Neo Queen Serenity based on fanart by asieybarbie, photo credit: DWB Photography.
Greetings readers, it’s new feature time with our fantastic featured fatty, Briana Lawrence, also known as Brichibi Cosplays. Welcome Briana! Thanks so much for having me!
Let’s begin with an origin story. Tell us a little about yourself so our readers get an idea of who you are and how you got into cosplay. Let’s dim the lights and have an epic city backdrop as I tell the tale of Brichibi Cosplays! [laughs]
I’ve been with this woman for 13 years and I’m looking forward to 13 more, and more, and more until we reach forever. She’s my co-author, my seamstress, my partner, my everything.
Pictures taken by our friend Lavonne Brite, who’s getting into photography and wanted to do some couple shots of us, from us being in normal clothes to showing what we normally do together, which is this lady making my cosplay and making me feel amazing :) You can also find my cosplay page here and my wifey’s here. We have many new things planned this year and are excited to continue to bring our ideas to life.
So I was listening to the Black Girl Nerds podcast last night, and they had PNW Fattitude as guests. The podcast was amazing to listen to as they covered plus sized cosplay and were all very encouraging. One thing that stuck out to me was the message of “making your cosplay your own.”
A lot of times, plus sized cosplayers think they can’t do certain characters because of their weight. I’m guilty of this. I’m guilty of having this voice in my head that tells me, “No, Bri, you can’t.” As confident as I am, I still have the voice of the fat, weird, black girl who was told that she was strange for being a geek. She’s still there, you know?
But the ladies on the podcast had this awesome message on how, essentially, you should cosplay how you want to cosplay, and do characters the way you want to do them.
Make the cosplay your own.
And it’s something that I tell myself when that voice pops up in my head. When I have that moment of insecurity, I quietly tell myself that it’ll be fine, that I’m having fun, that this is my take on a character and I’m going to rock it.
So here’s some examples of me doing just that :) I started to sketch designs for characters I wanted to do, and my wifey would bring them to life. This is in order of oldest (my Green Hill Zone dress) to newest (my Mario dress).
And remember, always remember, that to love your cosplay is to love yourself :)
Time to Preach the Gospel Truth
Fat is just a size, that’s it. It doesn’t mean you’re lazy. It doesn’t mean you’re ugly. It’s just a size. You can be happy. You can think your hair is cute. You can like that shirt you’re wearing. You can cosplay. You can write. You can be artistic. You can be anything, ANYTHING you want to be. Don’t let these unnamed people ever, EVER convince you otherwise.
We need to stop thinking so lowly of ourselves because of appearance. We need to stop listening to what society is trying to tell us, because society doesn’t know what the fuck it wants. “Too fat.” “Too thin.” “Too everything.” If you keep trying to go by society’s standards you’ll be left with too little, too late.
I swear everything I do is going to equal fat to some people.
Have a college degree in English and Women’s Studies? That’s glorifying obesity.
Get an award from my Women’s Studies Department? That’s glorifying obesity.
Get a book published? That’s glorifying obesity.
Get another book published? Double the fat.
A third? Triple cheeseburger!
Two short stories? Super-size me.
Edit books? With a side of fries!
Snuggle with my cats? That’s glorifying obesity.
Plan my wedding? Obesity.
Cosplay? Obesity.
Woodburn? OBESITY!
All these things are bringing me closer to death because everything I do is glorifying obesity and obesity kills and people are just concerned for my well being so obesity obesity OBESITY! No matter what I do there’s always going to be those people who only see the chunkiness of my size instead of my accomplishments, which is why I always say do the things that make you happy, don’t worry about these people. You could invent a way to breathe in space without a helmet and be a godsend to NASA, but these people will still tell you that you’re showing fat people how to be lazy because now they don’t have to put any effort into lifting their arms up to put on the helmet.
Just keep doing you, o.k.?
You can be a princess. You can be a queen. You can even be a goddess. You can be anything you want: to love your cosplay is to love yourself.
Person: Fat people are just lazy, they need to get out and do something. Fat Person: *gets out and does all of the things* Person: Ugh you’re so fat you need to stay inside so we don’t have to see this shit. Fat Person: ………..
See. This. This is why it’s not worth stressing about.
So you know the drill, smile on the count of three: 1… 2… 3!
This is the story of a geeky anime/gaming gal by the name of Chibi. Please fasten your seat belts and prepare for... some sort of ride? Oh! I love to write, and I also love doing crafty things. I go to conventions with my partner and sell woodburned things, clocks, mirrors, and more! So expect to see those on here too :)
