The Pros and Cons of Group Cosplays

photo by Angelwing

At PAX South 2016 I had the honor of being part of the biggest group I have ever pulled together. This was definitely a mixture one of the most fun and stressful things I have accomplished as a cosplayer. The group consisted of eight people in total, we originally had more, but drop outs happen because life happens. An important truth to accept when forming a group is that people will drop out. Life happens, things get in the way and sometimes those things more important than cosplay. Do not let things like that ruin friendships. We were cosplaying from Animal Crossing and had a pretty good cast of shopkeepers as well as a villager. This group was such a fun and wonderful experience and it is honestly something I would never trade for the world. However, it was also quite stressful. I personally was in charge of painting almost everyone's faces, with the exception of a couple individuals. We constantly clogged up walkways at the con which I felt terrible about. And herding 8 animals people to the photoshoot location was...well difficult is an understatement. 

The Importance of Embracing our Mistakes

       Growing up, I gained a fear of being wrong. I grew up in an environment that stigmatized the idea of making mistakes. That if you asked questions, you were dumb and messing up meant not being as good as everyone else. If something didn't make sense to you then that's your fault and you're just not smart. If you make the smallest mistake, you'll be mocked and laughed at and it that effects us to where the idea of it happening terrifies us out of trying anything. This is the unfortunate reality of a lot of places and I know lots people likely go through this. When we're kids, we're unafraid of messing up and learning, but as adults we see messing up as a setback and that scares us.

But it really shouldn't be that way.

         This is something extremely important that I've actually learned from being in the cosplay community. Messing up, miscalculating, making mistakes...these help us learn. No one is born perfect. No one bursts from their mother's womb with all the answers to the universe. To get where we are, we have to learn. We need to mess up. We need to ask questions. We need to research and find things. Gaining skill takes time. We live in a society where there is so much demand for instant gratification that when we see others excel at what seems to be a fast pace with no mistakes, then we feel as though there's something wrong with us. And that makes us apprehensive to try new things because we think we'll never meet up to others' standards. However, everyone makes mistakes, even the people that we think never do. Making mistakes is an important part of the learning process. No person who tried anything got it right on the first try. No one is born with a natural ability to do anything perfectly.

         Sometimes it is hard to accept our mistakes for what they are. Especially when we live in an environment that stigmatizes them so harshly. But when we make mistakes we need to step back, look at them and let them know that we're not afraid. Fear is a part of human nature, but so are mistakes. When you look your fears in the eyes and embrace them instead of avoiding them, you grow and learn and move on. Embracing our mistakes is how we learn from them. Seeing how you did something wrong helps to you to figure out how to do it right in the future. And sharing your mistakes can help others to learn and grow with you. People are imperfect. If we all embrace our mistakes, maybe we can erase the widespread fear of fail and we can learn and grow together.

Go with love,

Koopa

My weird love for fictional characters (and where it probably comes from)

Since it is a #ManCrushMonday, I thought I would talk about a topic that has been on my mind of recent and that is:

How and why do I get crushes on fictional characters?

          For as long as I can remember, I've loved and related to characters I see on TV and movies. Or read about in books. Or even played as in video games. Ever since I was young, I would get really really emotionally invested in things. So it makes sense that when I engage in any form of fiction, I get attached to the characters and their stories. When I love something, that love runs deep and I get invested in that love. I never really gave a second thought to it until recently while chatting with a friend who mentioned that they never really got that. So of course that got me thinking as to where my affinity for these made up characters came from. As I mentioned before, this goes back to when I was a kid...

Let's try this again

      Now, this probably means nothing to anyone, but I used to keep a blog pretty frequently when I was High School. Recently I've been more or less active on YouTube, Facebook and other forms of social media, but honestly they can become very trying. I miss the old days of blogging and how easy it was to put my thoughts into typed words. Back then, I kept a cosplay blog, and while cosplay is a huge part of my life and I will likely make plenty of cosplay posts, I also wanted to keep this blog open to anything that I happen to fancy and wish to talk about. Which can vary from art to video games to animation to fashion to comics to anything really. At the end of the day, I want this blog to be about me and embracing what I love, and in hopes to make others embrace what they love as well.
So, without further ado...

Welcome to Everything under the sun...