Cosplay Changing Room!!

[Miyori]

It would be REALLY nice and convienent if there were a room for cosplayers to come in to change into their costumes. Sometimes we have to change into different costumes during the same day and having a room to change in would be great. Just divide up the boys and the girls side, or two separate rooms for boys and girls. And possibly a mirror in there too. The bathrooms are small and not a very hygienic place to bring costumes. AnimeLA has a costume repair shop, but a bigger con like Fanime needs a changing room.

[uBerLyNuMB]

Haha what if someone put one of those mini cameras into the lightbulb? o_o

[kazutoXakinafangirl]

if they did put in one of those cameras, i would be very mad :o

[Kazuko]

I just found it convenient to just change in my hotel room

If your talking about multiple outfits during the day its just all about planning and the bathrooms are probally a good place.

also you got to consider privacy not all people like to be in one room to change. Decency man decencyyyyyy

[otakuapprentice]

It would be REALLY nice and convienent if there were a room for cosplayers to come in to change into their costumes. Sometimes we have to change into different costumes during the same day and having a room to change in would be great. Just divide up the boys and the girls side, or two separate rooms for boys and girls. And possibly a mirror in there too. The bathrooms are small and not a very hygienic place to bring costumes. AnimeLA has a costume repair shop, but a bigger con like Fanime needs a changing room.

see, a costume repair shop is a better idea than a changing room. using your hotel room is easily the best, and safest way to change your costumes, and having a changing room on the convention grounds brings about a few liability issues(figure out what they are, and you will see why its not the best idea)

its a good idea, but it probably doesn't have any good chance of happening soon. Now, about that costume repair shop.....

[PyronIkari]

the changing room idea is actually a pretty good idea. Not everyone has a hotel room, and walking around or heading to the convention in costume isn't always great.

[Rei-Rei]

the changing room idea is actually a pretty good idea. Not everyone has a hotel room, and walking around or heading to the convention in costume isn't always great.

I would imagine it would be a bit difficult for a person who's wearing a dress/cape with a train to actually wear that and walk to the con without anyone stepping on it... Especially if they stayed at Montgomery or something.

[Oniko]

Well it has it's pros a cons. Becuase what if something gets lost? I bet the staff wot want to deal with that.  Plus is there really any rooms available?  They seemed pretty packed and stretched last year.

[Nina Star 9]

the changing room idea is actually a pretty good idea. Not everyone has a hotel room, and walking around or heading to the convention in costume isn't always great.

I would imagine it would be a bit difficult for a person who's wearing a dress/cape with a train to actually wear that and walk to the con without anyone stepping on it... Especially if they stayed at Montgomery or something.

I think it is harder to walk in the con itself than outside the con with a long train. Try walking with a 10 foot train in a crowded con and tell me what you think.

I would personally just change in the bathrooms. I can see how it would be useful for some people who do not have a hotel room (they live fairly close and just head back home for the night, they are only going for a day, etc.), but as was said, there would be a lot of issues involved with it that would be difficult.

I do like the cosplay repair shop idea, though. :D

[Jun-Watarase]

Well it has it's pros a cons. Becuase what if something gets lost? I bet the staff wot want to deal with that.  Plus is there really any rooms available?  They seemed pretty packed and stretched last year.

They have lost and found, but outside of that, if this idea were implemented, why shouldn't people be responsible of their own belongings? They are for the rest of the con.

It'd be extremely convenient if this were to work, but I highly doubt it would. Not only would Fanime not have the space for it, I don't think it'd be very possible trafficking it at all. There are thousands of cosplayers that attend Fanime at a time, and many of them would try to take advantage of an on-site dressing room. And lol, we don't need anymore /cgl/ dramu.

[Rei-Rei]

There may be huge drama as another poster mentioned.  Since I doubt there will be any sort of storage space for the people who change at the con, either they'd have to carry their make-up/change of clothing/stuff with them or be forced to leave their stuff in that room...
They could also walk to their rooms to put the stuff away, but that'd be defeating the purpose of having an at-con changing room.

[Shi_Musouka]

Not to frighten people, but I do think that it is a fairly workable idea as long as there's appropriate security and policies in the rooms too, such as with photography policies and the likes(especially if the room is going to be used by people under 18). You never know what kind of sickos with cameras are there. lol. Hopefully if the room does get implanted, it won't be in the middle of a random hallway or something.

And I think it would decrease the number of people relying on bathrooms to change. It's not bad changing in the bathrooms or anything, but if there's huge lines for people who need to use them, it would be convenient to weed out the changers so that people who need them could use them. I doubt bathroom lines have or will ever matter for Fanime, but with attendance rising each year, it will hit that bump in the future. It probably sounds weird coming from me, but yeah it's a thought. lol.

I do think that having a costume repair station(s) would be very helpful though. It's not uncommon to see cons with these types of things. Perhaps have a few of these kits near info desk or something...

Again, just my two cents.

[Steve.Young]

Here are several problems to this idea.

1) Creeps, Perverts, Peeping toms, etc. would know exactly where to go to find victims. Don't even get me started about the assholes this year.
2) To prevent that, you would need a heavy security presence to deter them. Which requires more manpower than the safety department currently has.
3) I can't think of anywhere in particular that has adequate room for multiple people to change in, where there can be privacy screens, and stuff like that.
4) You would probably need to consent to some kind of waiver or agreement in which Fanime is not responsible for blah blah blah. Something like a sign that says "By using this, blah blah blah, you agree blah blah blah". The liability wouldn't be something to ignore.


It's a good idea, but it would need to be logistically set up right so that everyone is safe using it as well as preventing traffic jams and other various issues.

[Tony]

Creative, and not a bad idea! But I would have to say that a hotel room or a bathroom would work better.

The smallest rooms we have are fairly large - meaning, no matter how it happens, there would have to be partitions installed. That means "pipe and drape", which is less secure and useful for changing than a bathroom.

Do that many people walk around carrying extra costumes with them...?

[Rei-Rei]

Creative, and not a bad idea! But I would have to say that a hotel room or a bathroom would work better.

The smallest rooms we have are fairly large - meaning, no matter how it happens, there would have to be partitions installed. That means "pipe and drape", which is less secure and useful for changing than a bathroom.

Do that many people walk around carrying extra costumes with them...?

I don't think so because I'd assume if you were dress up in something fancy... Like you worked on a costume for 100+ hours, you probably wouldn't want to ruin the costume by dragging along a luggage or a big tote bag or anything else that's unnecessary... Not to mention it's also inconvenient.

I found this out the hard way while walking 5 blocks to this place for lunch....

[Yunri-Chan]

I think the changing room + repair area suggestions are excellent ideas and I'm glad they've been suggested!

Of course having a nearby hotel room is best, but a lot of people have rooms blocks away or don't have a room period. Experienced cosplayers may book Marriott/Hilton rooms in advance or bring around sewing kits to make life easier, but there are plenty of cosplayers, especially first-timers, who don't prepare for those cosplay inconveniences at all. A few years ago I had to march between Fairmont & the con center multiple times a day just to pick up a prop or change; even with rooms in the Marriott, it can still be tedious for me to have to run back to my room for an extra button or something. I know the Cosworx booth in 07 was extremely helpful for providing "emergency" supplies.

The changing rooms would also be great. I don't think they'd have to be a huge booth or anything; a handful of low-key stalls behind the repair booth could be enough. And this is just me rambling, but a mirror & small stand or chair in each stall would make a sufficient changing room.

As for perverts, peeping could be prevented even without the police surveillance -- you could have the stalls located behind a staff table (where staff would regulate the line etc), enforce a 'one-person-per-stall' rule & duck-tape the curtains/walls to the floor.

I don't know if any of my suggestions are efficient or realistic, but I hope they help. :]

[Steve.Young]

The convention center heavily frowns on duct taping anything.

Logistically, it "could" be implemented...maybe.

[otakuapprentice]

Out of both ideas given, the cosplay repair area/station is the one idea which has the most going for it; just set aside a small room in the con center, some tables/chairs, a few tiny sewing machines, some other various repair tools, and you're set.

[ewu]

Out of both ideas given, the cosplay repair area/station is the one idea which has the most going for it; just set aside a small room in the con center, some tables/chairs, a few tiny sewing machines, some other various repair tools, and you're set.

Most likely Fanime can only go so far as to offer a room and seating. Tools and the like will need to be provided by cosplayers themsleves. The best deal may be to find a dealer that would offer those services.

[Rei-Rei]

A dealer would work, or maybe do something similar, like an artist alley, but instead of people selling their artwork, they could be selling their skills and time to help fix other people's costumes, maybe that would work?
Of course the services would be a lot smaller than the artist alley, maybe make it limited somehow?