Pre-con interview: Moderately Okay Cosplay

Continuing our cosplayer spotlights leading up to Tampa Bay Comic Con, today we have a brief interview with John of Moderately Okay Cosplay. Don't trust the name; his cosplays are fun and fantastic...especially if you're a League of Legends fan!

Photography by Chasis Photos

C: What was the first time you encountered cosplay, and what did you think of it at the time (versus how you think about it now)?

Photography by N/A Studio

J: The first time I encountered cosplay was in late 2012.  There was a character from League of Legends that I wanted to dress up as, but Halloween was about 10 months or so away.

So a friend of mine at the time said, "Hey, why don't you make this costume and we'll go to a convention?"

And I'm like, "Oh, like an anime convention?"  And, you know, I had never been to one before so I didn't really know what to expect, but I made my cosplay, and it was so terrible because I had no idea what I was doing.  And we got to the convention, which was a few weeks after and EVERYONE was stopping me for pictures so I was really ecstatic about it, it was definitely a really good first experience.

At the time I thought it was cool that I could dress up as anything I wanted to at any point of the year and not just have it reserved for Halloween, but now I think of cosplay more as paying homage to the characters I love and actually getting to become them.  I guess both are pretty good reasons to cosplay though!

C: How would you explain the convention experience to someone who has never been? What are your favorite parts, the parts you avoid, etc.?

Photography by Ace T. Cosplay & Photography

J: That's a hard question.  But I think the one thing to remember is that there's something there for
everyone.  You want to learn about anime/TV shows/comic books/etc?  There are panels for that.

You want to buy a bunch of cool stuff?  Conventions usually have awesome dealer rooms.

You want to cosplay for your first time?  Awesome, do it.

I think my favorite part about cons is that, for the most part, there's very little judgment.  Everyone is super open and welcoming and meeting new people is a breeze because everyone is there for the same thing, you know?

I guess the part I avoid coincides with that, and that's the people who try to start drama.  It happens in any circle, so it's not like a shock that it happens, but there are a lot of people who have egos over playing dress up, which, when you put it in writing, looks just as silly as the concept of it is.  But, like I said, I try to avoid it and just have a good time.  Life's too short!


C: What are your current "dream" cosplays, and do you have any plans to tackle them soon? Why or why not?

J: My current dream cosplays would have to be Fierce Deity Link from Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Gambit from Marvel's X-Men, and Red Hood/Jason Todd from DC Comics' Red Hood and the Outlaws.

I am currently in the process of making Fierce Deity Link and Red Hood, and I will be making Gambit sometime in the future.  And, you know, all three are relatively simple cosplays on paper.  They aren't full armor or any massive sewing or prop-making, but I think, at least for me, they're dream cosplays because they're my favorite characters, not because of how complicated they are.

So, they're my dreams because I want to do them justice, like, do the characters justice.  I want to fully embody that character, not just be like "Eh, yeah I guess I tried on this, but I'm not happy with it."

I will actually be wearing Fierce Deity Link for my first time ever on Saturday of Tampa Bay Comic-Con!  So I'm pretty excited for that.

Photography by Papanotzzi

Thanks, John!

Find Moderately Okay on Facebook, and keep an eye open for him at TBCC!

Pre-con interview: Leaping Lizard Cosplay

This weekend, MyGeekery is heading to Florida for our first Tampa Bay Comic Con, where we'll (hopefully!) get to meet tons of new awesome people. For those of you who can't make it, we wanted to spotlight a couple of the con's coolest cosplay guests...starting with the fantastic Liz of Leaping Lizard Cosplay. Courtney touched base with Liz last week to ask a few cosplay/con-related questions...read the result beneath the cut!

Photography by NBMA Photography

Interview: The Sisters Mischief

We're giant fans of family cosplay here at MyGeekery...not least of all because some of our family does it!

If you've been tracking with us, especially at our conventions, you may have heard us mention The Sisters Mischief. Well, full disclosure: two of the five sisters help out around here, and have even run our booth. That said, we thought it was time to feature them. Well. Some of them; there are five, after all, and sometimes it's a little hard to tell them apart.

Read our interview with 3/5 of The Sisters Mischief - Ara, WonWon, and Yumi - below the cut!

Interview: The Malice of Alice & Kelly is Nice Photography

Chances are, you've seen at least some of the pictures below. It could have been on Telegraph, Buzzfeed, or Bored Panda, to name just a few; Alice and her mom Kelly's beautiful creations make an unforgettable impression. While Alice brings the modeling and the acting (one look at her portfolio of chameleon expressions and you just know she's going places), Kelly brings her camera and her eye for the the beautiful, the whimsical, the soft and then sometimes dark. They're a powerful team, but you know what my favorite part is? Their art  - Alice's cosplay and Kelly's photography - is how they spend time together. 

If you don't know their family's whole story, check it out here. Then read on below the cut for our interview with Alice and Kelly!

Interview: SoulFire Photography

What do Dragon Age: Inquisition, Tolkien, and RWBY all have in common? If you answered they're awesome, well, yes, you're technically correct. But they're also a few of the fandoms with a few of the characters Sonja of SoulFire photography has brought to life through her colorful albeit sometimes gut-wrenching work (yup, the proof's in the pudding) with cosplayers of all genres. Below the cut you'll read about her approach to working with cosplayers, her dream shoot, and her journey as a photographer. So check it out!

Interview: The Pixel Peddler

 One of my favorite parts of going to conventions is walking through the artist and vendor halls and seeing some of the creative ways people appreciate their geekery with their art.

For Allen, also known as The Pixel Peddler, that means taking painstaking care to arrange beads into pixelated portraits of some of fandom's most beloved characters. If you can't tell from his giant Link portrait above, his fun and colorful creations look like they jumped straight out of an old game console (just check out the shading on those boots - amazing).

Find the full interview below the cut!

Interview: Aicosu

For me, getting into cosplay for the first time felt like opening a Russian nesting doll; every time I thought I'd found the end of the cosplay community and was about to step into a void on my own, I found someone out there had taken the time to make a tutorial, or already asked the questions I had, or compared eBay wigs so I wouldn't have to. Like any time you get more than one human liking the same thing each in their own way, the community has had its kerfuffles. But on the whole, I've found it to be full of fun people who are happy in their geeky skins and helpful to boot.

Sheila and Sylar of the couple cosplay team Aicosu are two such cosplayers. Their Tumblr has been an awesome resource for new and veteran cosplayers alike (Sheila is a master tutorial curator), and with over 90 cosplays in their portfolio, they've done the trial and error thing**, understand the wonder that is hot glue, and always have an encouraging word for cosplayers who might be stuck. Check out my interview with them below.

**Seriously though, it's hard to imagine the error part, because I'm pretty sure they're perfect. 

Interview: Doctor Dan the Pancake Man

Breakfast is my favorite meal. Scrambled eggs, bacon, cinnamon buns, a tall glass of orange juice...for me, you just can't beat it. And today we're talking about the middleweight champion of the Breakfast Food world: pancakes.

If pancakes are the middleweight champion, Doctor Dan the Pancake Man is...okay, it's an imperfect metaphor. Basically, if you didn't know pancake art is a thing, you're about to be pleasantly surprised by the following interview with one of the world's only pancake artists - and certainly the only one I've seen pour a pancake of Nick Fury's face that looked both uncannily real and unbelievably delicious.

Daniel Drake has been professionally making pancake art since his visit to the Today Show in 2013. How does one get into the pancake dancake biz? Read on to find out...and look to the end for a special deal on Wizard World St. Louis tickets!

Interview: Skahfee Studios

For a while now, I've been looking for something to hang above the Tolkien-centric bookcase in my living room, next to my museum-edition Sting (okay, okay, I'll stop preening now). Imagine the excited symphonies that sounded in my head when I happened across Scott Smith of Skahfee Studios' booth at Indiana Comic Con in March and found this perfect illustration of Smaug above The Lonely Mountain, made completely out of quotes from The Hobbit. Pretty sure my money grew wings of its own and flew out of my wallet at mach speeds.

I'm not sure if I even waited to hang it up before I sent Scott a message, asking for an interview. Scott is a pop artist who molds his typography to create stunning visuals from fandoms near and dear to the geeky heart. Currently, he travels to conventions around the country, sharing his art full-time with the world. Read on below the cut to learn how he tackles each piece and why he made the scary jump from "cubicle slave" to full-time artist.

Interview: The Geeky Chef

Pumpkin Pasties courtesy of The Geeky Chef

Admit it. Sometimes when you're rereading Harry Potter for the thousandth time, you find yourself really craving a pumpkin pasty. And I know you've wondered if Peeta's cheesy buns from The Hunger Games are as good as they sound - at least, I have.

So I was ecstatic when my internet scouring brought me to The Geeky Chef, where bona-fide geek and fellow food fan Cassandra Reeder creates, collects, and curates recipes from all my favorite fandoms. Legend of Zelda? Check. Lord of the Rings? Check. Game of Thrones? Check. And a ton more.

Bacon Pancakes from Adventure Time, courtesy of The Geeky Chef

Imagine how doubly pumped I was when I then discovered that The Geeky Chef has a cookbook with over 30 new recipes never before featured on her site coming out in a few weeks...just days after my birthday, in fact. Yup, I'm going to need that.

I reached out to Cassandra, hoping she would be available for an interview...and she was! Read all about how Cassandra perfects her geeky recipes (and avoids flavor disasters) below the cut!

Interview: Lopti of Some Like It Blue

Giant wings. Draenei horns. A motley assortment of weapons, laid out cheek to cheek with a pile of makeup. These are just a few of the things you'd find if you were to peek into cosplayer Lopti's closet. That is, if you weren't swept away by the avalanche of wigs; she's got enough to outfit a small albeit colorful army.

Photography by The Sisters Mischief

Lopti is one of those blessed individuals who can pull off just about any look, but I love that she cosplays what she loves. Her first priority is caring about the character she then sets out to become, be it for an hour, a long day of con-going and photoshooting...or just plain old having fun. 

Check out my recent interview with her below the cut.

Interview: Katelin Kinney Photography

I love pictures that tell a story. That make me wonder about the person in them, what they're thinking, the kind of world they live in, and what might have just happened out of sight.

Photography by Katelin Kinney

So it goes without saying that I'm a huge fan of photographer Katelin Kinney's soft yet vivid creations. Katelin has a talent for grounding a fantastical concept in a familiar setting; she takes something we know, and uses her pictures to ask the question, "But what if...?"

I was recently able to touch base with Katelin and ask a few questions about her inspirations and style. Read on!

Interview: Costumer's Guide

The year was 2003, and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King had just come out. I was in love. Ngila Dickson had designed the shieldmaiden Éowyn a gorgeous wardrobe, and I wanted it all. I begged my mom to teach me how to sew...but of course, couldn't sit still for five minutes so she could show me the first thing about threading a needle. Nonetheless, in the years following, I dialed-up our internet probably hundreds of times just to ogle the costumes and try and figure out how I could someday (when I was grown up) make them.

Ten (TEN!) years later, I interviewed Maggie from Costumer's Guide - one of the very sites I used to haunt. Maggie herself is a costumer, but on her Facebook page, she's also a curator of film and historical costumes in general. She shares news about new and old costumes, helpful tutorials, others' work, and a host of costume-related tidbits.

Read all about the evolution of Costumer's Guide in my interview with Maggie below!