Cosplay. The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly.

Cosplay.

The next step in fashion evolution.

Or just dorks in stupid costumes?

The real answer...?

Both.

And more.

There are some really good ideas and technical accomplishments going on out there in the world of cosplay.  And then, there are those who need a good slap.  The idiots.  What were they thinking?

Here they are.  Presented, not for the first time, nor the last, but for Right Here and Right Now.  The Good.  The Bad.  And the Ugly.

The Good

 Let's set the bar high with the first one.  Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson.  Yeah, a photo-shoot, rather than folk wandering about a Con, but a damn impressive one at that!

Check out more here 

Sarah Louise Kerrigan a.k.a The Queen of Blades from Starcraft.  Noice!

Authenic and Clever.  And funny.  Me likee.

I don't know about you, but I reckon Lady Loki costumes are better than the Male Loki ones. 

Stinky Pete.  With authentic smell?

Delirium from the Endless in the Sandman comics.  Because, let's face it, a room full of Dream would look like a Cure convention.

An Imperial Fists Captain in Terminator Armour (Warhammer 40K).  Now there's some serious effort right there. 

Just in case that's not enough for you... 

This pic looks suspiciously CG to me.  that won't stop me putting it up, though.

Now that is Stoopid Clever.  That's a win.

Alphonse Elric from Full Metal Alchemist.  Complete with squeaky voice?

Another very clever idea.  How good is this Tardis dress?

Now that is one seriously good Trap-Jaw!

Real-Life Toy Soldiers.  But do they melt like the real things when set on fire?

Japanese Cosplay.  We are not worthy.

Mobile Suit Gundam.  I'm still hanging out for the life-size cosplay, but these will do for now.

Best Artoo Costume ever?

There are some cosplay 'celebrities' out there, such as Jessica Nigri, Scruffy Rebel, Yaya Han and others, and their fame, such as it is, is received with mixed results among geekdom and 'con regulars.  Shown above is one such 'celebrity' Vampy Bit Me who has a stunning array of hot costumes.  Love it or hate it, they're a thing now.  Do I smell a reality TV show?  Or just burning fap?

The perfect Joker cosplay?

Galactus Win right here.  And that's how you cosplay.

The Bad

Alas, for every cosplay win, there's a complete and utter, abject Cosplay Fail.  Some folk try hard.  And stuff it up.  Some folk try too hard to be funny.  And just come off sad, stinking of Epic Fail.  And some don't even bother trying.  You all suck.  Here's the Cosplay Hall of Shame.

For every Galactus Cosplay Win, there's a guy like this, who tried, but instead of eating a planet, ate from the Table of Fail.  And stuffed himself.  

What do you get when you cross Wolverine with a Banana?  This guy.  Are you serious?  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?  They look more like the Weed Teletubbies.  Smack!

'Nuff Said!

Yeah, nailed it.

The new Iron Man movies have provided fans with a very high level of costume design.  So it's not really a surprise that many Iron Man costumes fall short of the real thing.  But that's no excuse for this.  You'd better hide that face, mate!  You idiot!

Is this the same guy?  Surely this level of fail can't be duplicated...

What were you smoking?  But ya gotta love that Uno card on the belt.  That just makes the fail all that more embarrassing.  

Here's another one that probably needed the accompanying picture for identifying.  My spider-fillings are tingling.

Y'know.  I once went to a high school Medieval-style ball with a sheet of newspaper over my head.  I went as a 'Page'.  Get it?  I thought that was the lamest costume ever.  This guy proved me wrong.  Thank you Random Convention Cosplay Idiot!

There are no shortages of authentic Star Wars costumes out there.  There's even a dedicated Fan Legion (the 501st) whose only entry requirement is owning a movie-authentic costume.  And then there are these guys.  The Fapping 606's?  Just shoot them now.  Post-Ironic is so Post-Hipster.

In this day and age of advanced digital facial recognition, I'd be hiding my whole face in a costume like this.  Go back to the Star Trek conventions!

Spider-Man?  With a camel toe?  Eeww...

Why can't we have a gender-swapped Wonder Woman?  Here's why.

Mind you, not all the women get it right, either.  

The Ugly

 It's difficult to call a costume ugly and not call the people in the costume ugly, because that's not the spirit of things. 

But these guys made it easy.

Bonus Cosplay

Ron Jeremy as Mario.
 

Breaking News

 
A couple of cosplayers at Brisbane Oz Comic-con 2014 introduced black humour to the Dark knight.  Dressed up as Thomas and Martha Wayne, they would stalk random Batman cosplayers, run up to them, shout 'Son!', then drop dead in front of him.  Their costumes were complete with a broken pearl necklace, a W emblazoned on Thomas's jacket, and a bucket of popcorn.  
Lazer Gun Diplomacy salutes you with a 21 gun salute.

Mobile Suit Gundam, Odaiba, Tokyo

    I finally caught up with the surprisingly mobile life-size RX-78-2 Mobile Suit Gundam, now stationed at Odaiba in front of Daiba City.  It's 18 meters tall (59 feet), weighs 35 tons and is 1-1 scale, built to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the anime series, started in 1979.  It was originally constructed for the theme park attraction Gundam Crisis, and punters could originally complete a series of missions to access the cockpit (if successful) where they were shown a special Gundam-related video.  I would much prefer to operate the mecha myself, rather than watching some video, but one suspects that, unfortunately, it's not a fully operational Gundam.  Sadly. 
    The Gundam went walkabouts (for real?) to Shizuoka City for a year, then ended up in its present location in Odaiba.  I don't believe that the cockpit is accessible, but I'd be pleased to be corrected on that one.  At its feet is another Gundam Cafe (the original is located in Akihabara), and a Gundam gift shop.  There is also apparently the Gundam Front Tokyo attraction on the 6th floor of the Daiba City Mall, which I missed.  
    Now, it seems that the life-size Gundam was scheduled to finish at the end of March 2013.  Any confirmation on this?  I'm glad I went now!  Where will it end up next?  In orbit?  Do that!

    (Personally, I'm more of a Neon Genesis Evangelion fan, and am waiting on a life-size version of one of those beasties to pop up.)

 Sakura Gundam

 50 points of light light up, and steam-looking mist erupts from 14 parts while stirring theme music plays, and the head looks around and up.

 The Gundam Cafe, Odaiba

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