About

Shake My Hand in Character refers to a trend in which cosplayers are asked to shake someone's hand in character to see how good they are at representing the character they're dressed as. The trend began on TikTok in March 2020 and spread over the following years, also becoming popularized on YouTube.

Origin

On March 6th, 2020, TikToker^[1] @annacaris posted a video in which she shakes hands with all of her castmates from a production of Beauty and the Beast, asking them, "shake my hand in character," garnering over 12.2 million views in three years (shown below). This is the earliest known video following the trend.

Spread

The trend spread over the following years on TikTok and YouTube. On November 12th, 2021, TikToker^[2] @mrs_keri_holland posted a version shaking the hands of SpongeBob cosplayers, garnering over 9 million views in two years (shown below, left). On August 24th, 2022, YouTuber^[3] Bukkit Brown posted a version of the trend that gained over 11 million views in eight months. On October 15th, 2022, TikToker^[4] @slightlyvillainous posted a version of the trend shaking Five Nights at Freddy's cosplayers' hands, garnering over 5.1 million views in six months (shown below, right).

On March 30th, 2023, YouTuber^[5] Raine Emery posted a version of the video where they shake Mario Kart cosplayers' hands, garnering over 11 million views in two weeks (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References