Cosplay Rescue Woman is the hero we need *and* deserve

December 12, 2015 3:07 PM

Feeling down about the world? Well, there are people who go to conventions for the express purpose of helping cosplaying strangers repair their awesome costumes, and these angels often dress in their own awesome costumes to boot. So things must not be that bad. (via io9)
posted by Etrigan (16 comments total)

Cosplay Repair Man is, I presume, a reference to Bicycle Repair Man
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:13 PM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

How nice! Must be a fun way to meet people, too.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:13 PM on December 12, 2015

I have the impression that the Richard Castle Cosplay Medic can whip off a few items and go 10th Doctor under there.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:22 PM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

I hope someone does this dressed as Claire.Temple
posted by Space Coyote at 3:30 PM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

From io9's comments: We Are Cosplay Triage
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:00 PM on December 12, 2015

I feel better about the world knowing this exists. Also, I bet it's crazy fun to get that up close and personal with all those different costumes.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:04 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

this is so completely adorable. the world is not without hope!
posted by supermedusa at 4:13 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh my god so many feels. It is so hard when you realize that the costume you worked so hard on for so many months is ripped, missing a piece, or whatever when you're stranded in the middle of the exhibit hall at a convention. Usually you're tired, your feet hurt, and you're hungry/thirsty to boot and seeing one of these cute people come to your rescue is just magical. So, so lovely.
posted by Hermione Granger at 4:53 PM on December 12, 2015 [9 favorites]

But what if Cosplay Medic has used up all their supplies and their own costume needs repair? We need a Cosplay Medic Medic.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:36 PM on December 12, 2015

Cosplay MetaMedic
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:47 PM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

OMG, this is amazing. True facts: I was at Dragon*Con this fall with my baby thirteen-year-old sister, when she went to the bathroom... and then, in a panic, found that her costume skirt's zipper had gone to shit and her skirt would no longer zip. (It fell off, and we couldn't mend it for a quick fix no matter how hard we tried.) So you have this awesome teenager who is mortified and unable to leave the bathroom stall without getting charged for public indecency. Of course I'm not good enough at sewing to fix it myself, especially not without having a needle and thread on me. I wound up canvassing basically every friendly-looking woman I could find looking for something to fix it, and eventually a wonderful person manning a kimono booth managed to find me a couple of spare safety pins to at least try and salvage things. We wound up just buying a kimono out of gratitude and apologies and having her wear that around so she could still look at all the stalls.

Costume disasters can really, really wreck a cosplayer's day, is my point. I want to grow up to be these people, they are so ridiculously badass.
posted by sciatrix at 8:50 PM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

yeah ok this makes me ridiculously happy. def could've used their help like 10 years ago when, completely unexpectedly, my ninja shoes held together by safety pins and stables and some poorly chosen partially spandex fabric for some strange reason did not stay in one piece as i posed for a fighting photo with rock lee
posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 9:14 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't officially do cosplay (though I make up my own costumes a few times a year), but it's always good to travel with a bunch of safety pins!
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:56 PM on December 12, 2015

They're doing good work. I have never done cosplay, but I helped a friend who competed in contests at Dragon*Con one year: carried her water, took photos, went chasing after any part of the costume that wanted to get loose, such as a shoulderpad that fell off in the street. (In exchange, I got to be backstage, talk to all the contestants. Learned a ton.)

The whole thing is way more intense and fragile than I would've guessed before seeing it up close.

So glad this is a Thing. :)
posted by mordax at 7:09 AM on December 13, 2015

Do American conventions not have Chaos?

I am apparently spoilt, because I'm used to cons where there is an entire room dedicated to costuming. It's filled with fabric, ribbons, sewing machines and glue guns that any attendee can use for repairs or to create spur-of-the-moment costumes.

I thought they were commonplace, but Googling tells me that they're just a British thing. This makes me sad. Chaos Costuming is the best place to hang out between panels.
posted by the latin mouse at 11:29 PM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

the latin mouse: Fanime in San Jose had a cosplay room with tons of fix-it materials (usually based on the donations they get), and there was another person there on her own accord who was a cosplay medic.
posted by divabat at 1:40 AM on January 4, 2016