Gamer cosplay takes over NY Anime Festival
by Majed Athab 
{ Sep 28th 2008 at 12:00PM }
Click to embiggen
It's official. Gaming-related cosplay has crashed the anime party. You'd think a bastion such as the New York Anime Festival would be sacred ground for pure Naruto costume play, but it certainly was not this weekend. With the three-day event at the Manhattan Jacob Javitz Center wrapping up today, we've seen hundreds of gamers strut their stuff amongst the common 'Misa Misas' and 'Sasukes.' Who did we see at the show? Well for starters, the cool kids from The World Ends With You showed us just how awesome it is to be a Shibuya wallflower. Then, we greased up and wrestled with El Blaze from Virtua Fighter 5 -- he was tough by the way. The Persona 3 crew refrained from shooting themselves in the head to take a picture for us, which was a nice gesture. In honor of the festival's guest of honor, Yoshitaka Amano, several people dressed up as Amano-inspired Final Fantasy characters. Evermore intriguing, people also dressed up as characters from games that are not even out yet. Oh, and almost forgot, Pyramid Head; you can't have a convention without one of those. Anyway, there's more in the gallery below (including a spot of anime cosplay). Can you name all the characters and what games they belong to?
Gallery: NY Anime Festival 08
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
josh @ Sep 28th 2008 12:10PM
The other knight must have lagged out of the match.
Linkario @ Sep 28th 2008 12:42PM
Brilliant!
Megadanxzero @ Sep 28th 2008 1:55PM
i c wat u did thar
Gun Barrier @ Sep 28th 2008 12:16PM
Wow! I was wondering why I saw some guys dressed as One Piece characters in NY yesterday.
Morisato @ Sep 28th 2008 12:22PM
Yes. It's strange to see them walking the streets, but when you quarantine all of them in a room, it's not as bad.
Seifer @ Sep 28th 2008 12:17PM
I dunno where you guys have been, but gaming cosplay has been a part of anime conventions for a long time.
killian @ Sep 28th 2008 12:22PM
Cos play is AWESOME I wish they have more of it....
ButtersParker @ Sep 28th 2008 1:22PM
I really hope you're being sarcastic.
Gun Barrier @ Sep 28th 2008 12:25PM
They might as well call it a gaming cosplay since anime characters are part of video games too, nowadays.
seifer @ Sep 28th 2008 12:34PM
Cosplay is cosplay. There is no point or reason to divide it up into different categories; if you are in costume, you are cosplaying.
Gun Barrier @ Sep 28th 2008 12:39PM
Yea, except that they are cosplaying as video Game characters in an ANIME FESTIVAL.
seifer @ Sep 28th 2008 12:57PM
Which is a very, VERY common occurrence. Anime Expo has an annual Capcom vs. SNK cosplay gathering every Friday at 5:00 PM that dates back to at least 2001, Final Fantasy cosplays (particularly of the Yuna/Rikku/Cloud/AC Tifa variety) are commonplace now, even non-Japanese stuff like Harry Potter and Star Wars has shown up at a anime convention. I don't see what's so surprising about it.
Linkario @ Sep 28th 2008 12:41PM
I get the sense that cosplayers = furries. So sad. So lonely.
seifer @ Sep 28th 2008 12:57PM
Just like a blog commenter. Wait a minute...
ed @ Sep 28th 2008 1:31PM
They always struck me as retards too. Bunch of nutters all on being watched since they're likely going to become murderers and rapists at some point.
riggs @ Sep 28th 2008 3:20PM
except for the hot females, then it turns into something sexual..
Phil @ Sep 28th 2008 4:59PM
Cosplayers /=/ Furries.
Cosplayers are no more different than someone dressing up in costume on halloween, a party or WHATEVER. Furries have a problem and think they are their character.
I myself am not a cosplayer, but I've attended a couple conventions now and most people there are entirely sane. It's just them taking an opportunity to change their attire because they're at an event tied to their fandom.
And furthermore, video game cosplays at anime conventions are NOT that new. You really should get with the times Joystiq and learn to understand the typical behavior of the 'con crowd'.
Nmaster @ Sep 28th 2008 7:55PM
I got laid at just about every anime convention I've ever gone to...and I always cosplay...
animeko @ Sep 28th 2008 2:54PM
http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/media/2007/11/samus_cosplay_098068758587.jpg
oh yeah I'm sure she's sad and lonely too. Oh stereotypes...
Morisato @ Sep 28th 2008 5:30PM
That girl is actually an actress/model. She's dressed like that for a Metroid Corruption shoot. I forgot if it was a commercial or a magazine shoot. But in either case, she's no more of a cosplayer than anyone on this list of names....
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318627/
WiiFTW @ Sep 28th 2008 2:55PM
http://www.joystiq.com/photos/ny-anime-festival-08/1060919/full/
This one is full of win.
lorddshadow @ Sep 29th 2008 1:16AM
omg it's a ninja dressed like mr.game&watch!
Tekkaman027 @ Sep 29th 2008 6:06AM
I guess you have not really been to a lot of anime conventions before.
This is nothing new.
Kingdom Hearts cosplay has been at anime cons for years. Final Fantasy and King of Fighters cosplay has been at anime cons even longer. There are photos from the 1990s of Street Fighter II and Darkstalkers cosplay.
Don't forget that there is a lot of crossover. Poplular videogames can be made into anime and popular anime often has videogames based off of them.
creid @ Sep 28th 2008 3:32PM
What are #44 and 45 dressed as?
Pedobear @ Sep 29th 2008 7:27PM
Yoko from Gurren Lagann
TendoMan @ Sep 28th 2008 4:21PM
Glad to see that the gallery contains an abundance of hot women.
Ahem, now if you will excuse me..
fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap
MowDownJoe @ Sep 28th 2008 10:25PM
That better not be over the humanized Amaterasu! Not that she's ugly, but... there's something off...
Pyramidheadisangry @ Sep 28th 2008 9:42PM
OMGOMGOMG!! YESS FINALLY FOUND A PIC OF ME!!! (im the pyramid head) THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!
Majed Athab @ Sep 28th 2008 10:08PM
You're welcome. Thanks for letting me take your picture.
GearSecond!! (a.k.a AwesomeStuff) @ Sep 28th 2008 8:51PM
I was there yesterday! :D Aw man..it was awesome..but I don't see any cameo pics of me that I can point out.. :(
Gun Barrier @ Sep 28th 2008 9:34PM
heh i was in the city yesterday too. Were u in a noodle store dressed as luffy?
GearSecond!! (a.k.a AwesomeStuff) @ Sep 28th 2008 10:03PM
lol, na. I just came there as is. I did have a Cheetah mask one to one side of my face though if that rings any bells
Zorink @ Sep 28th 2008 11:27PM
WTF?
http://www.joystiq.com/photos/ny-anime-festival-08/1060907/full/
Zadra @ Sep 28th 2008 11:38PM
Yes, that is a human Amaterasu. Thats me. I was also back on Sunday as zero suit Samus. I suppose there's something "off" about that also, huh?
creid @ Sep 29th 2008 12:50AM
Psh, you looked great. Guy next to you though... kinda creepy.
lorddshadow @ Sep 29th 2008 1:20AM
ooh i'm glad to see the guy dressed as genesis. i loved that character!
ZeroCorpse @ Sep 29th 2008 11:04AM
This is one of those times when I can say there's a clear difference between NERDS and GEEKS.
Cosplayers = NERDS
Nerd is when your geekiness turns into something that keeps you from being able to blend into society. You can be a geek, and none of your geek hobbies will turn away non-geeks. But if you're a nerd, your nerd habits are probably enough to make people avoid you when you've got your full nerd-on.
Cosplay is gettin' your nerd on.
Yeah, some people get laid at these things because they're nerding out. You know why? Because it's a gathering of nerdy guys who never get any, and nerdy girls who are turned on by the characters the guys are playing-- NOT THE GUYS THEMSELVES.
She's not sleeping with you; She's giving it up to Link, Vampire Hunter D, Ryu, or Dante. She's fulfilling a fantasy, and you happen to be the meatbag in the costume. As long as you don't look like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, and your costume is decent, you'll get some.
The same principle applies to Renaissance Festivals, Halloween parties, SCA events, and games of Vampire: The Masquerade (or any LARP, for that matter).
The girls don't like you. They like your clothes.
ronaldhennessy @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:38PM
It's not really shock to see that video games that are strongly correlated with Japanese pop culture get a lot of cosplay. I went to NYAF for the first time this year and it was a blast. I love taking pics of the cosplayers. However, you guys need to chill out on the Kingdom Hearts/ Final Fantasy stuff. It makes the con look homogeneous. At least stop doing the same ol' Soras and Sephriohs and try something different.