This is a huge concern to my cosplayer friends, every once in a while i receive an email from someone either saying they were bullied online for cosplay or that they are afraid to get into the hobby for that exact reason.

No matter who you are, as a cosplayer, you probably came across very mean people who said some very hurtful things to you. Either because of your costume quality or maybe your looks.

My advice to you is, first of all to NOT take it personally, these people are projecting, and second, to ignore it completely, the absolute worst thing you can do is engage the individuals in question.

They do not care that you love the character and are just trying to honor them, they will never understand the meaning of Cosplay, do not argue with them, the best thing to do, is just to not pay attention to it.  Some might say that ignoring it just empowers the bully to continue to do it to others, I just don't see any benefit to getting into an online war personally. It's just my opinion.

The minute you engage, they've won, it's what they want, to get a reaction out of you, so do not give them what they want. Someone once said to me, sharing pictures on in the internet is like sharing your work on the bathroom wall, and it is very much like that.

If you want to spare yourself the headache, you have to protect yourself by doing the following.

If you send your Tomb Raider pictures to this website, we do not have comments on the galleries so no one will be able to say anything about your pictures good or bad.

Join our discord and Facebook group if you long for like minded people and want to discuss your outfits and ideas, community is the most important thing and you will find a lot of people who will support you.

If you're not a Tomb Raider cosplayer, put your work anywhere where you know there will be someone reliable monitoring the comments.

I'm not asking you to hide and just be ashamed of your pictures, I'm suggesting you to choose the people you hang out with.

With all this said, do not forget that there are good people around who love to see your pictures, and most of the time they join our communities and enjoy our cosplayers' work and support it...