Dealing with Cosplay Offerings

In all my times of cosplaying Pokémon (in particular Ash and Red), I've been to many different cosplay or Japanese events. And all those events have equally different offerings for cosplay competitions, which may number from none to a few. I don't blame the organizers; hosting cosplay competitions is a tough job, with all its elements, from start to finish, which is why there is often only one rather than a few, or none at all sometimes. Regardless, I've come up with ways to handle the cosplay offerings of certain events, if they do offer any at all, with my Pokémon cosplay.

Street Cosplay. This is the easiest offering to deal with, as basically I only have to mingle with other event visitors and only act occasionally and briefly for them, perhaps directly in front of a camera. It is always available regardless of whether or not it is designated as a competition. It works for my Pokémon cosplay because my characters could be considered simple in nature. Still, competitive-wise, this can be hard to judge, as it is obvious that I'm not the only one cosplaying; questions arise on observation and evaluation, if they're not done by visitors themselves.

Cosplay Parade/Walk. This is the second easiest offering to deal with. Cosplay parade or cosplay walk involves one-person stage performances on the order of less than a minute and quick changes from one participant to another. Any competition that satisfies these conditions is what I would call a cosplay parade or walk. I like this because my characters don't have many special actions and I can do all the things they do within that short time span, and it would still please the audience. The only requirement for myself is that I have to make my actions as spectacular as possible within the short time span for the judges to see.

Single Cosplay Performance. If the one-person stage performances are demanded to be longer than a minute, then it's a single cosplay performance. This kind of competition also frequently requires performance audio/backgrounds to be submitted prior to the competition. As such I'm also required to choreograph my performances to suit those additional items, which can sometimes be difficult for my characters. I've generally been able to use game or anime music to suit my characters, but on the whole this is a kind of competition with a performance that requires preparation time and commitment, which is why I often skip it given the characters I cosplay.

Team Cosplay Performance. It is clear that this kind of competition is for multiple cosplayers and is not a solo effort. I have been in a couple of team performances, but non-competitive ones, and they're both mashups with other cosplays. I am interested in a Pokémon team cosplay performance, but this takes even more preparation and commitment, most of which is shared. Unless I can get a team going and ready for this kind of competition, I am likely to skip this type of competition as well.

These are the four cosplay offerings that I often see at local Japanese events with cosplay or cosplay events. All of them work to various degrees with my Pokémon cosplay, but I'm happy to oblige to partake in them if they're worth it. It just helps to fulfill the essential premise of cosplay, which is to dress and act as particular characters. I don't see why I can't do this too with Pokémon, one thing that I very much like.