Planing and stuff

[Mr freelance]

I have some questions about cosplay and the planing for it
1) When should I begin planing for my cosplay for the con?
2) Is it ok asking people online to join your group coslpay?
3) Do I need to build a social link with people online before asking them to join me or join them?
AND 4) is it better making your own cosplay or buying it?

[Chiaki]

1) This depends on if you're making, or buying it.
If you are making it then assess the complexity of the costume. Is it shorts, a T-shirt, a small prop, and maybe some alterations? Or will you be heading to the fabric store and making something from scratch? Then, assess how many hours you can reasonably expect yourself to dedicate to it a week. Cosplayers like me sometimes get to the lazy point where after we've made 5+ costumes we kind of know the drop dead point of getting it done... which in some cases is the night before . But if you're new to cosplay give yourself time and be fair to your own learning curve. If you truly have no idea, I'd say a semi-basic costume for someone with no previous experience should take 5-15 hours... depending on your definition of 'basic'. Under that logic I'd start four weeks or so out... so then you're committing less than an hour a day to safely get it finished. That leaving time for things to go wrong, and second trips to the store. If you have a costume in mind and are planning on making it feel free to show me and I'll tell you how many hours I think it would take ME to make it and then you can assess your skill and comfort level against that.
If you are buying it then I'd say a safe bet is 7-9 weeks out. The custom costume creators normally take a month, and since they're normally overseas then it's normally 3 weeks shipping to the US. That being said, I've had it take as long as two months just for shipping on a wig from overseas. So I'd order it ASAP...

2/3) Totally.
Many people do this and have great success. Normally it's just for photoshoots, where you both do your own thing at the con and then meet up together for an hour or two, walk around as a group and take a bunch of pictures. Where I've seen such meet-ups arranged is on cosplay.com people will post what con they're going to, who they will be dressed up as, and invite others from the series to come and join them. You could TRY to plan it more than this, but I'm not sure the success you'll find. But it's not abnormal at all to plan groups with people who are otherwise complete strangers. Everyone who you are asking loves cosplay so you shouldn't have a problem even if you don't know them otherwise.

4) That's up to you...
There are some cosplay snobs that look down on people who buy. However, in Japan for example, most people buy because the emphasis is being the character, not on having made your own costume. So there's one cultural difference there alone. I sometimes think the costumes people buy look really cheap... but there are also some that look perfect. So personally if you buy spend the extra $10.00 to get the nicer costume of the 3 that are on eBay. However, if you are looking to enter a costume contest, the people who buy normally will not win. Some contests are breaking away from this stigma - or trying to - by offering awards for those who LOOK most like the Character and then awards for construction. But if you're just going to wear it for fun and don't want the stress of making it (or risk of disappointment when it doesn't turn out how you want) then I'd say buy it.

[Mr freelance]

Thank you chiaki for your wise words ( hugs chiaki )
But in all seriousness, for me when it comes to online groups , I feel like i need to build some sort soical connection to the people in group but if i don't then it feels like I'm not worthy to be companying he/she. also my friend said that you really have to caution around people online because you won't know what may happen.

for designing a cosplay well i can't make my own cosplay, even if it means life or death and yes i know people look down on people who buy it but personally. its how you wear and portray the character that counts

[Chiaki]

Yes, of course, always use caution and do what you're most comfortable with. For your first time/con I recommend doing it solo to get the feel of things. You'll notice a LOT of people that are likely worse than you

Normally, you'll make an account with none of your real personal information on it and meet up just at the con... but still, be smart, be safe!