AnimEconomics: Cosfest V and the Market for Cosplay

I spent Sunday afternoon at Cosfest V, where I attended as a random schoolboy (i.e. ren’ai game protagonist) in a high school uniform Zyl helped me to get a while back. In retrospect I probably should have brought a bag and changed at Downtown East, after all the stares I got on the train. I had only planned to stay an hour or two, but the rain kept me there the whole day. The upside was that I got to witness a subcultural market phenomenon firsthand.

I ran into more people I knew than I had expected: the notorious Char, Choy who was G but not L, Alanna who was a fairy godmother, and dear PL who introduced me to the cosplay subculture so many years ago but only meet up with once a year or less. I also ran into Amanda and Raphael from the JP exchange last year, who kindly gave me a lift out.

Unfortunately I only took a few photos (mostly with friends), but you can have a look at Char’s, Tsubaki’s, Tjhan’s, Tedfox’s, syc77′s, and DarkMirage’s galleries for an idea of what it was like. The indoor lighting was terrible, and the rain prevented most people from having proper outdoor shots in the field.

As expected, most of the cosplayers completely destroyed people’s fantasies (notably one cellulite-surplus mai shiranui wannabe, and some dude crossdressing as KOS-MOS) but there were a few that were more pleasing to the eye, such as the Supergirl and an entire dark legion of GLs. I now present…

Cosfest V Best of Show (photos courtesy of Char and Tsubaki)

Saya from Blood+
It’s like she stepped right out of cel-shaded 2D into our world to slay the vampire hordes. And she’s pretty. Tjhan concurs.

The Twintailed GL
IMO absolutely the cutest girl at cosfest (the G is for genuine), pity about the lighting. I regret not being able to work up the courage to approach her for a photo, not because of the expected outcome (i.e. failure or pointless success) but because it’s what I would have wanted myself to be able to do regardless of the expected outcome. The Game is right: Mystery’s 3-second rule is important because it prevents you from rationalizing your excuses.

Alanna the fairy godmother(?)
Bonus points for taking a photo with me and playing an obscure character I don’t recognize. Unfortunately she did not grant my wish a la eternal Sakura tree and I got the bad/true ending (ref. above para).

Reminds me of Bobbin’s style, just a little bit.

This guy has some serious issues. It’s one thing to signal your appreciation, it’s an entirely different thing to assume the persona.

Other notables include no-idea-who-this-is-supposed-to-be (but she’s cute anyway), a pair of GL meidos, an X-2 Rikku, a Yuffie, and the NekoArc. So now that I have your attention…

AnimEconomics and the market for cosplay

It seems like the 80-20 percent rule of business applies equally to cosplay conventions: 80% of the eye candy comes from 20% of the participants. In a large statistical sample, one can expect 50% of people to be above average by definition. However, cosplayers are a very niche subculture and the self-selection is biased towards a more skewed distribution – cosplay is escapism manifest and tends to reflect low self-esteem or attention-seeking.

There’s something surreal about the interactions between parties at a cosplay convention. How do you explain the phenomenon of people investing time and effort into producing elaborate costumes, many of which are single-use, and then exhibiting them in public to complete strangers (the number of which is potentially unlimited given the internet and 2ch/4chan etc)? I can understand if it was a personal hobby within a circle of friends, but I don’t understand why they would intend to take part in a public setting. What motivates these people to do what they do? Is this a literal form of irrational exuberance?

My hypothesis: Cosplayers are rational actors (pun intended). The market for cosplay trades in the currency of social affirmation. Cosplayers demand attention, otaku willingly supply it. Otaku demand photos with cute poses (for whatever purposes), cosplayers gladly oblige. There is a good deal of overlap between the two parties, with cosplayers also otakus and vice-versa, and they feed off each other in a mutually beneficial exchange. They affirm and validate each other by signaling common interests and contextualizing levels of interest. Casual fans like me (okay, maybe not) can pretend to be ‘normal’ relative to the hardcore otaku, and conversely, the latter gains status and prestige effects.

For example, there was a girl playing nekomimi-mode Arcueid, which only TYPE-MOON enthusiasts would recognize and appreciate, even if the costume was less than perfect. Whereas those cosplaying more mainstream material, such as the numerous Naruto, Bleach, Gundam Seed, and Final Fantasy characters, must differentiate through the authenticity or detail of their costumes in order to gain attention despite catering to a larger potential audience. Scarcity, competition and the price mechanism operate here like they do in any other market.

However, I am not optimistic that as the cosplay community grows in SG, the average quality will rise. Market competition is normally a force for efficiency and quality. Right now the market for cosplay in SG is limited but there are very few barriers to entry, so lack of competition should not be an issue. The problem is that competition does not necessarily discipline poor quality cosplayers, because attention here is not zero-sum to the participants. Quality here is also very subjective and there are many niches. The feedback mechanism may not operate as effectively.

Cosplay is a fascinating subject for study and I welcome comments on its economics and psychology.