Fuck Yeah Fat Cosplay

Hey so I have been cosplaying for about 6 years now and i always loved it. recently threw some side affects of going off of a medication i gained 70 pounds in 3 months. I used to weigh 150 and at a 5’3 height. I used to cosplay as characters like Sore from kh and sexy jutsu iruka from naruto.

The photo above is a pic of me at my main con of the year. I had to pull together all new cosplays because none of my old costumes fit. not even my really loose fitting ones. I am cosplaying as AppleJack from my little pony. My friends and I pulled a whole group together to be the main 6. My cosplay partner that I normally do a matching cosplay with was Fluttershy. After working really hard on my costume i didnt have any pictures taken of me and i had other AppleJack cosplayers be extremely rude to me saying i couldnt pull off the character and i should just change. I had to sit by while my friend got complemented and got her photo taken so many times we lost count. I know that getting my picture taken shouldn’t be important but going from having a lot of people stop you to take your picture to having none taken by anyone other then your friends and yourself is really hard.

The point to all of this is how can I feel confident in my new body when the con world around me seems to look down at me and not recognize that even if I am overweight that I look just as good as the next super skinny girl.

I am not looking for pity or trying to be little myself but it sucks when you work just as hard as the tinny girls that look great and not get any recognition for it.

Every cosplayer is amazing no matter how big they are because you have the curves that the character your cosplaying wished they had!

Hi!  First, your cosplay is adorable.  But to address your question: How can you feel confident in your body when the con world often looks down on you?  And it’s not an easy question to answer because, well, there’s not one clear solution.  A lot of times at con I’m surprised at how well the general con populace recognizes the merits of all cosplayers present regardless of height, weight, gender, skin color, etc. because I go in bracing myself for backlash. And when I don’t get it, it’s a lovely surprise. And then there’s that one con every once in a while that seems to attract every asshole out there and you get every bit of crazy backlash you were scared of and you’re wondering if you’ve stepped into the twilight zone.  And I think it’s a general agreement among cosplayers that, no, the pictures are not the most important thing.  But I think we should address that they’re also part of it.  I think that the reason cosplayers love having their picture taken is because, often, it’s a sign that you’ve done a convincing job on your costume.  Someone doesn’t want to take a picture of some random regular person, but they want to remember seeing your character; I feel that the underlying want for pictures is a desire to know that you’ve done well at your craft.  To know that the person in front of you isn’t seeing you, they’re seeing your character.  And it sucks when people refuse to accept that your interpretation of the character is just as valid as anyone else’s.  Who says Apple Jack can’t be fat?  Who says Sailor Moon can’t be black?  Who says Amon can’t be short?  These are all references to real-life cosplays I’ve seen in which the cosplayer has gotten crap for “not being close enough to canon” and it angers me to no end when people say that these cosplays aren’t as valid as others.  The con world, unfortunately, holds all the prejudices that “normal” life does.  But there are some things I think you could do to help weather the body-shaming assholery a little.

1) Avoid body-negative spaces and material.  Don’t read the magazines you see in grocery stores and things of that ilk that are riddled with negative talk, don’t read anything that body-shames, talks diets, etc.  Surround yourself with body-positive material if you can.  Doing that will help you start to realize how much body-shaming is ingrained in our culture and what a load of shit it really is.

2) As you follow suggestion number one, you’ll probably start to let go of a lot of those negative feelings towards yourself that every fat-shaming asshole clamors for you to hold on to and internalize.  It might even get to the point it eventually did for me; you’ll realize that what they’re telling you is such a load of horse shit that it’s laughable.  And you’ll laugh at it.

3) It’s not easy.  Some days, it won’t be laughable.  Some days you’ll take to heart all that negative talk.  Some days you’ll look in the mirror and dislike everything you see.  And that’s alright.  Forgive yourself for it.  Everyone, everyone, everyone in the world has those days.  

4) Don’t stop doing what you love because of a few haters.  I know it’s not always easy.  But for every moment someone tells you they don’t like your cosplay, there’s someone else who’s looking at you and thinking, “Wow, I love their costume.  I wish I could do that.  Maybe I will.”

I am very sorry to hear that you received a lot of backlash for that costume.  But know that I think your cosplay is wonderful and so do many, many others. :)