Wednesday, April 24, 2013

On cosplay, physical appearance, and chainsaw disfigurement

I've got some time on my hands as I'm proctoring a state test, so I wanted to share a moment that I had a couple of weeks ago.  I was helping my father chop down parts of a tree that had been growing up and over the house over the past 25 years.  It was the kind of thing where we would look at the thing every couple years and say, "Yup. That'll have to come down some day."  Naturally, we waited until the tree was a monster and the process of removing it would be slightly on the side of lunacy.

I found myself balancing myself on a narrow rooftop, trying to start a chainsaw to hand to my father, who was dangling from a makeshift harness from a branch in the very tree we were trying to dismember.  As I pulled on the starter handle, I lost my balance, let go of the handle, and the chainsaw flew directly into my nose.  I immediately started bleeding everywhere.

My very first thought, before I worried about the tree or my personal health, was that I had done a Tyrion Lannister/Battle of the Blackwater facial modification to myself and that I would be cosplaying with a mask for the rest of my days.  The good news was that the wound wasn't as horrific as I estimated.  I'll have a small scar on my nose and I have since considered myself lucky not to have caught the saw with my eye socket or teeth.

In the past several months, I feel that I've gotten more in touch with my own personal appearance.  I've lost over 20 pounds and am now overly concerned with marring my face.  And it is all because of cosplay.  I lost weight to fit into a morph suit for my Mega Man costume and I've been more and more interested in portraying Tony Stark.  I am wondering if anyone else has had this kind of realization.

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