Maybe I am just a closed minded dolt but even after reading this and a few other pieces about this hobby, I still can't move past my initial reaction.
I think people are trying to justify their hobby with pseudo intellectualism. If you want to dress up in a skimpy outfit, by all means do it but call a spade a spade, not a ground excavation device with ergonomic grip and new and improved cutting edge for easier and cleaner cutting power!
If you cosplay as Quiet 'cos you like the character, fair enough but don't get all stuffy when you get ogled 'cos you're dressed a paramilitary stripper, I don't mean that offensively but if you turned up at an army guys stag do, I bet you'd find a stripper dressed like Quiet.
I also think that it's (and look at how I tie this in....) escapism. Nothing wrong with that, we'd all like to be the big hero and have that badass story be just about us 'cos lets face it, if you're here you play games and that what games do for us!
Cosplay is just an extension of that, you think Quiet is a pretty badass character and you want to play dress up and be that character.
However I think cosplay takes it a little too far. Like, my mum has 4 huskie dogs ... huskies are beautiful dogs, shed like a ***** and can't bark but nice looking doggies! She takes it too far by spending a large amount of time on forums, meeting up with about 50 other huskie owners and going on walks with them, she also does home checks to see if people can adopt a doggie ... to me, it's a little much, like a crazy cat lady. Everything in moderation and all that and if you're spending hundreds to look like a person from a fantasy world, you're going a little far.
Like I said though, I'm probably just a close minded dolt, I am also FAR from perfect but I will let people be. I can have an opinion on something without wanting to change it to suit me ... I'm not going to tell my own mother to stop being so into dogs or any of you to stop dressing as anybody you like. Just thought I'd throw my 2 pence in, hey, free speech and all! But seriously, nothing worse than a circle jerk, so boring whenever everybody agrees on something.