Issue 9 - Yipe!

that in addition to lots of animecosplay, there’s appreciationfor beefcake costumingthere; my JungleBoy costumewas quite well received; howeverwe did make a point ofmaking sure he always hada handler to keep the moreexuberant fans at arms distance.We still visit YaoiConmost years; recently we’venoticed an influx of youngstraight men who’ve figuredout the demographics mightstack the odds in their favorfor meeting girls.ship between our two families,and a now (occasionallymind-bogglingly) hugecircle of cosplaying friends.In October of that year, Andypersuaded me to attend Yaoi-Con, at which I first experiencedthe awesome power of300 fangrrls squeezing simultaneouslywhen the boy/boycouple they’ve been waitingfor first appears on screen. I’mnot sure my high-frequencyhearing has ever recovered.If you have never been exposedto it, yaoi -- whichstands for Yama nashi, ochinashi, imi nashi “No climax,no point, no meaning” -- isa phenomenon not unlikeslash fan fiction, which startedwith fans (mostly youngwomen) creating their owncomics (dōjinshi) romanticallypairing male characters,sometimes from completelyindependent manga or animesources. There are also nowprofessionally made mangaand anime which fit into thisgenre.While there is plenty ofhot bedroom tension, in generalyaoi tends to a romanticfantasy of “boy’s love” ratherthan the gritty reality (moreor less) and messy plumbingof porn created for gay men.YaioCon skews to a mostlyfemale demographic (withits attendant high-amplitudehigh-frequency squeezing).It also includes a recruitedtroupe of bishōnen (beautifulboys) to add to the fun.(And, for the record, all the“bishies” at YaoiCon are actuallytoo old to actually qualifyas bishōnen, but they playthe part gamely). This meansIn 2003, I built an Ultraman-inspiredcostume fora stage fantasy productionin which a space heroand a turtle-backed villainChudwadon (recycling theGamera hell from the party)battled through a miniaturecityscape (also recycled fromthe party). It was an epic battle,although it really was ashame what happened to TokyoTower. Sorry, no photos,unless I can find where I hidthat album.In 2006 and again in 2007 weran the cosplay competition(masquerade) for Anime LosAngeles. By this time I wasseeing lots more anime, video-gameand J-pop inspiredcostumes show up at generalscience fiction conventions,and had been involved in numerouscosplay vs costumerdiscussions, both at conventionsand online. In 2006, infact, the Best in Show awardat WorldCon was given to aHCC Cosplay, a group recreatingcostumes from theTrinity Blood anime.In the final year before Costume-Con26, Andy startedstudying historical Japanesegarments, culminating inour creation of very accurateplaid (yes, plaid!) Edo-periodkataginu kamashimo, whichwe wore to the PEERS MikadoBall. The end result wasmaking another fabulousnew friend, Lisa, who adoptsa Japanese persona at SCAevents. We proceeded to cre-