Book Review: Cosplay Fever Red

Dunlop, R. and Lumby, P. (2010). Cosplay Fever Red. Ablaze Media Ltd. ISBN:9780954300845

Here is the sequel to Cosplay Fever! In the intro they mention how they took reader comments into consideration when doing this one so below character they now have series they're from and they have a section in back sorted by series and character to make finding costumes in the book easier. I think that was a super awesome touch. Another thing they did was interview four cosplayers who are supposedly big in the UK and include those interviews. I'm not part of the UK cosplay scene so I don't really know who these people are but their costumes in the book are amazing and their interviews are well done.

The pages are similar in layout to the last book with the posed convention snap with info somewhere overlaid. Most have the following info:

-A quote

-Cosplayer

-Character

-Series

-Notes about the costume

and sometimes:

-Best thing (in cosplayer's opinion) about the costume

-Why the cosplayer loves the character

10/10 (Seriously one of the best for getting an idea about what cosplay at cons looks like. The photos are respectful to the cosplayer and the info is a cool look into each costume. There was more focus on handmade versus bought costumes but that might just be because so many in this book are really fantastic and elaborate costumes which eBay sellers are less inclined to make. The quotes aren't even that bad this time. Also, the poses and costumes in the book would most likely not make your parents pass out if they saw it if you're looking for a book to show cosplay to your parents.)

Book Review: Cosplay Fever

Dunlop, R., & Lumby, P. (2009). Cosplay Fever. London: Ablaze Media. ISBN: 9780954300838

This is a pretty neat book. It has a short foreword and an intro which kind of gives a feel for what cosplay is and why some people do it as well as when and where these shots were collected (the UK, 2009) but otherwise is a collection of costume shots. I think this is my favorite of the coffee table docubooks so far as it lists on the page right next to the costumer:

1) Who they are.
2) What their costume is.
3) Details about the costume like price, something memorable about the construction, if they bought it and where.
4) Their favorite thing about the character they're cosplaying.
5) Why they cosplay.

There is also a quote from the cosplayer on each page but about half of them are "You lost the game." which hilariously enough makes it very clear when the material for this book was collected even if you don't read the introduction!

My third favorite thing, after the good convention snaps and the cosplay info right next to the cosplayer, is that the cosplays span everything. There's furries and lolita versions of characters and stuff from games and stuff from books and homemade and closet cosplay and commissioned costumes and stuff bought out of cosplay shops. It is all presented with equal respect.

9/10 (I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants an idea/to give an idea of the convention cosplay scene. There are a scant few cosplayers included who are posing in suggestive or otherwise less than parent friendly ways (one has another on a leash and their quotes made my eyes roll so hard) so maybe not the best to give to particularly reserved or conservative parents to show how amazing the cosplay community is. Only lost a point because the quotes off away from the cosplayer info tended to be pretty lame, the book would be a 10 if those had been omitted.)

Favorite (And Least Favorite) Commercial Patterns

 I don’t use commercial patterns all too often, especially for cosplay. I really try to make cosplay straight from scratch but sometimes I do use patterns. Especially for bodices.

Favorites

McCall’s M6035

I don’t think I’ve actually made a blouse of any nature from this I’ve just made dresses! But they fit really well once I made a few slight adjustments to the pattern itself.

Image from patternreviews.com

Simplicity 3637

I use the bodice for this a lot but that’s because it fits me really well since I don’t have much curves up top. It’s a favorite for lolita dresses but is my go to for any costume that needs a square neckline or to be stupid fitted to my torso.

Image from patternreviews.com

Simplicity 4381

Best. Basic. Pants. Pattern. I use it for all pants and bloomers I make. Love love love it.

Alright

Image from Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki

Simplicity 9613 (Vintage)

Alright but so similar to M6035 that I just use that one now.

Butterick B5265

I’ve only used the cape pattern from this but it worked well for my Riddler hench cape.

Not a Fan

Vintage Vogue V1084

It just doesn’t go together well and it is hard to not have your undergarments showing.

Least Favorites

Simplicity 2881

This one doesn’t fit well at all, with period undergarments or without. Either it is designed for someone with very strange dimensions or something happened during printing. This wasn't one that could be saved with some alteration, it gave me a completely unusable garment (thank goodness I tested it in muslin first!).

Book Review: Cosplay in America アメリカのコスプレ

Chuang, E. (2010). Cosplay in America. Ejen Chuang. ISBN: 978-0615349060

Another "Overview of Cosplay" type book but I will say right now that this one is doing it right. The photos don't always show great details of the costumes but the poses give them life. Where as Fandomania felt cold and detached and depressing all the shots here feel alive. Even if someone is clearly awkward the poses and shots themselves do well to downplay that.

The photos feel respectful.

Reading the forward it becomes clear why the photos feel respectful, because the photographer does respect the subjects. The foreword also tells us about the photographer, why he decided to do this and about his method including when and where these photos were collected from.

This is a dual language book, both in Japanese and in English which I think is cool. While never overtly stated I think maybe the reason behind this was so that maybe our cosplaying counterparts on the other side of the Pacific could see the essence of アメリカのコスプレ (American Cosplay).

Occasionally the photos have anecdotes attached, some range from "okay kids can be weird" stories of glomps to yaaaay moments like the one above where some girls came up to this cosplayer after she took her helmet off because they thought it was so cool a chick was being all badass in armor.

The subjects in this book feel very alive. These are clearly poses chosen to highlight the character.

Or the poses are a bit silly and more of the cosplayer than the character.

Either way, if I was asked to show someone, whether a professor or a parent, what cosplay looked and felt like then this would be what I would show them. It does well to capture the fun and life that is cosplay but it also presents it professionally.

8/10 (Lost points for not listing who the character themselves were or what series they were from and there were a few typos in the foreword)

Book Review: Fandomania: Characters and Cosplay

Dorfman, E. (2007). Fandomania: Characters & Cosplay. Aperture. ISBN: 978-1597110358

When I first saw this book on Amazon I thought that it looked neat. It was sold as a book featuring shots that are just cosplayers, no fancy backgrounds, no props, no fancy posing. The focus is the costumes and the people who made their costumes. I naturally interlibrary loan'd this in a heartbeat. I'm really glad I didn't buy it.

The first thing you'll notice is that the cover is craft foam. I used identical pale blue craft foam in my EDI costume, needless to say this is a really fun idea for a book on cosplay.

Inside the book is a short, few page essay written by someone who wasn't the photographer, apparently a random art critic. Okay. Weird. But whatever. Reading the essay intro thing I now kind of understand where a good number of people might have gotten the idea that cosplay is really just fetish wear that people put a good bit of effort into making. It mentions how clearly cosplay is just young people exploring their identity, sexual and otherwise.

If people want to cosplay and have it be a fetish thing, that's fine. I just don't appreciate someone labelling all of cosplay as something like that. Also early in the essay it mentions how this book purposefully goes out of it's way to not be condescending or treat the subjects like freaks but the essay itself does and going into looking at the pictures after gives a distinct freak show vibe to the whole thing.

So going in to the meat of the book I've already been put in a 'this is going to be a freak show?' mind set and from some of the preview pics from Amazon I knew that the posing would get a bit awkward at times.

How, exactly, does this showcase the cosplayer? There were a few instances where the posing wasn't awkward it just made for a straight up bad photo. There's only hints at details shown here. Either a full side or some nature of front shot would have captured the detailed bits of the costume better. I want to see the details of her costume! I thought we'd get those weird model casting shots of basically from the front quick snaps. Something not posed and not artificially artsy. I was very wrong. All of the photos are taken either from "artsy" point of views or the posing feels incredibly awkward. A number of the poses felt like clearly these were shots the photographer took between the cosplayers actually posing. Looking at the pictures there's a number that just make me feel sad. The disjointed and awkward between frames posing just gives the whole thing a feel of melancholy.

The other main issue is that a number of the subjects that are photographed are not in fact cosplaying. I chose this particular one for the specific fact that in the information section this is listed as "Character: Original". That's it. All of the other fan or original characters at least came up with a name for their not part of any canon character or a descriptor (ie "Character: Gothic Lolita"). Now if this book was just trying to represent people you see at conventions that'd be different but it isn't. The book specifically states that it is giving a look at cosplay in the title and in the foreword.

At the very end of the book is a list of each of the people in the book, who their character is and what series they're from when that applies. I appreciated it since I was able to confirm some of the characters I thought some of the people were.

The final thing I have to say about this book is that it fails to mention where these photos were taken. The foreword implies they were taken at a convention but no specific convention or even a year is given. If the author was really trying to make this seem like a legit cross section of the cosplay world then they should have included where and when the photos were collected but that's the thing. This book stated it wanted to give a genuine, distilled view into cosplay that wasn't a "look at these freak show kids", a view without the artifice of posing or props or backgrounds but in purposefully choosing particularly awkward shots that's the exact feel they got.

If you want to check out this book then go for it but if you're doing a paper/thesis/any sort of meaningful research into cosplay this is a total waste of time.

3/10 (would have been lower but the craft foam cover is boss)