[merylsilverburg]

Originally posted by Frozen
anyone I see doing that loses my respect for him/her.

Hmm...so if you saw a Japanese person (which BTW, the Japanese are the ones who enjoy "cosplaying" the most) who decided to cosplay, you would absolutely just lose all respect for them?
The Japanese actually take the time to create the costumes from scratch or actually buy authentic, licensed costumes. They spend hundreds of dollars (or yen ) just so they could look like the characters and all. They really take pride in this hobby which they are able to call themselves pure otakus. I'm sure many Americans and all do the same and it's good at times, but sometimes they don't really take this seriously, which is the result of what Frozen and others saw, so that's why the costumes are bad and they just look awful. I would understand if the costume and person was just horrible looking, but if the person dresses up really well and look pretty close to the character, would it be right to just lose respect for that person?