The Importance of Suiting Your Character

Do you feel it is important to physically suit a character that one is cosplaying?
On a scale of 1-10 how important is this?

I've followed, critiqued, and admired cosplay for many years and really love how incredible people can imitate a character. I'll be doing my first cosplay this Saturday at a Homestuck Meet Up. I don't dislike any of the female trolls from Homestuck, so I felt compelled to pick the one that suited me most, or rather, I suited most. When selecting a character to cosplay, do you do it based of the looks of the character or your passion for the character? Perhaps a blend?

The cosplays you've selected based off passion, were they good?
The cosplays you've selected off of appearance, were they any good?

Well its cosplay, and its all purely up to you really. Some people try cosplaying characters with a similar body as they have, others just love the character that much that they want to be them regardless of how little they match the proportions, and there are plenty other types of cosplayers.

So sorry I am not giving you a definite answer, but its all up to how you feel.

Myself personally, there are no characters that I like that have similar proportions as I do, which is why I've pretty much devoted my convention days to photographing cosplayers.
I'll wouldn't go through dieting and losing weight or bulking up just so I can cosplay, only then to run into someone cosplaying the same character, only better. That'd really hurt my self esteem, and it wouldn't be something I could just laugh off or ignore easily.

I'll probably rate 7, I've been a Cosplay Critique since ages past and all I can say as long as you can make your cosplay cute, cool or awesome. It can nullify all other physical attributes. I once saw a very cute Luka cosplay, she wasn't that tall but she gave her best in her Cosplay which made her very appealing.



A blend will probably the best choice. Passion for the Character, that's why you're Cosplaying that Character right?



I'm not a Cosplayer but a critique and a close friend to them, by experience, the stories they told me. They enjoyed their cosplay not that they look exactly like the character or just that they cosplayed because of their passion, but they simply like cosplaying. Cosplaying that Character they admire as themselves.

Don't be afraid to Cosplay, just imagine yourself being that character. Not that Character being you.

Probably a 7 as well. Usually when I judge a cosplay, I look at the effort and attention to detail more so than the person wearing it. However, if the person doesn't fit all that well, I might be a little eh.



I usually choose cosplay for passion more than looks. If I find a character that's awesome, I'll try and cosplay them (as long as they're not ridiculously difficult). Sometimes I'll also just try to find an easy, new cosplay for an upcoming convention. Fortunately, most of the cosplays I have done in the past just so happened to suit my body type.

Example: I did Vincent Brooks from Catherine in his boxers and I happen to be a tall, lanky guy with fro-ish hair. Because of that, some guy said "Dude, you ARE Vincent." Made me feel good. On the flipside, I cosplayed Rance from the Rance series and he is a well-built, muscular guy. And the body outfit I found for him sort of hung loose on me because I was too skinny. I still loved the cosplay, but I'm sure it looked a little weird.