Cosplay: Material and Transmedial Culture in Play

Nicolle Lamerichs's study treats cosplay as a material and transmedial practice that sits at the intersection of fan community, play, and commerce. Drawing on ethnography and close reading across both online and offline sites, the work argues that costumes circulate as liminal objects shaped simultaneously by gift culture within fandom and by commercial or non-commercial creative labor. Its central claim is that cosplay's hybrid combination of play, production, and consumption resists existing definitions of play, which makes it a valuable testing ground for theories of play and fandom.

Preliminary searches conducted in April 2013 framed the marketplace analysis. eBay listings were dominated by China-sourced outfits and wigs, with a gendered categorization that favored women's accessories and vendors who policed feedback to protect their reputations. Etsy, by contrast, appeared more transcultural and handmade-focused, with cosplayers selling their own work. Comparative analysis found that Etsy vendors emphasized craftsmanship and professionalism, with pony ears, wigs, and props common and a neutral presentation favored, suggesting that cosplay blurs the boundary between labor and play.

The study extends its analysis to cosplay music videos on YouTube, which it presents as an expanding ludic space beyond the convention floor. Three CMVs, "Raise Your Glass," "On Top of the World," and "Lights," are read as foregrounding self-expression, empowerment, playful sexuality, and presence. This stands in contrast to more isolated, escapist portrayals such as Cao Fei's Cosplayers (2004). The videos are understood as double-coded works that document fan culture while constructing their own lyrical and visual meanings, with "Lights" examined closely for its Medusa imagery and its attention to the fleeting, performative nature of costume play.

The sample, a purposive selection of 30 popular videos, skews Anglo-American, a limitation the study acknowledges. Its geographic and temporal scope is thus anchored in English-language online platforms around 2013, though the marketplace and video analyses together cover both commercial and non-commercial segments of the cosplay community.