Interactions with the Public

By Li-Bai. 13/12/10, 12:56 pm

azeria wrote:: But yea, those people have all of my rage.

"TAKE THIS. MY LOVE. MY ANGER. AND ALL OF MY SORROW!! SHIIINIIIIIING FIIINGEEEEERRRRR!!!!"

So as to be on topic. I wonder what it'd have been like if some of our usual other guys (and I mean guys-guys) had been there? For instance, JP. WE WOULD HAVE HAD AN ADULT TO HIDE BEHIND THEN. /o\;; (HI JP WE LOVE YOU)

No seriously though. Do you guys ever feel like it's better if someone who looks tall and manly and/or is an adult is with you while you cosplay in public, mainly while you are with a group of people? Maybe it's a horrible thing to just want to use them to hide behind, but 8D;;

By Thornback. 13/12/10, 01:47 pm

Li-Bai wrote:

azeria wrote:: But yea, those people have all of my rage.

"TAKE THIS. MY LOVE. MY ANGER. AND ALL OF MY SORROW!! SHIIINIIIIIING FIIINGEEEEERRRRR!!!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUBMTiIk-qc ~~SHUT UP GUYS IT'S A PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE ATTACK NAME~~

Li-Bai wrote:: No seriously though. Do you guys ever feel like it's better if someone who looks tall and manly and/or is an adult is with you while you cosplay in public, mainly while you are with a group of people? Maybe it's a horrible thing to just want to use them to hide behind, but 8D;;

I'd like to live in a perfect world where we didn't need that, but in this harsh reality, they can be helpful. Not just in Cosplay either-when My friends and I go out dancing, we usually drag along at least one of our extremely tall guys friends to fufill a similar role. Official Title is "Sleaze Repellent".

By ai-scully. 13/12/10, 02:30 pm

Regal wrote:: Hurr hurr.. "Mysterious hooded man, joined...by...other..hooded..people. YOU'RE NEXT!*faces one of the guys* RUNNING.. RUNNING!! SLOW-MOTION JUMP ATTACK!" Boy, that guy started to panic during that song.

omg I love tobuscus with that literal trailer for Assassins creed brotherhood.... /unrelated
Like serious. I had that song in my head for an exam and might of written down the lyrics in an essay somewhere but HEY. I DONT CARE. IT'S AN AWESOME SONG.

Izzybelle wrote:: I usually come up with comebacks for situations like that so I won't be caught out when the time comes Razz For questions like "Are you a pornstar?" or "Are you a prostitute?" my usual answer is either "Who wants to know?" or "Not to you I'm not." xP

How about, "Depends on how much", "Not on this street I'm not.", "Sorry, you have to talk to my pimp first", "Sorry, I don't do roleplay situations.", "My social security Officer would frown on me answering that question", "How did you know? I'm supposed to under Witness protection.", "What? Did you see one of my films?"

By Grassangel. 13/12/10, 05:07 pm

Thornback wrote:: Official Title is "Sleaze Repellent".

I think I shall now be calling my bogan-looking-but-actually-vegan friend this. And convince him to actually make that Dreadnought/whatever it is he's planning now so he can ~~loom menacingly~~ have a conversation with other people than me concerning Halo and GISSAC.

I kind of find that the simple fact of other people (as in... more than one) or someone who has absolutely no shame in saying 'physics off' vehemently works well for small amounts of creepage.

By Caddyl. 16/12/10, 04:52 am

I used to wear cat ears at school all the time, because I was going through my OMG LOVELESS ~~ phrase haha.

I used to get really irritated when people made fun of me, but I ended up deciding to just take it with a teaspoon of sugar instead of salt. People would say "You have cat ears on your head." and instead of getting annoyed at their provocations, I would feign surprise, reach up to my head and say, "I DO?? D8 "

Eventually a girl in my school who did know why the people in Loveless had cat ears, starting telling people that I was wearing the cat ears as a sign of having my virginity. It got a lot worse when that got out, but again, it's easier to laugh off the insults or silly questions than retaliate.

Basically you have to choose whether you're going to let it annoy you and ruin your day, or whether you're just going to shrug it off, and accept that some people are just idjits. Besides, it was fun seeing their faces when they asked, "Do wearing the cat ears mean you're a virgin?" and I replied, "Uh, where did you get that idea? Gee, I thought I was weird for wearing these things, but you're even weirder than I am ~!"

Haha.

By Rehtse. 16/12/10, 05:10 am

ai-scully wrote:

Izzybelle wrote:: I usually come up with comebacks for situations like that so I won't be caught out when the time comes Razz For questions like "Are you a pornstar?" or "Are you a prostitute?" my usual answer is either "Who wants to know?" or "Not to you I'm not." xP

How about, "Depends on how much", "Not on this street I'm not.", "Sorry, you have to talk to my pimp first", "Sorry, I don't do roleplay situations.", "My social security Officer would frown on me answering that question", "How did you know? I'm supposed to under Witness protection.", "What? Did you see one of my films?"

You know I think I might just use a few of those! xP Hmm, how about...
"Not since the Beverly incident." "Only on weekends." "You can't afford me, kid. Go buy yourself a lolipop." "Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself a 'star'..."

My creativity runs dry very quickly sweatdrop

By Nikopol. 16/12/10, 04:53 pm

I've personally never had too many issues with cosplay in public. More curiosity than jeers for the most part. Most peolpe ask if there is a comic convention, or something show-y going down, and we normally just say yeah, comic/sci fi convention, no need to explain a subculture of a subculture. It might have to do with the age group of the people i cosplay with [we're all over 20] or something.

I've even managed to walk in downtown Toronto on a saturday night, 2am in the morning in the Entertainment District with a group of us still in our cosplays walking to our hotel. We got a whole lot of pictures with punters and even got a drink on the house at one place.

I can definitely see how this happens though, but such is the nature of the beast. You can't be expected to cosplay and not get looked at from another angle, good or bad. Now that i think about it i've had one or two issues where peolpe have came up to take the piss. But you just roll with the punches and eventually they realize that we're just like them, we just have a different hobby to them.

I think the 'interactions' i hate the most are con-goers who are just too touchy-feely for their own good. Straight up to jumping on me and runing outfits, wigs or anything. Being hit with yaoi paddles is also physics abhorrent, but that's for another thread.

By Pura. 16/12/10, 07:06 pm

Nikopol (Fri Dec 17, 2010 12:53 am) wrote:: Being hit with yaoi paddles is also physics abhorrent, but that's for another thread.

I know it's not really related, but sometimes I'm really glad New Zealand is so far away from everywhere else that we don't have yaoi paddles. (I think i may have seen one that an American brought over though?) And I think most of us know each other enough to not use them, haha. I can't imagine being hit with one by a stranger. I don't think I will ever get them ...

By **jpwise**. 17/12/10, 12:17 am

Nikopol wrote:: Being hit with yaoi paddles is also physics abhorrent, but that's for another thread.

Please don't try to bypass the word filter. It may have been accidental, but the relevant word has now been edited in line with the filtered version. Thx.

Li-Bai wrote:: So as to be on topic. I wonder what it'd have been like if some of our usual other guys (and I mean guys-guys) had been there? For instance, JP. WE WOULD HAVE HAD AN ADULT TO HIDE BEHIND THEN. /o\;; (HI JP WE LOVE YOU)

No seriously though. Do you guys ever feel like it's better if someone who looks tall and manly and/or is an adult is with you while you cosplay in public, mainly while you are with a group of people? Maybe it's a horrible thing to just want to use them to hide behind, but 8D;;

I only just saw this thread now. Sounds like you guys definitely had a bit of erm.. fun? with those idiots. Reading the posts it sounds like you guys did an awesome job of handling it on your own, but yeah, some people are just downright idiots, and they're always worse in groups.

I'm not sure how much I could have done since I don't tend to be the aggressive type, but I'd definitely try to help you guys out if i could. :)

By Lumissne. 21/12/10, 02:57 am

To me the most annoying situations are when during cosplay events, like scavenger hunts in town, random groups of teenagers walk up to you and demand to know what you're doing. My first instinct is to turn around and say "why the hell do you need to know?". Instead, I find the "being ridiculously nice" tactic works well. One of my friends at school is like this 24/7 (it's insane) and because of that, no one really smarmy wrenches about her because, well... They can't think of anything bad against her xD Also, looking at people from head to toe and giving them cool stares is a good way to un-nerve 8Db

By Li-Bai. 14/01/11, 10:56 am

@JP it's more the idea of just having an adult with us 8D

So, at the Bot. Gardens this Wednesday gone by.

Random dudes: "You guys wanna get drunk with us?"
Icarus: "No thanks."

Seriously? 8|

By Icarus. 14/01/11, 11:23 am

^ I lol'd

didn't really think too much of it. Though it was pretty funny when we started dancing to the music in that garden/maze area, people stopped to watch us for a bit then continued walking.

but yea, when you see a whole group of people dressed in 'strange' clothes, they'd get curious. Some would be more curious+amused+feels the need to throw out a joke.
The response we give will either satisfy them enough to stop asking, fuel their curiousity/amusement or not allow them the chance to continue.

To reply back with a sneaky come back will most likely fuel flames if you're dealing with immature people. Or offend them if they're genuie questions.
Ignorance or just a 'no comment' type answer can be taken a little offensively, but if the actions of the other party did feel inappropiate, it's a safe route.
Just replying truthfully with 'we're doing a photo shoot' and leaving it at that at most times is a fair enough answer.

Been a while since I've touched this thread, sorry if I repeated myself. But I don't feel like this thread is for 'who can think of the most smart-ass comeback,' we need to think of the image of cosplayers, and how to avoid/counter the worse of situations.
(also sorry if I sound know-it-all. My word is not official, only an opinion on the topic)
[strike]sorry again, wall of text D8[/strike[

By Li-Bai. 14/01/11, 11:38 am

Icarus wrote:: Though it was pretty funny when we started dancing to the music in that garden/maze area, people stopped to watch us for a bit then continued walking.

It's true, that was pretty funny 8D

Hmm, I dunno about you guys, but there's something different about being dressed in a costume that people might recognise. Like with our Alice shoot, I actually felt pretty comfortable just casually walkin' around in our group, whereas in another costume that's not as easily recognised I'd feel pretty self-conscious. I didn't used to feel like that with public ganders in cosplay, I guess that's just developed over time. As I """matured""" maybe, from my hyperactive OTAKU DESU!! ONE! phase*? (Is that backwards?)

It was fun the number of people (usually women) who were like "(What are you doing?) Ohh, Alice in Wonderland!"

It was an interesting invitation though, lol. As if we were 'one of them', if that makes sense without sounding like some kind of racism. (Clothesism?) 8D

Icarus wrote:: But I don't feel like this thread is for 'who can think of the most smart-ass comeback,' we need to think of the image of cosplayers, and how to avoid/counter the worse of situations.

Amen, brother.

*I am a little ashamed of this phase. Also, 'hyperactive' as in 'more hyperactive than I am considered now'. I'm glad I sobered.

By Pura. 14/01/11, 01:24 pm

... When going into an expensive fabric shop, don't talk about prices too much. Those staff have amazing hearing ability. We got a five min. long talk about why the fabric is so expensive |D.

By Highlander. 14/01/11, 01:33 pm

Li-Bai wrote:: No seriously though. Do you guys ever feel like it's better if someone who looks tall and manly and/or is an adult is with you while you cosplay in public, mainly while you are with a group of people? Maybe it's a horrible thing to just want to use them to hide behind, but 8D;;

Any time I am in public with cosplayers (probably not too common) feel free to use me. I will usually intervene anyway if I realize what is happening. Being an adult I will take the tactful route first, and be patient. I will also discourage many people just by being an adult there. But then I do have some idea how far I can push things, and couldn't care less what they think. And I'm not afraid to call 111 either. And I don't mind being a target, or taking responsibility for whatever I do, I'm not frightened of then getting violent.

But the flipside is there are drunk or just plain stupid young adults who don't care if it's me or you. They just seem to have a single thought and can't get pass that. Even if confronted, even if the situation or person changes they seem to be so dumb they can't change. And they are impossible to get anywhere with. Leave if possible.

The flip side of the how do you react to the public questions is that if we really love this hobby, and want it to grow, then we may sometimes get chances to convert the 'mundanes'. Indeed that is one reason the SCA does events in public. Of course we have families, adults and scary men in armour, tends to minimize the teen jerk factor.

By azeria. 14/01/11, 01:52 pm

Pura wrote:: ... When going into an expensive fabric shop, don't talk about prices too much. Those staff have amazing hearing ability. We got a five min. long talk about why the fabric is so expensive |D.

Oh god that was awkward. Basically got told 'you are too poor to shop here, for we are far superior to other fabric shops'.

By Mischa. 14/01/11, 02:07 pm

^ was it global?

By azeria. 14/01/11, 02:14 pm

^Nope Shahrazad. Of course its expensive since its a Bridal fabric shop but jees. Being approached with 'So what polytech are you all at?' and then being told 'I hope I answered your questions' ah.. I don't believe anyone was asking any .__. Is it not ok to browse expensive stores anymore? :<

By Mischa. 14/01/11, 02:22 pm

Was it the guy? He's really nice - once someone pushed in front of me and he refused to serve them first...but to be honest I've never brought fabric there D: it's all covered in JEWELS and SPARKLES and mother-of-the-bride patterns (I'm cheap)

**Guest** Guest

Reminds me of a shop in palmy. We walked in, saw some brown fabric with darker brown spots, proceeded to see that the pricetag said $199.99 per metre and hastily exited. Woman in the shop looked really confused because we were whispering about the price. =/

By Daddylion. 14/04/12, 07:38 pm

I don't know if it's because i haven't been here very long or not... but i never got any negativity when i tell people I'm a cosplayer... Maybe I'm just lucky? I never got a bad reaction when i tell people I'm a cosplayer from anyone, both in NZ aand Thailand. Bad reaction comes more from specific things that happen more than cosplaying as a whole.

I'm sorry you guys had to go through some trouble though. I never thought people in this country could be so close minded, but i suppose immaturity is universal.

The only "that's kind of weird" reaction was from one guy, and that was more about me doing male characters than cosplaying in general (since he also said cosplaying sounds kind of hot). Also the guy was drunk and probably had no idea what he was saying at the time.

By mattman54. 16/04/12, 02:46 pm

I saw one guy looking at everyone strange (like the "what losers" strange look) when leaving Hammygeddon on Sunday and just laughed at him when i walked past him, without having to say anything i thought it would just show him noone cares what he thinks... Aside from that i would hope most New Zealanders aren't so immature and close-minded to be troublesome toward anyone.

By Lucca. 18/04/12, 03:29 pm

Oh wow, some people can be really rude, huh? I've never had any of those type of experiences, not that bad. Worst was the one time I was Luka and this guys kept on insisting I had been at Auckgeddon the other year. Wasn't anything bad, just really annoying?

I really can't say that I have ever met with mockery or nasty sorts of disdain though. At my school, cosplay is pretty popular and cosplayers are actually held in a bit of an awe. People who see me in public are generally pretty good as well, just curious.

Has anyone ever met anyone really familiar while in cosplay who didn't know you were a cosplayer? (I know I met my cousin while getting coffee. Man, that was awkward O.o Lucky it was one of the ones who was a total otaku when she was younger. She understood Very Happy

)

By HikaruxKaoru. 17/05/12, 06:54 am

I remember walking through Wellington city in cosplay just to get weird looks from people...yeah, well it worked. It was rather amusing too. When crossing the road everyone in the cars were staring at us....very odd feeling. One dude asked me nicely why we were dressed up an dew explained. When we went to starbucks EVERYONE was staring at us. O.o

It was a really weird experience, but very amusing to see others reactions.

By Pixel. 17/05/12, 12:12 pm

I had some old ladies tell me I looked really scary while in McDonalds :'D They looked shocked!
then again I had grey skin and horns?
Wonderful haha

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