Malaysian Cosplay Events: How They Came to Be

Cosplay, a term that merges the words costume and roleplay, is an ever growing hobby among the youth in Malaysia. It can be seen from the ever growing numbers of cosplay events that have emerged in recent years; 10 – 15 held in a year since the last five years, compared to the two events held in a year during the start of the scene 16 years ago.

To be clear, the proper term for these events is Anime, Comics and Games (ACG) events. They were originally created as a way for enthusiasts to meet other fellow enthusiasts, and to display their love for the hobby by participating in the various activities that these events have to offer.

Cosplay was first introduced as a way for certain enthusiasts to show their love for their interests in a different, more elaborate way; by dressing up as their favourite characters. These days, it is impossible to leave cosplay out of any ACG events, and many attendees would go to these events just to see the cosplayers at these events as more cosplayers start to participate in them.

Cosplay has become such a huge part of such events that they are now more known as cosplay events instead of the original ACG events among the general public, and to new cosplayers. Only the certain few more senior members of the community would still refer to them as ACG events.

In summary, referring to these events as cosplay events is technically incorrect, as they are in actual fact ACG events, but cosplay has become so large and so well associated with ACG events that it is now commonly referred to cosplay events.