I reached out to my social networks and asked an important question of cosplayers: “Why do YOU cosplay?” These are some of the responses that I received:

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But the numbers inform a distinctive tale. It’s expensive, regularly prohibitively so, to be a expert cosplayer.

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The creation of the costume is as much a part of the loving and community-based aspect of fandom as the actual performance.

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Lauren Orsini, an author and fan subculture expert, defined that “cosplayers don't certainly dress up as a man or woman, they take efforts to come to be that man or woman”.

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And there are even some mean-spirited cosplay websites that fat-shame and post pictures of heavier cosplayers under categories like "fatties" or "too fat to cosplay."

https://www.ccosplay.com/