Introduction - What is it like being a Cosplayer?

Hey! I'm Chuloon, and I'm *extremely* new to the cosplay scene. Don't get me wrong, I've known cosplay has existed for a very long time, but was only at Otakon 2014 that I finally made a cosplay myself! I've been conventions before without a costume, and found them pretty underwhelming, to be honest. I don't know, it just didn't seem all that great. Sure, the cosplays were fun to look at, but with the multitude of panels that simply weren't worth my time, I just felt like I was missing out on something. After meeting my partner in crime, Jennykip, I was convinced to finally give it a try--AND IT WAS AWESOME! It was absolutely incredible seeing all our hard work pay off. People would stop us for a picture, and thank us for it after, but I felt like we should have been the ones saying thank you (and we did)! It's such an enormous compliment to be stopped for how much they appreciated our costumes! Not only that, but it was also really inspiring--not only because we got to see so many other mind-blowing cosplays, but also because of all the personal stories we were told in response to our costumes! Avatar: The Last Airbender resonated with a lot of people growing up, and we had countless people stop and tell us how much it meant to them to see us dressed as their favorite character. I felt so incredible to have given them those feelings, and it inspires me that much more to put my all into my next costume! After posting our pictures on Reddit and Tumblr, we got such a huge wave of praise that showed me that the cosplay community is truly one of the most welcoming I've ever experienced.

What are your next goals?

I'd really love to expand my cosplay repertoire! But long term goals? Honestly, I've always loved how awesome some of the girls in animes looked, and I would love to get good enough at creating costumes to be able to adapt them into an equally bad ass male version. I feel like it's been mostly females that have begun to bridge this gap, but I'm not content with how few men have done the same.

Cosplay Characters

I've only ever cosplayed as Zuko at Otakon 2014! It was actually both my first convention I spent more than two hours at and my first time cosplaying.

What does Cosplay mean to you?

Cosplaying means taking your childhood heroes giving them the greatest form of flattery--imitation. I'm not saying trying to fly off like Superman or firebend like Zuko, but just for a day, you are able to step out of your civilian shoes and into something greater.

Who have been your biggest influences/role models/mentors?

My biggest influence is my cousin and her friends over at cos-mopolitan.deviantart.com! I don't think I would have ever considered cosplaying if not for seeing my cousin as a role model for the better part of my life. Seeing their group show up with some of the most amazing cosplays I've ever seen always made me wish I could do the same.

Do you have any advice or suggestions for upcoming Cosplayers?

It doesn't matter if you don't know how to sew. Just jump right into it! I had never sewn before starting my Zuko costume, and now, while I'm not the best, I'd like to think I'm at least functional with a sewing machine.

What is the most negative experience you've dealt with while cosplaying, and how did you handle it?

I actually have never had a negative experience, but if I had to pick one... it was when strangers on Reddit tried to tell me that my friend couldn't cosplay the character she wanted just because she wasn't the right body type. Sure, my character in *extremely* small part picked because I matched the body type, but it was overwhelmingly because I loved the character, and felt like I could do him justice. It made me so angry to know that some people are so closed minded to think that you can't cosplay whoever you want regardless of sex or body type. I mean, you don't see people picking apart Jessica Nigri for cosplaying male characters--they criticize a lot, but that's not typically one of the common complaints.