[Savana]

Cosplay (コスプレ, kosupure^?), or "costume play", is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, tokusatsu, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, fantasy movies, Japanese pop music bands, Visual Kei, fantasy music stories (such as stories by the band Sound Horizon), and novels. However, in some circles, "cosplay" has been expanded to mean simply wearing a costume.

In Japan, "cosplay" as a hobby is usually an end unto itself. Like-minded people gather to see others' costumes, show off their own elaborate handmade creations, take lots of pictures, and possibly participate in best costume contests.

The most specific anecdote about the origin of the word "cosplay" was that Nov Takahashi (from a Japanese studio called Studio Hard) coined the term "cosplay" as a contraction of the English-language words "costume play" while she was attending the 1984 Los Angeles Science Fiction Worldcon. He was so impressed by the hall and masquerade costuming there that he reported about it frequently in Japanese science fiction magazines. This point is debatable, however, as the word fits in with a common Japanese method of abbreviation: combining the first two syllables of one word with the first two syllables of a second word (or, more precisely, the first two moras of each). Other examples of this include Pokémon (ポケモン, Pokémon^? short for ポケットモンスター, or "Pocket Monsters") and puroresu (プロレス, puroresu^? short for プロレスリング, or "professional wrestling").


http://zelda-fans.com/blog/wp-content/images/Cosplay_Zelda_1.jpg

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11151095/Cosplay_Garments.jpg



Learn more about the wide world of Cosplay! :D Much more soon.

[Mysterium]

Here are some more pics and plenty more to come!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/01.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/2edb81t.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/10165Lei_Fang_cosp.jpg

[shadoman]

TheDarkFae, on Dec 25 2007, 02:59 PM, said:

Here are some more pics and plenty more to come!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/10165Lei_Fang_cosp.jpg

Damn ! I wish she'd come and play with ME !

[Mysterium]

No kidding right?! She is fucking sexy as hell!


More PICS!


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/016tr.jpg

This one rocks! Awesome Squall!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/13-1862-3.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/13-143-3.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/7fc6cf52.jpg

God Kidja makes me horny

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/2zodv1k.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/2hmog1j.jpg

[Mysterium]

Yes MORE Pics. Prepare for a very visual thread

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/18eh2.jpg

This one is freaking awesome....also KAWAII

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/18xc1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/21ft8507xf6.jpg

[Vore]

So the secret to being a good CosPlayer is.........Be unapproachabley attractive.

Wow.

They'd be great CosPlayers naked!

Oh wait...I've just realized that the 'Cos' bit doesn't even matter here.

[Tpyrc]

That Lei Fang chick is fucking hot

This post has been edited by Crypt: 29 December 2007 - 12:25 PM

[Savana]

Been a while since we added some pictures...

http://images.cosplay.com/i/costumes/200/117394.jpg

Creepy Headless Nurses from Silent Hill.... O.O

http://images.cosplay.com/i/costumes/200/123431.jpg

If you're curious and want to poke around more cosplaying photos, check here for tons and tons of photos from all over the world.

This post has been edited by Athena: 09 January 2008 - 11:48 AM

[Plague]

Pyramid Head FTW:

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5373/omghotmm3.jpg

[Mysterium]

Some more lovely ones

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/21ft9334lo3.jpg

Awesome Jupiter. This is not an easy outfit to pull off, trust me.


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/21FT9422_medium.jpg


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/21FT9465.jpg

[Plague]

Adella is such a great cosplayer.

[Mysterium]

Yes she really is quite amazing. One of the best I have seen on the net recently.

[Plague]

Lord Masamune is great too:

Sephiroth!

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5360/sephirothcosplaybylillyol7.jpg

Full body:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7867/onicon17mr8.jpg

Holy crap!

[Mysterium]

I love him!!! I have all his Sephiroth pics saved! Amazing.

[Savana]

http://www.hachemuda.com/imagenes/cosplay11.jpg

Kingdom Hearts FTW.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b122/boku_baka/cosplay_tifa012.jpg

Tifa FTW.
http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/wp-content/uploads/ntu-cosplay-3.jpg


http://images.mmosite.com/news/2006/09/07/wow_cosplay.jpg


The background for this last one is photoshopped... but the costume is amazing.


http://lawrarashop.com/images/glolita.jpg


I wish I could buy this. O.O

This post has been edited by Athena: 18 January 2008 - 01:09 PM

[Plague]

That vincent cosplayer looks terribly farmiliar O.O

I believe he attended Sakuracon last year O.O

[Savana]

Way weird. O.O

More images....

http://www.samuraisoapbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/cosplay102.jpg

http://www.junosora.com/wp/tigerscrane/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/final%20fantasy%20cosplay.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b122/boku_baka/cosplay_tifa01.jpg

http://www.ironmaidends.blogger.com.br/Cosplay%20-%20Mestre%20Kame.jpg

[Mysterium]

This last one of the Tifa is one of the best Cosplays Ive seen. I had that picture saved from a previous site and it got me really going back into Cosplay after I saw it. Spectacular.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/35n08s0.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/25FT0856.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/219b2585.jpg

Utterly wonderful!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/275e7ed4.jpg

Amazing Serenity....enchanting.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/315eg6b.jpg

Don't even know who it is..but HOT

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/TheDarkFae/547.jpg

X/1999 FTW

[Savana]

http://photoblog.eztools.com/f/9/4/8/4274948/55.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y240/xacur/cosplay/Kipi/KipiCosplay_0057.jpg


http://tn3-1.deviantart.com/fs18/300W/f/2007/134/2/2/DN_Cosplay__Near___Misa_by_Crissey.jpg

http://motleycrow.com/imagehost/Ff%20Hentai%20-%20Lulu%20Cosplay(1).jpg

[Luna_Storm]

COSPLAY IS AMAZING

if i had the money i soooooooooooooo would or the talent to make the costumes

Vincet and all the other guys in this thread are gorgeous