Reaction Videos are Cheap

If any of my friends read this, I want to apologize in advance but I can't stand reaction videos of any kind, I am not alone. I am not talking to reacting to Nintendo Directs only, but essentially unboxing videos, testing make-up, reacting to a trailer, etc, anything that is just a mere form or cheap marketing to obtain popularity based on your reactions even if they look fake.

We can think on the direct marketing perspective, based on product testing to understand the satisfaction with a product i.e. there can be a video made based on how a certain type of make up behaves and the content creator can give their opinion after an organized script to let the potential users and customers know what are your experiences based on your test and product demo; instead of going and make a video that you look unorganized and make the Nintendo 64 child a more serious salesman of an outdated product.

Probably the reason reaction videos are so popular it lies on the primitive aspect we encompass as human and great primates, we can think of  mirror neurons and mirror behavior, we gain pleasure by watching someone else reacting to an X situation that can mirror our own experiences and probably (again) is one reason people seek on those videos, because they feel empathy.

As we mentioned before, we have to understand there are different reaction videos and the concept itself can be used to show products as well cultural scenarios as the tasting of food and places, the concept can be used to sell travel plans but also to educate people on the different cultures that are beyond their cul-de-sac's and how they influence their daily habits of food as well clothing; but the concept gets lost instead of sitting with content that is easy to digest and almost forgettable.

There is one Youtuber I admire, I know their name through a friend, they are quite knowledgeable towards gaming itself, but they centered their content exclusively on reaction videos, and going through their list on Youtube to see their statistic I saw only their reaction videos are the ones that get the most views. Over time I saw that their original content and even let's play content has less views than the reaction videos and I found interesting on how they switched from original content to almost solely let's play and reaction videos to try to stay somewhat relevant.

Is almost a death sentence to any creator, why? Because you are setting your popularity on your looks to create reaction videos and probably after any potential audience see too many of your videos you are going to be on a popularity limbo because reaction videos don't contain any replay values, reaction videos are just mere extension of entertainment segments viewers can watch it once and there is no reason to repeat it them because they don't contain any informational value.

Even so, there is a moment when viewers can see how fake the videos involving reaction turn to be, if you don't have a marketing plan and you set yourself as a brand crying and screaming because of the new game is coming up, it can be difficult to take you seriously whenever you want to diversify your portfolio within your content, people aren't going to take you seriously enough to know you can create something wonderful but also people tend to be greedy and their modes and habits change over time.

Reaction videos at the end are forgettable, as a product per-se in 10 years they will be forgettable, they don't even contain meme content as the Nintendo 64 kid that can be used on the popular culture, instead the reaction videos are a cheap way to bring people which on a long term won't even be as active, they relegate original content on the side and honestly they don't contribute to anything original or new but instead clutter the space of whatever could bring something interesting to content creation.

Chespirito, Politicamente Correcto

He pasado probablemente la última semana pegado con Netflix ya que vi que varios episodios de El Chavo del Ocho están en la plataforma, y de manera instintiva no dude ni un segundo en ponerme a ver los episodios en mis ratos de ocio. Mi primera impresión fue en recordar esos días con mis abuelos viendo repeticiones del Chavo y las ultimas temporadas de Chespirito como sketch a principios de los Noventa, siento que en cierto punto fueron buenas épocas cuando estaba en mi juventud ya que el programa siempre lo asocio con esos momentos de paz, pero no recuerdo que el programa me diera risa y la risa de fondo estaba fuera de lugar porque honestamente no entendía porque la ponían.

Después de varios años de no ver el programa, me doy cuenta de que el humor no me sigue dando risa, pero es algo subjetivo ya que va con diferentes puntos de como presenciamos el sentido del humor, pero debido al mismo tiempo, pero puedo apreciar el programa con ojos diferentes, debido a que como compartimos la información ha evolucionado en los últimos 20 años debido a la evolución del Internet.

Probablemente lo primero que me entere fue como los temas musicales del Chavo y el Chapulín fueron plagiados del artista Jean-Jacques Perrey y sus diferentes obras, que no se puede negar que debido a la desinformación y el aislamiento de México en la década de los 60 y los 70 debido a las diferentes dictaduras le dieron cabildo abierto a Gómez Bolaños de robarse los temas y los estilos visuales de otros músicos y comediantes.

Me pongo a pensar en cómo el programa fue lo que fue no por Roberto Gómez Bolaños en sí, pero debido al elenco que Gómez Bolaños tenía a su disposición como por ejemplo el difunto Ramon Valdez, Carlos Villagrán y María Antonieta de las Nieves para mencionar unos pocos de los tantos talentosos artistas que pasaron por su dirección.

Ramon Valdez fue sin duda el alma del programa, y después le seguía Carlos Villagrán. El Chavo como programa no se hubiera posicionado sin Don Ramon, ya que la genialidad de Don Ramon era única y resaltaba en la escena sea con el personaje que estuviera acompañado, y con su eventual retiro del programa ahí se fue la parte encantadora de lo que era el Chavo y no importa con que personajes lo trataron de reemplazar ya que ninguno le llego a los talones a Ramon Valdez.

Lo que fue Chespirito y la Mesa Cuadrada en si fue ese programa de variedades similar a Saturday Night Live, una respuesta a los programas de sketches de comedia en Latino América, y viendo retransmisiones y videos en Youtube, Chespirito es el resalta menos entre todos los del elenco hasta el punto que es opacado por Carlos Villagrán y Rubén Aguirre, cito un ejemplo la canción de la petaca en donde el protagonismo lo tienen los otros dos comediantes pero en general la genialidad de Chespirito radico en su capacidad de mercader y relacionista publico para posicionarse como una marca.

Es fácil ponerse a ver que la trayectoria de Chespirito con sus películas la mayoría ha quedado en el olvido, fueron productos de su época y en eso se quedaron, honestamente no tenía que Chespirito había aparecido en más películas aparte del Chanfle y su secuela en la que su esposa Florinda Meza participo como su esposa en la pantalla, leyendo sobre las películas y la trama ahora me parecen deprimentes debido a que Florinda quería tener hijos pero Chespirito al final no quiso revertir su vasectomía.

Viendo los diferentes episodios de las otras series a lo largo de las décadas, la idea del autoplagio es extremadamente notoria, es fácil buscar una de las wiki (no Wikipedia, sino paginas al estilo wiki que contienen datos sobre las series y son especializadas en un solo programa) para darse cuenta de lo mucho que reciclo material y como todos los episodios de las diferentes temporadas cito al Chavo como mejor ejemplo son similares entre si, y que varios episodios se regrabaron entre tres y cinco veces, uno de los tantos ejemplos es el episodio El Callo del Señor Barriga que tuvo cuatro episodios, dos en que se regrabo la misma premisa y otros dos que la premisa se mantuvo casi intacta pero con algunas modificaciones, en las cuales siempre el Chavo sostenía una caja de botellas vacías.

Honestamente los diferentes programas juegan con la nostalgia de los que crecieron en las décadas de los 70, 80 y 90’s y mas ahora que casi 30 años después de la última transmisión de Chespirito como programa de variedades quedan diferentes generaciones que tienen el chance revivir momentos de su juventud con servicios de transmisión como Netflix y YouTube, el dilema ¿va con que criterio La Generación Z vera los productos de Chespirito? Y lo mismo va con personas de diferentes generaciones que han cambiado su actitud a lo largo de los años Ya que es un producto de otros tiempos.

Yuranis Y Las Sailor

No he escrito en rato largo, en parte ha sido que mi salud no estuvo buena por un tiempo

excesivamente prolongado, poco a poco he ido ganando lo que había perdido por un tiempo largo, y volveré a escribir con algo de calma sobre los temas que me llaman la atención. 

Una de las razones que me llamó la atención el remix de Yuranis Leon, fue que esa canción la había oído hace unos quince años en un momento que me había escapado de la casa para poder tener algo de tranquilidad y como buen fanático de la obra de Naoko Takeuchi la canción me quedo en la cabeza por un tiempo bastante largo y dos países de distancia. 

La razón por la que la champeta de las Sailor me sonó tanto fue porque en ese momento no había muchas artistas con el genero y de por si la champeta era un género subversivo de la Costa Caribe y de los Afro-Caribeños, pero lo esencial fue que las letras decían sobre el conflicto de las diferentes bandas entre los barrios populares de Cartagena, pero también fue uno de los primeros gritos femeninos de la champeta. 

La versión original polariza entre la realidad de los años 90 sobre lo que era vivir en los barrios populares y como la animación probablemente influencio a una generación de mujeres al salir adelante en géneros televisivos y musicales, ya que hay una relación entre los dos debido a que son mas que todo catalogados a un publico masculino. 

La canción original fue el producto de Shirly Pérez, hace unos 23 años; pero, debido a la falta de registros en la ciudad el nombre de Shirly y su padre Melchor Pérez ella queda casi en el olvido, debido a que no había en ese entonces un punto que consolidara la información de los artistas y en portales como Youtube las pocas personas que subieron la canción cuando el portal apareció tampoco tenían información. 

Leyendo sobre la entrevista de Yuranis que ella tuvo en Sabor Stereo con el lanzamiento del remix en Youtube, ella dijo que no sabia el nombre de la artista y que había oído la canción en la radio – un aspecto que es un tanto exagerado ya que la canción ha estado por fuera de los radios cartageneros por mas de 18 años - Lo mas seguro es que oyó la canción en Youtube y debido a que los registros de Shirly no fueron salvados en su gran mayoría, le pregunto a su esposo si podrían producir un remix que no violara derechos de autor si por alguna razón saldría alguna demanda (usando otra palabra un cover musical). 

Segun (Jhonatan Diaz, Octubre 2019) del Heraldo de Barranquilla, la canción nació porque Shirly quien es hija de Melchor, autor del Vacile del Gago y las Tortugas Ninjas, ella quería dejar algo para las mujeres ya que autores como Elio Boom quien grabo los Caballeros del Zodiaco y Alvaro “El Barbaro” con El Vacile del Pato tenían dominado el género en la década de los 90. 

Pero agrandar mas el dilema de Shirley, ella termino peleándose con su padre y este no la dejo grabar lo que termino en que la canción original fue grabada por Rosalba Santana Guerrero quien hoy en día radica en Venezuela. Las diferencias entre el tema original y el remix de Yuranis van más allá de la métrica 

La canción original fue grabada en un estudio casero en el Pie de la Popa, mientras que Yuranis tuvo el apoyo de su eposo y la dispocion de un estudio de grabación profesional; el remix de por si pierde la esencia de la canción original que es mas un grito de poder si se podría llamar feminista y de la realidad popular para hacer un cambio mas a lo comercial y vender un ritmo pegajoso que no ofrece nada nuevo o al menos algo mas serio, es algo mas del jolgrio para crear un ingreso capital de una manera fácil. Como una nota adicional Shirley en el Heraldo menciono que volverá con un tema que se llama Soy Feliz al lado de su padre Melchor.

The Royal Family of Hyrule, The Shadow Temple and the Holly Inquisition Part One

I can't stop seeing this parallelism on the real world case that the Royal Family of Hyrule with the Spanish Inquisition and how the Royal Family consolidated their power through the blood of the goddess.

Is not weird to see the similarities as the ultimate means of the Royals to consolidate their power became religion, the religion centered in Hylia, the Triforce and the miracles executed in the Royal Family first born daughter who was always presented as the avatar of the goddess. The idea of centering a figure as the maximum authority is not strange in any religious organization, from the Pope to the Elders, there is always someone and Zelda plays the role or at least could be seen as puppet leader in which the shadow lead uses for the expansion of the ideology and the kingdom.

What is the hypothesis of my theory? If we use the unified timeline or dragonbreak as we can call it also call it, we can find a parallel that the Royal Family had an interest into unifying their religion centered on Hylia and abolish any potential ones that could create competition towards their power and hegemony on the land such as the Spanish reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula that was ruled by the Muslim in 1492, but to explain specific to regain control of the geography as because probably there was a riff and the family lose power before the Great Calamity.

We can see different religious fetishes and totems around Hyrule, i.e. Breath of the Wild, where the Seven Heroines are reverb or the Desert Colossus (Goddess of the Sand) in Ocarina of Time which show the difference in religions which for someone or a group that looks to execute their power that could a problem, as the act of proselytize could bury older religions and bring new adepts but subjugate and exterminate large ethnic groups.

There are similarities between antisemitic attitudes that many people held towards Gerudo's and even Sheikas, similar as the 13th Century up to the 14th Century Spaniard anti-Jewish sentiment similar as the riots that happened in Barcelona, which I can relate to the Hyrule Civil War that unified Hyrule under one banner but at the expense of the permanent lost of lore, language and traditions from tribes that weren't related to the Royals.

Albeit during the game there aren't specific examples towards conversion, but rather vague quotes that gives hints about the history, it makes me think what initiated the Civil War was that the King of Hyrule in the Ocarina Timeline timeline was extremely similar as Peter the Cruel and started a way just on a mere impulse in which he saw infidels on other tribes based on his own insecurities but also on what the cult centered around his daughter and the Royal Family as the guardians of the sacred power was placed.

The hatred Hylians and other races had to the Gerudos had over the different timelines borders the antisemitism that has been presented on with the Jewish population over the centuries, but also it can be taken on the Islamophobia as is a tribe that historically speaking with the franchise had been prosecuted because of the idea they are thieves but also they are a threat to the status quo or in better words the escape goat or the justification to preserve the Royal Family in the power. 

According to Don Hasdai Crescas, persecution against Jews began in earnest in Seville in 1391, on the 1st day of the lunar month Tammuz (June).[16] From there the violence spread to Córdoba, and by the 17th day of the same lunar month, it had reached Toledo (called then by Jews after its Arabic name "Ṭulayṭulah") in the region of Castile.[17] From there, the violence had spread to Majorca and by the 1st day of the lunar month Elul it had also reached the Jews of Barcelona in Catalonia, where the slain were estimated at two-hundred and fifty. So, too, many Jews who resided in the neighboring provinces of Lérida and Gironda and in the kingdom of València had been affected,[18] as were also the Jews of Al-Andalus (Andalucía),[19] whereas many died a martyr’s death, while others converted in order to save themselves. (Wikipedia)

But who were the core cult who preserved the the Royals? the similar to the Holly See, the answer lies on the Sheikas. Their role in the rise of the first family of Hyrule is quite complex because they are their bodyguards but also there is a parallelism on being clerics, since they seem to know and profess the message of the Goddess. The story of the Sheikas can be scarce and it adjust on each timeline but there are two games in which the players can see the roles of they are Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild.

The Shadow Temple and the Bottom of the Well are the two spots to see the torture devices and locations in which the Sheikas mimicked the inquisitors techniques of torture such as the rack that is seen in the photo to the left, which to explain in an easy way would break someone's back but also pull every single limb out of your body, which can explain the poodle of blood that is bellow the torture device.

The Sheika's were ruthless but also fanatics on their devotion to Hylia that they would support a war to protect the incarnation. Albeit on a far point within the timeline such as BotW the tribe that is presented is completely changed and has taken a more agricultural and trader because of the Great Calamity influence over the land.

The evolution of the Sheikas on the unified timeline probably offers a different interpretation as there are no signs of them on previous incarnation and they are more focused on them as a revolutionaries with technology, which itself is a contradiction in reference to them as Inquisitors in the real world because the Inquisition set back technology and human advancement several centuries behind, even on Hyrule Castle the traces of torture chambers are almost none existent.

Do you Remember When The Simpsons were Synonym of Counterculture?

It's been a long time since The Simpsons were associated with the opposition of 1980's American family sitcoms, maybe it's been more than 20 years since the legacy of the first 8 seasons was placed on thought without bringing controversy on how the show is extremely outdated and is due beyond the time of is prime.

It's time for The Simpsons to end, it's not even funny, the characters are shadows of who they were when the show started, the show focus more on the celebrity of the day and the consumerism towards the products that are in vogue in the market i.e. MyPods and Boomsticks which was one of the earliest examples of the decline of the show by bringing a "new" Lisa as a young woman that is more interested into fads than rather of the influence she could do on the society she lives i.e. Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy in which Lisa centered a fight against the stereotypes of the Barbie tie-in Malibu Stacy and the damage it could do to young women by offering unrealistic expectations about their bodies.

Much of the show as it's presented in the present vastly differs from the early seasons, we can infer that the today and yesterday are a product of the generations where the show started from the 1989 first episode to today, it's almost as two different shows which not only the writing from the present focus more on the stereotype and offer no content on the episode while the yesterday it was about the family dynamics and the surroundings which it was the main reason on why the show on the first half of the 90's became a synonym of counter culture.

Probably in a certain way The Simpsons had expressed some form of iconoclasm, they aren't as relevant as they were but they tackled ideas that shook conservators core towards family ideals, conformism and how we evolve as a society; the problem with the show goes on the writing and how the later seasons eventually evolved into a frenzy of consumerism leaving behind the socio-economical comments as sporadic content in the episodes.

One of the most crucial episodes at least the last 20 years of the show, involves the notion of same sex marriage which was aired on 2005 (almost a decade before it became legal in the United States) but for every episode with a social commentary at least much of the others in every season were just bizarre in nature, such as Lisa Goes Gaga which is just a 30 minute showcase Lisa just following Lady Gaga around Springfield, there was no plot, there was no substance, there was nothing and as that there are plenty of other episodes since the early 2000's.

We have to think that the show was explicitly criticized by George H.W. Busch  back when the show was in the apogee, because it was a show that showed a family the way it was without sugarcoating the problems that families could had. The Simpsons weren't The Cosby's or the Walton's they were honest and they exposed family dynamics on a brutal way which let the viewers know that families in television could dysfunctional too without going on the shoes of Married With Children.

There is an important part we have to know about The Simpsons, no other show at that moment in the 90's placed a former U.S. President a First Lady as guest stars (even if they didn't voice their Simpson's universe character) and essentially mock the feud that George and Barbara started by saying that The Simpsons were the dumbest thing they ever saw on television and that the viewers should have more of The Walton's and less than The Simpsons, that episode back in 96 was one of the highest in the rating but the cultural impact was even longer.

Over the years, the episode was cited as one example of great television but also on how to deal with pop cultural references and how reality can be stranger than fiction, not only that the cultural phenomenon that the show was in the last decade of the last millennium and the early part of the 2000's was big because there wasn't something like that - from video games, to movies, to music albums, The Simpsons had it all -, now the show only has a freemium game and that is still on the air because it generates some revenue to Fox.

I tried to remember when was the last time I heard The Simpsons where a synonym of counterculture, and I realized it has been a long time ago.

Interview with Monse Vallejo

I firmly believe into supporting independent artists, freelancer, creative people, you name it. I'm always trying to find proposals that really get my attention; but, also something that reflects the soul of the artist into their work. Monse Vallejo work is just wholesome, it appealed to my soul and I was very lucky to interview her.

If you want to support Monse, click on the link on the first paragraph that will redirect to her Twitter account and to her personal Etsy store.

Five Foot Fire Starter Cosplay Interview and the Art of Creating Cosplays

Cosplay is an art, not only getting into character but also creating an ever lasting impression; one of the first cosplayers I saw around 10 years thanks to the wonders of the Internet I met her on Metrocon without even knowing it, I met Justine or as she is known 5Foot_Fire_Starter_Cosplay, I met the person who cosplayed as Midna from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and she was cosplaying as Princess Bubblegum along with her boyfriend who had a cosplay inspired in a steam-punk postapocalyptic Finn the Human at MegaCon 2018. 

That first reaction where you see someone who creates a positive impression on you, as a con-goer Justine had it on me, because on that short time I was assisting to the conventions I never saw an approach that imprinted a personal sense of fashion and style towards the creation of the character and execution. 

5Foot_Fire_Starter_Cosplay

The 2017 – 2018 Florida convention season was my first year assisting fully at the cons, and it was a magical experience, not only I met amazing illustrators but also the cosplayers, cosplayers truly are the essence of any con, they can bring magic to kids and adult by their creation and Justine the same person who inspired me to celebrate the work of the cosplayer gave me a moment of her time to interview her. 

If you want to know more about Justine, below are links to her Facebook and Instagram pages: 

• Facebook: Five Foot Fire Starter Cosplay
• Instagram: Five Foot Fire Starter Cosplay

1. What event influenced you to started cosplaying? 

Well it wasn’t an event but I’ve had plenty of influence throughout my life and the push in the right direction started when I was very young, like 5 or 6 maybe even younger, it was one morning before school, and my mom and I would have music or tv on in the background while we were getting ready and my mom had been flipping through channels, and she found what would be the first influence to push me in the right direction to cosplay culture. 

What she had found that morning was Sailor Moon, now this is going to show my age a bit, before Sailor Moon aired in the afternoon on the old Toonami block on cartoon network (along with DBZ and Godzilla)in the late 90’s it actually aired super early week day mornings on either PBS or another channel that aired cartoons super early on weekdays, but that morning my mom came into my room and proceeded to flip through the channels of my tiny tv (it was also one of those tv with the VCR attached) and she kept saying that I needed to check out this show that she found and that I would probably love it and loved it I did and it was the day that I became fully interested in anime, japan and all other things nerdy and geeky. 

From there I didn’t hide away my interests and always found a way to express myself, when I was shy it was through drawing and then eventually it was through musical theater (it was this that really brought me out of my shell) and competitive dance (both in school and ballroom dancing outside of school) and both of those really pushed me into costume design and costume making ( some of my first costumes that I made from scratch were costumes for my ballroom competitions); the only downside of all this was proceeding to get bullied throughout school because of my interests and not having very many friends because of it and I really didn’t feel accepted until college and I felt at home during my time at Ringling College of Art and Design as almost everyone there was nerdy and geeky in some way. 

During my time in college I was also in my first serious/long term relationship and my boyfriend at that time was also a huge nerd/geek so we connected pretty well and within the first couple of months of dating he told me about the convention scene and he had been a part of it and had been going to cons like Metrocon and Jacon for a few years now. 

It was at that point that I thought to myself how sheltered my life had been and what rock had I been living under, it was then during late 2007 and my first year in college that I started preparing and making my own cosplays and cosplaying. 

2. What was your first con? Did you cosplay or went as a mere spectator? 

My first con was Jacon ’08 and yes I did cosplay, my cosplays weren’t the best as I didn’t have the skills that I do now, but I managed to throw together a Pikachu hoodie that I converted from a regular hoodie that I had and I designed my first cat girl OC and I also just wore one of my ballroom competition dresses that I made which everyone thought I was cosplaying as a character from WoW so I just went with it and everything worked out. 

3. What memories do you have of that first Con? 

Everything about my first con was amazing including the bad parts, I seriously wish Jacon was still around it was the perfect first convention and from what I heard and from my own experience nothing tops your first con. 

It wasn’t too big or too small, there was plenty to see and do and it kept me going for all three days, I wanted to buy everything in the vendors room and in artist ally, I felt at home and accepted, most people were super nice and friendly, there were so many people to talk to and as a dancer I especially like the nightly raves/after parties. 

My experience was mostly good and I will never forget it and in a strange way I loved how it also introduced me to the negative side of cons and cosplay, that being that there are some toxic people in the community that aren’t as accepting and who think themselves as elitists who believe not everyone should cosplay, you should only cosplay in your race, gender, size, etc., that you should only make your cosplays and never buy them and other ridiculous beliefs and I’m glad that the community is trying to put an end to people like this as going to conventions today I don’t see as many toxic people like I used to. 

4. How was the process of creating your first cosplay? 

I have two first’s, my first cosplay in general and then my first legit cosplay, my first cosplay ever was my original cat girl design, I don’t have any pictures of it but it was all white and it had an ero-lolita feel to the design. It wasn’t my best work though as I didn’t have the skills and knowledge that I do now as I pulled what I call “a project runway” and glued the entire costume together with fabric glue, I have since gone back and remade and redesigned my original cat girl cosplay 

My first legit cosplay was Midna in her imp form from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and I chose her for my first legit cosplay because for one, the game just came out and the character was super popular and two, it was a cosplay that I’d be able to make look good without have a strong skill set; but of course had to be different and instead of using a body suit, I used a bikini that I altered and painted and did everything else in body paint, I also chose not to make her headdress as I was again trying to be different and not like everyone else that was cosplaying her at the time but I also suffer from terrible vision so unless I pick a cosplay that lets me wear my glasses I’m normally blind while in cosplay and at conventions and with her headdress covering one eye it would have limited my vision even more. 

Either way I chose my cosplays like I do currently, by popularity or by just by how much I like the character and design, and after I make that decision I proceed by looking up references, gather materials (I’m a budget cosplayer so I try to use what I have or recycle materials from thrift stores or I normally always know someone who is trying to get rid of sheets or curtains ) and when it comes to the making of the cosplay I normally already know what I’m doing or how I’m going to make something before I even start. 

5. How were the reactions of your first cosplay? 

I got tons of great reactions from my first cosplays, but the most important ones were for my original cat girl design as not only was it my first cosplay ever, but it was my first original character as well and everyone loved it, although you could also say who doesn’t like a cute cat girl cosplay. In general, besides loving the cosplay design itself most people were amazed and surprised that I chose to do an OC for my first as even most experienced cosplayer aren’t even brave enough to cosplay an OC in fear of others not understanding or liking it enough so that they won’t get attention. 

Overall, I say that if you love an OC, be brave and go for it as it you love it and if it’s something that you’re interested in then the final product will probably better than what you think, as in general, people that are really into something normally produce better results. Then when I thought that it couldn’t get any better than that, I’m pretty sure people lost their minds when I debuted Midna. I first wore Midna to my second convention (and said convention also no longer exists), but I of course wore her on Saturday, the main day of the con. I remember my college boyfriend and I waking up at 6 am that morning to get me ready, the body painting process took 6 hours so we were able to finally leave the hotel room just after noon and as soon as I exited the elevator I was met by a swarm of people who wanted pictures of me and I probably stood in place for about an hour straight before I was able to move again. Shortly after all that I was approached by con staff who also loved my cosplay and urged me to enter in the cosplay contest as they told me that the judges would love my work, so I built up the courage to enter. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t make it through the pre-judging as the room that they had it in was below freezing inside and it just got to a point that I couldn’t stay and wait in there any longer seeing as all the I was wearing was a bikini and body paint. All the praise I got for Midna greatly boosted my confidence and self-esteem as a cosplayer. 

6. How do you see the evolution from then to know on your art? 

As a cosplayer and seamstress who is completely self-taught, I am still evolving, in total I have been sewing since the early 2000’s and I’ve been cosplaying since ’07 and it amazes me that I can now tell people that I’ve now been cosplaying for 11years. When I started all those years ago, I was actually too timid to use my sewing machine so I just hand sewed and glued my costumes together and when I was finally brave enough to start using my sewing machine, I asked myself what the hell have I been doing, and I never looked back. 

Now my cosplays and costumes look professionally made or look as though they could be sold in a store as my work is much cleaner and is less likely to fall apart. I am currently trying to teach myself embroidery and would like to learn more skills in using leather. Over all I feel like I am at a half way point in my journey as I’m not the best but I’m far from the worst. 

7. Which is your favorite cosplay? And Why? 

I don’t have just one favorite cosplay, but I do have 4 cosplays that I would consider my favorites each for different reasons. My first favorite is my original Persephone design, this cosplay was my third original, but it was the first really elaborate cosplay that I made, and it took over a month to make. Second would be my Rosa Farrell cosplay from Final Fantasy 4, Rosa was my second really elaborate cosplay that I made and Final Fantasy 4 is one of my favorite games next to Final Fantasy 6 and Rosas design it more on the simpler side I took inspiration from multiple artists and styles to come up with the design of the cosplay. 

Lastly would be sans from Princess Mononoke and Princess Bubblegum from adventure time and I put these two together because these cosplays are redesigns by Hannah Alexander (I have made a total of 5 Hannah Alexander cosplays as I’m completely obsessed with her work) but I love wearing sans because I feel like a bad ass and with the armor, spear and being covered in blood splatter people at conventions go out of their way to avoid me and stay out of my way but I still get plenty of people who want a picture or I hear people say from a far how awesome my cosplay is because they are too timid to approach me and ask for a picture because I intimidate them. I also feel just as badass in Princess Bubblegum just more over the top and elegant like a princess and both cosplays are some of my most recent and best work. 

8. Do you get into the character you’re cosplaying? 

I will sometimes get into character, but it really depends on if I like or know that character or if I can even do the character justice. I have a background in acting and musical theater and because of that and how I was taught I feel that being able to do the character justice is really important so if I don’t think I can do the character justice I just wear the costume. This happens most of the time anyways as I’m more into the costuming part of cosplay; but if I like the character enough to the point that I know a lot about the character other than the costume and I feel like I can do them justice I will get into character. 

9. What has been to cosplay with your boyfriend? How has been the process of cosplaying as a duo? 

Cosplaying with my current boyfriend, Andrew, is perfect, what makes it perfect is that I am a shy extrovert that loves being out and about and around people but I have a very hard time going out and doing a lot of things on my own so I am so grateful to have someone to do the things I love with as my biggest fear is loneliness and I over all hate being alone. 

If I wasn’t with Andrew, I would have a hell of a time trying to go to conventions, unless, of course I have a good/close friend that I could go with; plus, doing couples cosplays are so much fun as for those few times I do get into character I then have someone to interact with and whether one of us has an elaborate cosplay or both we tend to be a beacon for attention even if we are cosplaying from different genres. 

Then with Andrew being an introvert, he wasn’t sure if he was going to like the attention or being in the spotlight but after I first got him to cosplay with me he ended up loving it and he always tells me that being at a convention not in cosplay isn’t the same any more. It’s also nice to always have a handler as well as I like to wear super elaborate cosplays with trains and capes that drag on the floor so I normally need help getting in and out of cosplays and I normally need help holding parts of may cosplay while out on the convention floor and like I said before, I suffer from terrible vision and sometimes I just need a pair of eyes, although it does irritate my boyfriend when while at a convention he’ll get all excited and tell me to look at something just to realize that I’m blind without my glasses and can’t see what he’s so excited about. 

As for the process, it definitely makes everything more time consuming as my work load is doubled because I make Andrews cosplays along with my own so there are times when I’m making 8 plus cosplays for one convention, for an example I will be making a total of 10 cosplays for Megacon 2019, that’s 5 for each of us, one for each of the 4 days and one for each of us for the main after party. I treat every other year as a down year where I don’t make that many cosplays and just switch my line ups from the year before, like what we wear for Megacon this year we will wear to Metrocon next year and we will most likely wear what I make for Metrocon this year to Megacon next year. 

But it’s not all bad as while I do all the sewing Andrew helps makes the props and helps with painting said props and armor, although I’m hoping to teach him how to sew seeing that I have two machines and hopefully he will be just as good a seamster as I am a seamstress. Like myself Andrew understands that although cosplay is fun it is not always comfortable or easy and just like myself he loves it over all but hates just a handful of things like having to wear a wig, large amounts of body paint and having to help me in and out of cosplay and help me with my cosplay while out on the con floor as I regularly hear him ask me why I can’t make more cosplays that are more simple. Overall Andrew and I love cosplay and love cosplaying together, we take the good with the bad and we both look to further our skill set and knowledge together.