Crystal Choi likes fashion and design. She likes to play instruments. She likes to draw. And sometimes she likes dressing up as a lethal martial arts expert in a skimpy skirt with flowing black hair.

Although in the latter case, she’s no longer Crystal Choi. She’s Tifa Lockhart, the heroine of the popular video game Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children – and Choi is a CosPlayer.

Most Americans only spend one weekend a year parading around in costume. For those who participate in CosPlay (short for costume play), like Choi and about a half-dozen members of Syracuse’s anime club, it’s a year-round pastime.

CosPlay is a growing trend in America that has its roots in Japanese culture. Don’t call it just a childish game of dress up, either. The hobby is a bit more serious than that.

‘It’s not like dressing up for Halloween where you just go out and buy costumes for 20 bucks,’ said Choi, a sophomore illustration major. ‘CosPlay is pretty much like making the outfits of a certain character you like. Whether it’s the design you like or their personality or their overall character in a certain story – it’s pretty much like making the entire outfit from scratch.’

Perfecting a CosPlay outfit takes innovation to get the costume just right. Players learn to sew and woodshop. They add to their ensemble by putting together props like swords. As a result, an ideal costume can be expensive.

Choi said her Tifa costume – from the make-up to the boots and the props – cost $250. Still, it’s worth it to Choi, especially when her costume turned heads at the prestigious Anime Boston convention in March. The 2008 conference attracted 14,339 fans, including the SU anime club and the half-dozen or so CosPlay members. Many attendees came in disguise.

‘I was the only one not in a costume, and I felt like a freak,’ said Andrew Neff, a junior mechanical engineering major.

The goal of CosPlay is to match the likeness of a character as much as possible, including the way one moves and speaks. The best costumes will have onlookers shouting out the character’s name and asking for a photo with the CosPlayer, because the resemblance to the fictional character is similar.

Sergio Talavera, junior engineering major, garnered that type of attention in his Reno costume. The spiky red-headed comic relief character also from Final Fantasy VII was Talavera’s most successful CosPlay. The $70 ensemble, which included a mock ‘stun baton,’ earned him some unusual compliments, and exactly the ones a CosPlayer wants to hear.

Talavera would hear shouts of, ‘Oh my God, that just looks like a scene from the game,’ or, ‘That’s the best hair I’ve ever seen.”It’s fun to see people’s reactions,’ Talavera said.

Granted, those are the reactions that come from fellow anime lovers. There are also the reactions that come from friends and family, which are sometimes just as interesting.

‘Everyone at some point questions why you do it,’ said Choi, who started in 2004 because the hobby combines her love of design with her fondness of anime. ‘Sometimes they don’t quite understand it’s an extreme hobby for me. It’s really fun for me. Some people are into extreme hobbies like bungee jumping off a cliff. Or skydiving, or cliff diving.

‘I enjoy having a hobby that not everyone has, so that I can stand out.’

Sarah Hudkins, a sophomore in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, wants to be a cartoonist. She said CosPlaying gives her a chance to show off her creativity in a more unique way. Hudkins’ favorite costume is of a character named Rika, a young girl from a Japanese murder mystery series.

‘Personally, I’m an engineer,’ Talavera added. ‘If I didn’t have hobbies, I’d go insane.’

CosPlay is not limited to anime. Choi pointed out that some of the most popular CosPlay costumes include ‘The Simpsons’ characters, Samus from the classic video game series Metroid and Stewie from ‘Family Guy.’

Cross-dressing is also not so taboo. As long as the character fits the person’s body type, that character is fair game, Choi said – before bemoaning the oddly popular phenomenon of ‘fat old hairy men over age 50’ portraying scantily clad anime vixen Sailor Moon.

The trend seems to be for a CosPlayer to pick a persona they couldn’t get away with in everyday life. Whether it’s the over-the-top bad ass or the damsel in distress, CosPlay allows participants to express their art in what can act as an extremely personal form.

And once a CosPlayer puts on that costume for the first time, it can become addicting.’I have about 30 or so costumes planned for the future,’ Choi said. ‘I plan on CosPlaying for a long time.’

[email protected]

Published on November 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm