Springingtiger's Blog

I see from my Facebook Timeline that there is a building excitement around MCM Comic Con this coming Saturday. Cosplay fans have been previewing their cosplays for the weekend, some changing up to three times, many going as a different character on both days. Having worn a different look for each of the days of Asylum I can appreciate why. There is a joy in expressing yourself in costume and for the cosplayers there is the demonstration of their passion for a particular character or genre. Cosplayers don’t just do it for themselves, but for the pleasure of other people and people enjoy watching, photographing, and being photographed with cosplayers.

MCM in Glasgow this year has something that lifts it to the level of the Edinburgh Festival or the Chelsea Flower Show, but in Cosplay rather than the Arts or Horticulture. This year MCM has got itself a fringe. Okay it’s not as big as the Edinburgh or Chelsea Fringes, but it is none the less a ‘Fringe’. I am talking about #rebelcon2k16 The MCM Scotland Independent Masquerade 

There is an argument that the rebelcon is an attack on MCM, but there is an equally persuasive argument that it a reflection of MCM’s success. Although I gather that there were some administrative problems with MCM’s official masquerade this year, I think the real problem is that the demand for opprtunities to cosplay is becoming too great for the existing events and formats available

What Rebelcon is doing is allowing people an opportunity for people to show off their cosplays outside of the formal structures of the big event. I think it is only a first step to a greater popularisation of cosplay. I am surprised that the BBC hasn’t launched a ‘Great British Cosplay’ television competition or should we expect a ‘Britain’s Got Cosplay’. So far most cosplay has been linked appropriately with comic cons, however I think it’s a genre that is ready to stand on its own. I don’t think cosplay should or could sever its connections with the comic cons, but the time has come for a new approach to cosplay. I hope the Rebelcon is popular and leads to a greater diversity in cosplaying. I also hope MCM recognises the value of a fan led fringe and encourages it. The posibilities open to cosplay are subject only to the limits of imagination and given the imaginations of cosplayers that’s… that’s….that’s….UNLIMITED!

(Photos from Glasgow Comic Con, The Asylum, and Rai Con)