r/CosplayHelp • u/JAAdventurer • 6d ago

SubReddit Announcement: A New Rule and Deputy Moderators

Hello everyone,

I know, you folks barely hear from us moderators. Truth is, we're both super busy and really only show up when called upon. I recently stumbled upon a post here bemoaning an up-tick of low-effort posts where people expect an unrealistic amount of hand-holding without much apparent thought of their own on the level of ask they are making. Therefore, a few changes around here to help keep this place tidy:

  • A new rule! No low-effort posts:

Cosplayers are passionate craftspeople. The skills and knowledge that you come here seeking comes from effort born of that passion. If you would like help with your costume, all that we ask is that you show a bit of that effort yourself. Posts must show some time and thought from you on the project you are requesting help with, and some basic understanding of the scope it would entail. Not just a blanket "I want this, HELP PLEASE!"

  • New Deputy Moderators: I'd say I'm introducing you to these people, but you see from them more than you've ever seen from me. I've reached out to some of our most vocal commenters and granted them the power to moderate posts and comments. Rather than having to report rule-breaking posts, which they have been very good at, they now have the power to directly clean them up themselves. I'll still pop in if somebody needs to be banned or larger changes need to be made, but I've seen consistent great advice from these people, and I trust them to maintain the quality of discussion here on r/CosplayHelp. Everyone say thank you to:
135 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

90

u/AMonikaToTheWild 6d ago

thank you 😭😭😭 I'm so sick of the low-effort posts, especially when they can just READ THE FAQ!!

47

u/rawr_bomb 6d ago

As someone whos been on here a lot while doing other stuff. It feels like half the posts on here could be answered with a simple search online.

I might just make up a stock answer to post for every eva foam question: Sharpening Stone, Metal Ruler, Cutting Mat, Punished Props, Kamui Cosplay, SKS Props, Evil Ted, buy it online, template out of cardstock, paper or cardboard.

17

u/byc18 6d ago

What I keep copying and pasting if you want to use it.

A few YouTubers I can recommend to get you started.

5

u/rawr_bomb 6d ago

I really like including Ted even though he isn't as well known as the others. Ted literally introduced all of us to new techniques with foam years ago.

1

u/LegendaryOutlaw 5d ago

SKS Props is a maker I would add to your list. Not only does have have a huge library of specific youtube tuturial videos, but he's an excellent teacher and has free templates for all his builds. Plus he even has his own EVA foam line that is a quality product. I've learned a ton from your other makers, but SKS is one of the best.

3

u/rawr_bomb 6d ago

I do want to figure out a few other people to recommend for other techniques. Sewing, Wig Making, Cardboard/Paper Mache, 3D Printing. One of my cosplay friends was doing some insanely good sewing stuff but they quit youtube basically.

2

u/byc18 6d ago

I have this blurb for cardboard.

Some cardboard artists I like.

83

u/LankySandwich 6d ago

Can we get an auto answer on posts about untangling wigs? Im so sick of people asking how to untangle wigs, especially miku wigs. Also, can the auto answer have something in it about how fabric softener is pointless?

31

u/JAAdventurer 6d ago

Send me a modmail with a thorough, generic, know-everything answer and I'll see what I can do.

11

u/MissingGreenLink 6d ago

I will come up with one on Monday when I’m back in town

18

u/oreganocactus 6d ago

Thank you! I think it's especially bad around Halloween, but oh my god sometimes I wish we could just ban discussions of storebought cosplays altogether haha. Especially when the FAQ answers it all. Thanks to our new mods!

7

u/themsireensdidthis 6d ago

I feel this. I don't look down on storebought cosplays, but why come to a cosplay help subreddit if you just want to buy one? I thought the purpose of this place was to swap DIY tips. Sourcing parts like wigs is one thing, but I'm sick of posts asking for where to buy entire cosplays, especially when they're like "the con's in a week, can I still order from this site halfway across the world?"

42

u/LegendaryOutlaw 6d ago

Great news. Thanks in advance to our new deputy mods. I think Halloween might be driving the recent influx of low-effort posts, hopefully they’ll subside after October.

Ive just been downvoting the posts asking ‘where to start’ and ‘help me I really MUST have this costume lol’ and moving on. But people that have a specific question or have already answered the basics for themselves, I’ll always reply unless someone else has already covered it. This really is a very knowledgeable and helpful community.

19

u/LitheFider 6d ago

I will do my best đŸ«Ąâ˜ș !

9

u/mayorofanything 6d ago

Thank you for putting an end to the Halloween costume shopping posts!

9

u/Vaehtay3507 6d ago

This seems like a great change!! Just to make sure I understand things properly, I’m assuming posts asking about specific parts of the process of making a cosplay are still fair game, so long as you actually have a plan and aren’t asking people to basically plan the cosplay for you? I always worry when I see rules like this that things are going to head in the direction of “every question can be googled so if you’re asking a question to begin with you’ve failed”, which is kind of a sad mentality that I see in a lot of hobby spaces.

I don’t necessarily think this sub is going in that direction, but I’d love to know where the line is currently drawn! :D

13

u/JAAdventurer 6d ago

Roughly, yeah. It's not about googling, it's about proving you put more thought into it than "this would be so cool!"

1

u/Vaehtay3507 6d ago

Got it! Tysm for the fast response! :D

5

u/snailhelper 6d ago

I appreciate this. It’s low effort season right now because we’re netting the Halloween crowd, but it’s been bad lately regardless.

4

u/MadCutieDesign 6d ago

THANK YOU

5

u/parsalys 6d ago

I love to see it. It's not popped up too many times but I wonder if posts from 3D printer beginners may benefit from a redirect to r/3Dprinting or a similar sub which could answer their questions better?

7

u/JAAdventurer 6d ago

Potentially, if the questions are specifically about 3D printing itself, print quality and the like. If it's about turning a print into a quality prop, we're more the right place.

1

u/rawr_bomb 6d ago

I recommend people a lot to blender actually. Learning Blender (or any other 3d software) is the best skill you can have with 3d printing. It's just a really uphill climb for people.

1

u/parsalys 6d ago

It is 100% a useful skill to have, even if you're just resizing existing models. I just don't know how to help people who have a vague 'how do I start 3d printing?' Or 'what printer should I buy?' But then that probably falls under the new low effort question rule

2

u/Shalashaska87B 6d ago

Question: a couple of hours ago I came across a post where OP was asking for suggestions about how to craft a costume. OP said to be good at sewing, but without an idea about how to actually make the costume IRL.

Does that still fall under the "low effort" category?

2

u/Potaytos Competitive Cosplayer 6d ago

It would depend if they’ve included enough details about what they are trying to make so that people can steer them in the right direction. Otherwise, it’d fall under the specific question rule. If it’s a fairly generic “FAQ has the answer to it” post, then it’s considered low effort.

5

u/CaptainHunt 6d ago

We have had a lot of “[picture of anime character]. How do I make this!”

2

u/Potaytos Competitive Cosplayer 6d ago

You can report it under not a specific question or low effort and we can take a look.

2

u/toastforscience 6d ago

This is great, thank you so much!! I love helping people and providing advice but its like I need some background here and those kinds of posts always frustrated me

2

u/MissingGreenLink 5d ago edited 5d ago

Let’s see, maybe something like this:

Hello! Welcome to the world of cosplay. Allow us to clarify and answer a few FAQs

But first let’s go over a few things.

  1. Cosplay is not consent! Be courteous, be kind. Be respectful. Ask before taking photos or touching the cosplayer or their props.

  2. COSPLAY is an expensive and time consuming hobby that occurs for most of us year round. This is not a Halloween fad. You’re in the wrong place if you’re looking for a Halloween fad.

  3. Cosplay is for all gender, age and body type. Cosplay whoever you want however you want. The most common rules you’ll come across when it comes to cosplay is: no blackface (for African American/black characters), no taped eyes (for Asian characters), etc. and also be aware of what the event you’re going to is (I.e. maybe don’t go as a beach attire character or swimsuit model if it’s an all age event with kids and little ones)

  4. - case in point. The amount of male cosplayers I’ve met at all age family friendly events who get upset they get turned around because their cosplay consists of a speedo or some female cosplayers who wear a micro bikini. You can and will be asked to cover up or use a pasty.

  5. If you are planning to cosplay anything with spandex/lycra then get a dancers belt! This is anything from superheroes to supervillains and so on

  6. Choose comfort over accuracy if you plan on wearing the cosplay all day. So don’t go cosplaying as bayonetta in heels for 10 hours and complain about your feet hurting. Or yaoyorozu in the dead of winter complaining about the cold winter weather.

———————-
FAQs

  1. Where can I get a quality cosplay for cheap?
  2. That’s not a thing. Quality cosplays are expensive. Even Walmart and spirit Halloween can cost you $20-40 for cheap cosplays. Commissioned cosplays cost way more because you are paying the person for materials and time it takes to make it.
  3. Can I get xyz before Halloween? See above section. This isn’t a Halloween fad. Most websites can take anywhere from 1-3 month for shipping, for best practice give it 2 months. And be aware most of the premade websites are from china so there are tariffs, expensive shipping and also delays for certain times of year like lunar new years.

  4. Will I fit xyz from website? WE DONT KNOW. Premade cosplays comes with a wide range of quality from non stretch fabric, cheap stitching, and so on. If it’s an Asian website they almost always use Asia sizing so don’t go based off of small medium large, look at the numbers and estimate there’s usually 1-3 cm off in either direction. Also look carefully at how they measure, your waist in most websites is slightly above your belly button and listed in CM so you’ll have to convert to IN if you don’t measure in CM. This is vastly different from a lot of USA shops.

  5. Shoes for superheroes? A lot of screen printing websites give 2 shoe options. 1) foot zippers with kung fu slippers you can wear inside. 2) glued on soles.
    5a - which one of the two? That is up to you. Know that they might not be the comfortable shoes to wear or might not be for your foot type. We can’t answer that for you.

What are decent websites to buy from?
Note. Aside from local shops. There is no such thing as “great pre made cosplay shops” because a lot of these websites are factory made even if they say they aren’t and with the fabric they use it is not a guarantee good fit.

In no particular order these are websites most frequently mentioned by cosplayers, as always YMMV (these are only ones I’m aware of)

Anime:
Ezcosplay
Miccostume
Uwowu
Dokidoki
Aliexpress
eBay
Etsy
Amazon

Western comics and superheroes:
Simcosplay
Procosplay
Heroestime
Xcoser
Zentaizone
Aliexpress
eBay
Etsy
Amazon

Star Wars: yes it has its own section for one particular reason. The Star Wars fandom in particular has a specific focus group on screen accurate suits. So know whether you are just going to be cosplaying Star Wars characters or you want to be part of the larger connected Star Wars fandom.
If the latter. Look for the 501st legion. They have chapters everywhere and also specific websites on where to buy and assemble. This also includes accurate lightsabers.
Note: they are screen accurate so don’t be surprised if your cosplay is not accepted. Some people will complain about gatekeeping or elitism. It’s neither of those. They make it well known and obvious what they are and how specific their cosplays are.

Wigs:
Epic wig
Arda wig
Kasou wig
Amazon
Etsy
eBay

3d printed shells:
That I don’t know anymore. Everyone is printing these days and often times they use the same files. So search around.

Props: I’m not answering this one as I rarely buy props. Prefer custom making it for comfort. But for most weapon props you are going to either be looking for EVA Foam props, 3D printed with no moving parts, or bamboo wooden safe swords

Commission:
That I don’t know. I commission my wigs and props sometimes from friends.

General rules - just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean it’s good. Read reviews. Ask around. Get a general consensus.

Not all of these sites are official or partnered. And you can tell based off the bizarre generic names.

————
Competitive cosplay

  1. Respect competitive cosplayers. If you aren’t making your cosplay or wearing a cosplay on behalf of a crafter. Don’t join the competitions. It’s meant for crafters with strong passion. Most competitions require around 60-80% of the cosplay to be self made and often require a build book with progress photos.
  2. Be aware that competitive scene focuses heavily on artistic techniques. Things like sewing and knitting will often score a lot higher than 3D prints. And this is not to shame 3D printing as that takes time and work too.

—————-
Self made cosplays

  1. Where to start? Look at your local thrift store for fabric or clothes to use. Then look at your local fabric stores. Buy online if you have to.
  2. Foam? Go to your nearest craft store or buy online. Look for EVA foam.

General things you’ll need for foamsmithing:
EVA foam of different thickness
Xacto knife
Board for cutting with xacto knife
PPE
Dremel
Heat gun
Contact cement
Lots and lots of paint - everyone has different preference. I like using plastidip + rustoleum spray
Foam clay

Depending on what your making may also need:
PVC pipe
Wooden dowel
Wooden planks
Saw

  1. Wigs? See above for wigs. But also will need got2be spray and/or glue.

—————-
Tutorials

  1. YouTube. There’s lots out there
  2. Well known tutorials : (I only know these ones)
  3. Kamui cosplay
  4. Odin makes

I think I’ve covered most of it.

1

u/JAAdventurer 5d ago

Is this in response to the comment you said you'd follow back on? I can check this against what we already have in intro/rules/FAQ, but my comment was more about a primer on wigs and detangling in particular.

1

u/MissingGreenLink 5d ago

Yea. That one. Ah okay. My fault. I just had an everything post lol.

1

u/Personal_Apricot4850 4d ago

It would be nice to add a "contest" flair for questions related to cosplay contests