I thought I should make a separate post about the cosplay competitions at Holdfeny Con, since that is my main field of interest and because I have a lot to say about it.
I will also post all the videos and photos I have from the competitions, hoping that they will make the cosplayers happy (I was so happy after Mondocon when somebody tagged me in a Facebook video!).
The things I know about the cosplay competition in the first day are from the inside: going to meet the jury, going up on stage and talking to other cosplayers while waiting backstage or waiting for the photo shoot.
Although everything was delayed and my feet hurt like hell, waiting to go meet the jury was fun. it was the perfect moment to look at the others’ costumes. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t want to spy on them. I just wanted to learn new things. And when I could, I asked “What material is this? Where did you buy it from? How much did it cost?” or “How did you do this?”. And again, this helped me find new materials for my Athena cosplay. The Mondocon experience taught that being locked in the box of your own country doesn’t help. It’s a limited box of knowledge and when that knowledge ends… what are you going to do? That would really bore me to death, I think. That’s why I try to find out as much as I can about the methods and the materials that other cosplayers use. Improving my technique is vital to me.
An overall impression of the cosplay at Holdfeny Con? Well, first of all, something surprises me all the time I come to a convention in Hungary. Many many cosplayers off the stage. Almost every three persona you find somebody who cosplays or has a cosplay-like costume! And I think this is an amazing thing! Cosplaying for fun is a nice thing to do. You must not have a perfect costume, worthy of going up the stage, you just have to feel good in it and enjoy yourself. And apparently the fans in Hungary know how to do this.
As for the competition cosplay, well, that is a bit different, at least that’s how I see it. It always requires more responsability and a lot more work, but it still must be something to be enjoyed. Since it was a summer convention and summer is the season of having fun and not of working, I didn’t expect extraordinary costumes for the cosplay competition. And I was wrong. There were some costumes that were quite impressive and the cosplayers have worked a lot on them. I thought that was a great thing and that showed me that there are some cosplayers in hungary that are really into cosplay and who take it seriously. I must congratulate them for it. it takes a lot of effort and determination to have this hobby. Lots of work and money that only come back to you in the form of people enjoying your costumes or maybe winning some prizes.
Of course, that doesn’t mean all the cosplayers are the same, some don’t care that much about how “perfect” their costume is but the cosplay experience overall. Since I am a perfectionist, it’s hard for me to understand it, so I’ll just keep quiet about it.
There is one thing I will say though: there were things I would have done differently when it came to many of the costumes I saw, but I will not post it here, since I believe it’s not something I should say publicly. So if you believe you can handle some negative feed-back, feel free to ask, I promise I won’t bite! Maybe we can learn from each other interesting things!
Anyway, let’s see what videos we have from the first day:
