Characters: Green Ranger & Rita Repulsa
Series: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
EEEEEEEEEE Such a good cosplay! Someday, I’ll do Rita too <3
O.K. not only am I happy for all of the support but I’m happy that you guys are impressed with my cooking skills. To be honest I haven’t fried chicken in a long time so I was kinda surprised it turned out so good O.o So it was symbolic AND delicious!
Here’s a message from me to you, because it’s come up again, only this time on Facebook.
The reason why I want to be positive as much as possible in regards to cosplay bashing is because there’s some great people out there who are actually afraid to cosplay because of crap like this. Cosplay is supposed to be fun, you shouldn’t be scared. You shouldn’t be scared to have fun. I’ve personally decided to stick with being positive, because that seems to encourage people more than me posting something and being upset, or even pissed off. I’m well aware of what I look like and that some people might not like it. That’s nothing new.
That’s the thing that really kills me with this stuff. People who make bad comments think they’re the first, that they’re so clever with their “whale” remarks and pig pictures and whatnot. Sweetie, bullying isn’t new. I’m a kid from the 80s, o.k.? I am well aware that I was the fat geek girl, and let me tell you, being a fat, black, geek girl in Chicago in the 90s (my middle school and high school years) was not the norm. People still think that black geek girls are this rare thing when, honestly, we’re not. If it’s still a surprise to people now, can you imagine the 90s, when anime was still this new thing? When video games didn’t even have ESRB ratings yet? I was here when the Nintendo was first introduced. That’s how long I’ve been a geek. If you think boys poke girls for their geekiness now, you should’ve seen it back then. Combine that with being overweight and, yeah, easy target practice to some people.
So I’ve been through this, and to be honest, I didn’t have nearly as much support back then as I do now with the geek community. Back then it was reversed, there were more “you’re weird” folks and you’d be lucky to find someone on your side. I had people on my side, but not NEARLY as much as I do now. Not even close. And when I think about that, and that person who is scared to cosplay the character they love because they think they’ll be harassed, all I want to do is be positive for them and for myself.
Now, to be honest, there is a ping of pain when I get a negative remark. It does get to me. I don’t want to come off as someone who just isn’t effected by bullying, because it hurts. Here’s what I realize, though. I realize that I’m not that pudgy kid who people thought was weird for watching anime and wanting a Super Nintendo instead of Barbie dolls. I’m 30, and these remarks have been made towards be many times before. Before I had an amazing group of friends and followers who support me. Before there were communities and groups that showcase plus sized people, and not in a way that’s strictly, “These people should lose weight.” That still happens, but that’s not all we have now. We have “fat is beautiful” groups. We have “black is beautifuI” groups. We have “geek girls are awesome” groups. We have these things now.
I survived the harsh comments before these things existed. Now, I want to own who I am, and inspire others :) Please remember that you aren’t alone and there are people out there who will love what you do.
I love what you do <3
JayEm Sison as Eren Titan of Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan
Anyway this cosplayer he’s so very hunk and he’s so very such a stunning amazing ever!!! <3 <3 <3 (*O*)
Follow on he’s Twitter account for more info of JayEm Sison:
Good lord.
Cosplay plans for next year! Subject to change, but probably won’t change at all. Maybe I’ll have more than three who knows! Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever planned multiple cosplays before, not for the same year, lol. So this will be fun! I didn’t think I’d be cosplaying this much, but I really, really want to. Everyone’s been so encouraging, so I want to do it more!
1. Hilda from “A Link Between Worlds,” which features a mirrored version of Hyrule :) Just discovered this today. Must do it. Absolutely. The wifey may be doing Zelda, so that we mirror each other ^^
2. Princess Serenity from “Sailor Moon,” only the version by asieybarbie :)
3. A femme, Steampunk version of Kid Flash that my wifey designed. We already have some fabric for it, woot!
Next year is going to be exciting! And we’re looking at going to more conventions, too!
Oh no guys there’s a purple haired version of Zelda in the upcoming game “A Link Between Worlds,” I think we all know what that means…
The Female Type Titan, from Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan
Cosplayer
Centrifugal forces kill the man.
HOW IS THIS COSPLAY?!
shadow naoto makeup under the cut bc i am actually a large gay baby
Oh my, check out this shadow Naoto! That make up though, wow! Also, that’s the hat my wifey makes!
Updates ^^
Good morning, everyone! There are a lot more of you than there was yesterday. Hi! Here’s a few cosplay related updates from me :)
1. I get to write a cosplay article for xoJane and I’m pretty excited. It’ll focus on how to be encouraging towards plus sized cosplayers and how saying things like, “people might not want to see you dressed as that character because of your size” is not being helpful. We get that you’re trying to warn the cosplayer of the bullies out there, but to be honest, from what I’ve seen/experienced plus sized cosplayers (or diverse cosplayers in general) already know that the bullies are out there and are cautiously going into cosplay anyway, so saying things like that just makes them even more worried.
2. I’m pretty much going to do Princess Serenity next year, for sure. She wasn’t on my list before but she is now thanks to this amazing fanart. Also going to do steampunk femme Kid Flash and found some awesome fabric for it. My wifey and I are talking about a third costume at the moment. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t really think I’d be cosplaying this much let alone have so many people interested in me cosplaying, but now that I’m doing it I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. If you’re looking at me as a role model for plus sized cosplay, then that’s amazing. If you’ve been debating on whether you should cosplay or not and my cosplay has someone pushed you to take the plunge, then that’s incredible. That really makes me happy. I never thought of myself as a cosplay role model, but that’s pretty cool :)
Someday, I want to do a cosplay calender, with all sorts of diverse cosplayers. Plus sized, different ethnicities, lgbt, men (that sounds weird but the two big cosplay calenders I know about do not have a single man in it and I KNOW they are out there cosplaying too, even if “Heroes of Cosplay” says that they’re cosplay is “boring”). It’s just a dream for now, but who knows what the future will hold. I mean I love “Cosplay for a Cause” and Yaya’s calender and stuff, but just… a calender with a variety of cosplayers would rock. Or, you know, cosplayers who look more like me.
3. We’ve signed up for three conventions already next year and are just waiting to hear back. This is Anime Milwauke, Anime Detour, and Naka-Kon. We are also looking at Anime Central again but the artist alley isn’t up yet. We will also be looking at CONvergence, but we’re not sure if we’re going to be dealers or not. We might just go to that one just to go the first year. We also want to look at a big, far away con, in the likes of Otakon or something like that. Just take a trip and go for it.
In regards to conventions, I’m always looking for suggestions on where to go. Now that my wifey has weekends off, we can look at a lot of conventions because it won’t use nearly as much PTO. At the conventions we’ll be there in cosplay, and have a table in artist alley. Next year, we hope to have our books there. Our cover artist was at a con with us last weekend and the covers generated a lot of buzz, so we hope to actually have physical copies of the books. At the moment, our publisher has been merged with a larger publisher, which seems to be a good thing, so far, since now there’s more resources at our disposal :)
That’s everything. If you just started following me, hello and welcome! During that whole mess yesterday I broke 600 followers, so yay!
Here’s a secret about cosplay that I’m going to address more in an article I get to write for xoJane (yay!)
So the insults people throw at plus sized cosplayers, or cosplayers of color, or lgbt cosplayers, or whatever? Here’s the deal. A lot of us come into cosplay already paranoid about being bashed for something. This is because that, most likely, these diverse people have probably dealt with some sort of insult in their lives BEFORE getting into the geek scene. When I decided to cosplay I immediately went on the hunt for a black character, or a plus sized cosplayer, because I thought, “If I do someone who is white, or skinny, I’m going to get bashed.” This was even before the horror stories I heard. I was already pre-paranoid. We already live in a society that has its opinions on how I should look, and I don’t fit them. So I came in on guard, right off the bat.
Now, as you’re probably aware, there are not that many characters on the geek scene that fit my body type or race. So that’s when I learned that cosplay is about dressing up as who YOU like, NOT who you look like. I think people forget the most important part of cosplay: play. Have fun with it, o.k.? If you want to be Sailor Moon but you’re fat, or black, or hell, a man, then do it. The point is to be the character you like. While it’s great to see the cosplayers who absolutely nail it appearance wise, what’s even better to see is the cosplayers who just love what they’re doing. I love the cosplayers who are in character. If you walk up to me as Joker but you’re not pencil thin, yet you can nail the laugh and the mannerisms, that will make me so happy.
I did Peach because I love her. I’ve done this costume before, years ago, but I never actually went out and took pictures in it. The only pictures were ones people posted online themselves, but I never went out of my way to do it myself. It’s because you hear these horror stories of people giving others a hard time, and while it’s true, it’s not terribly encouraging. It scares cosplayers off. "I can’t do this,“ they say, "because they’re going to make fun of me.” The truth is, you CAN do it. You can cosplay whoever you want, and if you’re having fun with it, people will enjoy it. So stop telling people that they’re going to be made fun of if you’re trying to encourage them. Tell them to rock it. I wanted to do Peach but she’s a blonde haired white girl. So what? I just made her a plus sized black girl with curly hair. I made her fit me.
This is why bashers really irritate me. Not because they’re bashing me, but because someone sees that and thinks, “Wow nevermind I’m not going to put myself out there.” But truthfully, if you think about it my plus sized/black cosplayers, you’ve met this person before. Just not in the cosplay community. You’ve had someone let out that regretful sigh when they see that you’re a big person. "Cute in the face,“ that’s what they called it back in my high school days. You’ve had someone make an assumption about you because you’re black, or gay, or whatever. I’ve been told I don’t "look gay,” I’ve been told that I “sound white.” If you stop and think about it, you’ve been through this hate before.
And just like in real life, you shouldn’t let them get you down. This is why when I got my bash fest I decided to turn it around because I know that someone is reading this, and they’re getting scared. They’re thinking, “Oh wow someone is bashing her they sure as hell are going to bash me.” But believe me when I say everyone, EVERYONE, gets bashed. The cosplay icons you know about? Get bashed, somehow. For anything. Yaya’s breasts are fake. Jessica Nigri is too sexy. The list goes on. And you know what? For all of the hatred at the end of the day, at its core, the geek community is a place where there will be people who support you, and love you. They will encourage you, and they will even defend you if something like this happens.
So don’t hide your cosplay, o.k.? Get in costume and come out there with me :)
