What Does Cosplay Mean?
Fandom CultureDressing as a character through costume and performance — a portmanteau of 'costume' and 'play.' One of fandom's major creative disciplines alongside fic and art.
Cosplay in Practice
The word originated in Japanese fan culture and spread globally with anime fandom, though dressing as characters at conventions predates the term by decades in science fiction fandom. Modern cosplay spans from closet cosplay assembled from regular clothing to museum-grade builds with armor fabrication, wig styling, and LED work, with skills shared freely through tutorials in classic fandom gift-economy fashion. Cosplayers perform as well as construct — posing in character for photographers, competing in masquerades, and creating skits and videos. Cosplay intersects with fic fandom constantly: cosplayers stage scenes from fanfic, and AU designs from fandom artists get built as real costumes.
Example usage
"She debuted her armored version of the character at the con and the build thread alone took eight months."
Related Terms
Fanart
Visual art of existing media made by fans — illustrations, comics, paintings, digital pieces — spanning every style from quick sketches to gallery-grade work. Fanfiction's sister discipline.
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Fanwork
The umbrella term for any creative work made by fans from existing media — fic, art, vids, podfic, mixes, cosplay, meta, crafts. The category AO3 and the OTW exist to host and defend.
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Faceclaim
A real person — usually an actor or model — chosen to represent a character's appearance, typically an original character or one canon never visually depicted. Common in roleplay communities and OC-heavy fandoms.
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Fandom
The community of fans around a particular work, franchise, or person — and, collectively, the whole culture of organized fan activity. One belongs to a fandom and also to fandom at large.
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More Fandom Culture Terms
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