Growing up, I was one of the weird kids. On top of loving video games, I loved anime, and back then that wasn’t “normal” for a black girl to be into. I was told that I wasn’t “a normal black girl,” to “stop acting white,” and was pretty much told that I wasn’t portraying my race accurately. I was also told that I “wasn’t a real girl” because I played video games. Add the fact that I was overweight and I was just this ball of oddness to people.

I did have friends, friends who I still love dearly today, but they weren’t into this whole anime/video game thing. Still, we were close like sisters, but I didn’t have too many people who could quote “Dragonball Z.” But at the age of 18, when I stepped into that convention hotel, I was suddenly surrounded by like minded people. It wasn’t just one or two people, but hundreds of them, and I suddenly didn’t feel like “the weird black girl.”

My interview with “Twin Cities Geek” celebrating #28DaysOfBlackCosplay.

Thanks so much to everyone who celebrated #28DaysOfBlackCosplay and thanks for letting me be a part of it. This movement has really shown that cosplay is something that all of us can take part in, and more importantly, it showed that there are many of us out there to support one another. To everyone who has ever been told that they’re “wrong” because of how they look or what they’re into, it’s o.k. to be different, and you’re not alone. The month may be ending, but the love and support is going to continue for the rest of the year and years to come.

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 :)

New cosplay done!!!  

So I sketched an idea for a Mario dress and the wifey brought it to life.  I’m so excited with how it came out <3  

First cosplay of the year for us  :)  

Princess Tiana is me.

Belle is my wifey, who made both gowns <3 <3 <3 

Youmacon is coming up and the wifey and I are super excited!  We’ve never been to the con before but have been wanting to go for years, so we’re thrilled to be able to sell there in artist alley.  Here’s some of the new things we’ll have, from the woodwork I do to the adorable stuffed babies she makes that we’re calling Hug Me Heroes.  We’ll also be cosplaying, as always  <3

We hope to see you at Youma!