revolutionaryjo:
this-is-life-actually:
Lawrence’s first encounter with cosplay came in 2001 when Lawrence met Jessica Walsh, her now partner, who introduced Lawrence to her first cosplay convention. It wasn’t until two years later that Lawrence became costumed participant, despite fears of not fitting in. A gentle pep talk from a friend finally encouraged Lawrence to tamp down her reservations and go for it and she learned a very important lesson along the way.
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Wow, @brichibi and @snowtigra! This post has so many notes and sprung up on my dash independent of your blogs. Awesome!
Also, I see you there @kirideth. :D
AH! It’s me and the wifey <3 <3 <3
Insecure thoughts are going to happen, they just will. Even with all of my confidence I still have that paranoid voice in my head, that kid who was called “weird” for liking anime and video games, she still talks to me like, “They’re going to make fun of you,” “Remember when they made fun of you,” and I do worry – that’s normal. The worrying stops when the cosplay is done, I put it on, I look into the mirror, and I smile. Focus on that feeling of accomplishment when you finish that cosplay, because the only person you need to impress with your cosplay is you.
I wanted to share an interview my wifey and I got to do for Geek x Girls about our cosplay and body positivity and all that good stuff :)
All cosplay is made by my wifey Snow Tigra:) (and occasionally designed by me, like the Mario dress)
Pictures are by Nude Carbon Studios and X-Geek.
Interview is here :)
My Mario dress doubles as a Luigi dress my life is complete~
Underneath the Wonder Woman dress is… another dress?! Tis true~
Filed under reasons why I love my wifey and her ingenious ideas <3
There’s this idea that there’s a certain way to be black, and growing up as a geek, I was, somehow, being black in the wrong way. Black girls didn’t watch anime. Black girls didn’t play video games. I was told to “stop acting white,” and this wasn’t just in high school, this continued into my adult life, too.
There’s this idea that there’s a certain way to be black, but with cosplay and the geek community in general, I learned about the importance of being yourself, of not listening to what others think you should be. This goes for race, body image, sexuality, all things that I’ve been told at one point in time I was wrong in since I’m black, fat, and lesbian. But with cosplay, I met such a diverse group of people, people who are all about diversity and people who love the differences among us. I also met people who felt the same way I did at one point in time, who felt that they were, somehow, not “acting right” because of the things they were into, all because their skin color was different.
Together, we’re proving that that’s not true at all, and the more of us that show that you can be comfortable in your own skin, the more people around us gain the confidence to realize how amazing they are. Geekery and cosplay are not exclusive to one race, one gender, one body type, it’s open to everyone. And even if, at times, we all don’t agree, the general message is loud and clear: cosplay is for everyone.
Me attempting to be cute in my Mario dress or something. Also lumas.
Hey everyone! We’re really excited about Anime Milwaukee! Here’s my cosplay line up, my table location, and some of the stuff that my wifey and I will have available over the weekend. Hug Me Heroes, woodburned work, books, and new cosplay! This is our first con in our convention line up for the year <3
Also, I’m going to be taking pictures and sharing them on the #28DaysOfBlackCosplay hashtag everywhere I can!
Hope to see you there!
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 :)
