A terribly brief post

Good day (night?) to you, dear readers! I'm afraid I have but a brief post for this week, as I have had a busy last few days and am a grade-A procrastinator.

Actually, for this week, I want you all to take a look at a couple of things I have come across while surfing tumblr. (It's terribly addictive, I must say.) First, I'd like you to read this story from a cosplayer. For those who won't click the link or who will keep reading this paragraph before clicking aside and reading the tale, it's about a cosplayer and her group of friends who ran into the nastier side of the reality tv show Heroes of Cosplay. I do not know the person who wrote it personally, and I know first hand that you should take anything you read on the internet with a grain of salt, but I still came away from reading that account disturbed and disgusted. Cons are a haven for the different, for those who don't fit in elsewhere. They are a place we can show off our hard work and dedication to a hobby that others often don't understand. I don't know about you, dear readers, but I don't want someone who destroys my con experience called a "hero" of my hobby. The behavior of those involved with the show and the competition was abominable in this tale. If you or anyone you know has ever competed in such an event, you know that it's hard work, and it takes hours and hours of blood, sweat, and tears to pull it all together. I have to give the judges props for awarding the prizes where they were deserved rather than where they were expected.

I'm just sickened by the kind of mindset that believes this kind of behavior is okay. It's not. It's so many levels of not okay. You should never look down on others, no matter what your reasoning may be. So you're richer than someone else? Don't look down on them. So their costume isn't as good as yours? You don't know their life, you don't know their story, you don't know what may have happened to cause it. So they bought their cosplay but you made yours? So what? Yes, the cosplayers on Heroes of Cosplay were steered into acting a certain way by the directors, the producers, the show's creators. But here's something I've learned from a lifetime of people having expectations of me: you always have a choice. There comes a point at which you have to choose between what is expected and what is right. You are the weaker individual if you do not choose what is right. Treating another person with such marked disrespect is not right. The behavior of these individuals was uncalled for and inappropriate, and make no mistake, they could have made better choices.

To end on a more positive note, this is what attitudes on cosplay should be. Cosplay is about having fun and enjoying yourself, not about meeting someone else's lofty ideal of what cosplay should be.

Again, I'm sorry this blog post is short and mostly consists of ranting. I promise next week's will be better. So good night, dear readers, and may pleasant dreams visit your slumber.