Cosplay Write-up: Leonardo Da Vinci

This is going to be a bit different from most of my write-ups because my Leonardo cosplay is actually pre-owned. I bought it off a couple of cosplayers who were having a moving sale. It was fairly inexpensive, unused and I always thought Leonardo would make a fun RenFest cosplay. Howeeeeeeever... 

        When I got the cosplay I could see why it was probably never worn. It was….a bit worse for wear. A lot of the seams were fraying, the fabric choice was something to be desired, there were basting stitches that were left in, the clasps holding the front together were falling off…..basically it was a bit of a fixer-upper.

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. 

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...