GENCON Interview: COSPLAY IN AMERICA Author Ejen Chuang Talks Cosplay, Cons, And Living The Dream
If you ask Ejen Chuang who he is he’ll tell you he’s an average photographer who’s an anime fan with an expensive hobby. What he won’t tell you about unless you pry is the kid who escaped bullying in Houston, Texas, in the pages of an X-Men comic. Whose mother in the early '90s would drive him thirty minutes to a store that sold anime on VHS. He won’t be so quick to point out that he himself is just as much a geek as his subjects, because he’d rather tell their story than his own.
After paging through the follow up to his widely successful book Cosplay in America, I say with confidence, cosplayers and con-goers, he has succeeded in telling your story. Chuang has spent the past four years dedicated to capturing the lives of Cosplay. Big cons, small cons. LA and small town Louisiana. Chuang was in your backyard and watching that guy down the block construct a Bleach sword in his living room. He was observing how a guy in Oklahoma uses several stacked foam pallets to get the right height for his costume. He was there to capture a proposal outside a con between two Robins, while several other Robins looked on.
He captured those unique, once in a lifetime moments, that we are living right now.
If you want a reason to buy Cosplay In America Volume 2, here’s my pitch: This book captures what will be remembered as the height of the geek era in America. If you are part of the cosplay community, this book is an homage to you. If you are not in the community (me), it shows a side of cosplay you may have never even considered... the human side. The stories...the faces...the process. A picture with a short blurb of a 50+ old man in a Attack On Titan jacket brought so many questions and at the same time so much perspective into what a movement this has become. Chuang captures it all...the spray painting of a sword in the snow...the emergency con floor sewing jobs...and you feel so much with each photo.
Chuang knows cons. He’s been to all the major ones, and quite a few smaller ones that are all featured in the latest book. He tells me about a convention in Sandusky, Ohio that happens at a water park and has an exotic animal petting zoo. He also talks about Wasteland Weekend, a Mad Max meets Burning Man Post Apocalyptic event you have to see to believe.
(The following is a transcript of the full interview. The full raw dirty interview is in video form and and badass. but will likely be posted later. These are the highlights.)
M: Let’s start at the beginning. The first con.
E: I moved from Houston to LA. It didn’t really hit me to go to a con until about eight years of living there. By then I was older...Anime Expo has been around for a number of years. I knew about it but I never really went to it because I was never really into anime even though I grew up watching anime. A lot of people can probably understand this, growing up I was not very popular at all. I got picked on. I’m from Houston, Texas, so if you take the idea of someone from Texas and me you get the idea. So I basically escaped into comic books and anime. Spider-Man, X-Men, watching Bubblegum Crisis or really any '90s anime on VHS tape. [Shakes fist] Back in my day we had VHS....
M: Now we have streaming for anime! Kids are spoiled today…
E:I remember driving half an hour...this goes along with the whole walking a mile in the snow old adage...I drove, well actually my mom drove half an hour to the store that sold VHS anime for five bucks. Anyway so i went to Anime Expo...and that was their first year in LA...that’s where I got the idea for the book.
I saw all sorts of people. Large, not so large, different size, shape, race and everything and they’re all together...having a good time...and they’re cosplaying! And I thought that’s kind of like a microcosm of the world in a way...I didn’t really think anybody saw this. At the time social media hadn’t really kicked off. There was a few cosplay related sites, but nothing really getting the stuff out there so I thought...I’ll make a book! [Chuckles] I think if I knew then how expensive, time consuming, and difficult it would have been I may not have done it...but I don’t regret it!
M: So now we're at Cosplay In America Vol. 2! You went through all that struggle (selling/promoting) the first book and you go and do another?!
E: [Laughs] People tell me this all the time. “Ejen, you said you would never do another book!” and I did say that, but that was before I had the idea to do a behind the scenes. The second book has a lot more behind the scenes. It contains a lot more behind the lives and community of the cosplayer verses just pictures of cosplayers. So the second time around Kickstarter was around, so I went to fans and said if you front the cost, I’ll dedicate 2-3 years of my life to this. It was almost like I was leaving my fate to the internet basically! I was freaking out because it was really hard to pull in money. I actually thought I wasn’t going to make (the goal) and wanted to cancel it because...who wants to be the guy who started a Kickstarter and failed? I was at Otakon and so busy I didn’t know I reached my goal until I started getting congrats texts! I was like “oh..sh...oh it must have went through!” Then I thought “Oh no...what have I done?” Because as of now it’s taken over 2-4 years of my life!
It was crazy, but I’m glad I did because this book really told a better story than the first book . I made the second book in a way for people who don’t go to/understand conventions/cosplay. They look through the book and see people spray painting in the snow...but if a con goer goes through this book...you know they’re going to recognize “themselves” in a book.
M: So you’ve been to a lot of cons. Outside of SDCC what is a con you feel more people should know about?
E: They should already know! Dragon Con! I was at MCM Expo (London Comic Con), and I was asking cosplayers, “What American cons do you want to go to?” Of course they mentioned the big ones...but Dragon Con came up! One that came out of nowhere that I never even thought of was Colossal Con! Why? It’s a convention that takes place at a water park and has a petting zoo! YOU CAN PET TIGERS! So now thanks to social media/Youtube you have people across the world wanting to go to a water park in Ohio to pet a tiger and cosplay! Dragon Con is the one you go to if you can only go to one convention. It encompasses everything into one big party.
M: So now that Volume 2 is finished, do you have a bias towards those who make their costumes vs. those who commissioned their costumes?
E: Is there still a big rift (in the community) with that? They are free to do what they want to do! Cosplay is for everyone. Cosplay is about what you want to get out of it. Some people like to make stuff, and they’re very crafty by nature. I’ve known some people who are crafty and didn’t know anything about cosplay but they can make amazing armor and stuff and once they found these conventions they are like, “Why didn’t I discover this before?!" There’s also people who just want to party, you know, there’s nothing wrong with that too. In today’s life, you need to have an escape. Taking off for a weekend with friends to dress up and have fun? Nothing wrong with that.
Then you know the models with the perfect bodies...my term for them is “cosplay entrepreneur”. They’re using it as a badge in a business sense and trying to get somewhere in life, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no cosplay police! Their should be a cosplay ambulance though...or a cosplay medic.
M: I wanna talk about Cosplay In America because I love the title, but it also makes me wonder how is cosplay in America different than in other countries?
E: Yes and no. In Japan it’s really different. I go to Japan now. I’m actually searching for Western based cosplayers who go to Japan to cosplay. It’s not too different (in terms of cosplay) but cons in general are unique to the West. It’s primarily an American thing. Other countries are taking on the idea...but it’s like McDonald's. McDonald's overseas is like McDonald's here...but there’s some small differences. I’m really interested to go to places like South America and see how they do cons and such....but as for cosplay in general it’s about the same...I would say in Scandinavia the cosplay age is much younger than say America. London has a very large community of international cosplayers, which America does kind of the same thing except instead of neighboring countries we have people from different states. It’s really cool because you talk to German cosplayers, British cosplayers...etc.
M: You’ve seen a lot of cosplay, you’ve met a lot of people who do cosplay...what do you think is the biggest mistake people make in constructing their costume?
E: I think people put too much pressure on themselves in the beginning. I think they see something amazing (cosplay) and they want to make something amazing too and get in way over their heads. I suggest building up to it. Take your time and build up to it...don’t try to go all in all at once. Take it slow.
M: Some people just show up to cosplay at conventions. What advice do you have for the cosplayer who wants to enjoy the convention?
E: Make sure your costume is maneuverable! Depending on the convention it’s going to be really hard to get to the panel if you have a lot of big props. You also gotta figure out pockets unless you have a buddy to hold all your stuff. There’s a downside to cosplay at a convention. You will get stopped. This will keep you from getting to that panel/signing/etc. I know some cosplayers who select days when they don’t cosplay just so they can enjoy the convention.
M: Give me your con survival tips.
E: I would suggest you plan things ahead of time. Something I love about Gen Con is they have their entire schedule out months in advance! SDCC is only like two weeks max! Cell phones...meeting spots. Get money at the ATM before you get there because the ATMs will run out of money. Poster tubes...and comfortable shoes!
M: Best cosplay you’ve seen recently!
E: Have you seen Chappelle's Show? I saw a guy cosplay from the Pop Copy sketch and he got a lot of love from people. He would even repeat lines from the sketch...I loved that. I know it’s not something they spent months working on...but I think it brought a lot of smiles to people’s faces.
M: What’s the most overdone cosplay?
E: That goes in trends! What’s big right now...Attack On Titan? That’s one. Naruto, Bleach, It just cycles through. I think the Attack On Titan one is dying down. Actually the big one I see right now is Steven Universe. I haven’t seen the show but I know the characters from having seen it so much.
The interview then devolved as I went on to preach the word of Steven Universe, and we had a blast just shooting the breeze and talking cons. Buy his book. His labor will be your love. Also, look out for him at your local con!