The Best and Worst of Street Fighter Cosplay

ByPaul Posted on Updated on

The longer I write for this site and make posts like this, the more respect I have for good cosplay. To truly make a good costume it takes a lot of hard work and artistic talent.

Also the opposite is also true, and I have even less respect for shit costumes. Today I’ve decided to go with the best of both worlds, and do both good and bad in one gallery post. Street Fighter is the theme, and as Halloween approaches, you can see the good, the bad and the ugly of what you might expect if you go down one of these routes.

Good Ryu

Bad Ryu

Good Ken

Bad Ken

Good Chun Li

Bad Chun Li

Good M. Bison

Bad M. Bison

Good Zangief

Bad Zangief

Good Sakura

Bad Sakura

Good Guile

Bad Guile

Good Cammy

Bad Cammy

Good Blanka

Bad Blanka

Good E. Honda

Bad E. Honda

Good Sagat

Bad Sagat

Good Vega

Bad Vega

Good Akuma

Bad Akuma

Fan-freaking-tastic Dhaslim

Bad Dhalsim

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

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37 Comments

  2. I don’t know about Good Vega…

    He made me laugh really hard at my desk… I thought I had skipped the “Good Vega”.

    He looks like Lestat had a baby with a gay Spanish pirate…

    Wait. Aren’t they the same person.

  7. I agree with Hyuri…

    Also, look at “good” E.Honda’s torso. I mean, really look at it. Forget the head, arms and everything below the belt. Make a tiny circle with your fingers and peek through it, even. Focus on the “eyes”. You’re now mesmerized, like me. It’s like he ate the hypno-toad. I’ve gotta go, walk it off or something.

  10. I agree with most of your selections, but I would at the same time say that some of the discriminations are unfair. You are often judging cosplayers on their natural beauty being good and natural appearance being similar to a character, and thus if they were similar to begin with, of course if they cosplay as them the result will be better then someone who worked hard on their costume, but are ugly and/or look completely different then who they are trying to cosplay as.

    Of course, if you are naturally good looking, look similar to who you are cosplaying as, and worked hard on a good costume, you will always trump someone who is ugly, looks nothing like who they are cosplaying as, but still worked hard on a good costume. But my point still stands.

  12. I agree with Kirby. Alright, so I wouldn’t want to run into a lot of the “bad” cosplayers irl any more than the rest of us, but some of them are just the wrong shape or build. The two Ryus for example, the only difference I can see is that the first one is muscular and has brown wraps, and the second is skinny and has red wraps, either of which are accurate. In fact, the first Ryu isn’t even a good Ryu anyway because the jagged edges at the arms and legs are clean-cut and not even slightly ripped. A minor detail, but it’s not exactly a complex costume.

    Credit where credit’s due, if people worked on a costume then fair play to them, regardless of if they actually make a convincing character or not. Although equally, if you go out dressed like some of these pictures, you can’t then complain if people are looking at you funny.

  13. I agree with Kirby on this one too. I also noticed that a lot of the “good” cosplayers (not all, but a lot of them) either have what look to be professional photos taken(like “good” Ryu), taken with a good camera at good times (Like the “good” Cammy is obviously doing a photoshoot where the “bad” Cammy seems like she was just photo-snipped laughing at something and the “good” Dhaslim was obviously done with a better camera for a photoshoot making it hard to compare really to the “bad” Dhaslim (bald cap aside even!)) or somehow the lighting levels have been played around with (possibly shopped) to take away the human imperfection (like the “good” Sakura). The “bad” M. Bison was obviously not meant to look exactly like the real one either but sort of a “girly” interpreted version so it’s not so much “bad” since the costume is quite good, it’s just not following M. Bison’s design exactly…but it was on purpose to create a different “version” so I don’t see how that can be “bad” cosplay?

  16. Bad Sakura is actually pretty good, and/or based on Kirby’s description of things, would qualify as good. Although the plastic wig definitely does not help. The only thing that would really keep her from looking good tho is the fact that her facial expression, the way that she is carrying herself in the photo, etc., …she appears to be drunk!

    WTF is “cosplay” anyway?! I understand that it is someone imitating a character but, did the Halloween/Gaming industry really feel the need to make up a new word to refer to this??

    Seems kinda dumb!

  17. good cammy = Delicious CAMMY
    bad cammy = made me think about committing suicide
    Good sagat = awesome projection
    bad akuma = would you like fries to go with that bigmac?

    lol

  21. I’m glad Hexaflex, Kirby, and M posted, so I feel like I’m not alone in saying you’re just being mean spirited. You’re often grading based on how attractive you find the people, and not how much work they put into their costume. Judging someone based on their physical looks is not what cosplaying is about, it’s about working hard on your costume then having fun showing it off with other people you hope are going to recognize the effort you put into it.
    I’m especially unhappy with your distinction between good and bad chun li. The first one is obviously just some model stripper type who was given a costume and told to pose, while the second one obviously worked hard on her costume and then was shot with an unflattering light and expression. Between those two I would unquestioningly put your “bad” chun li miles above your “good” chun li

  23. “Bad Blanka” killed me, I laughed so hard. Looks like it’s half Link! Some of the ‘good’ pics are obviously models, and could look good wearing anything.
    Some of the ‘bad’ ones are just not attractive people – but a lot of the bad ones are also just bad costumes. The bad Dhalsim for example. the cap and outfit are just plain bad. Not an ugly guy, just not well done. I think bad Blanka was a joke – I mean, just look at the expression and everything! I think he looks brilliant in a humor-way.

  25. Dhalsim, the most underrated character of all time…Given justice. I want to give this dude a double high five and chest bump. Years of going to the arcade I have been the only person i have seen to pick Dhalsim, and people would laugh when i picked him. No one was laughing when i would had them there ass with him tho.

  27. About the “bad” M. Bison, i think she’s crossplaying here, which is just cosplaying a character from a different sex…

    I actually appriciate people who do this, and dare this (mainly).

  31. Personally it dose not matter to me if they look the best or if they have the exact body type. All that matters is that the copslayer appreciates the character enough to be putting all their time, money, and effort into making the cosplays. I appreciate every single one of those cosplayers no matter how bad or good they are because in their eyes they are enjoying it and that is all that matters!

  33. Here’s the thing, when you cosplay you are suppose to take your body style into account. If you’re an overweight person cosplaying as a skinny or muscled character it doesn’t matter how much time you put into your costume. You will still never look like the character you are attempting to portray. Likewise if you are a skinny person trying to cosplay a fat or muscled character, you aren’t going to get the look just right. (might get close if trying to cosplay as a muscled character, but still, it will just be your costume that is doing anything to make you resemble who you are trying to be. Use ‘Bad Ken’ as an example of this)

    The ryu might be a stock picture but they definitely nailed it. Though I do agree that ‘Bad M. Bison’ is not bad at all considering her costume is pretty spot on and that she’s playing a female M. Bison and is pretty cute.

    ‘Good Akuma’ get’s points for trying. His eyes, beads, gi and hand-wraps are awesome. The ‘hair’ works but looks a bit silly and I’m sure you can tell he’s actually an overweight guy so the picture wouldn’t have been as good if we had a full body shot.

    ‘Bad Sagat’ is actually pretty good. The guy just needed to add the scars and he would pass for a near perfect Sagat.

    ‘Good E. Honda’ is an excellent example of how an overweight person can apply themselves to cosplay and look exactly like who they are trying to pull off.

    ‘Bad Sakura’ really not that bad. I’m sure there are way worse attempts and in a way yeah, it’s almost like she is cosplaying a bad (personality) Sakura.

    ‘Bad Guile’ really isn’t so bad. His hair is a bit much, but then Guile has some pretty crazy hair. ‘Good Guile’ is pretty amazing though.

    And lastly. Best. Dhalsim. Ever.

  35. The “Good Guile” and “Bad Guile” pieced together could make a better Guile. Dhalsim and M.Bison are bad ass.

    SIDE NOTE: Any females in the Salt Lake City area that would like to dress up as an accurately depicted Cammy and go out to a few bars for Halloween on October 26th with the rest of the Street Fighter crew (Chun-li, Ryu, Guile, Blanka, Dhalsim confirmed), please message me, https://www.facebook.com/groups/streetfighterhalloween/.

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