Afternoon all. You may remember me as the crazy guy who cosplayed as Statesman at the NYC Comic Con. Life got crazy there after, but I wanted to share my lessons learned. If someone could post, tag or flag this in a place where it could have better visibility I would really appreachate it.
Quick note on weapons: Yes they are legal as long as security decides they are safe and flagged as such. I used a real lightable tiki torch ($8 from Walmart) that had never used fluid.
1) If you're not a half nakid chick, the Media is just flat out not going to care. If you're a 'man with a cause' they care even less. It's just a fact of life. So unless you have an awsome body and want to be Sister Psycii, accept it and move on. There were some amazing costumes that never saw air time.
2) Close to no one knew who Statesman was. More people thought I was "Torchman" then knew who or what City of Heroes was. That said, every Cosplayer I met had no problem holding a spare torch and some even thought it was an interesting novilty. This to me speaks volumes of how poor CoX's media budget was. I think as fans we should be really proud of the strong, sustainable community WE created since it certainly didn't come from Korea.
3) Show up as YOU, in YOUR superhero costume. Everyone came as someone else's character. Deadpool was very popular. The Batmen and Spidermen were of course common too. What makes CoX special was not Statesman, but that WE are the heroes who inhabit it. Be proud of what you created and if anyone asks then it is a natural lead in to Save City of Heroes. Now is the time to start planning social get togethers at the various cons. It can be very daunting showing up and not knowing anybody. Remember, the first Star Trek cons were as much social get togethers. Planning one hour lunches or dinner at 'x' will go along way to keeping memories and thus momentum alive.
Here is the big take away for me. Hundreds of cosplayer show up to these things right? Yet no one is their true hero or villainous self. They were ultimately someone else's copyright. By being something so unrecognizeable I think it really turned heads, even if only for a wtf. If five, or ten of these 'personalized heroes' showed up and pal around together, I think it would have a HUGE impact on the culture.
Remember, the Future is Never Set In Stone.
Jeffrey "Graphite" Martinez
