COSTUME PLAYER
‘38 YEARS OLD COSPLAYER’ Ben, a 38 years old Taekwando teacher and a narrator at Saint John’s university, when look at him, he just an ordinary guy who seems to live a normal common life just like other people, but what make him different from people from his age is his hobby, a ‘Costume Player’ or as we known as ‘ Cosplay’, many people may think that doing this kind of stuff in only for children, but Ben never think like that, he started cosplay since 2008, and continue doing it until now.
This is his bedroom, full with a costume, most of them he made it by himself
Ben as ‘Shinpachi Nagakura’ from Japanese animation ‘Hakuouki Shinsengumi’
In the beginning he does not know or understand what is Cosplay, until he saw people dress up like cartoon characters, wearing some fancy clothes walking around in public places and events. he started to get interest about it, And at the same time, the taekwondo club where he works wanted to advertise the gym activities for children by giving out a leaflet, so he thought that would be more interesting if he dress up as a cartoon character.
So, he dresses as a ‘Hatake Kakashi from’ the Japanese manga ‘Naruto’ and successfully received a lot of attention, and easily run out of leaflets. From that point, he started to take it more serious, going to events and cosplay more variously character.
Ben said that nowadays Cosplay is very different from the past, it’s become more formal and contest for money, formerly, cosplaying wasn’t this popular, many cosplayer was doing this only because they really like the characters, not because they wanted to become popular or wining the competition.
“Cosplay is where I can express my interests, where I can become my favorite character ’
Because of the changes, Ben told that he rarely goes to the public event, he prefers to do the private photo shoot with his friends. Last year he arranged the cosplay event called ‘Naruto only event’ all the stuffs in the background (from the left picture) were used in that event, and they all hand-made.
He said ‘What we have to do everyday is wake up, worked, go home and sleep, Cosplay is just a tiny moment of life that let me escape the reality, where I can be whatever I wanted to.’
‘Escape the reality, and be whatever you wanted to’
Ben said that he never feels embarrassed or pity doing this, he knows that there are more negative thoughts about Cosplay more than positive one, many people, maybe feel uncomfortable about Cosplay or think that it’s such a silly wired thing to do, especially for 38 years old who still doing it.
Ben as ‘Nara Shikamaru’ from Japanese animation ‘Naruto’
‘It’s not a thing to feel ashamed of, I haven’t done anything against the law anyway!’
“My work and my hobby is totally different, so I separate it very clearly, Cosplay is only for my free-time, not my everyday life’
Ben said that he didn’t directly tell his colleague or his student that he doing this, Cosplay might affect his work position and his reliability, for some people and his foreman, they might think that what he is doing is ridiculous and nonsense, so he decided to keep it personal and share it with who really open enough to this, no wasting time explaining to a person who will never understand. At first he didn’t have any inspiration or motivation, he only does this because he likes cartoons and animation until he found his girlfriend at the event in 2009 ‘She is my counselor and the best inspiration’
‘If I become a grandpa, I will Cosplay as Dumbledore!’ At last. Ben said that he haven’t think about quitting anytime soon, he did worry about his age and appearance, that someday it won’t be fit for his favorite characters, but above all, Cosplay is his happiness, it would be too difficult for him to stop doing what he loves.