We saw several unspectacular cosplay photo collections centred around events in Helsinki, Berlin and Kassel, which gave a somewhat unfavourable impression of European cosplay; fortunately, we now have the chance to rectify that, with a look at some inspiring Italian cosplay, from the Lucca Comics & Games 2008 event held a few weeks ago.
Quite a wide variety of cosplay is featured, including some non-anime ones, so there’s plenty of interest…
This costume is spectacular:
My personal favourite:
Well done to all those who participated!
There are over 1,600 images in the pool at Flickr, of which these are a small fraction, so you might like to check them out.
Thanks must go to Yusaku Godai for introducing us to this, and selecting most of the images; Italian speakers can join him on the Otaku no Rishi forum. I notice Sako also took the superb top image of Motoko and Togusa, so paying a visit to Ferricorp is also a possibility.
Many of you (actually mainly the Finnish contingent for some reason…) made quite reasonable comments to the effect that taking atrocious photos of cosplayers in dark conditions at a non-specialist event, and then comparing them to heavily photoshopped pro-cosplayers at major Japanese events, was unfair.
Whilst nobody could deny an impugned national pride may be at play here, there is certainly an element of truth to this – the courageous amateurs are in certain respects more impressive than idols reliant on pro-photographers and Photoshop antics to achieve a stunning effect.
That said, nobody could deny the stunning effect is highly sought after, artificial or not…
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Hm...not bad, not too amazing, definitely in the win category though. Nice to see a huge variety of costumes (I laughed at the green army men) but a few of them just didn't capture my heart.
Quite win though.
Awesome!
No wonder italians are always among the winners at the World Cosplay Summit...
the toy soldier definitely won this event lol
Seconded.
I have to admit a few of these were actually pretty well done.
Armyman one = Awesome
Looking at the Adams Family picture I had a thought:
Was Wednesday the first Goth Loli? :)
Wow, quite nice cosplayers.
Armyman the green army = EPIC WIN!!
http://s368.photobucket.com/albums/oo128/_Boogiepop_/Lucca%20cosplay%202008/?start=0 [http://s368.photobucket.com/albums/oo128/_Boogiepop_/Lucca cosplay 2008/?start=0]
Italia wins
And not a Narutard in sight, perhaps Italy is the promise land for non-eleven cosplayers.
There are more narutard at Lucca comics than the rest of the world.
There were a lot more Narutards than these pics might suggest. A friend of mine went as Tayuya with another 10 or so people.
Regrettably, there were hordes of narutards and minor swarms of death note fandrones (mostly portraying the main trio Light-L-Misa).
While this was certainly quite an anthology, it also shows that not every cosplayer is slave of the mainstream in a country open to anime since the earlier Nagai's day of old school mecha :P!
yuko from xxxholic and the evangelion pair were my favorite.
Most of those are good photos, but generally, not that good cosplay. :S
Simica and the Army Men cosplayer are the best I've seen.
Some of these are still not too great. And definitely some better ones in here than that top picture. Which I wouldn't have chosen to represent the article had I made it.
Hello, i was the one that have proposed to show some italian cosplay.
Lucca was full of Narutards and Bleach cosplayers but for the God sake i have proposed something different :)
Yet the quality of some cosplay is growing well and many thanks for the Flickr group, be sure to give it a check.
And remember that the pics are not under photoshop editing ;)
And yes...army man guy is a sure win :P
Is that first one the barbarian from Baldur's Gate?
My fellow countrymen make me proud. T_T
I have been to Luccacomics every year since 1997. I often enjoy watching the cosplay events (there are two, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, and they are usually very crowded). Unfortunately this year I could stay only one day so I missed it. Thanks for filling that gap with pretty pictures.
The Dante cosplay would be so damn good if the guy had some muscles...
Hah, that's me (Togusa) and my beloved major Motoko in the top pic. Thanks Artefact for the headlight.
(btw, Lucca 2008 was full of D-Grayman tards)
Nicely done!
Hi there!
its nice to see that there are many italian users here :P and Lucca was always full of tards but surely D-Grayman is better than naruto/bleach :P
Again some originals cosplay was presented and for me another sure win is the one from Labyrinth :D
Yep, we are more than I thought. And we rock :P
Too bad there's no photo of the Manny Calavera cosplayer. That one was awesome.
lol sankaku is full of italian peoples,i'm glad i'm glad i'm not the only one
Some of the cosplayers are impressive and made of win!
The toy soldier wins the internets!
Originality winner: Army Man
Detail, Quality, Design, etc.: The guy clad in the massive steampunk armor, just wow.
I really like that green toy soldier LoL
the army man was awesome.
*haha*
the green army men looks realy great. I thought on the first look, "wow, very big plasticsoldier" ^^
These are some serious cosplayers! The girls are very nice, but I have to put the life size army man for the win.
anyone who dresses up as the David Bowie Goblin King wins.
Green army man = Win
Adam's Family...
never expected that... it was a winrar...
and i was like, what?
Accurate Jem & ... well not the holograms, That would be Jem & the Misfits. Good job digging up loud 80's fabrics!
Army man wins, but you knew that. When it's such a good cosplay it messes with your eyes thinking he should be tiny, you know it's good.
Looks like the term 'Italian's do it better' is true.
Whoa wide variety of cosplays there. Nice to see.
I can't help but wonder why are there so many elves.
The dante is really good! The hot girl behind him is what makes it stand out though.
Are these elite? They seem to have good cosplay materials on them.
wasn't particularly interested till I scrolled down to Duke Freed...
You see many fantasy pics because the event have a specific section about RPG with some Live Games, if you check the link and the net you will see more pics about that like a funny Beholder :D
And about the question "are these elite" here in italy we have many professional cosplayers, one of them won the world championship in the 2005, but maaaaaaany amateurs that in the end put a very major effort with very good results.
Im happy to see that Danny Choo noticed the gallery and put it in his site...now i really want to know the name of the guy behind the "Toy Soldier" :D
i think if you search on flickr youll find superb cosplay for every nation...
you cant compare this to the other ones posted before... rnd pics of con cosplay != carefully picked cosplay from all over a nation...
I've found on flickr other amazing cosplay from Lucca:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/operationone/2993978343/in/set-72157608531395151/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/operationone/2994833020/in/set-72157608531395151/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/operationone/3002367432/in/set-72157608531395151/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/operationone/3001544065/in/set-72157608531395151/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22736652@N04/3007804695/in/set-72157608658611697/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22736652@N04/3015602177/in/set-72157608658611697/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22736652@N04/3007804259/in/set-72157608658611697/
have a look
someone say "Duke Fleed"? :D XD
http://www.flickr.com/photos/operationone/3000222124/in/set-72157608531395151/
Army Man rocks!
So much win (n_n)
Hey, but... THAT'S ME!!!
The redhead after Addams Family it's ME!!! XD
Is it just me, or does pic 45 look like Lindsay Lohan?