public cosplay tripping

[zenneth]

yeah... wanted to try that till a friend of mine posted 2 cosplayers getting arrested for cosplaying in fb. not sure if its in america, but i just wanna ask... do people here get arrested for wearing something out of the ordinary like cosplay?

lets say something not so extreme, like kaito's get up.

[LtCommanderRichie]

That's the wonderful thing about living in a free country, you don't get arrested for wearing silly things. Breaking public decency laws by running about with no clothes on is another matter, but nobody will arrest you for dressing up like a singing computer program and prancing about a mall.

There would be massive stings at conventions if it was against the law :\

[Washougal_Otaku]

cosplaying in fb.

like kaito's get up.

What does "fb" mean?  And who's Kaito?

[zenneth]

lemme get the vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0DD963DD6Q

its short for facebook, and kaito is this dude

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5800000/Kaito-vocaloids-5802285-350-400.jpg

[Shadow]

I've never had any issues really when cosplaying in public. My group and I will sometimes have random cosplay days, and if anything people seem to be amused by it. We'll occasionally get questions from people who are curious or interested as to why we're dressed up, but that's to be expected.

The only issue my group and I has ever ran into is cosplaying in certain malls. In one day we got kicked out of two malls (Lloyd Center and then Clackamas Town Center). We weren't being disrespectful or anything of the sort, but apparently some malls have a "no face-paint that can obstruct your identity" rule. Which none of us had ever heard of before. But because of the nature of our Mad Hatter's make-up, we had to leave.

Just be respectful when cosplaying in public (remember that you're NOT at a con), be aware, use common sense, and you shouldn't have any problems.

[Washougal_Otaku]

lemme get the vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0DD963DD6Q

...where was the arrest?  I don't get it.  It looks like they just got scolded for running around.

its short for facebook, and kaito is this dude

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5800000/Kaito-vocaloids-5802285-350-400.jpg

I was wondering, and oh, I see.

[MiriaRose]

Yeah, that's definitely not an arrest. They were being kicked out of a mall. Being arrested is when they handcuff you, throw you in the crown vic, and take you downtown.

Also, how do we know they were being kicked out JUST for cosplaying? The video doesn't provide any information. A lot of cosplayers tend to be disruptive/rude when cosplaying at malls and get kicked out. I know cosplayers have been kicked out of Lloyd various times.

[Saki-the-cat]

That reminds me. I actually had a Hetalia meetup last December and we got kicked out because our massive group (well over 20 people) were being too loud. So it wasn't the costumes that got us kicked out, it was the loud noises/too many people.
I soppose the only reason to get kicked out of a store or mall because of your costume would be if you're wearing a mask or anything else that covers up your face, which makes sense considering they want to see your face if you steal something (which we're not, but it never hurts for mall staff to play it safe). I've never heard of being arrested JUST because of your costume though. That would just be silly. It would be no less ridiculous than getting arrested for going out wearing colors that don't match, or wearing a summer shirt in winter.

[meep]

A lot of cosplayers who hang out at malls and get in trouble= bad behavior...... You guys don't play like 5 year olds in the mall, YOU ARE GOING TO GET KICKED OUT. Common sense?

1I usually only go outside to cosplay for photoshoots now and if we go to the mall afterwards I usually try to bring a change of clothes and a more natural colored wig to wear.

[nikkiolie]

Did they get arrested or kicked out of the mall? We have been threatened to be kicked out several times. Mall security does not have the power to arrest someone.

[Vysh]

The law that states that you can't have any portion of your face covered is always confusing to me. I cosplayed reita and the mall security made me take off my noseband, Understandable of course. But i asked the lady about the law so she recited it to me.
 Then i asked her about sunglasses. Because I was honestly confused how people could wear sunglasses, covering you eyes which are more used for identification than a nose would be. And she refused to answer me and ignored me from then on. Could anyone answer that question for me?

[Washougal_Otaku]

Shades are a tool for protecting ones vision, and they don't cover an entire face.  If there were a need to see the eyes, security could ask them to take them off.  The wearer was the option to remove them (which there shouldn't be any reason why people shouldn't) or keep wearing them.  I'm not sure what would legally occur next, but that's mainly because I've never had to worry.

[MiriaRose]

Also, when I read the thread title I thought the topic was cosplayers getting high in public, while in costume. .

[Saki-the-cat]

I actually thought it was cosplayers tripping people in public at first.

[@random]

This may sound like a trivial distinction, but it's actually kinda important: It is not against the law to have your face covered in public. It isn't even against the law to have it covered on private property, like a mall.

It may be against the policy of the mall, but all they can do is ask you to uncover it, and tell you that you will be required to leave unless you uncover it. Even then, you're still not breaking the law if you refuse to uncover your face. (But you are now breaking the law against trespassing, since an agent of the property owner has told you to leave.)

Sorry for ranting; it just bugs me how often these days company policy gets mistaken for government law. Companies can frequently buy laws written the way they want, but they aren't (yet) allowed to directly set the laws.

Also, when I read the thread title I thought the topic was cosplayers getting high in public, while in costume. .

 

I actually thought it was cosplayers tripping people in public at first.

 

(Have I mentioned lately that I love you guys?)