By Dave Paone
Campus News
In the classic Christmas movie, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” young Rudolph just doesn’t fit in with the other reindeer because he’s different. His nose glows.
He befriends Hermey, one of Santa’s elves, but Hermey has no desire to make toys in Santa’s workshop. He wants to be a dentist.
Later in the movie, the pair (along with a third character) discover The Island of Misfit Toys. It’s an island where toys with perceived defects live because no boy or girl will love them. (There’s a Jack-in-the-box named Charlie, a water pistol that squirts jelly, a cowboy who rides an ostrich and other imperfect toys.)
Immediately Rudolph declares, “Hey, we’re all misfits, too!” and wants to live with his own kind on the island.
Campus News has been covering cosplay for several years and we see a huge similarity between The Island of Misfit Toys and cosplay conventions.
One symptom of autism is “difficulty in social interaction.” Those who are socially awkward often don’t fit in with their classmates (especially in middle and high schools) and may be labeled misfits.
Mitchell Ki of Hicksville, Long Island, goes by the moniker “The Incredible Cosplayer” and discovered cosplaying six years ago while a student at Brooklyn College at age 24. He’s on the autism spectrum.
“I struggle [with] fitting in,” he told Campus News but finds the tips he learned from more experienced cosplayers have boosted his popularity.
“I grew up having autism and didn’t socialize with people very well and I feel like being a cosplayer helps me. It helps,” he said.
For his first convention, Mitchell specifically chose Spider-Man as his alter ego because his face would be covered.
“I was very insecure back then,” he said. “I was ashamed of [cosplaying] at first.”
But after interacting with other cosplayers, the insecurity and shame lessened. “I became more comfortable with myself,” he said.
Abigail Loos of East Hampton, Long Island, treats cosplay as a full-time job, making her costumes from scratch and attending conventions throughout the Northeast. She and her mother, Teresa, work as a team.
As a child, Abigail was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder which is a neurodevelopment disorder (as is autism) and was homeschooled through 12th grade. But she’s found being in the cosplay community is exactly where she needs to be.
“I love cosplay. It’s a positive outlet for pretty much everything, including people who are on the spectrum like myself,” Abigail told Campus News at the New York Comic-Con last year.
Campus News met Michaela Sallese at the Anime NYC convention in 2023. She was a first-year student at South Hills School of Business and Technology in Pennsylvania at the time and came dressed as Lanzhu Zhong from “Love Live! Nijigasaki.”
Although technically a freshman, Michaela was 27 and in her fourth go-around of college.
“I’ve had a lot of mental health struggles and family physical health struggles. I’ve had to drop out of college a couple of times,” she said.
Since South Hills is a two-year, associate’s program, she feels it provides her with a pace she can handle and enables her to work full-time and go to anime conventions.
Michaela also feels cosplay has boosted her confidence which in turn has helped her with her mental health issues.
The year before she cosplayed as her favorite character, Cure Flora of “Go! Princess Precure” and it was just what the doctor ordered.
“I felt the most beautiful I’ve ever felt,” she said.
So for Mitchell, Abigail and Michaela, cosplaying doubles as healthcare. Mental healthcare.
Long before cosplay was even a word, there was the Renaissance Faire.
In 2017, Campus News was at the one in Tuxedo, New York, and spoke with Caroline Lenz, who was a 26-year-old art history major at Borough of Manhattan Community College at the time.
Caroline was one of the hundreds of actors employed at the Faire each season, who perform in costume and take on personas.
Caroline played Viscountess Lætitia Hereford, in service to Her Majesty, the Queen. She’s also the Queen’s cousin and Lady of the Privy Chamber. It was her third year there.
“In describing the camaraderie to my stepmother my first year, she said, ′Oh, you found your tribe!′ and I realized, yes, that is exactly what I have done… I have found a family.”
“This is my core group of friends,” said Caroline. “One of my dearest friends in the world actually is the Queen, and I stay in touch with her all year.”
In addition to the Faire, Caroline had gone to Comic-Con every year for the five previous years, with her two regular costumes being Black Canary and a Star Trek science officer’s tunic.
In all fairness, Caroline was a cheerleader in high school, so clearly she wasn’t an outcast. On the other hand, she said she participated in cheer “mostly for the athleticism.”
Call it an island of misfits, a tribe or a family, the cosplay world is a place where many outsiders have found their niche.
As Mithell said, “I consider myself as a regular guy who just wants to fit in in the cosplay community.”
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