Warren Worthington (Angel) from The X-Men : @kingsmilescosplay / photo: @heardthisstorybefore
So I didn’t put them together; I got them from a shop on Etsy. Unfortunately the shop closed down and I can’t remember the name of it, but they took about three months to arrive to me. From my understanding about them, they’re a thin styrofoam I believe used for ground insulation or something like that you can find giant rolls of at a hardware store. Individually cut then layered on some kind of posable frame.
Navigating crowds was pretty alright, honestly! Most people gave a wide berth around me to make room, and when going through Artist Alley, I just took my time. Lots of understanding (and impressed) people that definitely had a lot of patience with me, lol
Any kind of compliment on my cosplay feels like the lottery, but those people that completely stop to ask me about the wings or ask me for a picture feels incredible. Someone took a picture of me and put it on Twitter, and my non-con friend sent me the picture the next day and was like “is this you?!? You’re viral on X/Twitter!” At its peak, the post reached almost 400k views which made me freak out haha. Definitely overwhelmed with love, ESPECIALLY from fellow X-Men fans! Many said they’d never seen an Angel cosplay, but let me be the first to say I’m definitely not the first - @oldfashionednerd was a big inspiration for me.
When Miles Morales (Spider-Man) was first introduced in the comic books, my brother was inspired to do a short film and my mom got him a suit. When we went to a con, he didn’t move 10 feet without being stopped for a picture. I thought he looked awesome and he had everyone’s attention. When his suit needed an update, my mom extended the offer to me and I said yes! I was maybe….I believe 17 at the time. I went with Nightwing.
Nightwing was a hero is kinda familiar with - watched a LOT of Batman growing up and I thought the suit was so cool. I went to my second ever con in costume, and that was all she wrote. Pics from conger’s were fun, but then when my friend suggested we go to a nearby alley and take some “on-scene” photos, it became more than pics at a con in costume. I felt so strong, so connected to the hero, and it was awesome. Then I started making my own money and it was OVER for my wallet.
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For those that don’t know, The Lemon Magazine is at Pensacon this weekend and one of our most highly anticipated new segments is our cosplayer festures! Make sure you check out MarissaMacaroni, Aliabides, and TheCosplayMouse on Instagram to follow their progress and see all the fun from this weekend. It’s already been so great and we can’t wait to give you all a full rundown! Stay tuned 🍋
Read the newest #CriticalRoleCosplay Interview on our website. Today we interview Armaria Cosplay. We chat about those gorgeous Vax wings, Everyone's favorite birb boi and all things DnD.
New magazine interview!
I have a new interview available in Gametraders Magazine....this is my second time doing a feature with them, they are always such a pleasure to work with and I love how crisp and clean their magazines are. If you'd like to check out the article, it starts on page 200 here!
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Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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I've always wanted to be Lara Croft because of how strong, confident, bold, and how fun she is as a character . My cosplay journey started back in 2016 when I was inspired to do a genderbend Lara Croft cosplay. I started learning how to make costumes out from scratch by watching others online make their cosplay from scratch from different material.
My Lara Croft cosplay has dramatically increased from starting off with using cardboard to build the classic backpack and holsters to knowing how to work with eva foam, hand paint, other materials to make the backpack, holsters, boots, other accessories! I also have found new and better ways to build my costume pieces compared to the more simplistic why I used tk start out. Also from the character perspective my poses and facial expressions has evolved as well I pose better as Lara Croft now and have more of a variety of poses now compared to when I first started
Cosplay has taught me that it's okay to be myself and to love feeling like a badass in character. I used to get put down so much for simply being me and looking like me from my past and cosplay has shown me that I am awesome and I am good enough and I am not what happened to me in rhe past.
My definition of being successful in cosplay is when you actually start to realize you enjoy what you do. It's not about the fame or followers count. It's about feeling free and happiness and content with what you put out there and to inspire someone else to do the same thing you are doing? That speaks volumes! That to me is success! Cosplay shouldn't feel like dreading work! It should feel like a fantasy world!
My first con was in Baltimore for Otakon 2001. Pre 9/11! I originally wanted to attend a con either out in Colorado or Texas, but I was the only one in my circle of friends in New Mexico who had a part time job, so there was no one I could travel with.
I cosplayed as Milly from Trigun and you can actually find photos of me from old internet archive pages because Trigun was at the high of popularity. I originally made Milly for a Halloween costume, so when I showed it to my online friend in the Trigun mIRC chat a photo of me in cosplay, she insisted I come to Otakon the following year and join her Trigun group.
Unlike a lot of early 90’s/00’s cosplayers, I didn’t have anyone who’d taught me how to sew. So Milly was entirely bought from a trip to the Goodwill. I bought brown pants, a duster, a red tie and yellow suspenders. I remember feeling so proud to find yellow suspenders because in the anime her suspenders are yellow. I was like “wow! I’m so canon compliant. I’m a cosplay pro!”. She has a little green cap and I went to Joanns, bought some fabric and just cut it out and hand stitched it and safety pinned it to the duster. Current me would have been shocked at a lack of surging or a mockup or putting snaps in to make sure the cape stayed on, but it was the wild west back then for when it came to cosplaying.
At Otakon I had my half-assed Goodwill costume, but everyone loved it, I got so many photos and so many hugs. It was a rush of validation I’d never felt, I was this weird 17 year old living in New Mexico where I had very few friends who liked anime, so going to a con with so many people who knew Trigun and loved my costume was incredible. It made me want to keep cosplaying,
The Trigun fandom at the time was pretty big. There wasn’t social media the way there is now, but there was a decent community. I think the anime sensibilities mixed with a very western setting was a huge draw to the western ‘otaku’ culture at the time. Vash also had such an iconic look.
A lot of Otakon 2001 was just people being excited to see other members of the Trigun community and get to connect and talk about the show, it’s one of the things I really enjoyed about cosplay back then. It felt easy to strike up a conversation with someone about the character you or they were dressed as and make a new friend. I’m actually still friends with a Wolfwood cosplayer from back then!
You probably hear this a lot when you talk to older cosplayers, but while I’m happy cosplay has become more popular, it makes me sad there’s less of a focus on learning to sew and learn skills and more of a focus on buying a costume online and posting a photo of it on social media for as many clicks possible. I made Milly from pieces at The Goodwill with so few photos remaining of her and she was probably the most attention I’ve gotten from a cosplay. For young people reading this, don’t be afraid to learn to sew. Don’t be afraid to not have a perfect costume, there’s skills even I’m still learning and I find the building of the costume just as rewarding as wearing it or any attention I get on it.
Over 20 years later I’m still cosplaying. I literally have half of a Genshin impact cosplay in my lap I’m working on as I type this. I’m actually waiting for the next season of Trigun Stampede because I’d love to come full circle and make Milly again with my now 20 years of skills as a cosplayer.
The real spark was trying to find a way to do a matching cosplay that fit both of our interests. I love making armor, and helmets. The entire "faceless" warrior thing really appeals to me since there's so few characters that look like me and she loves more feminine characters and cosplay styles. So when we saw The Mandalorian for the first time together I'd say the seed was planted. So this gave us both a way to do something we enjoy and gave her a chance to try EVA foam out
The most challenging aspect was definitely time. Procrastination is simultaneously the slowest and fastest killer of a cosplay. We sped these two costumes out in the 5 days before the 8th. The clocked ticked down, and the costumes definitely aren't perfect, but given the time we gave ourselves we're happy with how they turned out and it's exciting to think about how we can improve next time using what we learned.
To me cosplay means another way to show your love for the series you enjoy. You get to meet people who love the series you love and appreciate the hard work you put into trying to make your own version of a character. There's not really anything else like it. No matter how old, or how niche, or how popular your cosplay is, the process and the anticipation are some of the best parts.
