Another year and a another flood of lists of cosplays on my social media feed. I must admit it. I do it too. Honestly, I can’t help making these silly lists of cosplays I am planning to make (sounds familiar?). But it seems if you share your list with the world it will become true. Of course, I do fail miserably to complete mine over and over again (no, really, sounds familiar?). And I know exactly why you will never complete your Cosplay Wishlist .
Let the cosplay list season begin
It has started. Every year by December and January my feed gets full of cosplay wishlists. “This year I am doing these cosplays”. Well, I don’t even know if I’ll finish soon the cosplay I started 6 months ago!
But let’s be realistic, how often do you get to finish the cosplays in those lists? I have actually checked my own lists. My Cosplay Planner actually helps a lot keeping track of my ideas.
I checked the lists of my last three years. I wasn’t that bad, on average I completed about 40% of the cosplays in my lists. However, I almost never completed them in that same year they appeared! I only completed about 25% of the cosplays I had planned for the year on time! Which means I dropped 3 out of 4 cosplays I had planned that year! And I am being very optimistic with these numbers.
Reasons why you will never complete your Cosplay Wishlist
There are many reasons why you won’t be able to finish those cosplays on time. And I’m not even considering the time when you sprained your wrist while doing martial arts (funny story, true story) or when you had to refurbish your craft room from scratch. Here are just some of the problems you may encounter.
1. The hype
This is your nemesis, the number one reason why you won’t be finishing your cosplays, the thing that will keep you awake at nights. The culprit of all those unfinished projects, the delay of your current build and the great fear of the cosplayer. The new stuff.
Photo Anime Expo 2014. Photographer N/A
Fashions come and go so fast, and they also apply to cosplay. There is always new characters appearing on your social media and you want to be on top of the wave. There are so many new characters and with so amazing designs. The new anime season, the latest Marvel film, the E3 new games, you want to make them all! The truth is most people will forget about these characters in a year or two, but who cares, you want to do it and you want to do it now.
I was Asuna too …
Hype can strike you in two different ways. One, it will make you drop your current project in favour to the most fashionable one, you will finish it, but you will delay or drop your current project, maybe forever. Or two, you will do a make up test, probably spend a lot of money on fabric and materials you will never use and you will lose interest. The cosplay will never make it out of your list. FAIL.
2. Too many cosplays
And this makes cosplay 31 on my wishlist of cosplays for this year, which means… I need to finish a cosplay every 1.6 weeks in order to finish them all in time…D’oh!
You are not being realistic, there is no way you can finish all the coplays in your list before the end of the year. There are just too many! And you haven’t even considered the hype in the original ecuation.
There are just far too many outfits out there you would like to make and not enough time for all of them. You are going to have to choose. Go for the ones you would really want to make, and leave the rest for whenever you have the extra time (ha, ha, ha, extra time). Remember that not only you want to make the cosplays but wear them in a convention or two and take some photos. That takes time too! Choose wisely and remember that cosplay time has its own flow (usually slower than you think).
3. You are poor
Sorry my dear, the piggy bank is broken. You have spent all your money on fancy fabric and worbla. And you don’t have enough for a new project.
Cosplayers have very expensive tastes, we think we are clever and we are saving money on the sales, but the truth is that we spent quite a bit of money on those cosplay details that make our cosplays perfect. If I were to buy all the materials for all the cosplays in my list I would probably not have enough to eat!
I spent £ 200 or maybe £ 300 on my Hana cosplay. Or was it more? Honestly, I don’t want to know
Sometimes saving up for that next project may take longer than you think. Be aware of your limitations and plan your budget with care.
4. Life
Yes! You DO have a life! Did you forget to visit your grandma this weekend? Don’t tell me you run out of milk again this week. When was the last time you played with your cats?
Looking after the beasties 
Time with family and friends 
Cleaning the house (yes it was them)
It is very easy to get carried away with your cosplay and forget about everything else. Many times I have found myself forgetting to eat! Your mum won’t be cleaning your room for you forever. The truth is there is not enough time for everything. Make sure you have plenty of time saved for your everyday tasks, your friends and your family, they are for sure much more important than your next cosplay. This also includes TAKING A BREAK every so often.
My list of cosplays I will never complete (2020 edition)
I may not be able to finish my list of cosplays this year, but nevertheless I will make one. It just wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t. Here are just some of the cosplays on my list that I may or may not finish, but hey, let’s just give it a try!
By the time you read this I will have already started 2 of them, and probably dropped another too. Want to know how I’m doing? Make sure you follow me on Facebook . Twitter and Instagram to see my progress!
And remember to check my goals on Ko-fi, I will be ablet to create more cosplays and more tutorials with your support, and I will share them with you! Some of my cosplay patterns will end up in my patterns and cosplay related downloadables make sure to check my current collection! Also, don’t forget to download my Cosplay Planner to start your own list! Happy sewing!
