This was never addressed on the show, but cosplaying was a way for me to really escape and be something that empowered me and that I loved. My mom is a paraplegic and we played video games together ever since I was a little kid. She couldn't walk, so playing games was how we spent time together. A lot of the games I loved still to this day (Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, NWN), and I wanted to do more than just be a fan, but create something cool and immersive and she and my family were always supportive of that.
We were in the same raiding guild the first two years WoW was out. She was there in 2007 when I went to my first BlizzonCon in Tier5 Warlock armor. She was backstage and waited during the whole show in her wheelchair. We went to comic con that same year, and she finally got to see what I was so happy about, being a fan and being something larger than life for two seconds. She's too sick to play games now and lives in an assisted living facility, and she's been reading the comments on the Heroes of Cosplay facebook page and trying to defend me. It's fucking heartbreaking. Here she sees me and Jessica, kids she's known since middle school (who've been dressing up the whole time, wearing costumes, making costumes, going to the ran faire, etc) getting berated for not being "real" or just straight up being told they don't belong. People don't see us as PEOPLE on a TV show. And having that attitude of saying "these people don't belong" is exactly WHY I got into cosplaying, to GET AWAY from that. I was beat up as a kid, made fun or horribly, what better way to feel like you're OK by being something else for a while? I colsplay because I love to play pretend, hang out with my friends, dress up, and make something that when someone looks at it they go "how did she make that?" Being judgmental is not part of my hobby.
CommanderHolly47 karma
This was never addressed on the show, but cosplaying was a way for me to really escape and be something that empowered me and that I loved. My mom is a paraplegic and we played video games together ever since I was a little kid. She couldn't walk, so playing games was how we spent time together. A lot of the games I loved still to this day (Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, NWN), and I wanted to do more than just be a fan, but create something cool and immersive and she and my family were always supportive of that.
We were in the same raiding guild the first two years WoW was out. She was there in 2007 when I went to my first BlizzonCon in Tier5 Warlock armor. She was backstage and waited during the whole show in her wheelchair. We went to comic con that same year, and she finally got to see what I was so happy about, being a fan and being something larger than life for two seconds. She's too sick to play games now and lives in an assisted living facility, and she's been reading the comments on the Heroes of Cosplay facebook page and trying to defend me. It's fucking heartbreaking. Here she sees me and Jessica, kids she's known since middle school (who've been dressing up the whole time, wearing costumes, making costumes, going to the ran faire, etc) getting berated for not being "real" or just straight up being told they don't belong. People don't see us as PEOPLE on a TV show. And having that attitude of saying "these people don't belong" is exactly WHY I got into cosplaying, to GET AWAY from that. I was beat up as a kid, made fun or horribly, what better way to feel like you're OK by being something else for a while? I colsplay because I love to play pretend, hang out with my friends, dress up, and make something that when someone looks at it they go "how did she make that?" Being judgmental is not part of my hobby.
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