Over my several years of cosplaying, the amount of witch hunts I have witnessed is ridiculous. I have seen fans of TV shows attack cosplayers from not being accurate enough or simply stating their opinion on the show/fandom. Cosplayers may make mistakes, realize it and apologize, but the incident continues to be brought up years later. It just seems like every week there is a new cosplay "drama" situation.
Cosplayers are constantly getting comments that degrade them, from body shaming to their cosplay not being accurate enough. That because they are not tiny enough, or they are not curvy enough they cannot cosplay X character. Sometimes people will even modify a character's outfit because it may not even be achievable in real life or the cosplayer may be more comfortable with the alterations they made. Those alterations may even just be their own spin on the character, yet a handful of fans feel the need to attack them for their creative choices.
Cosplayers who are people of color get derogatory words thrown at them or saying their skin color does not match the character. That because they are a certain race they cannot cosplay X character and should only cosplay dark-skinned characters. Yet, some white cosplayers darken their skin for the sake of "accuracy" and get praised for it, but at the end of the day, they can take that skin color off.
Cosplayers are even sometimes treated as objects by some fans, despite cosplay not being consent. Some cosplayers, male and female are confident in themselves and create wonderful costumes that may show more skin or it may be the character design itself. Yet, people think this warrants dick pics being sent in their DMs (newsflash, it does not) or telling the cosplayer what they wished to do to them in bed.
There is a small number of people in the community who have this extreme elitist mindset that spreads like a plague due to them being outspoken. They treat any cosplayer that does not look exactly like the character or have the most screen accurate cosplay like they should be ashamed of themselves. That they do not really love the character or not really cosplaying because they are not wearing colored contacts. This is not what cosplay should be about. This is why there are people afraid to get into cosplay.
I think it is time that we remember that cosplay is meant to be fun. It is meant to be a creative source, it is meant to bring people of the same fandoms together, not tear them apart. Cosplay is that person's personal expression and love of a specific character. One cosplayer may decide to only strictly do hand-made, screen accurate cosplays, while another always puts their own spin on it, some might even strickly buy their costumes. All of these routes will always produce amazing results.
We are all just nerds in costumes, trying to have fun. I am not sure when that aspect was lost with some people and it turned into a giant competition of "I'm better". Cosplay in itself has drastically changed within the past few years from becoming mainstream and cosplayers having the possibility of working with big named companies. While change is not ultimately bad, we, as a community should continue to change in a positive way.
As a whole, the cosplay community is a pretty welcoming place. People of all sizes, shapes, color, disabilities, genders, sexualities, etc. are able to come together. They are able to show off their love of a character, their craft, and themselves. Some cosplayers have even banded together to create volunteer events, such as raising money for specific charities, visiting children in hospitals, running programs in schools, and teaching the new generation how to sew and work with foam.
We, as a community, should continue to promote cosplayers that are giving back to the community, not those pushing elitist views. Complement each other on posts, and tell them what you like about their cosplay, not what you don't like. We should start building each other up, instead of tearing one another down. It is time to drown out the negativities people associate with the cosplay community and shed some positive light on it. There is enough negativity in this world that we do not need to bring in this community more than it already is.
It is time we put the "play" back into cosplay.
