Tuesday, May 14, 2013 The Tech 9 FANDOM It’s difficult to separate the concept of nerdiness from MIT. The Coop sells stickers that say Nerd Pride, our mascot is the beaver (nature’s engineer), and Conan O’Brien pokes fun at MIT’s nerdiness on his Twitter. But is the Institute truly a nerdy place? The Tech surveyed the undergraduate population of MIT to settle this question. 1402 students — 31 percent of the under- graduate body — responded. 76 percent of students surveyed 76% of students identified their high school stereo- identified as a nerd type as “nerd,” but are they really? 47 percent of MIT has seen every 10% as preps episode of Star Wars. Only 8 percent watch anime, and 12 percent read 8% as jocks comic books/manga, but the entire school (like much of the world) seems to adore Harry Potter. To limit the breadth of our special, we kept the scope of our survey to media related fandoms like books, television, movies, and video games. We excluded sports and music since both categories are enormous and could merit their own surveys. We were interested in examining whether or not the ste- reotype of MIT as a nerd haven is true to life. In the following pages, you’ll find data from our survey, a spotlight of fandom- based groups at MIT, and an interview with a Comparative Me- dia Studies lecturer about fandoms. Featured are members of our community who shed their Brass Rats to don costumes and become someone else — to cosplay. We spoke with a variety of students about their favorite things, and polled the average American using Mechanical Turk to reveal what their percep- tions of MIT are for comparison. So is MIT truly the home of the Nerdy? It’s up to you to see the data and decide for yourself! Please write to us with your thoughts at [email protected] and may the Force be with you as you embark on the summer! —Jessica J. Pourian ’13 and Connor Kirschbaum ’13 Coordinators Contributing Editors Jessica J. Pourian ’13 Connor Kirschbaum ’13 Editors Anne Cai ’14 Kali Xu ’15 Jacob Austin-Breneman ’13 Production Judy Hsiang ’12 Aislyn Schalck ’13 Annia Pan ’15 10 The Tech Tuesday, May 14, 2013 The Tech 11 Cosplay, from Page 10 to other cosplayers online,” she said. While costumes aren’t required Wang is aware of this issue for con attendance, once you co- as well, and is planning for her next Iron Man splay once it’s difficult to go back to costume to be a Daft Punk / Tron normal attire, the cosplayers said. Legacy crossover. “I’m going to “I think it would “It feels kind of weird to be at continue cosplaying androgynous/ at the one of these conventions and NOT desexualized/masked characters; be a shame be in costume,” Brian Chan ’02, an there’s a different convention expe- if none of the instructor at the MIT Hobby Shop, rience under the helmet.” Institute said. Others are fans of gijinka, a co- best Iron Man splay style where you anthropo- One of the interesting cos- Picking a character morphize a character and repre- costumes came tumes we came across was an With thousands of fictional char- sent it without actually being the out of MIT.” Iron Man suit created by Brian acters to choose from, cosplayers character. Chan ’02, an instructor at the tend to gravitate towards their fa- “You can’t dress up as Pokémon MIT hobby shop. “I like Iron vorite characters, and those who without suits, and that’s a whole Man because it has a good sto- would be fun to act out. different world,” said Vega, whose ry of a self-made super hero,” “I choose from things I’m really Glaceon outfit was an example of he said, “Also, in the series, invested in because that will prob- gijinka. Tony Stark is an MIT Alum, so ably transfer over to the costume,” Gijinka can make it easy to go in I think it would be a shame if said Waln, who adored the Assas- a group. Jacobs, Vega, and Arianna none of the best Iron Man cos- sin’s Creed games. “Doing costumes all dressed as Eeveelutions when at- tumes came out of MIT.” take a really long time, and you have tending Anime Boston. Chan’s costume is not only to want to be making it.” “I like to costume in groups,” Ja- visually appealing, but it is cobs said. “That’s why Pokémon is a functioning piece of engi- usually a good idea, there are lots of neering. It is “made from a big “Cosplaying alone options for everybody.” Jacobs has combination of old-school and also cosplayed in a group as Twi- modern methods,” Chan said. is awkward. light Sparkle (from My Little Pony). After sketching the cos- “Cosplaying alone is awkward,” tume and modeling it virtual- Especially on she said, “especially on the T. If ly, Chan 3D printed the gloves the T. If you’re by you’re by yourself, people start using shapeways.com and the staring.” facilities at the Hobby shop. yourself, people He waterjet-cut and laser-cut Creation of a costume many of the panels and CNC- start staring.” Cosplayers typically plan the milled the others. costumes for a convention far in “Even with all the tech, I Time to pretend advance of the event. Designing a have to put a lot of handcraft- Wang also chooses her costumes costume can take anywhere from a ing time into the costumes, based on how comfortable she feels week to six months to a year. with carving, filing, and sew- The Tech takes an inside look at cosplaying at MIT — playing a character for a long period The worst night? The cosplayers ing the components that of time. all agree — right before the con. couldn’t quite be made by how students take their engineering skills and apply “While I’d be able to pull off “Most of the work is done the machine.” a Sailor Scout costume based on night before,” said Paula Jacobs ’13. All the lights on the cos- them to crafting the perfect costume. looks,” Wang said, “I’d much rather “I was practically tooling to get tume are hand-soldered, he walk around as Surge [from X-Men] the Journey costume done,” Ahearn said. because I’m more comfortable with mused. “It’s Parkinson’s Law — the character, fandom, and outfit.” work expands to fill the time to allot By Jessica J. Pourian is a popular art at conventions and with being a full-time student at pass my classes,” Vega said. But for stressed out with school. Costuming “I generally like to pick some- its completion.” CONTRIBUTING EDITOR festivals. MIT? the most part “as long as it doesn’t was my way of de-stressing.” thing I already have the hair for,” Creating a costume isn’t cheap, Waln’s Ezio costume cost her make something, someone else has er’s machine or one that belongs to MIT has a fair share of cosplay- “It’s difficult,” laughed Michael interfere with [my] studies,” it seems Both Waln and Vega got into cos- added Waln, “I can’t stand wearing either. Cost for a single character $200 and six months of work. Chan already made something a lot like the dorm, the classic item is still the 30 percent of MIT students who ers in its student body. They’ve co- Ahearn ’13, who has cosplayed as to be fine. tuming because of their mothers. wigs, they itch SO BAD.” can range drastically. Some cos- said that most of his costumes are it.” Vega said. best way to make costumes. responded to The Tech’s survey splayed as everything from Harry a number of Homestuck characters Vega’s parents aren’t the only Waln’s mother taught her to sew in Sometimes physical appearance tumes can be assembled for free a few hundred dollars, “if [he] bud- “Everyday office supplies,” can But fabric and fortunate finds (427 people) have dressed up as a Potter and Doctor Who (the 11th!) as well as the protagonist of the ones who see cosplay as an odd use the 7th grade, and she’s been mak- can act as a barrier — “There aren’t from the right selection of items gets well.” Chan saves money by be incredibly useful said Waln. She in the dollar store aren’t the only character from Harry Potter, Fire- to a variety of Pokémon (Raichu, Playstation 3 hit Journey. “Basically of their children’s time. ing her own costumes ever since. that many fictional characters of from a cosplayer’s current closet reusing materials — his Iron Man made the hidden blades for her Ezio thing you need to cosplay — some- fly, Star Trek, Star Wars, or Lord of the Eeveelutions etc.) ,to anime if I’m working on a cosplay and it’s “My parents see it as a time sink,” color,” said Jacobs, who is plan- and a good touch of makeup, while costume has parts that are made costume out of “paper, popsicle times more expensive materials are the Rings. While many of this num- (Neon Genesis Evangelion is a popu- close to the deadline I almost per- said Helena Wang ’15, whose favor- ning to do a Storm (from X-Men) the price of materials for others can from soda cans and scraps from the sticks, a little bit of epoxy putty, rub- needed. ber are very likely casual fans who lar choice) and video game (Team ceive it as another due date along ite cosplay is Zer0 from Borderlands “I’ve stayed away costume soon.