8 Hilariously WTF Times People Did Cosplay In The Real World
Cosplay -- we're used to seeing it on Halloween, at comic conventions, and of course in the filthiest recesses of the internet. But while most cosplayers are content to just chill at conventions as Stormtrooper #8, some eccentric pioneers are trying to discover new ways to play their cos'es. They're no heroes -- they just dress like them.
Lottery Winners In China Accept Their Checks In Costume
In China, lottery winners have to appear in public to accept their giant novelty check. Many are uncomfortable doing so, as most people like to avoid letting every criminal and deadbeat cousin know they're rich as fuck now. This results in some people who show up looking like a poltergeist in an L.L. Bean catalog:
If you've ever wondered how Cobra Command makes their money.
But others decide to go a little crazier. After all, money's about to become a non-issue for them. Case in point, one guy showed up as Baymax, the inflatable robot from Disney's Big Hero 6. Either that or he's cosplaying the Michelin Man after losing some weight.
"I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. Please don't rob me."
Another lucky winner showed up as Mickey Mouse to collect his cheddar:
"Hoho! This world is a terrifying place and this is the only way I feel safe, hoho!"
And two guys came dressed as those two Transformers trying to start up a Daft Punk cover band.
Harder. Better. Faster. Richer.
One person showed up in this baffling bear costume, which looks more like the love child of Pikachu and that blowjob-ghost from The Shining.
If looks could kill there would be a lot of dead reporters.
Though we must admit, our lives do feel richer knowing that, once upon a time, Winnie The Pooh's meth-head cousin held a press conference to claim his gambling money.
And they say millionaires never do anything for the little people.
Batman And Robin Battled Spider-Man In An MMA Fight
It took longer than expected, but someone finally tried to put an end to the age-old playground debates of which superhero could kick which other superhero's ass. Recently, a superhero-themed MMA fight from the U.K was unearthed, showing a kickboxing match between a '60s-style Batman and a molten action figure-style Spider-Man, and the result is less of an epic war between gods than a lackluster Halloween-themed Fight Club.
Nice secret identity, Robin.
In the right corner, Batman -- who, being a gentleman, doesn't dip into his utility belt, but, less gentlemanly, did bring along his youthful ward to gang up on the web-slinger.
Sadly, he never gets up on his shoulders Master Blaster style.
In the left, an alternate-dimension Peter Parker who kept on wrestling after Ben's murder and is all in on kicking some serious billionaire ass --
"My parents are dead! You have no idea what that's li- wait, shit ..."
-- destroying the Dynamic Duo almost as badly as Joel Schumacher did.
Only less erotic.
Of course, it's a pretty sad sight to see our beloved childhood heroes brawling like common pee-wee hockey parents -- so it's important to remember that all of this isn't real, a fact that is abundantly clear by the time a half-dressed Riddler shows up to save Batman's bacon.
"Not canon! This is not canon!"
A British Man Had A Costume-Filled Funeral
You know what's really depressing at funerals? Everyone's wearing black. In 2013, a Newcastle man overturned that depressing dress code by posthumously requesting that everyone come to the funeral in costume. Meaning Batman, Super Mario, and even some Imperial goons showed up to pay their respects.
The stormtrooper had the tie for a business meeting later that afternoon.
Not to mention Fred Flinstone, a strip of bacon --
The poncho guy isn't in costume, that's just his day-to-day attire.
-- and this guy ...
... who is apparently a U.K. cereal mascot called the Honey Monster and definitely not a PCP hallucination willed into existence.
All of which led to a distinctly unique and memorable funeral -- and presumably a waking nightmare for any intellectual property lawyers coming to pay their respects.
A Shop Owner Forced Teen Thieves To Dress Like The Flintstones
With the exception of forcing sports mascots to gyrate under a scorching sun for the audience's apathy, costumes are usually not used as punishment. That wasn't the case for the owner of World's Best Comics And Toys, who dealt with a gang of shoplifters so hard it knocked them back to the Stone Age.
It all started when a group of teens stole a replica of Fred Flintstone's car from the shop -- either because they were big cartoon fans or they were so wasted they thought they'd just boosted a brand new Tesla. The culprits got remarkably far, seeing as their getaway car was powered by their feet, but were eventually thwarted by police. But in lieu of criminal charges, the teens accepted the store owner's unorthodox alternative punishment, a long and humiliating ordeal that started with him uttering "Oh, so you like The Flintstones, do ya?"
"Yabba-dabba-doo! I'm not going to jail for you!"
Yup, to teach these kids a lesson, they were forced to dress up as Flintstones characters and stand out front of the store trying to lure customers for Free Comic Book Day -- menial work the real Flintstones would have entrusted to some poor, abused-yet-sassy animal.
"Eh, it's a living."
The thieves didn't even seem to mind their punishment too much, gladly seeing their prank resolved without getting a criminal record. For a story of grand larceny and technical grand theft auto, this light-hearted caper harkens back to a simpler time. A daba doo time. A gay old time.
A Guy Jogs Through Death Valley While Dressed As Darth Vader ... Every Year
Surely, if there's one thing you can take away from the original Star Wars trilogy, it's that Darth Vader never runs -- he menacingly walks towards you with the calm perseverance of a freight train. Runner Jonathan Rice didn't come away from the movies with the same impression, as he became the founder of the Darth Valley Challenge, in which he runs a mile in Death Valley at the hottest possible time of year, dressed in full Darth Vader get-up.
The guy dressed as Chewbacca was not seen at the finish line, so we're sure his charred remains are still somewhere in that valley.
While Rice (AKA Vader) has described the run as "pointless," it has set the Guinness record for the "hottest verified run." Though, to be fair, once you've had several limbs burnt off by the fiery molten lake of Mustafar, a light jog through a dry heat must be like a walk in the park.
Is it fair when robotic limbs are doing all the work?
The decision to cosplay as Vader was less a calculated decision to harness the powers of darkness to boost his athleticism than it was the only Halloween costume in his house. So let's be grateful it is the Sith apprentice running a hot mile in Death Valley, and not Rice dressed like a sexy nurse.
Canadian Teens Dress As The Justice League To Catch Internet Predators
It's not totally surprising that a group of people would dress as superheroes and take the law into their own hands -- but a group of Canadian men did so in a surprisingly non-violent fashion. The group, who dubbed themselves The Justice Trolls, dressed up as The Justice League, but rather than dumping a ton of money into Batman-like gadgets, or throwing up their internal organs trying to run like The Flash, these guys just bust out their laptops and bait sexual predators.
Their only weakness is Rule 34.
In fact, they don't just wear superhero costumes, they improve them. We bet stupid old Barry Allen never even considered slapping a fake handlebar mustache on his Flash outfit. Or holding a press conference at a McDonald's.
"In lieu of reward money, just pay us in McGriddles."
The group would pose as underage girls online to lure potential child sex offenders to a rendezvous -- so instead of a minor they could take advantage of, these guys instead found themselves face-to-face with Batman -- or at least a guy in a Batman rental costume with sewn-on abs. Either way, you have to imagine it'd be pretty jarring.
Do you know what happened to the last guy to tell Batman to shut up?
They would film the encounter, then post the video online. Like true comic book vigilantes, they caught the attention of the police and were told to back off. Then, again like in the comic books, the cops still took credit for arresting a bad guy who they found through the super-group. At least these cops have a good explanation for why they suck -- it's all part of a narrative that will spur on our heroes to do even more good.
A Juror Wore A Starfleet Uniform To The Whitewater Trial
Our older readers may remember the Whitewater scandal, a real estate fraud investigation with ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Not really a scandal a lot of people know about, because it didn't involve emails.
But back in 1996, the Whitewater trial was a big event, so it's only natural that some members of the media took note of alternate juror Barbara Adams, probably because she was the one dressed in a Starfleet uniform from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
"Jury box ... the final frontier."
If you saw the documentary Trekkies then you remember Adams' story; she wasn't wearing the uniform for kicks, she wore it "just as any other officer in the military would wear theirs." Pretty intense for a Trekkie, but before the internet, these guys were like the Crips of the nerd world.
Starfleet Command ain't nothin' to fuck with.
Adams ended up being kicked off the jury -- but interestingly enough, it wasn't for her get-up, which everyone involved with the trial actually seemed pretty okay with. No, what landed Adams in hot water was violating a gag order by talking to the media -- though you have to imagine the judge knew he was going to get annoyed by her making the "whoosh" sound every time the courtroom doors opened.
Quite A Few Rock Bands Shred While Cosplaying
Ever since KISS accidentally wandered into a child's birthday and had their faces painted by a black-and-white French clown, elaborate costumes have been a staple in certain subsets of rock. But these costumes can go too far, especially when bands starts dressing up in ways that prevent them from doing sex, drugs, and even rock and roll.
Canada's Cybertronic Spree is what you might call a Transformers tribute band, covering the soundtrack of the original Transformers movie while dressing up like said Transformers. Which is way better than just getting one Transformer to turn into a crappy boombox.
How they haven't been contacted to score Michael Bay's films is beyond us.
And keep in mind, this is back when the Transformers soundtrack consisted of jaunty Stan Bush and Weird Al Yankovic riffs, not the Linkin Park and trace amounts of Michael Bay's hostility psychically burnt into the audio nowadays. And this is just the tip of the cosplay band iceberg; there's a Klingon band that plays death metal:
Which the Klingons just call "pop music."
And of course, there are a crap-ton of Harry Potter wizard rock bands, like The Blibbering Humdingers, The Moaning Myrtles and our favorite, As I Lay Dobby.
Watch for their new single Hog-war, what is it good for?
But winners of "Best Dressed" must be the metal band made up of Ned Flanderses. They're pretty-diddly-iddly hardcore.
Not to mention how many Korean cosplay bands exist, but there really isn't a part of Korean culture that hasn't completely been taken over by geekdom, so these might just be regular bands.
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Also check out Cosplay Porn Is An Industry: We Talked To Its Titans and Why There Are No Winners When You Wear A Sexy Cosplay Outfit.
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