#cosplay intervviewe

[cosplayinamerica]

Velouria from Fire Emblem Fates Cosplayer : @kimbearliii City: Anchorage, AK Velouria is a character whose design I instantly fell in love with upon seeing the images from Fire Emblem Fates. Her wolf meets Little Red Riding Hood design was too cute to not replicate, and I really wanted a character that I could take photos of in Alaska that would fit the beautiful scenery we get year-round. Her personality is borderline obsessive, but her lazy side I found super relatable. I started creating the outfit around March and finished in August, piecing together things as I found time between working and going to school full time

The cloak is probably my favorite piece, partly because of how much I love the lace but it’s also functional and ridiculously warm! The corset was also fun to modify, and the pants and boots I actually use in everyday outfits because they’re great outside of cosplay! I didn’t have anyone recognize me at Senshi-con, but that’s okay, a couple people knew who I was at PAX West and it was nice getting to know other fans!a

I’ve been a cosplayer since 2009 and started sewing and making my own costumes since around 2012,  I’ve lived in Alaska part-time since 2010, but moved up here full time in 2015. I got into cosplay after googling pictures of Naruto characters to use as a wallpaper for my computer and saw someone cosplaying Sakura and was instantly like, “I want to do this!”. Little did I know that cosplay would have introduced me to my best friends and a whole new avenue of creativity. My first costume was a closet-cosplay of Misa Amane from Death Note, no wig, no makeup, but people still recognized my character which I thought was amazing and instantly hooked! My first hand-made costume was of Homura Akemi from Madoka Magica, which introduced me to sewing stretchy boot covers, sewing bias tape, patterning, and experimenting with different types of seams. Definitely not what I would consider a good first choice, but I learned so much!

[cbilluminati]

The last con I went to was nearly twenty years ago at the New Orleans Sci Fi and Fantasy Festival. This year I went to the Wizardworld Comic Convention in New Orleans and discovered many things have changed, but a few have stayed the same.

This year’s Wizardworld was held at the Earnest N. Morial Convention Center at the old site of the 1984 World’s Fair and spitting distance from the mighty Mississippi River. It was an unseasonably brisk 34 degrees Fahrenheit outside which made me feel sorry for some of the cosplayers I saw in very few clothes rushing to get into the building. (See some of the accompanying pictures and you will understand.) For those that hadn’t purchased tickets online the ticket booths were plentiful and quick. There were also plenty of convention workers available to point you where you needed to go. Entry was fast and pleasant with little or no hassle for those with backpacks or cosplay accessories. Of course, those that had too realistic weapons had to leave them at a designated area set up for that, but it was also well manned and effectively prepared to make sure that everyone’s property was secured and well identified so it went home with you and the end of the day. The convention floor was divided into 6 main sections: The front performance stage as you entered the convention hall, the celebrity booths and photo areas directly behind the front stage, the Artist Alley behind the celeb booths, the gaming zone behind them. On the left and right of the celeb booths were vendors and cosplay group booths and all the way to the left of the entrance past the vendors was the main stage that was used for the celebrity panels and costume contest. Also, Saturday night after the convention floor was closed on the main stage there was a special screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show hosted by Barry Bostwick (Brad from the movie.)

Cosplay: As you entered the convention floor the electronic dance music was bumping and several thousand people were milling about. I would estimate that at least 30 percent of the convention goers were in costume, which is a huge increase from my past experiences with cons. I expected more because cosplay has become a staple of Sci Fi / Fantasy and comic conventions in the last decade. Throughout my two days at Wizardworld NOLA I took many pictures of the cosplayers, of course asking for permission first, and all were happy to pose for a photo.

#gallery-0-22 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-22 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-22 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-22 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

The quality of costumes was very high and well thought out. There were even booths for the cosplay groups like the Spidey Team, the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club, the 501st Legion, and the Krewe Du Who. There were several genres represented including gaming and movies, but the most popular was from comic books. Harley Quinn was an obvious favorite for the ladies and Negan was everywhere you looked. Stand outs were the red and black Harlequin Batman and the duo of Enchantress and the Black and Gold Harley Quinn (a twist of the character and the local NFL team colors.)

#gallery-0-23 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-23 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-23 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-23 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

#gallery-0-24 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-24 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-24 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-24 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Celebrities: There were many top celebrities present and almost all were representatives of the main focus of the convention: Comics. Lou Ferrigno of the 80s Hulk TV series, Sam Jones of the Flash Gordon movie, Michael Rooker (Yondu of GotG/ Mearl of TWD ,) Tom Payne (Jesus of TWD,) Steven Yeun (Glen of TWD,) Michael Cudlitz (Abraham of TWD,) Theo Rossi (Juice of Sons of Anarchy and Shades of Luke Cage,) Jason David Frank (Bloodshot of Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe,) Sean Gunn (Kraglin and Rocket Raccoon of GotG,) Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen / Green Arrow of Arrow / Flash/ Legends of Tomorrow,) and Dave Bautista (Batista of WWE and Drax of GotG.) Other notable celebs were Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek TOS, Robert Englund of The Nightmare on Elm Street, Christopher Lloyd and Tom Wilson of the Back to the Future movies, David Duchovney of the X – Files, Jewel Staite of Firefly, Joonas Suotamo (the new actor in the Chewbacca costume,) and Peter Mayhew – Chewbacca of Star Wars. Meeting the celebs is a separate fee from what you pay to get in to the convention and some have different pricing from others. This includes different pricing for pictures with them and signatures on different items have their own separate prices too. Carrie Fisher was scheduled but unfortunately passed away two weeks before, but there was a large tribute picture of her as Princess Leia at the entrance for fans to sign. Oddly enough Chumlee of Pawn Stars had his own celeb signing booth with the rest. To my surprise I discovered my favorite old school wrestler, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, in the vendor booths. He is still larger than life and a genuinely nice guy to meet.

#gallery-0-25 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-25 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-25 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-25 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Artist Alley: My main focus of this con was Artist Alley because of my love of comics since the seventies. All of the artists and writers were easily approachable and eager to chat. I had brought along my sketch variant of Conan and Red Sonja #1 for Joan Chin to draw on and an advance copy of Ivar, Timewalker for Fred Van Lente to sign, which they happily did. I also had some Marvel Zombies for Arthur Suydam and a couple Crow: Dead Time for James O’ Barr to sign, but they weren’t able to appear. Notable artists and writers were: Neal Adams of Batman and Superman, Art Adams of X-Men, Hulk, and Generation X, Steven Geiger of The Punisher and Spiderman, Howard Chaykin of Star Wars, Punisher War Journal, Conan the Barbarian, and Blade, Joe Quinones of Batman, Howard the Duck, and Mad Magazine, Billy Martin of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and guitarist for Good Charlotte, Fred Van Lente of Marvel Zombies, Ivar, Time Walker, and Archer & Armstrong, Joyce Chin of Red Sonja, Vampirella / Witchblade, Spawn, and Wynona Earp, Jason Metcalf of Eternal Descent, The Darkness, and Grimm Fairy Tales and Bill McKay of Zombie Tramp and Hack / Slash. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jason Metcalf. Jason gave a few hints of some new projects in the works, the interview is below and please excuse my whiny voice. I was getting over a sinus cold.

#gallery-0-26 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-26 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-26 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-26 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

http://www.outrightgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Intervview-Final-Metcalf.mp4

Vendors: As with any comic convention comes the vendors of everything you can think of that has to do with comics, cosplay, gaming, fantasy, movies, leather gear, pop art, sci fi, television shows, toys, and on and on. One stand out was Wild Bill’s Soda. They had two booths on opposite sides of the convention and were mainly selling three different stainless steel mugs: a 22 ounce, a 32 ounce, and a 32 ounce double walled insulated. With these you received unlimited refills for that day of any of their eight flavors of fountain sodas ranging from vanilla, cherry, birch beer, sasparilla, orange, grape or their most popular root beer and diet root beer. It seems the biggest seller this year are Funko Pop! vinyl bobble heads, because they were everywhere and everyone was buying them. Some of the things that caught me by surprise were the Lasik surgery booths, the rain gutters reps, sci fi speed dating, What is You Super Power? from a drop of your blood, and tattoos. One huge section was nothing but tattoo artists; about a dozen of them. Several were from the TV show Ink Masters and other shows. One notable artist was Rick Meggison of Marked 4 Life tattoos in PA that I watched create a classic Luke Cage cover inside of a Wu Tang clan logo.

#gallery-0-27 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-27 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-27 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-27 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

  Panels and Events: There were discussion panels, demonstrations, gaming tournaments, advanced screenings, learning opportunities, artist and writer spotlights, musical performances, and even exotic dancers. There was a lot going on on the side stages, main stages, and convention rooms. The ones that caught my interest were: Doctor Who psychology: A Madman with a Box, Star Wars Psychology: Jedi Mind Tricks, Welcome to this Nightmare: A Conversation with Robert Englund, From Juice to Shades: A Conversation with Theo Rossi, The Wizardworld Concert performed by World of Warcraft composer Jason Hayes, Guardians vs. the Audience with Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, and Sean Gunn, Ain’t That a Bat to the Head: A Conversation with Michael Cudlitz and Steven Yeun, Get Published: Professional Writers Reveal Plot and Publishing Secrets, Great Scott!: Revisiting Back to the Future with Tom Wilson and Christopher Lloyd, and of course the Rocky Horror Picture Show Extravaganza hosted by Barry Bostwick. The Rocky event was a screening of the original RHPS including the audience participation and some VERY over the top cosplayers.

#gallery-0-28 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-28 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-28 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-28 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Overall: As my re-introduction to the comic con scene this was a very pleasant experience. I expected a lot after researching what is typical of today’s cons and got an all out audio and visual overload of sights, sounds, and pleasant conversations with a lot of complete strangers that had a lot of common interests. The Wizardworld staff kept the venue well organized and the events were well timed so there was never much of a lull and the Morial Convention Center staff made it comfortable and clean. I have read some remarks that Wizardworld events have gotten dull and don’t attract the talent that they used to. I say that it would be hard to outdo what I experienced and I didn’t even get half the experience as those that made the meet and greets and all of the panels. This is well worth the price of admission and I am definitely coming back.

Wizardworld New Orleans 2017 con coverage

The last con I went to was nearly twenty years ago at the New Orleans Sci Fi and Fantasy Festival.

Wizardworld New Orleans 2017 con coverage The last con I went to was nearly twenty years ago at the New Orleans Sci Fi and Fantasy Festival.

[outright-geekery]

The last con I went to was nearly twenty years ago at the New Orleans Sci Fi and Fantasy Festival. This year I went to the Wizardworld Comic Convention in New Orleans and discovered many things have changed, but a few have stayed the same.

This year’s Wizardworld was held at the Earnest N. Morial Convention Center at the old site of the 1984 World’s Fair and spitting distance from the mighty Mississippi River. It was an unseasonably brisk 34 degrees Fahrenheit outside which made me feel sorry for some of the cosplayers I saw in very few clothes rushing to get into the building. (See some of the accompanying pictures and you will understand.) For those that hadn’t purchased tickets online the ticket booths were plentiful and quick. There were also plenty of convention workers available to point you where you needed to go. Entry was fast and pleasant with little or no hassle for those with backpacks or cosplay accessories. Of course, those that had too realistic weapons had to leave them at a designated area set up for that, but it was also well manned and effectively prepared to make sure that everyone’s property was secured and well identified so it went home with you and the end of the day. The convention floor was divided into 6 main sections: The front performance stage as you entered the convention hall, the celebrity booths and photo areas directly behind the front stage, the Artist Alley behind the celeb booths, the gaming zone behind them. On the left and right of the celeb booths were vendors and cosplay group booths and all the way to the left of the entrance past the vendors was the main stage that was used for the celebrity panels and costume contest. Also, Saturday night after the convention floor was closed on the main stage there was a special screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show hosted by Barry Bostwick (Brad from the movie.)

Cosplay: As you entered the convention floor the electronic dance music was bumping and several thousand people were milling about. I would estimate that at least 30 percent of the convention goers were in costume, which is a huge increase from my past experiences with cons. I expected more because cosplay has become a staple of Sci Fi / Fantasy and comic conventions in the last decade. Throughout my two days at Wizardworld NOLA I took many pictures of the cosplayers, of course asking for permission first, and all were happy to pose for a photo.

#gallery-0-22 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-22 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-22 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-22 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

The quality of costumes was very high and well thought out. There were even booths for the cosplay groups like the Spidey Team, the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club, the 501st Legion, and the Krewe Du Who. There were several genres represented including gaming and movies, but the most popular was from comic books. Harley Quinn was an obvious favorite for the ladies and Negan was everywhere you looked. Stand outs were the red and black Harlequin Batman and the duo of Enchantress and the Black and Gold Harley Quinn (a twist of the character and the local NFL team colors.)

#gallery-0-23 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-23 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-23 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-23 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

#gallery-0-24 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-24 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-24 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-24 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Celebrities: There were many top celebrities present and almost all were representatives of the main focus of the convention: Comics. Lou Ferrigno of the 80s Hulk TV series, Sam Jones of the Flash Gordon movie, Michael Rooker (Yondu of GotG/ Mearl of TWD ,) Tom Payne (Jesus of TWD,) Steven Yeun (Glen of TWD,) Michael Cudlitz (Abraham of TWD,) Theo Rossi (Juice of Sons of Anarchy and Shades of Luke Cage,) Jason David Frank (Bloodshot of Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe,) Sean Gunn (Kraglin and Rocket Raccoon of GotG,) Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen / Green Arrow of Arrow / Flash/ Legends of Tomorrow,) and Dave Bautista (Batista of WWE and Drax of GotG.) Other notable celebs were Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek TOS, Robert Englund of The Nightmare on Elm Street, Christopher Lloyd and Tom Wilson of the Back to the Future movies, David Duchovney of the X – Files, Jewel Staite of Firefly, Joonas Suotamo (the new actor in the Chewbacca costume,) and Peter Mayhew – Chewbacca of Star Wars. Meeting the celebs is a separate fee from what you pay to get in to the convention and some have different pricing from others. This includes different pricing for pictures with them and signatures on different items have their own separate prices too. Carrie Fisher was scheduled but unfortunately passed away two weeks before, but there was a large tribute picture of her as Princess Leia at the entrance for fans to sign. Oddly enough Chumlee of Pawn Stars had his own celeb signing booth with the rest. To my surprise I discovered my favorite old school wrestler, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, in the vendor booths. He is still larger than life and a genuinely nice guy to meet.

#gallery-0-25 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-25 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-25 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-25 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Artist Alley: My main focus of this con was Artist Alley because of my love of comics since the seventies. All of the artists and writers were easily approachable and eager to chat. I had brought along my sketch variant of Conan and Red Sonja #1 for Joan Chin to draw on and an advance copy of Ivar, Timewalker for Fred Van Lente to sign, which they happily did. I also had some Marvel Zombies for Arthur Suydam and a couple Crow: Dead Time for James O’ Barr to sign, but they weren’t able to appear. Notable artists and writers were: Neal Adams of Batman and Superman, Art Adams of X-Men, Hulk, and Generation X, Steven Geiger of The Punisher and Spiderman, Howard Chaykin of Star Wars, Punisher War Journal, Conan the Barbarian, and Blade, Joe Quinones of Batman, Howard the Duck, and Mad Magazine, Billy Martin of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and guitarist for Good Charlotte, Fred Van Lente of Marvel Zombies, Ivar, Time Walker, and Archer & Armstrong, Joyce Chin of Red Sonja, Vampirella / Witchblade, Spawn, and Wynona Earp, Jason Metcalf of Eternal Descent, The Darkness, and Grimm Fairy Tales and Bill McKay of Zombie Tramp and Hack / Slash. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jason Metcalf. Jason gave a few hints of some new projects in the works, the interview is below and please excuse my whiny voice. I was getting over a sinus cold.

#gallery-0-26 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-26 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-26 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-26 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

http://www.outrightgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Intervview-Final-Metcalf.mp4

Vendors: As with any comic convention comes the vendors of everything you can think of that has to do with comics, cosplay, gaming, fantasy, movies, leather gear, pop art, sci fi, television shows, toys, and on and on. One stand out was Wild Bill’s Soda. They had two booths on opposite sides of the convention and were mainly selling three different stainless steel mugs: a 22 ounce, a 32 ounce, and a 32 ounce double walled insulated. With these you received unlimited refills for that day of any of their eight flavors of fountain sodas ranging from vanilla, cherry, birch beer, sasparilla, orange, grape or their most popular root beer and diet root beer. It seems the biggest seller this year are Funko Pop! vinyl bobble heads, because they were everywhere and everyone was buying them. Some of the things that caught me by surprise were the Lasik surgery booths, the rain gutters reps, sci fi speed dating, What is You Super Power? from a drop of your blood, and tattoos. One huge section was nothing but tattoo artists; about a dozen of them. Several were from the TV show Ink Masters and other shows. One notable artist was Rick Meggison of Marked 4 Life tattoos in PA that I watched create a classic Luke Cage cover inside of a Wu Tang clan logo.

#gallery-0-27 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-27 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-27 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-27 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

  Panels and Events: There were discussion panels, demonstrations, gaming tournaments, advanced screenings, learning opportunities, artist and writer spotlights, musical performances, and even exotic dancers. There was a lot going on on the side stages, main stages, and convention rooms. The ones that caught my interest were: Doctor Who psychology: A Madman with a Box, Star Wars Psychology: Jedi Mind Tricks, Welcome to this Nightmare: A Conversation with Robert Englund, From Juice to Shades: A Conversation with Theo Rossi, The Wizardworld Concert performed by World of Warcraft composer Jason Hayes, Guardians vs. the Audience with Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, and Sean Gunn, Ain’t That a Bat to the Head: A Conversation with Michael Cudlitz and Steven Yeun, Get Published: Professional Writers Reveal Plot and Publishing Secrets, Great Scott!: Revisiting Back to the Future with Tom Wilson and Christopher Lloyd, and of course the Rocky Horror Picture Show Extravaganza hosted by Barry Bostwick. The Rocky event was a screening of the original RHPS including the audience participation and some VERY over the top cosplayers.

#gallery-0-28 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-28 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-28 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-28 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Overall: As my re-introduction to the comic con scene this was a very pleasant experience. I expected a lot after researching what is typical of today’s cons and got an all out audio and visual overload of sights, sounds, and pleasant conversations with a lot of complete strangers that had a lot of common interests. The Wizardworld staff kept the venue well organized and the events were well timed so there was never much of a lull and the Morial Convention Center staff made it comfortable and clean. I have read some remarks that Wizardworld events have gotten dull and don’t attract the talent that they used to. I say that it would be hard to outdo what I experienced and I didn’t even get half the experience as those that made the meet and greets and all of the panels. This is well worth the price of admission and I am definitely coming back.

Wizardworld New Orleans 2017 con coverage The last con I went to was nearly twenty years ago at the New Orleans Sci Fi and Fantasy Festival.