Popular vs Obscure - which should I go for?

Everyone is familiar with Naruto, Evangelion, Hetalia and Final Fantasy. Even if you haven't gotten into any of these you can tell who they are from miles away. After all the hard work you have put into your costume you are sure to be recognised and pounced on for photos left, right and centre.

What would you like to get out of cosplay? Do you want recognition or are you just simply masquerading as your favourite character? It is quite natural to think that in order for everyone to notice you maybe choosing a character everyone knows might get everyone's eyes on you and go 'Hey, You are 'X' from 'Lorem Ipsum!' We are all attention seekers to an extent so dont worry, you are not alone!


Every year there will be cosplayers being characters from sources that are 'big in season', recent examples being Frozen and Attack on Titan. 'The more people who know the anime/game/film, the more will recognise me, and the more recognition I'd get the more popular I will be right?'

Surprising it does not always work that way. There can be rivalry among doubles or triples and you may not stand out as much, or it can start friendships depending on how you take it since cosplay on the floor can be quite competitive for the more seasoned lot. For the more easygoing, doubles can provide this sense of relief and joy as you obvious share a love with someone and you can totally geek out at your favourite characters among yourselves. If you are being that character for fun there is absolutely no problem but perhaps standing out from the crowd would help you become noticed. On the plus side, photo opportunities with others from the series are just around the corner.

On the other side of the spectrum there is the option of cosplaying as a character that is little known. Animes such as Slayers, Gargantia on the Verduous planet, Kaleido Star and Sabre Marionette J all have characters with gorgeous and unique costumes. Sadly sometimes cosplayers plan costumes they genuinely would like to do by choosing a character they like but later drop it out of fear for not being recognised. As a result a lot of fantastic costume opportunities become wasted. In fact, my more obscure costumes happened to be the ones with the best reception!

Many experienced cosplayers will be aware that it takes guts and effort to make costumes. They wait for the cosplay contest to start and look at yours in awe, regardless they know the character or no, a fantastic costume IS a fantastic costume. In fact, a lot of costumes I love the best happen to be detailed lesser known ones! 80's and 90's anime have all kinds of themes and lots of detail.

At the end of the day cosplay isnt a popularity contest. You dont have to be the best Mikasa, or have full golden armour. Just do what makes YOU happy.