Hihi, thank you so much for your interest in the jam and your thoughtfulness!!! Congrats on your mask!! :DD I'd love to see it sometime~~
I'm going to be SO honest: the "media that sucks" statement was me typing on my computer with bitterness and being a little bit of a brat :,) Mostly I was thinking of the outcome of that one impact-font meme-generator image of the Love Live kigs captioned something like "Why are you scared, isn't this what you wanted?" and how the uncanniness of masked cosplays became synonymous with cheap horror. I was also thinking of how the few pieces of kigu media that aren't in that vein just feel... lacking in love, I suppose.
....Which reminds me to steer clear of falling into hypocritical pitfalls!!! Really, I don't expect the majority of people interested in this jam to own a doll or a mask. That shit's expensive!! I also can't expect everyone to be dedicating their life to the study of these hobbies, or that they perform them in the exact same ways I do. I've asked everyone to be earnest in their submissions, which I stand by, but really, who am I to decide what is earnest or not? Someone who learned about BJDs last week can pour their heart into something, no matter how it ends up looking, and is just as earnest as the old hag who thinks they deserve capital punishment because they didn't know the difference between vinyl and resin dolls.
TLDR; maybe I should've left out the suck and maybe re-emphasized care or respect. It's not tangible, but I think you can tell when something isn't made with heart. You don't have to treat the hobbies kindly to be caring--god knows there are in fact very real flaws and horrors within them (looking forward to being dissected on a certain board someday </3)--but seeing them as something people have spent a lot of time and effort is the easiest way to show heart.