like fan art, everyone has a different style.' And i think about that alot

NEVER compare cosplayers. Like “Oh I saw someone cosplaying the same thing! You look so much better.” It makes cosplayers very uncomfortable

Never ever EVER say, "I could do so much better." Well then, do it.

Never tell a cosplayer that they can't cosplay due to their age/weight/size/gender/disability/race/etc. COSPLAY IS FOR EVERYONE! It doesn't matter if your different from someone else, EVERYONE IS UNIQUE!

Don't ask for a hug and then break my ribcage. At my first convention ever, a girl asked for a hug, I agreed, and she then hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe and literally PICKED ME UP.

"You're too young to cosplay that character." "You're a minor, that character is an adult." "Ew, your outfit doesn't look right." "Your face isn't round enough." "You don't have enough of a jawline." "That character already has too many cosplayers." "Be original." "Put more effort into your cosplay." All of these things hurt like hell to here, especially when you've been cosplaying for a couple years and you're a minor with adults hating on you for absolutely no reason.

My motto at cons is: all cosplay is good cosplay

Never tell a cosplayer something along the lines of "But isn't that fandom dead?" Or "I thought that fandom died ages ago..." I've seen so many cosplayers get told this and none of them were happy about it.

Never come up to a cosplayer that’s wearing a gender bend cosplay and say (like to a deku for instance) “Deku is a boy not a girl” type of crap please😤

People treated me like I was actually Himiko. It sucked.

Also this. Cosplayers, are NOT the charachters. Sure the charachter did something bad in the anime/manga/game etc. But the cosplayers didnt do that. The charachters did. The cosplayer liked the charachter and decided to dress up as them. STOP.

"good cosplay But the character isent black/white"

“You are missing this thing” “you should have this thing” WE KNOW! If our cosplay is missing something, WE KNOW! We spent a lot of time and money on making this and if we are missing, say a sword, we know that! No one is more aware of inaccuracies and mistakes in cosplay then the cosplayer wearing it.

I once cosplayed as star-lord and this 30 yr old man came up to me and said “didnt he die in infinity war” *I was 12.*

"your the wrong age for that" Me: yeah thanks for pointing out that Kiki from kikis delivery service is a child and I'm a child "Oh sorry I didn't know you were Kiki" That was the worst for me

Never tell a cosplayer: "you are to young to cosplay", or, "you are to old to cosplay" like if you are 7-16 or 30-60 it doesn't matter you can cosplay anything you want

I was cosplaying as Chat Noir from Miraculous Ladybug once and someone told me my bell was the wrong shade of gold. It didn't really bother me but it's still annoying if something isn't accurate don't point it out

this is from experience, at my first ever con, i was cosplaying starfire from teen titans, and my friend was cosplaying raven from teen titans, one person came up to us and was like, "your cosplays are nice, but your too YOUNG to cosplay" we were NINE. imagine telling a nine year old that they're too young to start doing cosplay. I hate that guy.

Never fetishize them. That’s gross AND weird

Don't treat cosplayers as if they are the actual character Edit: okay as a cosplayer I'd like to change my statement a bit,, it's okay to treat the cosplayer as the character in a joking sense like " hey you're my first anime " or imitating their catchphrase. But please don't act very weird and say things like " I have a dakimakura of you at home " or something like that.

I look like L from death note so I got his clothes and now I'm cosplaying him for the rest of my life

Everyone say it with me now: *COSPLAY IS NOT CONSENT* Also never tell a cosplayer or ask if they have fetishes or kinks just because they dress up. Particularly the cosplayers who genuinely enjoy cosplaying the sexier characters. It just makes us feel super uncomfortable

just because someone is cosplaying as a black character and doesnt have the correct skintone doesnt necessarily mean they are whitewashing the character and/or racist.

1. Never tell them "you're not the right height/weight/color(skin tone) for the character" 2. Never say "I've seen better." Or "that's ugly/a bad cosplay" 3. "I hate that character!" 4. "Your makeup is wrong." 5. Touching them without permission There's actually a lot more :^

I hate when people say "That looks so cheap" I bought $102 cosplay and i can't wait for it and i have had it happen to me before.....

“Your not a real cosplayer cuz you bought your outfit and not made it.” It’s always anoying when your new to cosplay and don’t have the skills, time or money to make a full cosplay on your own. No matter if you bought or made your cosplay it’s still creative, takes a lot of work and money. Your no less if a cosplayer if you buy cosplay and not make it.

“Oh everyone cosplays THAT character!!” Seriously. Stop.

Someone once complained that I had braces and the character I was cosplaying didn’t have braces. Oh sorry let me rip the metal glued to my teeth out.

Story time this at Arisia It was my first time cosplaying and I was cosplaying as Todoroki and this girl cosplaying as Deku and started absolutely squeezing the living daylights out of me and she didn’t even ask but it didn’t bother me to much but still like I would have preferred for her to have asked first because I definitely would have said yes.

I have one: “your voice doesn’t match the character”

The zero two was really relatable. As someone that also cosplays Sakura Haruno, I CONSTANTLY get the "useless" comments at conventions. Sometimes followed by a "but you're cute" as if that makes it any better. It's not that I'm offended by it because I know that not everyone likes the same characters, but it feels like they pay more attention to how much they hate the character than the effort I put into making the costume. Not to mention, It gets annoying after I hear it 5 times. It's like they think their joke is original.

One time my friend was cosplaying Chihiro from Danganronpa and she was younger age and black and someone told her- “You cant cosplay them you’re black and you are too young to cosplay!” And i was next to my friend in my Monokuma cosplay and i said- “Its punishment timee”!

“How much did your cosplay cost?” Too much, too much Edit: also just because i cosplay toga doesn’t mean I’m evil and kill people

NEVER. OR I MEAN NEVER. tell a cosplayer: “The character is white not black” LIKE- DUDE 🙄 edit: woah thanks for 500 likes

i personally like the idea that you shouldn’t shame someone for buying their cosplay instead of making it. not everyone has the skillset to make a cosplay, or the time to spend on them. i personally like to buy cosplay pieces, or commission someone to make full outfits. it’s much easier.

When I saw the chiaki cosplayer I was just “Thats amazing”

SO NEVER EVER EVER TELL A COSPLAYER “the character your cosplaying is a different skin colour” it hurts peoples feelings so much cause what if that character they are cosplaying is their favourite character and they want to cosplay it

Never tell a cosplayer "There is someone who looks better than you" happened to me when I was cosplaying alastor(hazbin Hotel) yeah that hurt Edit: Lil update so I'm not wearing that cosplay anymore cuz another person said the same thing lmao And thanks for all the kind comments ^^

I cosplayed nezuku once and a random dude not even in cosplay just jumped on my and chased me yelling "Nezuko-chann~" honestly it was really fun and funny but some people would not like that :)

Never tell a cosplayer “you don’t have the right skin color for that” trust me I’ve been told that many times

I have 2 1: Don't tell us are cosplay is too common and put as down for it, I cosplay Deku and over time it has become a comfort cosplay because its easy and cute, I went to one con wearing it and I haven't sense because people wouldn't leave me alone about it. 2.Don't tell us about not liking who we are cosplaying, I don't mind when someone just says 'oh i'm not a fan of *who im cosplaying*' but when you start saying you hate me and that i'm a bad character, that hurts because it feels like your directing your hate towards me

I remember I cosplayed as Toga at school, and I can’t tell you how many times I was called “Sailor Moon”

One thing I get a lot is when they said "you can't be this character because they are a boy and your your a girl." Like dude, let me be the relatable and lovable Aizawa I love

The #1 answer is- "Don't shame us for who we are"! Couldn't agree more! I'm a guy and I like Cosplaying as Anime girls. I know that I'm not the best or perfect at Cosplaying as them but who cares? I'm not in it to please anyone. I'm in it to have fun and show my love for the characters I like and fandoms I respect and love. Please don't ruin it for everyone else as well.

OH MY GOD I LOVE THAT PERSON WHO'S COSPLAYING HADES

I’m tired of being called “too tall” for characters. I like cosplaying short people but I’m really tall and I get confronted at cons for it

"you're cosplaying a boy? but you're a girl" BRUH I KNOW LET ME LIVE, I get that so much on tiktok lol

people probably have said this already but like can we talk about the fact that everyone's cosplay here were bomb, like they were so good!

Never ask a cosplayer: Like “Oh ThAt ChArAcToR iS tHiS gEnDeR”

I have one thing like this too. Never say "You're too short/tall". Never. I was with my friend, who was cosplaying and some people just told her she's too short and said that her cosplay is really bad and it looks like she spent 15 minutes on making it. She was crying after that, because words they used weren't... Really nice.

Everyone in this video looked so good, I wish I could get into it more. - Totally not Nagito.

also, never tell a cosplayer: “your to young to cosplay”

Mine is "You're to young to cosplay like I have a Eri cosplay and i can't wait to cosplay her at a convention

0:51 this is so true, i also cosplay‘ed sakura and some weebs called me useless for cosplaying her 👩🏼‍🦯

Please, just PLEASE, stop saying to me that I am too little to do a cosplay. I have 13 years old and I am a cosplayer, is that a problem for you? Then just go away and don't watch me.

Never tell them “I’ve seen better”

The worst thing to say to a cosplayer: *wait... what are you?* Or another thing it’s not really a word but..... *the stare*

All I have to say, That Dabi and Hawks cosplay was amazing 👀👌

never tell a cosplayer 1. “they’re too skinny/fat” no one is perfect, there are a lot of cosplayers that look skinntier, it may be because of having larger or smallers breasts. either way, their weight doesn’t matter, they’re humans like you. 2. misgendering pronouns i understand if you didn’t know what their pronouns were, but after learning their pronouns, it’s offensive to proceed calling them a girl if they’re a boy if they’re a boy if they’re non-binary 3. “the outfit/wig/makeup/other is bad/sucks” this is probably one of the worst things to say, they put their money, time, and effort to get this cosplay ready. it’s very rude to just straight-up say that their outfit looks really bad, they didn’t cosplay to get hate. 4. “they’re not a boy/girl” this is yet another thing really harmful to say. a lot of girls cosplay and boys cosplay girls. i think this maybe probably be one of the main reasons a majority of cosplayers come out as non-binary; no one wants to be told things like this 5. “you’re underage/overage to be cosplaying them” this affects a lot of people because there are a LOT of adults that cosplay, and a lot of them cosplay characters that are doing teenagers around 14 or so. and same goes for kids and teens. i understand that it may look weird to you if there’s a 15 year old cosplaying someone like mai in her bunny outfit, but if they’re allowed and their parents support it, just leave them be. 6. “they’re not black/white” since anime has become more popular, i’ve been seeing a lot more black cosplayers through things like tiktok. and what i’ve noticed is that a lot of them are told things like “they’re not black” and trust me, THEY KNOW. 7. “the character you’re cosplaying sucks” WHY would you even say this? they never stated an opinion for who they’re cosplaying. they may hate the character as much as you, or even more. and like the girl said in the video about how she cosplayed sakura once, as we know, sakura is probably one of the most hated anime characters (mainly in america) out there. it might be their comfort characters, and they’re enjoying themself, so WHY are you deciding that your opinion suddenly matters? just leave them be 8. “that’s not canon” okay, there are a lot of cosplayers that cosplay fanon things, and it seriously shouldn’t matter. putting a twist onto things isn’t bad, it makes things more entertaining, actually. 9. being rude on vent posts that i’ve noticed, quite a lot of cosplayers i’ve seen live in a very toxic household or go through a lot of drama. whenever someone vents something and you say anything above or etcetera, this will make it even worse for themself. i recommend reading the description before you rant about ANYTHING even if it’s a compliment in the creators comment section 10. “you’re not in the fandom well” some cosplayers immediately enjoy a character they’ll see in a game/anime/show/movie, and they decide to cosplay them, and there’s nothing wrong about it. sure, the character may turn to be a psychopath or die, but it doesn’t give you the right to spoil it, tell them their stance is wrong, or any other unnecessary things. again, these items hurt the people you say it to. they. are. just. humans. take these as tip before you say anything to a cosplayer. there are a lot of new cosplayers, so be kind to them. thanks

The cosplay fandom is so sweet and understanding, my mom body shames me and I'm insecure of my skin tone. The cosplay fandom is making me feel better

"You should have cosplayed [other character from the fandom] instead" I've seen a lot of Black/dark skin cosplayers get this and it's so rude These are fictional characters. It doesn't matter. Who cares if something is accurate or not

Never tell a cosplayer overtly sexual things. I cosplay as Marvel and DC characters and I hate when people make inappropriate sexual comments to me. Cosplay is not consent!

Things to never tell a cosplayer! (Btw I have had almost all of these said to me) 1. "Um that character is white and your black" First of all that's a bit racist. And second of all you cant compare a fictional character to a real life human. It doesn't matter there skin color! 2. "You shouldn't cosplay that person. Your body doesn't fit the character" Oh sorry let me just rip some fat off of me! No it doesn't work like that. Your perfect the way you are! Its your choice to lose weight. Just as long as your having fun! 3. "Omg your cosplay is great but..." You shouldn't say but just say "Omg your cosplay is great!

dont say anything about age, like dont be like "oh, ur only 14, u r soooooo toxic" like, not everyone is toxic justbc theyre young. and dont say they csnt cosplay from an 18+ thing like PASWG

I've had a friend tell me that she hated my character that I was cosplaying and then proceeded to go off on every reason why she hated him. It broke my heart and I nearly got rid of the cosplay but three of my other friends helped me feel better and my love for the character remains. So yeah, definitely don't tell a cosplayer that you hate their character or shout mean things at them. We're obviously cosplaying that character for a reason and just because you may feel differently than we do about a character doesn't mean that we should have mean things said to us about our character.

The zero two, hawks, and dabi cosplays were AMAZIIINGGGG

Don’t tell a cosplayer “Oh you look more like X character”. It’s incredibly rude. It’s the same thing for “Oh you look like X character dressed as Y character.”

Never ask a cosplayer why they didn’t try something more complicated.

1. Never tell a cosplayer something along the lines of, "What character is that?" on purpose. if you don't know the character, ask politely or just don't ask :) 2. Don't touch cosplayers cosplay and props, they worked on something with all their effort, it could be fragile! 3. Don't tell a cosplayer that their body doesn't fit, their skin-tone doesn't match, don't sexualize a cosplay unless it's meant to be and the cosplayer is okay with it. 4. Don't bring a cosplayer down in general like that their cosplay is badly made, or the character is not on point, they worked on it with all their effort and that's what matters! (some of my points, some already have been mentioned in the video :D)

Never walk up to a todoroki cosplayer and start singing “somebody once told me it’s your power todoroki” and all that Atleast not without consent

Never tell a cosplayer something along the lines of "Your cosplay is so good, but mine is horrible. Yours is way better than mine."

The point of cosplaying is to dress up as that character not to look exactly like them the fun in cosplaying is the dressing up not having to get every detail correctly

I feel like as far as comments on correcting someones appearance go, a good rule is to not mention anything that would take more than five minutes to fix. Like, telling someone if one of their buttons came undone or their hat is about to fall etc... is usually helpful (or has been to me), but telling them there's an inaccuracy or that xyz is wrong/missing is usually just rude. I had someone really save my bacon when they let me know one of my wig clips was falling off, but when another person later that day told me my bows should be sewn on lower, it just pissed me off. it's kind of a fine line and depends on the individual and whether you know them or not tho

I think there are people who take cosplaying too seriously, so, when a beginner posts their cosplay online, these people are always full of criticism and hate: “HAHAHAHA you are too thin to cosplay Wolverine!”, “If you do not use make-up, it’s not cosplay”, “Why don’t you have blue contacts? This is a really big mistake”, “You s**t, Goku can’t be a sexy woman” etc. Chill...I understand that many people have made a job out of cosplaying/modelling/props-making, but 99% of the cosplayers out there are just having a day or two of fun. LIVE AND LET LIVE

That Chiaki Nanami cosplayer portrayed her so well, I loved it.

I was cosplaying Deku. I’m a woman. I just have the right body for him (in my opinion) someone noticed I was a woman. And they just started saying stuff like “You’re not the right gender”. “Why are you cosplaying a guy?”. And you know what? I met up with some of the greatest friend that day and I made so many that I’m still in touch with, that we did the whole 1-A and we had woman that were cosplaying guys and some guys decided to be some woman from the class. We got stares and we still cosplay like them a lot of times.

I love that no one said "Your to young to be a cosplayer"

Never treat a cosplayer like they’re not human. They’re just human, like you. They have feelings. And they also like something that you’re missing out on! >:3

Ooooo! I thought of another one: "Didn't you wear that at the con LAST year?"

I remember years ago when Undertale was still pretty popular I cosplayed as Sans, keep in mind I was idk 11 or 12, and this dude (like over 20 or smt) I kept seeing everywhere I went and whenever he was close enough to me he would make a papyrus impression. Maybe it wasn't meant to be creepy, but it sure felt like it since I saw him like 20 times each hour :/, very uncomfortable.

"I think this other character would fit you better." Also shouting "oppai" at a cosplayer from across the hall is not cool.

2:45 I FOUND A CHIAKI, I AM HAPPY

No one: My friend: YoU cOpYd HeR cOsPlAy

I was cosplaying bakugo from bnha once and some deku cosplayer came up to me and started saying things like, “Oh kacchan, I didn’t know you’d be here,”, and many other things. They kept on “rping” with me, I was getting uncomfortable and I just straight up said, “ could you stop?” And they got angry, bein’ all like “but you’re my kacchan, I love you Kacchan” blah blah blah-, I’ve been scared to cosplay bakugo ever since, I now stay a my oc and don’t get harassed as much.

I don't understand why normies think cosplay is for kids. I go to lots of conventions and I gotta say for every 20 adult cosplayers I see, there's 1 cosplayer who's in their teens or younger, if even that.

Especially you should never say “oh you don’t have the right skin color for that” It could be really offensive

Whenever most of the cosplayers said "weight or height shouldnt matter, be yourself." THAT MADE MY DAY BECAUSE I AM SO INSECURE 🥺

Never ask a cosplayer: “uh, who are u cosplaying again..?”

2:21 I once dressed as the Grim Reaper during Halloween that I spent a whole month on making the neon lights for it and several days making the hoodie to cover my face and the hood. During Halloween someone said "You can't be as the Grim Reaper as a girl!" And people would take photos outta nowhere with the most brightest flash in existence. Remember kids, never use high level flash.

Best thing about being non-binary - I can cosplay anyone I want and no one can judge me for playing someone of a different gender

Don't tell a cosplayer that their cosplay is broken or they're missing a sword or something in a rude or insulting way. If you notice that their costume has ripped or something, let them know in a friendly, "just-wanna-help-a-person-out" way.

I remember once I met some cosplayer who cosplayed as my favorite character ever (chiaki nanami owo) and I felt so happy I kinda just shouted "CHIAKIII HII CAN I TAKE A PICTURE WITH YOU?" and then when I ran up to her she immediately gave me a hug and I felt like SOO happy and yeah.. That was nice hehe

I really appreciate how much they said about body type. That’s definitely something that is keeping me from starting cosplay. I’m not the skinniest person and I’m very self conscious about it. I’m very glad to hear other people encouraging people to do what they enjoy despite their body type. It makes me happy that people respect others and support them.

Never tell a cosplayer "oh your wig is the wrong shade" , "they've never worn that outfit in the fandom" or they forgot something , like a tiny design on the costume or their contacts are a tiny shade lighter or darker . That's what I think you should never tell a cosplayer

I adore that girls Chiaki cosplay :0

ah, thank you for taking time to do this! i'm a very new (as in still making the cosplay) cosplayer, and i'm super nervous about my first convention in cosplay. This really helped with the nerves i think :] like hope that people will realize this and then not make mean comments

never, and i seriously mean never, tell a cosplayer "youre too young to be cosplaying!" because i started cosplaying when i was 12, and it was really upsetting to have people say i was too young. because you can cosplay no matter how old you are, honestly.

Me a 14 years old wanting to cosplay but mother doesnt want to: ;----;

"Judge my appearance but don't judge my appearance." Translation, no negative comments are allowed.

Never tell a cosplayer who's either starting out cosplay or if they are young cosplayers that 'oh you shouldn't be here or oh your cosplay isn't cannon