The Nordic Cosplay Championships, 24 and 250714, Linkoping, Sweden

July 26, 2014

I did not know, until now, about

Cosplay

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until yesterday, when we decided to go to the event at

Campushallen

area of Linkoping University. I thought, on seeing the made-up people, that it was a kind of college event; only on googling about it did I realize that since 1990 or so, it’s become an international event. What we saw yesterday (and the parade today, in the totally unusual 31 deg C heat and humidity) was the

Nordic Cosplay Championships

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Here’s the

Facebook page

Here are people celebrating the Japanese influence in Cosplay:

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The wiki says: "Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for costume play, is a performance art in which participants, called cosplayers, wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character or idea that is usually identified with a unique name." IMG_5573 "Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context." IMG_5570 "Favorite sources include manga, anime, comic books, video games, and films." IMG_5591 "Any entity from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject." IMG_5532 "Inanimate objects are given anthropomorphic forms" IMG_5435 IMG_5517 "... and it is not unusual to see genders switched, with women playing male roles and vice versa. There is also a subset of cosplay culture centered on sex appeal, with cosplayers specifically choosing characters that are known for their attractiveness or revealing costumes." IMG_5506 "There are social networks and websites centered on cosplay activities, while Internet forums allow cosplayers to share stories, photographs, news, and general information." IMG_5501 "The rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since 1990 has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture. This is particularly the case in Asia, where cosplay influences Japanese street fashion." I was thinking of on both the visits, I somehow felt she would have enjoyed this far more than I did, knowing more about anime and manga than I do! But there was a lot of colour and vibrant positive energy in the air. IMG_5521 It was unfortunate that the heat and humidity...very unusual for Sweden; 31 deg C!....completely sapped my energy and enervated me...and brought the paint sweating out of this player! IMG_5484 Yesterday we cycled up to it, and I was half-dead by the time I returned...today I took a bus, but still had to walk quite a bit to get to the venue. IMG_5480 No..heat and humidity are NOT for me! </lj-cut> However, I did pics: IMG_5477 IMG_5452 Here is my album on Facebook and here are PC's excellent photographs! I was inhibited about asking people to pose, but he was not! I did not realize that in contrast with everyday situations, here, people were quite proud to pose in their costumes.