mintyfoxcosplay

[mintyfoxcosplay]

I spiffed up this tutorial I made a while ago. And by spiffed up I mean I added the text to the pictures.

[mintyfoxcosplay]

My first time using a taobao agent on my own and it was quite a learning experience.

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Syndromestore Love Live Cyber Cosplay Review

I ordered this cosplay back in August 2016, and I thought I share my review on to tumblr. Below is the first picture of me wearing the cosplay. Shout out to my boyfriend for holding the battery pack because I had no idea there was a pocket in the petticoat.

I ordered the cosplay from @syndromestore​ and it took about two weeks to arrive. I ordered a S and my three measurements are 83cm-69cm-91cm.  The package that it came in was a nice and secured box. The cosplay includes dress, stockings, gloves, and triangle bracelets. The skirt does light up! But, you need to get your own power supply. The skirt was incredibly short and barely covered my butt. The waist was a bit tight. The dress does stretch but it will constraint you. It was a bit uncomfortable. The bust was loose. I had an extra 2cm of fabric that I would need to take in since the corset couldn't tighten anymore. The stockings were really tight and the lettering started to fall off. Thought, it's an easy fix and I used barge to glue back the letters.

PC: shutterfoo

I ended up ordering the headphones and shoes off of taobao. For the everything except the shoes and headphones, the cosplay is pretty incredible for its price. I highly recommend getting the cyber cosplay from @syndromestore. For the headphones and shoes, here are the taobao links:

Headphones: https://world.taobao.com/item/536586508940.htm?fromSite=main

Shoes: https://world.taobao.com/item/528328558921.htm?fromSite=main

[mintyfoxcosplay]

ALA Panels

I’ll be hosting two panels at ALA this year! Cosplaying in Japan with Kaibu Cosplay Friday, Jan 27th at 12:30PM to 1:30PM 

Planning on going to Japan and want to learn more about their cosplay culture? We’ll be going over the cosplay stores and proper etiquette when cosplaying in Japan.

Cosplay and Your Budget Saturday, Jan 28th at 9:00PM to 10:00PM

Learn how to set up a budget for your cosplay hobby! This panel will go over the basics on how to plan, budget, and save money on cosplaying and attending cons.

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Cosplay Progress: Using a Gantt Chart

By day, I work an office job in a manufacturing company. One day, during a meeting, someone presented this gorgeous chart on tracking projects and tasks. I later found out that it was called a Gantt Chart.

What is a Gantt Chart?

Thanks Google! Basically, it’s a chart to track projects progress over time. It’s usefulness is being able to see multiple deadlines and track the progress of your work. I recently started organizing my cosplays into a Gantt Chart. 

Each cosplay is its own project and separated by its cosplay components (i.e. wig, clothing, prop, and shoes). I would mark the start date and the deadline that I would need to finish it. The number of days is calculated in the next column and also, a colored horizontal bar appears on the furthest right. This shows how many weeks I have to complete the cosplay. In the other columns, I have my budget, the actual cost, progress (%), and the con I plan to wear it at. Also, the cosplay components also have their own start date, deadline, budget, cost, and progress.

I color coded the chart to keep track of my progress and cost by using conditional formatting. If I’m over my budget, the actual cost will turn red. As for the progress colors, I assigned colors to be as follow:

Green -  Done

Yellow - In Progress

Red< - Just Started

In this chart, I’m able to visualize my progress and keep track on how much time I have to finish a cosplay. It also acts as a to-do list for me as well. I know exactly what component I need to tackle and how much time I have left I have to finish it.

I know there’s a lot of great apps to help organize your cosplays and track your progress, but I really love spreadsheets. There is a reason why they are an industry standard. It’s so versatile and flexible. I mainly use Google Drive because it’s easy to use and I can access it on all my devices.

Below are the Google Drive templates for the Cosplay Gantt Chart. I made two versions of the Gantt Chart, and it’s really up to the user preference. The two templates can be viewed in each individual sheets. The first template keeps track of the cosplay and the cosplay components. It’s aim for those who want to see a breakdown on how to complete their cosplay 

The second template only keeps track of the cosplay. If you need something to give you a quick glance or the first template feels clutter, the second template is another option.

Template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iDIS9iwQHJ_pKPjPbM_LE0AtqWGaVN_f9qrfnkShYRU/edit?usp=sharing

[mintyfoxcosplay]

PC: Vitrih0lic

[mintyfoxcosplay]

As A Fat, Black Woman, Cosplay Has Tried To Make Me Invisible

This essay was originally published on The Establishment on September 20, 2016 and then on Huffington Post on September 27, 2016.

I never considered myself a geek until I picked up a new hobby: costume play, aka cosplay. It’s one of those things that happened organically. Someone took me to a geek convention, I saw people in costume, and not once did it occur to me not to dress up like them. Before I’d been there an hour, I had plans, ideas, hopes, and dreams for how to become a part of this world.

In short: I love cosplay. It is one of the highlights of my life, providing an outlet for my creativity, my problem-solving, my mild exhibitionism, and my need for expression.

I often try to capture my joy for cosplay through photos, of which I have many. And recently, when I did a cosplay photo shoot in my Asgardian Storm costume, I asked my significant other (S.O.) what he thought of one of my pictures. His response: “There’s a little too much boob.”

A little too much boob.

I looked at him, angry and offended, and said, “This is my body. That’s just how it looks.”

“I just think it detracts from the costume,” he responded.

My S.O. loves my body. I know this. But for him to say that my body was a problem in the costume was shaming. It was judgment. It was him expressing that somehow my body was the problem in this costume that was designed with a top that is open-laced to the navel.

His comment brought back all the ways I’d experienced body criticism throughout my life. And it reminded me how, even in the cosplay community that has allowed me to be so free, I am still not immune from body shaming.

***

Growing up, I was taught to be ashamed of my size and my breasts. I remember being in grade school, and my teacher loudly whispering during attendance that I needed a bra—and then my classmates talking behind my back when the molded-cup bra my mom then bought me made me look even more developed than I was. I remember being teased during gym class for how much my breasts bounced when I ran; I wore two bras to compensate and still faced comments like “you’re going to give yourself a black eye” or “try not to get a concussion.”

At the same time, I was told my body excited men. They felt entitled to inform me how I should dress, when I should smile, and how I should always try to make myself appealing for them. When I wore fitted clothes, people would tell me I looked “fuckable.” When I wore baggy clothes to make my fuckability less pronounced, people told me I looked sloppy and should dress better.

My clothing was monitored and criticized by both men and women. I was told to look available, but not too available; approachable but not too comfortable … because comfortable meant I wasn’t trying hard enough. I needed to show my body but not my skin; skin invited trouble.

I was shamed and policed for more than just the shape of my body. Because I am brown, I was told to stay indoors and avoid the sun because heaven forbid I get darker. I was told most sports weren’t feminine and the ones on the approved list were subject to rules that moderated and tempered girls’ aggression. I was taught that my bigger, browner body scared white women and that it was my responsibility to manage my effect on them.

I hated this. I still hate it. I’ve been groomed all my life to seek this body-related attention as an affirmation of my womanly worth—despite its apparent simultaneous lack of appeal. 

Cosplay is ostensibly a community that accepts those, like me, who exist outside mainstream normative ideals. But in this community, I’ve simply found another arena where I need to manage body commodification and shaming, and in ways I didn’t anticipate.

As a cosplayer, your audience, the people who enjoy cosplay, don’t always see you as a person. They often see you as the embodiment of the fictional character you’re portraying, and sometimes they impose their standards, their desires, and their interpretation of that character onto you. The cosplay stops being about you and instead becomes about you fitting into someone else’s narrative about a character.

But I often don’t fit that narrative. I don’t/can’t/won’t physically resemble the character enough to satisfy a fan’s embodiment of a beloved character—and so, I’m often rendered invisible.

This wasn’t true when I first started. There were so few people dressing up that people were excited to see anyone adorned as their favorite character. As cosplay got more popular, though, there was an increasing number of people who actually looked like the characters—or who were willing to change their bodies enough to get as close to looking like the characters as humanly possible. And suddenly, that became the ideal. 

Because I am a fat Black woman, I have worn costumes that are 95% accurate to the screen or comic book version of the character, but been dismissed and ridiculed. When I dressed as Cable, an X-Men character, people couldn’t tell who I was because I was brown and obviously a woman. Because people associate brown skin and white hair with Storm, people kept asking if that’s who I was; never mind my silver arm, illuminated eye, and extraneous yellow pouches, all characteristics of classic Cable.

At the same time, I’ve seen people who are slim or muscular or whatever the current illusion of attractive is wear a scaled-back version of the costume and be adored. They look “right” even if they aren’t trying to be “right.”

Since people like me don’t really exist in comics, I can get a little closer if the character is masculine or an inhuman skin color. I recognize that this is both funny and fucked up—that my cosplay becomes more realistic for people the farther I step away from my identity.

This isn’t to say marginalized people are never accepted in the cosplay world, but even this acceptance isn’t what it should be. Just like the broader body positivity movement endorses certain bodies over others—the hourglass curvy, not the round curvy; the white bodies, not the brown ones; the cellulite-free bodies, not the ones with visible cellulite—true acceptance is modified.

When you look up Black women cosplayers, when you think about those you know, they are usually light-skinned and not fat. If they are darker skinned, they are thin and curvy. If they are fat, they are lighter skinned. I very rarely see dark-skinned, fat women cosplayers, and while I cannot say why that is, I can guess: Even in this community that built itself to accept the socially unaccepted, there remains misfit toys.

It’s also worth noting that the cosplay community is hardly immune from the objectification of female bodies. I’ve experienced what it’s like to have men try to make me responsible for their sexual desire, where I’ve been accused of teasing them and enticing them because of what I chose to wear. I know what it feels like to have strangers project their sexual fantasies onto me, to have them overwrite my humanity with their lust as they try to shape me into that fantasy. I’ve had them turn our interactions into the verbal equivalent of those fantasies, until they are not talking with me anymore and I’m just a placeholder for future jack-off material.

***

I’ve always been aware that there are approved looks—socially approved beauty. And I’ve always known that I do not represent this. My brown skin alone rules me out of acceptability, but my broad nose, my full lips, my dark brown eyes, my fat body …  all these things together firmly place me into the unapproved category. I see how some people are treated in the cosplay community, and as inclusive as it is, not everyone is visible. People like me are not visible. 

Cosplay culture mimics societal “norms” in virtually every way, including body shaming and celebrating certain body types. And just like in “mainstream” culture, there are people who exist outside the accepted norm and who push back—and are still marginalized. Those of us who keep doing what we’re doing, who keep occupying space in this hobby that actively tries to ignore us are pushing back. Every race, body, or gender nonconforming person who refuses to step aside is pushing back. Every person who has been told that they don’t fit but they stay anyway is pushing back. We are making spaces for ourselves and when doors are shut in our faces, we cut another hole in the wall to make a new one.

Our bodies don’t need to be tamed. They can be loved, cherished, and appreciated regardless of how they look or what they are capable of doing … including when they’re dressed in a cosplay costume.

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Cosplay Things I Learned in 2016

Last year i did an end-of-year post of 10 cosplay things I learned that year. This year has been very very different for me. 

“It is okay to go to a con without a costume, it is okay to take a break from cosplay/costuming to focus on your life or save money.” This is a cosplay Tip that was posted back in April. Cosplay is a great hobby but sometimes life gets in the way and even though it can be a difficult decision it is usually better to put your life first. If you need to stop cosplaying and congoing to pay for school or pay rent, it is okay to! This year I had to take a break from cosplay, congoing and even this blog because it was the worst year ever ™ . 

[The personal stuff ] My dad died at the end of last year and I got thrown into taking care of my sick mom and figuring out their finances. Literally everything was a bump in the road. The lawyer who did the wills stopped practicing and when we tracked her down she recommended a lawyer who encouraged me to commit fraud so I dumped him for another lawyer who was good. The insurance had the wrong name on it (accident) and so we needed another lawyer to get the insurance money. The bank we were dealing with to close accounts literally kept messing up the forms. Then someone in the family didn’t pay for the organist from the funeral and I got harassed for the cost of that. It was one crazy thing after another!  Then just as things were getting normal again my mom was diagnosed with cancer, then a week later they confirmed it had spread and there isn’t anything they can do about it.

I used to make at least one costume for each major convention, but sometimes I would make two or more for the major cons and even a casual costume or two for the smaller cons. This crazy year? I updated one costume and that was it. And it was great: I rocked my Rosalina cosplay, updated everything that I could and then rocked it again. It worked with the little free time I had AND allowed me to wear something new-ish to cons. 

However, one thing I don’t see talked about it jumping back into the hobby. When you “take a break” you expect to get back into it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it is really easy to self-sabotage this goal. There will always be things that take priority over hobbies, and when you’re actively in the hobby  you are maintaining a balance between work and play. Once you’re out and focusing on the “work” it gets harder and harder to justify putting it aside for the fun. At some point, even if you are still dealing with things, you need to find room in your life to do what you love as well. Jump back in. This is where I am now: I put everything I dealt with first and I still have things to deal with but I MISS cosplay and I missed this blog and so it is time for me to get back into it. I started planning my 2017 costumes earlier this week and I’ll be buying supplies to start them soon.  Thanks for being here while I was on this crazy ride, I hope 2017 is better to all of us. I definitely have some great stuff in store for the site and the blog!

Cosplay Things I Learned in 2016

Take time off if you must and don’t feel guilty for it. 

Alternatively, pick and choose your events. If you don’t have the time or budget for big cons then enjoy some smaller events or meetups in your area. 

Updating is a great when you can’t create something new.

If you’re doing a skit and it involves stage ninjas/assistants, make sure they practice with you. They need to know their cues just as much as you do. 

Talk to people at cons and make friends. So many great people out there to meet! (Anime North was extra great this year as I pushed myself to talk to more people and find cosplayers from the same series. I was even given a homemade animal crossing plushie by the sweetest Princess Daisy cosplayer)

If you’ve been thinking of cosplaying, take a chance and try it! My friend dressed up as Mario for a small con this year and it was his first cosplay experience. He had a great time! There is something magical about donning a costume, even a simple one, and suddenly becoming a star. So many people asked for his picture! 

Plan to be early for zombie walks and other events you care about. You never know what delays you can run into, and it isn’t fun trying to catch up to the group. It was more of a stressful will-we-find-other-zombies-is-this-even-the-right-way run than a zombie walk. 

If you’ve left the hobby and miss it, Jump back in.

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Happy holidays everyone!! Here is a giveaway to celebrate the recent release of our new black strappy bondage bikini <3 <3 <3

♡ PRIZES/WINNERS ♡

1 winner will win a Black Strappy Bondage Bikini set 

♡ RULES ♡

Must be following Pocket Tokyo on Tumblr

Likes do not count, but you may bookmark

No giveaway, side, or inactive blogs  

Ask box must be accessible

Participants not following said rules will be disqualified.

♡ HOW TO ENTER ♡

Reblog this post for +1 entry! You can reblog more than once, but beware that only one of them may show up on Tumblr! Do not spam.

For extra entries, make a purchase ($10 & up) at Pocket Tokyo during this giveaway for (+50 entries)! Please submit your order number to us~

♡ EXTRA INFO ♡

This giveaway is open worldwide

Winner will be picked via random generator

Winner will have 48 hours to reply or a new one will be picked

☆ Giveaway ends January 3, 2017 ☆ Thank you and good luck!!

This giveaway isn’t administered, sponsored, or endorsed by Tumblr.

♥ Click here to visit Pocket Tokyo  ~ ♥

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Faux Cuffs and Collar Tutorial

Hello everyone!

This is a tutorial to make a detached collar and (faux) French cuffs. I intended this to be for Playboy Bunny-style costumes, and that’s a good use for them, but I can see people wanting to make these for fashion purposes or other costumes, as well. 

The collar is functional and buttons at the neck, and the cuffs are functional but use a snap on the inside and decorative buttons sewn to the outside to imitate the look of cufflinks. This makes them easier to deal with during a con day and makes it easier to either make custom “cufflinks” or to use what you have in your sewing stash rather than buying or attempting to make actual cufflinks.

Keep reading

[mintyfoxcosplay]

I made another infographic! There are a lot of other tutorials that list starter sewing tools, but this one has a slant towards the cost-conscious. I often get fans that tell me they can’t start sewing because they don’t have the money. I can completely sympathize, so this list goes through the most essential tools in this good-better-best format. This way you can pick your tools based on cost or what you might already have around the house. In some cases I think it’s best to have all three, where the first option is great for general projects and the last is best for specific techniques. If you work your way up you can conquer more skills!  Again, this covers just the most basic tools, not fabric and other notions. And it’s what I’ve personally derived from my 17 years sewing :)

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Another tutorial!  This one tells you how to make articulated shoulder armor that bends with your arm.  The shoulders were probably the most difficult piece for my Tyrael cosplay, so hopefully this will make things a bit simpler for others.

[mintyfoxcosplay]

A new Cosplay 101 video is here! At long last, we’re finally discussing the basic concepts of drafting your own cosplay sewing patterns.

As mentioned, this is a simple introduction to these methods. For detailed tutorials, please see the following resources!

Draping: Teach Yourself to Drape || Draping & Moulage || Draping On a Dress Form

Drafting from Existing Garments: Copy a Garment || Make a Pattern from Clothing || Copying Complex Garments

Modifying Existing Patterns: How to Modify Patterns for Cosplay

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Here’s a guide on how to use JoAnn Fabric’s coupons to their fullest extent!

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Yardage Chart

Hey, guys! I just found this nifty little chart  on the Joann’s website that has estimates for how much fabric you’d need for a specific project. It’s super helpful if you’re making your own pattern or simply need an estimate!  

[mintyfoxcosplay]

You know what’s depressing? When a person being an asshole about cosplay goes viral, a lot of my friends begin to doubt their abilities, even if they think the OP is a worthless bastard. It plants a seed of doubt that eats away at them. At least a dozen posts showed up on my feed and my dashboard asking…. am I good enough? Am I fat? Is there something I could be doing better?

So this is for my cosplay friends and my followers and anyone else who cosplays.

Your ability to cosplay shall not, and will not be judged on:

Gender

Skin color

Waistline

Cup size

Height

The size of your wallet

The amount of time dedicated to the cosplay

Fandom choice

Variation choice

Amount of likes/follows

Amount of shares/reblogs

And anyone who decides to judge you based on the above doesn’t understand you, and doesn’t care about you or cosplay in general.

You know what your ability to cosplay is judged by? Your passion and your dedication to it.

You know who’s opinion matters toward your cosplays? The people you ask, and most importantly, your’s and your’s alone.

These people who dub themselves elitists and decide to mock an entire community based on their idealistic standards have no understanding what it is to be part of a community, and probably never will. They have such low self esteem that they cover it up with an inflated ego and bring other people down in order to feel better about themselves. They attack those around them to make themselves feel superior, alienating themselves as well. Proving them an asshole is a lost cause. Attempting to make them regret their actions makes them a lost cause. Attacking them does nothing because they feed off of that hate.

Ignoring them and removing them from your lives completely is the healthiest way to remove plague from your hobby. Eventually, the word will get that the person is a virus, and their own words will drive themselves alone in a hobby about being unified with others. Yet their words still sting.

But you know what you have? Friends. For every person that writes that X cosplayers blow because of Y reason, there are 10 other people you know who will tell you: Fuck that person! You’re amazing!

There are 5 more friends who will PM you: Don’t listen to that asshat they don’t know what they’re talking about and they just want to hurt you.

And the 1 person who will call you up and go: I will murder on your behalf. But JK (OR MAYBE). Seriously are you really listening to that person? You are the most amazing person I know and anyone else who tells you differently doesn’t understand and doesn’t care!

Remember always: Cosplay for yourself and no one else. Cosplay to make you happy not to make others happy.

And if you’re ever unsure of if it makes you happy? Talk to one person, and you’ll remember all the love you’ve gained in this hobby, and shared with cosplay. Post a message on your feed, get something up on your wall, or maybe even just text the one person who you know inspires you.

Suddenly, that one person’s opinion becomes drowned out by hundreds, or maybe thousands.

And suddenly, that ‘elitist’ cosplayers’ opinion doesn’t really matter anymore.

[mintyfoxcosplay]

Cosplay Tip of the Day

Don’t tear some cosplayers down to build up others.

A compliment that is based on bashing another cosplayer is not a real compliment. It’s just needlessly mean, and it promotes vicious competitiveness in the cosplay community.