Adam Savage makes things and builds experiments, and he uses costumes to add humor, color and clarity to the stories he tells. Tracing his lifelong love of costumes — from a childhood space helmet made of an ice cream tub to a No-Face costume he wore to Comic-Con — Savage explores the world of cosplay and the meaning it creates for its community. "We're connecting with something important inside of us," he says. "The costumes are how we reveal ourselves to each other." TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more. Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector

Comments

1. great
2. When I cosplay, I wear vintage pinstripe pants, vintage wingtip shoes, and WW2 spats. Cosplay for life!
3. I came here to see his glasses mic, anyone?
4. Spirited Away. ;_;. This is probably one of the best talks, because you can feel the passion of Adam Savage. I have fun dabbing into cosplay and Steampunk. This struck a chord. ;_;
5. Lmao, only clicked because I saw No Face from Spirited Away.
6. I'm really relieved to scroll down and realise I'm not the only one crying over this.
7. Adam's passion for cosplay and the way he describes the community actually made me tear up.
   
   now it's time to go spend all my life savings on a new costume ;)
8. Animè has finally infiltrated TED! Ling the Otaku!
9. Damn it Adam, you are a precious person.
10. Adam suggests Spirited Away, then he spoils the whole movie xD I can relate with Adam on the Excaliber passion , I watched it with my father as a kid as well and it stunned me for days.. It's still one of my all time favorites..
11. ADAM SAVAGE OMFG TuT I loved MythBusters sooo muuuccchhhhhhhh QuQ
12. never thought i would see adam savage here
13. HE'S SUCH A NERD ITS ADORABLE
14. I understood all of this when I attended SF cons back in the early 80s. My costumes were simple, because I didn't have the money to do better, but I experienced this first hand. One year, at WorldCon when it came to Chicago, I dressed as Ford Prefect from HHGttG. I wore clothes that clashed (argyle sweater vest, striped dress shirt, hounds toothed pants) and carried a satchel under one arm. I even had a towel under a copy of the script from "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat".
    I just went into the con dressed as Ford, but soon I found myself slowly being pulled further into what later became called "cosplay". After a couple hours, I WAS Ford Prefect. I was wandering about the con with 2 strangers dressed as Arthur Dent and Zaphod, almost a Trillian too but she had to leave, and we were all 3 in total character the whole day.
    Never saw the other 2 again after that Saturday, but the experience has totally burned into my memory and one of the best days in my life.
15. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Savage... Thank you..
16. lmao nerd
17. What is the purpose of this talk? I mean to what end? Nowadays any moron can have a ted talk :(
18. Adam you are one of my biggest heroes, and this made my day. :)
19. One day....I will go to Comic Con!!!!
20. Im glad this popped out on my recommendations. That last part about Spirited Away is amazing. This shows how people really get into their passion and how Cosplay isnt just about putting up a costume.