It had to be said, with the continued growth of geek culture and the cosplay scene... one dark side of it came in the form of crowdfunding. I'm all for crowdfunding campaigns, we've gotten some great things from crowd funding campaigns! Our friends over at Espionage Cosmetics launched their "Nailed It!" project, former Capcom developer Keiji Inafune successfully funded Mighty No. 9, and a good friend of the website revolutionized gaming with the GlomTom. So via sites like Kickstarter and Indigogo, this subculture has greatly benefited from the kindness of strangers.
But with every bright light comes a darker shadow... and this shadow comes in the form of blatant Go Fund Me campaigns. I won't get too into it... but via Ani-Mia's Facebook page, she dropped some serious truth bombs that had to be said.
Alright, I very rarely rant on this page because I like to keep it a happy and open environment of acceptance and love…but something within the cosplay community has just gotten out of hand the past few months and I can’t stand by without saying something anymore. STOP WITH THE BULLSHIT CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS.
Cosplayers, it is not the responsibilities of your fans to pay for your next costume, to send you on a trip or to a con. That is called personal financial responsibility. And before the arguments begin let me tell you that this is all coming from someone who sees so much behind the scenes garbage that fans and contributors don’t see. What you don’t see is that many cosplayers that do this spend their money frivolously on unnecessary wants, meals out and events with friends; say they are broke but then conveniently are able to attend a convention for fun and a slew of other lies that make me so ashamed at what this community is becoming.
And yes, I know that there are genuinely generous people out there, I have some amazing fans that have contributed to me; but I never asked, never tried to take advantage of that knowing how kind they are and I send something to every single one of those people to give them something in exchange for their generosity. I have seen time and time again, Gofundme campaigns where the contributors never receive their rewards that seem to show no actual thought or worth. To those that feel setting up a Gofundme isn’t directly asking for money I will make two points: 1) would they have contributed to you if you hadn’t set up the fundraiser and heavily marketed it on your social media and 2) almost every single Gofundme uses a variation of the phrase/idea directly stated “please help me do this.”
And so much of this is coming from people getting into cosplay for the wrong reasons, the supposed money and the fame. And let me tell you quite honestly, it’s really not out there and the grass isn’t as beautiful as you think. The vast majority of “famous cosplayers” support themselves with another job or are struggling just like everyone else. There is this fallacy of a cosplay career and too many people treat it like the race to be an actress or performer. They drop everything at this chance. But have you not noticed that those that just strive for fame and fortune never “make it” in this community but it’s those that treat cosplay as it was and is, a hobby and a thing we do because it’s fun and because we love it, are the ones that people gravitate towards?
My biggest point in all of this is, that fans should be appreciated and thanked. Without them taking an interest in cosplay, we wouldn’t have half the opportunities we do now. So stop taking advantage of them and learn to be an adult.
And now I’m going to leave because this was honestly the scariest thing I’ve ever publicly said (currently shaking like a leaf about to hit send) and I know there will be backlash but it’s something that needed to be said.
We agree wholeheartedly with this, it had to be said and we love it that our friend Mia had the courage to put these cosplayers on blast.
