Cosplay Fan Service

No cosplay today, so here's a post with a cosplay topic again.

Fanservice! Who, what, when, where, why, and how? (Not necessarily in that order.)

UrbanDictionary.com and Wikipedia.org loosely define fanservice as unnecessary romantic fluff or sexually-derived situations (not in those exact words). These can include romantic scenes between two characters, wherein the scenes contribute nothing to the main plot, or shower / bath scenes with only one character. The term "fanservice" is not an anime-exclusive term.
In relation to cosplay, this would be one or more cosplayers pose for a picture or act in a way that is out of character and caters to the whims of fans. This could be anything from a silly face to publicly indecent acts.

I've heard stories of cosplayers being pushed and into fanservicing by rabid fans, but I've never experienced this myself. I've been asked to do yaoi poses before, but usually my partner isn't ready for it and we end up standing there looking like idiots. However, on the occasions that we're not caught completely off-guard, my boyfriend and I usually pose and the fan snaps a picture, thanks us, and leaves.

I've also seem some extremely indecent acts in convention halls being cheered on by a circle of fans. No, I don't encourage them, although sometimes my inner fangirl lets out a mental squeal, and I just walk away. Yes, it does bother me most of the time, these people would probably not be doing such inappropriate things if they weren't in costume, nor would others be cheering them on. Not in public anyway.

At Yaoi Con, there was almost no fanservicing, believe it or not. I think this was due to the age cut-off of eighteen. Which upset me only because this means that it is the younger age group (most likely young teens) who are both giving and encouraging fanservice. Which is just wrong on so many levels.

Personally, I do fanservice because I like to entertain people. I don't go out of my way to get people's attention, but if they ask, I deliver. I also never to anything indecent. I think there was only once I kissed for a picture, and it was a kiss, not a full-on make-out session. Still, if you want to call this attention-whoring, I'm not going to argue details, that isn't the point of this post. However, I'm sure that many people use fanservicing as a form of attention-whoring.

My boyfriend and I have basically been asked to fanservice for friends when we're not in costume. I guess they just want something to "aww" at and call "adorable." So we're used to being asked to be "cute" in front of others or the camera. It's usually the girls who don't have a boyfriend, but sometimes it's ones who do. I'm assuming the same theory could be applied to cosplay fanservicing. All types of people ask for it, and all types give it.

I don't believe that it's wrong to give. I also don't think that fanservicing in general is indecent. It's the way that it's interpreted that usually ends up wrong.

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