4 Things You Should Know About Cosplay

With lots of new people trying to be a cosplayer, I was really itchy seeing them, And so, I decided to write this. And I think they should know this.

What people should know before they started cosplaying:

1. It's Not Cheap: Being a cosplayer makes you spent lots of money.
• COSTUME: The most expensive thing in cosplaying is the costumes. If you want to buy a cheap costume, don’t ask for a great quality or a costume with hard details. Even the cheapest one is more than Rp.100.000 ($10). So when you ask a costume maker to make your costume with a “student” price… please put it at least Rp.200.000 ($20). But with 200k, you can only ask for a simple costume. How to count? Let me tell you. Some of the fabric costs minimum Rp10.000/m (low quality and thin), but most of the fabric costs minimum 15k/m (low quality). And if you use lots of color in your costume, you have to buy every color minimum 1 meter, and some fabric or some store told you to buy minimum of 1kg (approx. 3-5m). If it’s only 1 color, in 1 costume for my type of body, uses about 3-5 m (depends whether it’s a tshirt, or a coat or etc). So give or take Rp.75.000 only for the fabric. And sewing fee is approx. 50k-150k/type of clothing. It depends on the style, so if it’s only a basic t-shirt, you get 50k. If you sew T-shirt, short pants, and vest, maybe it’s going to cost you about 150k.. 150k + 75k = 225k…. This calculation does not include, printing, accessories, and any other things than fabric…. So, respect your costume maker! Costume making is art, and art is priceless!
• WIG : Wig! The rarer your character’s hair is, the more expensive your wig is! There are people who sell their used wig for a cheap price, but be careful, not all users are a neat user! Sometimes the used wig will have a defective areas. Wig price is depends on the quality of the wig! The more expensive the price is, the nicer and thicker your wig will be! But also be careful of the scammers! Some of them put a high price for a low quality wig! You should ask for their brand first! Even though, like we all know, if it’s from taobao, it’s going to be good. But be careful! Some of the scammer will pretend they bought it from taobao, but in reality they bought a cheap Chinese fake-taobao ebay’s wig! Which is sometimes really bad! For wig, we’re going to spend give or take Rp.200.000 ($20)
• SHOES: Shoes is part of the costume, but sometimes we bought it separately! Custom shoes will cost you about 150-400k! Depends on what your shoes looks like!
• MAKE UP: Everyone is different in this one. Some of you might think less make up is better, and some of you will think more make-up is better! For me, it depends on your character, your skin tone, your skin sensitivity, etc. If you have a tan skin tone like me, you have to use lots of make up to make your skin white and doll-like. And if you have a sensitive skin like mine, you have to be careful of using make up! And sometimes it will cost you more! For me….. I think I spent about more than 600k for only the make-up. And because I love to buy make-up. Maybe my make up now costs more than 1000k ($100)
• CONTACT LENSES: IS A MUST!!!! Because, to be honest, nobody has the same eyes like the characters in the anime. Except of course, if you’re cosplaying as a boy who has a small pupil in the anime. Big diameter contact lenses costs about 100-200k.
• So, let’s recap… 225k + 200k + 150k + x + 150k = 725k (make up not included). See… It’s not cheap… 
  

  
2. It's Not Easy: So, you don’t have money and you’re going to make it yourself…. I’m going to tell you, it’s not easy…. Even the costume makers need trials and errors at first to have an experience on making a perfect costumes. Well, if you have money for all of that, good for you!! But once again, mastering the make up for anime characters is not easy. It’s not as easy as doing an everyday make up or a Korean natural make up…. No! You also have to do trial and error before you can master one. 
   
3. It's Not About Popularity: If you want to enter cosplay community because you want to be popular……. It’s not that kinda wrong, but it’s not that right either. Being popular is not as easy as it sounds. You have to master costume making, and any other else before you became popular. But!!! If you want a shortcut, it’s also easy, especially girls with a beautiful face and a beautiful body!!! (You know what I mean). For me, cosplay is not about popularity! It’s about having fun cosplaying the characters you love surrounded by those who has the same passion!
4. It's Not All Hugs And Rainbows: Yea... We all have the same passion all right... So people will not judge me! They will all respect and support me!!! BZZZTTT!!! I'm sorry to say... But, You're wrong! Cosplay community is really HUGE right now! Lots of people are cosplaying. And with that lots of people, there will be lots of personalities. And as you already knew~ Not everybody has a good personality. Some will judge, some will talk behind your back, some will hate you. So, you have to be prepared for that kind of thing.

This is all for today... This is only my opinion though.... So, feel free to share and comment~~

Sorry for the hard truth~~ I love you all~ I hope I can help all of the cosplayers out there~ <3

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ICDS 2014

ICDS stands for International Cosplay Day Singapore!
Why am I posting about Singapore's cosplay event even though I didn't live there?

Well, first of all... I've been to ICDS 2012 with my friends.. It was thanks to someone that we got invited to be there...

We were cosplaying as characters from Steins Gate! I am of course as Kiryuu Moeka :3

I've met lots of new friends there! One of them is the middle "girl" who took the picture with us.... Actually there was a story behind this picture. When we were resting in the private lounge, we met a 'girl' cosplaying as saber. Then, one of my friend introduce us to 'her'.

he said "let me introduce you my friend CJ"
"Hello CJ!"
"He's a man"
"WHATTT??"

Then, CJ replied us with his manly voice "Yes! I'm a man!"

And we got shocked + fascinated! I've never seen a man cosplaying as a girl this perfect!!!!!! I became his fans in an instant! Actually, it's not only me, it was us! all of us become his fans! that's why we want to take picture with him for a memento.

It's an honor to us to meet new friends and new people in Singapore! It was:

1. People from The Neo Tokyo Project : They have been so nice to us in the ICDS, we were only a new-unpopular-guest, but they took care of us.
2. People from Project Zen : They have become my best friends!
3. Jay Tablante : Turned out, he was fun to talk to, kind, and humble... I want to be a photographer like him >__<
4. Brian Lim : He is really kind! He was taking picture of us in the dawn! at 2 AM!!!! In the creepy parking lot!
5. Kaika from The Cosplay Chronicle! She's so cute and really kind to me :') it really is such an honor to have a new friend like her..... :-*
6. The other guest star : Yaya han and Jerry polence
7. And last but not least, the others that we don't have so much time to talk together : Lynweh, Kogo, Simeon , Mochi, Sayuri, Max, and Ahiru!

***

Back to the ICDS 2014

They said that The ARCC Singapore Preliminary will take place at ICDS during their Cosplay Talent Showcase, with the winners of our judges' Choice receiving an invite to partake in the ARCC as this year's Singapore representative! So it will be much cooler than before!

for more information about the ICDS 2014, you can visit it in the link below:

http://neotokyoproject.com/icds/

For those who live in Singapore~ Come and visit the ICDS 2014! \(^o^)/

***

I never realized it has been 2 years since I met those guys OAO

I want to go there again, but I have no time... Orz

Thanks for reading...

This is my Picture taken by Brian Lim... But I've edited it... So when the picture is kinda cheesy, it's not Brian's fault... it's mine... LOL... Sorry Orz

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My 5 Months PSV

My PsV age is only 5 months old.... You can say that I'm not good at managing my money.... But whatever you said, I can't seem to hold myself to not buy the discounted PSV games... *cries*

In only 5 months I have 7 physical games, and other PSP + PSone digital games in my PSV....

1. P4G
2. Technika
3. Conception II
4. Project Diva
5. SAO: Hollow Fragment
6. XBlaze
7. Dynasty Warriors 8
8. FFVII
9. FFVIII
10. FFIX
11. Dissidia Duodecim Prologue
12. Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy
13. Harvest Moon : Back To Nature
14. Patapon 2
15. Machinarium

Can you guess which games I've finished?

NONE! LMAO =))))))

No! Sorry! I've finished machinarium only.... ROFL

When my friend look at my games collection, she said "are you a man or a woman???? why are your games full of beautiful girls rather than cute games like every girl play"

but.... but..... I like the games! the story! and the graphics!

kill meh nao~ Orz

Actually, I'm using those girls as my cosplay references... So i'm not really distracted with cleavage showing in the games..

Girl who loves playing DOTA, Elder Scroll, CS, etc (which is should be games for boys) doesn't mean she's not a girl... It's the same as I like playing with girl characters in my game... After all, I love seeing this romance between boys and girls... *hides*

Have you played all of those games? which one do you like the most?

***

By the way~

FREEDOM WARS IS GOING TO BE LAUNCHED!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!! Should I buy or not? Is it worth?

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Is It A Crime To Be A Sexy Cosplayer?

After AFAID lastweek, here, in Indonesia, I read a drama in my facebook timeline about this sexy cosplayer. There are people with pros and cons about it. Actually, I never have a problem with that. Heck! sometimes I even love seeing girls wearing sexy costume that I can't wear. There are no problems when I saw someone cosplaying Nami from One Piece and saw her "tatas" hanging beautifully. So, what I want to write is about this exactly. Is it a crime to cosplay as a sexy characters?

"Where there's smoke, there's fire"

I'll try to be as neutral as possible, but I can't guarantee. I only want to know why this cosplayer got bashed.
First, I think we should answer the 5 W's. I don't know if this method will help or not, but it's not hurt to try.
For those who didn't know about the 5 W's, it's about we answer all of these 5 questions related to the topic:

1. What happened?
A Cosplayer got bashed after the event with some people on her social media account because she wore a sexy - bikini - costume in AFAID (I'm not going to say who the person is to be exact).

2. Who was there?
The visitors' age in the venue are not ranged. All age are welcome, it's for those Anime lovers. Even the cosplayer itself that's wearing the bikini, from what I heard, is not even 17 years old yet. CMIIW

3. Why did it happen?
There are lots of points that I get from people of why does she got bashed after the event.

• She only wears a bikini
• Her costume is not even close to the real characters, therefore it become OOC
• Her attitude towards another cosplayer and people is kind of *sorry to say* too vulgary and annoying

4. Where did it happen?

In a public event AFAID that was held in Jakarta, Indonesia. But the bashing, was in social media.

5. When did it happen?

Right after the event has finished.

***

Well, to be honest... Those 5 points are not that helpful after all, but at least I got all of the pointers for what i'm going to say next.

The problem is, anime characters these days, are full with sexy characters. This is why, as a girl, it's hard for me to cosplay some of the characters.

As a cosplayer, I love to wear a costume of the characters that I love. I'm not going to pick any characters just because "Hey! I'm going to wear it because everybody loves it! I don't care about the characters, duh!"

Wearing a mainstream costume to be popular?? I don't want to be an hypocrite. Who doesn't want to be popular?? If I love those mainstream characters? I'm going wear it without caring what people said. 

YES! People talk! People Judge! Deal with it!

Whatever you wear, whatever you do, the first 5 minutes people saw you, they will judge!

And it's not going to be getting any better, if....... you fight back harshly/rudely.

Let's get back to the girl in the bikini!

So, what does she do wrong?

For me, IF she really does want to be the character, I have no objection at all. But......

She has to:

• Know the characters well. What does she wear, her costume details, and etc. I'm not saying that you shouldn't wear an unfinished costume to an event.... No...... But at least, make it a little bit similar. Don't make it like you didn't put any effort for the costume.
• Know when and where she has to wear the costume. A public event, especially in INDONESIA is not really a best place to wear your bikinis. I'm not saying you shouldn't wear it in Indonesia. Of course, you can wear it if you're in a private event, when there's no kids. And never forget that Indonesia has a majority of Moslem. As Indonesian, we have to be tolerance at each other. I'm not saying that moslem people doesn't love to see girls in a bikini... NO... but they have their own rules in the religion. And if you can help them not getting more sins because of  you, isn't it better? There are unwritten ethics code here in Indonesia, even in the world.
• just having a private photosessions. Instead of wearing it to public events.
• (last but not least) grow up first.... It doesn't mean that little girl can't wear a bikini... But if I have a daughter, and she wears bikini to a public event...... I will be sad... really....

Now, let me answer some questions that people said in the social media:

• "I don't have any objections because she's perfect".... DING! WROOOOONG~ nobody's perfect. As a fellow cosplayer, I know that her cosplay is not perfect. I don't care about her physical appearance, it's just the costume is not even similar. 
•  "Why does people care too much about her wearing a bikini, even Pinky Luxun also wearing sexy costume!"............ YES! Pinky Lu xun is one of my favorite cosplayer. She wears sexy costumes, she also wears a bikini once *i think*.... BUT.... I never saw her wearing it in a cosplay event in Indonesia... cmiiw
• "People must be jealous of her"............ it's not really true but also not wrong.... I believe some of the bashers ARE jealous.... but some of them aren't, so she doesn't have to be so rude.
• "People are just having a dirty mind"...... YES! PEOPLE DO! THEY DO HAVE DIRTY MINDS! don't be a hypocrite and saying that you're not. Some people don't but lots of people do.... :)

Conclusion: 

IT'S NOT A CRIME TO DO SOME SEXY COSPLAY! IF YOU'RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE AND THE RIGHT TIME!

well, actually, it's not a crime in any cosplay event, but you just have to know the consequences. whether people will talk, or judge. But other than that, just pray that the police won't arrest you.... (remember kill la kill cosplayer in SG?)

and for the bashers.... It's not right to bash someone... You can give them critics, but don't forget to put some constructive suggestions too!

BONUS! Some of Indonesian Cosplayers with sexy costume! :p

(credits to Reshika)

(credits to Eyre)

(credits to Rupyon)

(credits to Sherry)

(credits to Mikan)

(credits to Pinky)

PS: I don't have rights for the pictures above, but I put the original links in their names. For Higher resolution, please visit their links and give them some likes and support! <3

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Hotaru 2014

I forgot to make a new post these days~ 

So, it doesn't hurt to report about Hotaru, a cosplay event in ITB.

I was planning to cosplay as one of vocaloid characters, but unfortunately my costume hasn't finished yet :(

So well.... I decided to be a photographer instead... It's already 1 year since I've become a Cosplayer Photographer. I have to sharpen my skill again :D

So~~~ I asked my friends from AEON Cosplay Team to be my model. 

Shun as Kaiko (Her Page)

Kaoru as Kaito (Her Page) 

And because my camera is broken, I borrow Kaoru's camera, and thank God it's also a Sony camera, I was more familiar with sonny than any other camera... Well, it's not really broken, I only cannot use the manual mode... I always hate using the automatic mode. It's not that I'm a pro or anything, the automatic mode didn't have the color ambience that I like. Even though we can edit it later. But I don't have time to edit all of the pics.

So anywaaaaay~

It was a sunny day, I was a little bit relieved that I didn't cosplay. Because I was so easy to sweat, that's why I hate cosplaying in a sunny day.

We arrived a bit late, but we're there not because we want to watch the show. We're there because we want to meet our friends and to take pictures, because the place is really beautiful.

Here comes the pictures! :

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

These pictures belong to AEON Cosplay Team, The Photographer and The Models. Please ask our permission to use this images. Thank you

These pictures are edited with photoshop! The real pictures are not this great actually... And believe it or not, we're not having any assistant for the photoshoot! I will tell you our behind the scene and before-after pictures later :)

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PSVITA Noob

PSVITA! I always want PSVita since about 1-2 years ago, but never had a chance to buy it.... no money... everytime I have money, I spent it on food, cosplay, travels..... and suddenly someone gave it to me on my birthday! I'm so happy QAQ *cries*


So, I want to tell you about my first encounter with PSV and things you should know :

1. Memory Cards

The person who gave me the PSV don't know anything about Memory Cards for PSV. So, he didn't buy any. So I decided to go to the electronic store to buy one. At first, I thought that PSV memory card is the same as micro SD. but IT IS NOT!

So, yeah, you have to buy one, and it's not that cheap either. They have the memory cards in 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB.. Actually at first I want to buy the 8 GB, but it has already sold out everywhere. So I bought the 16 GB for IDR 550.000.... a little bit expensive yes? I was a bit in a hurry. I should've learn the market first. Because I saw an online shop sell the memory card a little bit cheaper :'(
but never mind that, as long as I can play. And turned out, it's a nice decisions to  buy the 16GB one, considering 1 game can take you about 2 GB or more.

2. PSN ID

I saw the PSN Store and it says that I need to register first. And here comes another confusing part. The web said that PSN Store are divided into 4 regions.

• Region 1 (US)
• Region 2 (Japan)
• Region 2 (UK-England, German, Austria)
• Region 3 (Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea)
• Region 4 (Australia)

So I was looking at informations on where should I sign up for. At first, my boyfriend told me to use region 3 (Indonesia), so it's easier for me if I need something. But lots of people told me to go with region 1, because much more complete. But, if you can read Japanese, and want to play Japanese games, I recommend you to use region 2 (japan). Well, I can't speak nor read Japanese. So, region 1 it is.

But wait a minute, I don't even have an address! Don't worry, you don't have to live there. You can just search an address in the US and use it for your PSN. BUT BE CAREFUL! some of the address are having a tax if you buy a games in PSN Store! I'm using New York, and I didn't get any tax... so it's safe :D

3. PSN +

When I was searching through the PSN Store, I stumbled across PSN plus membership. I don't know what it is, so I decided to buy the 1 week membership for $9.99. Turns out I can have some games for free! BUT WAIT A MINUTE, THERE'S A CATCH! When your membership has ended, you can't play your games anymore. so it means, you have to play as fast as you can, to get the trophy as much as you can! 

But, for me it's alright, because I can try games that I don't know if I want to buy it or not until the story is over. Sometimes when I download a demo, it took me about 3-4 hours to finished, but I can only play it for 1 minute! MAN!

So for me, I recommend you to become a member for once in a while :D

4. Region Free!

In point 3 I said that PSN needs you to sign up in one of those 4 regions. But don't worry, you can still play games in other regions, BUT, it has to be a cartridge, not digital. And when you buy another regions game, when the games came with a DLC, you can download the content. :(
So sad right :(

WHY SONY WHY????

5. PSN Voucher

I don't know what it was called, but I called it PSN Voucher. What is it? It's a voucher that has codes to increasing you PSN wallet amount. So you can buy the games in your region even though you didn't actually live there :D

Okay... maybe this is all from me right now... HAPPY PLAYING!

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First Post! The History Of This Blog!

YEAAY!! Finally after days of meditations.... (LOL... kidding) I've made my cosplay and otaku related blog... HOOORAAY!

Actually, I've made the account long before this post... months before, but due to lack of internet connections, I have to paused it. The first post that I've made is actually about a review of an anime called "Log Horizon"... but then again, no internet connection means no new anime QAQ

Why did you make another blog? Why not post on dA or your first blog?

First of all, opening dA sometimes making my computer lag. I live in Indonesia and I chose the cheapest internet connection they have. So yeah......

And my other blog is actually only about my work... My professional life, and this blog will be about hobbies.

Why Assorted Candies?

Maybe some of you are wondering why I named my blog "Assorted Candies"...

First of all, I'm a candy girl! I love candies! I want to try all candies in the whole world!! XD

Even some of my friends told me that my chubby cheeks are caused by the candies that I ate. 

This is actually not the first name that I came up with. I came up with Cosplay Heaven, The Otaku Girl, ChizuMichi or something like that. But I realized that what I want to write are not all related about cosplay or make up or only one of those many topics that has been rolling in my head. I want to write about all of them! Everything! And after all, I'm not that Otaku compared to my friends :p

So, I decided to make the title about all things that I've been in love in doing, my hobbies, my passion!! THEN! BAM!! I remember about assorted candies! Lots of different flavors, Shapes and colors! So, I decided to choose that name out of dozens other names...

How long did it takes you to publish this blog?

Actually quite long~ After months of thinking about the blog's name, I started thinking about my first post. Like I said before, this is actually not the first post in my mind. But, better than nothing. After that, I'm trying to edit the face of my blog and everything, so it's still under maintenance actually.. Will edit it again later when I have the mood...

So yeah... That's all~

PS : I'm not a journalist and English is also not my first language. So i'm really sorry about all the wrong grammars, spelling, etc. 

Why not write in your language? Indonesian language?

I realized that almost all regions in the world can use the internet. And also I realized that almost all of them know English but don't know Indonesian. As much as I want to advertise my own country and my own language here, I want for everybody to understand my tutorials, reviews and everything in it. And maybe I could also learn a thing or two :D

SORRY~ I don't realized it's this long already! Maybe TLDR, but thank you for reading~ <3

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