Does this really need saying? Oh, probably.
A small for-the record, which seems to me so obvious I never thought it would actually have to be said, but…
COSplay is its own artform, and its own branch of fandom.
I love it when I see people, of any gender, in well-done or enthusiastic costumes of characters that I made up, whether from comics or from novels or from films or from TV. (It’s one reason I reblog them.)
I don’t believe that anybody in the costume is under any obligation to have read my books or comics, to have seen any of the films, or to like the TV show in question. I tend to assume that if you’re dressed as (say) Death you probably like Sandman, or if you’re dressed as Idris you like Doctor Who, or if you and your girlfriend are dressed as Crowley and Aziraphale you are very probably Good Omens fans, because that’s the way things normally are, but it’s not always true and I do not take it for granted. (Sometimes people like the costume and thought it would be fun, sometimes they were roped in by friends to make up a set of the Endless, or whatever.) I’ve definitely had to reassure a few people over the years that I loved their costume and did not mind that they hadn’t read the book or comic it was based on.
I really love how far COSplay’s come over the last twenty five years. I think it takes skill, craft and guts to make costumes and to wear them in public.
So that’s what I think.
Okay, so can I have a few minutes to freak out? Because this morning, my friend sent me an incredible text…. that NEIL FUCKING GAIMAN had retweeted a photoshoot my friends and I did for Fan Expo this year. We all love-LOVE- Sandman, and it was my dear friend Ira (Destruction), who pulled shit together and got us all together on a hotter than Hell Saturday in August to dress up like our favourite comic book characters.
LOTS of people thought we were silly, dressing up like kids would, but what the fuck do they know? We came together and we did it. We didn’t get into the con (FanExpo is a notoriously poorly planned event every year we attend), so instead we went for some beers, went back to Ira and Todd’s (Desire) place, and snapped these shoots (truth be told, there’s like 150 picture in total, lots of them solos and recreations, but our favourites are right here).
I’m not big into cosplay. In fact, this was my first, which is convenient, because I am not a seamstress. But the energy we all felt that day was something I’d never had before in fandom. It was just us, acting like the characters we loved, having the best time ever. I’d been having a truly awful day, and these people just made me forget about everything and have FUN.
The fact that Neil saw these pictures, liked the effort we put into them…. that’s just the cherry on top of the best ice cream sundae I’ve ever damn tasted.
(I’m Death, by the way! Death is the best, but I’m a little biased)
As I said on Twitter, this was obviously from the episode where Alan played “Chief Inspector Spacetime” and I was his sidekick “The Detective”.
I expect it was the one where we took Inspector Spacetime’s powers away from him, but when the Constable proved he’d been framed, we gave them back again.