The Old School Otaku Lounge

Okay, please bear with me here, I just now typed this very same post, it was verbose, eloquent, pithy, charming and funny. What became of it you ask. I've not a clue, so excuse the somewhat terse tone of this, its replacement. Here's the skinny, I'm returning to Tekkoshokon this year, and I intend to, as the age I live in seems to beckon, cosplay. Yes yes, I know some of you purists have all manner of derisive and scornful things to say of this, as is your right, but allow me to explain where I'm coming from.

Last year, I went, and was disturbed by how few of the costumes I recognized, which isn't to say I didn't recognize any of them, there were some, SOME, say sailor moon, DBZ, Street Fighter, Naruto, Final Fantasy, Avengers, Resident Evil etc. but not nearly enough for my liking. Add to this the fact that when you ask who they are, the response helps as little as the image (what the hell is Code Geass?). So in an effort to share my sense of bewilderment with the younglings, I'm trying to devise a more esoteric old school idea, and this sagacious and august circle seems the perfect resource for such an endeavor.

Now, as to the parameters of the costume, remember I'm not competing so I won't be spending 50 hours constructing it, so no Guyver, or MD geist or anything too crazy like that. I'm not building a Gundam here. Second, I'm not going to do crunches for months to go as someone from 300 or whatever, Pittsburgh too cold for that mess. Lastly no Captain Harlock or Tobor the eighth man or any of that, its before my time.

Now, these are some of the ideas I've come up with
Gendo Ikari-I like this one, I can walk around being dismissive and generally a prick. I'm good at that
Jotaro Kujo-Same as above, though I would want the whole crew, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to get 2 or 3 guys together
Magnificent ten- Again, would need a bunch of cats to pull this off, too bad though, suits and basic accessories for the most part, cake
Bean Bandit-Not enough distinguishing features to be recognized, X scar, headband and leather jacket
Amano Jykku- Whiskers and a vest, easy except I need people to 1.) Recognize it and 2.)be offended for it to be funny
Grendel-How am I to see through the mask, and a bit off topic being a comic
Glitter Boy-Just a pipe dream while I'm already off topic, Rifts anyone?
Well there's a few, I think I had more on the previous draft.

So there you have it, please let me know about any ideas you may have, or adjustments you may have for mine, or just hypothetical costumes you think may be funny, for instance if I were black I would go as Fisticuffs from Chappelles Show. Or consider this, a group of cosplayers with no cohesive theme with historical and literary figures in the mix.
"What the hell? Dude, its arch-duke Ferdinand, James Joyce, the Hamburglar, DB Cooper and Max Headroom"
"What? I thought we were just dressing up. Are there rules or something?" anything for a laugh

Also, if someone could explain to me how to put a little picture under my name without getting to technical about it that would be awesome. You may have guessed this, but computers aren't really my bag. Alright, that's the broad strokes, I hope this works this time. I've calmed down slightly, so thanks for reading this and lets show these kids where they came from.

It's strange that someone who is hip to Naruto wouldn't be aware of Code Geass, but I do admit that as much as I don't care for Naruto, it is more immediately recognizeable. True ninjas wear day-glo jumpsuits, as you know! I've only learned to recognize the uniforms from Code Geass. All I know is that the show features a girl who humps the corner of a table. Oh, and there are some mecha, too.

As for your list, the only one I really recognize is Bean Bandit. It must be just different tastes in anime. Being bald, I could see myself going as Jet Black or Jigen. Jigen would maybe be the easiest. Just a sport coat, a fedora, and a toy gun or something. The amount of effort on my part would be minimal.

As for your own personal image for the forum, go to the "User Control Panel" link on the upper righthand corner of the page. Click "Profile" in the lefthand side bar, then "edit avatar". You'll have to scale down your image to 100x100 pixels.

yeah, I'm aware of Naruto because when you mention DBZ people mention it like its equivalent or something, and of course Metal Head bands

I think you'd probably get a fair amount of people recognizing you if you went as Gendo or Jotaro....but mostly because both Evangelion and Jojo's Bizarre Adventures are seeing revivals lately.

I do understand what you mean, though. More often then not lately, most cosplayers I see at the few cons I go to are either "what's hot right now" (your Narutos, Sword Art Onlines, whatever's on Toonami, etc), or older stuff that's seen enough re-releases and revivals that it's still relevant (DBZ, Sailor Moon, Evangelion, etc.) And then you have people who go to anime conventions dressed from things like webcomics, American cartoons/properties, and Western movies...which is all well and good, yeah, but it always confuses me that people chose conventions primarily geared towards ANIME to wear them. But maybe that's just me.

This year I dressed up as Arale from Dr. Slump and I was actually pleasantly surprised that about 10 people knew who I was supposed to be (I figured it'd be a lot less!).

Ha ha , that's a good one!! I considered Crying Freeman, but it would require being mostly naked and highly emotional for extended periods of time

Cosplaying is like a drug, once you do it, you don't want to go to conventions without a costume anymore. You just feel the itch. At least, that's what I go through when I go in "civilian wear". HAHA!

Jotaro I think would be very well recieved, but Bean Bandit would also be pretty cool. I personally would choose something that wasn't a "closet cosplay" (meaning clothes people would normally wear) but can be fixed with a prop (for Shinji, for example, maybe carrying a plush of PenPen).

I can't recognize half the things people cosplay at cons anymore. I end up taking less and less pictures every year because either it's overdone, or it's from something I don't watch. But the few times I see really good old school anime or a well crafted costume, I'll take a picture.

The ideas just keep coming and keep getting weirder.
-Q from Street Fighter 3rd strike
-deadly lords from Big trouble in little Chinatown
-Ozone from breakin'
this is spinning out of control, I like it!!

I would go as "M" for DeathNote. All you need is a white T shirt, jeans, a black wig, and walk around barefoot.

http://nekozumi.deviantart.com/art/Deat ... A-47249575

if barefoots an option I was kicking around the idea of going as Huckleberry Finn. Or Zeram from Iria, that would be Bad ass!!

Zeiram would be pretty awesome, but I imagine it would take a long time to make a costume like that.

To me, the idea of cosplaying sounds like fun, but unfortunately, most comic and anime cons I know of are in the summertime.