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Xander756
Spoiler: I'm not going to name it but I run a highly trafficked cosplay website. I have talked to, covered, interviewed, wrote about, etc literally hundreds of cosplayers over the last decade.
They don't work their asses off.
It's one of the easiest paypig arenas that has ever existed which is WHY cosplay got completely co-opted in this way when it used to be about people who loved a certain game, loved a certain anime, show, movie, or even just loved the hobby itself wanting to express their love. Now it's a "business" because it was so easy to take advantage of the paypigs.
If Jessica Nigri had done chaturbate she wouldn't be a fraction as famous or as rich as she is as a "cosplayer."
Let that sink in.
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Comments
commented
Yes actually that IS what they do. In addition to running my site, I also worked as staff at one of the largest modeling sites on the internet for 8 years so I know what goes into being a professional model, being a cosplayer, etc. They are milking the paypigs because it's one of the easiest gigs on the planet. Not because they are just oh so geeky!
commented
Like, honestly... who gives a shit WHY they do it? Are you here to find a girlfriend who you can relate because you both play the same videogames, or to look at pretty girls in tight (or little to no) clothes? The fact you are so easy to dismiss the effort these girls put into constantly putting out sexy photo sets just because you think they are not "real geeks" is more than enough proof that all your "resume talk" is BS, because if you think modelling is easy, you clearly never met a model in your life.
First... costumes are being made. Someone makes them, and that takes a lot of time and money. That person is part of their team, and that person also deserves to be be paid. Just because Irina or Jessica are not (necessarily -- I don't know their costume-making process) sitting in front of a sewing machine doesn't mean the work comes for free. Beyond that, sets and props are often being made, studios are being paid for, equipment is bought or rented, trips to locations are done, photographers, makeup artists, and many others are being hired, etc etc etc. All of that costs money, and to get to the quality and update frequency that these girls achieve, this has to be done with people that do this for a living. Look at their picture sets, look at the quality of their photos, these are not hobbists working around their "real work" schedule, this is their work. Money sent to the models goes to pay for all of this.
Second... have you ever done a professional photo shoot yourself? I have, though not in front of the camera, I'm butt ugly (you can take my word on that). You look at Irina's usual set of 10-20 pictures and think this was just a few minutes to take? Photo shoots take HOURS, and they take HUNDREDS of pictures to arrive at those final choices. These are hours with a model hanging around in uncomfortable clothes, standing in uncomfortable positions, until they get enough decent shots that they can pick one good one. Photo shoots are exausting, and maybe it doesn't fit your concept of "hard work", but don't tell me it's not work.
Third... do you think these girls just stay at home eating pizza and watching Netflix all week, go somewhere to take half a dozen pictures over the weekend, and then go back home to catch one more episode of Mandalorian, just to cash a check at the end of the month? Look at their bodies, it takes work to look like that, just so you can stare at their pictures and think "she's so hot, she must have great genes". No dude, she has a great gym.
Look, I'm not saying you are wrong to say that cosplaying has been co-opted by girls that just use it as a way to be a model in a lucrative but still niche market, and they don't truly fit in with the "real cosplayers" that make costumes themselves because they love the subject matter. But to claim that they "don't work their asses off" is honestly just plain silly. Maybe you are right, and these girls are just doing this for the paycheck, not the love of cosplaying. But that doesn't make them lazy, it just makes them professionals instead of hobbists. It makes them like everybody else, including you and me.