Cosplay, or costume play, is dressing as a favorite character, whether it be from movies, books, or a cartoon.

“Cosplay derives from the Japanese word ‘kospure’ meaning costume play, it is a performing art where the participants aka cosplayers dress up, wear costumes to look like a certain character,”  Bailee Zuniga ’17 said.

Cosplay is a huge part of nerd culture. Conventions and meet-ups are a typical place for cosplayers to share their work and ideas. At a larger convention like San Diego Comic Con, 130,000 people attend each year on average. At a smaller convention, anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand attend. At Anime Iowa 2015, over 2,000 people attended. Small or large, anime or comics, all conventions have the same aspects. Most do walk around in costume, but not everyone. There are also video game tournaments, table-top games, and a dealer’s room where comics, plushies, shirts, costumes, games, and food are sold. Though cosplay is done as a hobby, it is also very expensive. If you make a character with armor, it can cost at least $100.

“It’s not an easy hobby by any means. Depending on the project, cosplays such as my Shego can take lots of time and energy (not to  money). But in the end it always seems to pay off especially going to conventions and getting recognized as the character,” Bailee Zuniga ’17 said.

Cosplay means many different things to everyone that participates.

“So what it means to me may mean something completely [different] for someone else who does a lot more of it. I mean for me it’s mostly fun and saying that, ‘Yes I sewed that. Fight me.’ or something like that,” Kathy Dix ’17 said.

Bailee Zuniga ’17 compared the cosplay community to a family.

“We are like one big family, of course in each family there are some conflicts.”