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Vol 3 Ch 32 | Love Talking About Cosplay feat. MakerFishMeal
75 Plays9 months ago
We are joined by the award winning cosplayer Annye Driscoll AKA MakerFishMeal! They are a jaw-droppingly talented creator with expertise in foamsmithing, crafting large armor builds, and--of course--League of Legends. MakerFishMeal also has a NEW BOOK coming out this month! The Ultimate Glue Guide is an essential for every level of cosplayer or creator.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome back to the Sleepover Podcast. This is Fandames with Parks and Nebula. I am Nebula, our lovely, beautiful lady. I'm Parks. Sorry, I thought you were cueing me in slightly early. And we have an incredible guest, someone that we admire and look up to so much and we're so stoked that they're here. Would you care to introduce yourself? Mystery special
Annie's Cosplay Journey
00:00:31
Speaker
guest? Hi. Wow, a big reveal. Wow.
00:00:35
Speaker
I'm Annie, I go by makerfishmeal on the internet. I like making big props and you might know me from my League of Legends cosplays, which I'm obsessed with. And yeah, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. Yes, thank you for being here. And I will you just kind of start by listing some of your builds so people understand how fucking big they are.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, can we get a little bit more of a credential? You know you're more than just something cosplay. This weenie right here is my credential. This is all you need to see right here. Did they all get an award last night? Was that last night that that happened? Or two nights ago? Yeah, Jessica Nigri gave me $300 last night.
00:01:19
Speaker
Damn, thanks Jessica! For the weenie. So, and I did not pay her anything. Award winning weenie? Yeah. And can you remind me which, I don't play League of Legends. I like the characters, I like them how I like Pokemon. I'm like, they're so cute! You're doing it the right way. I don't know anything about games.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah, so this is from Barbecue Leona. Leona is one of my main gals. I also did Debonair Leona. That was my last big competition build. A white suit with a big silver shield. It was stupid.
00:01:51
Speaker
I also made Draven during the pandemic, and I have the axes that spin. You might know me from that. I just finished Heartsteel Yone from the new boy band they came out with. Yes, love it. And then I'm actually working on a Warhammer cosplay right now, which is my first Warhammer cosplay. And which character or faction? It's Maugan Ra. You might know him from his
00:02:20
Speaker
gun that has a scythe on the end. It's a gun scythe. Yeah, I don't I don't know war like this is my introduction to war hammer. So pretty much all I can tell you is gun scythe. That's the end of my knowledge. My fiance is obsessed with war hammer figures, but not the game. And so he'll always show me all his little guys. And I think gun scythe has come up once or twice. Yes.
00:02:44
Speaker
I actually love that about Warhammer. Like I love that there's so many different ways to like you can read the books, you can do the cosplay, you can do the minis, you can play the game. And it kind of feels like the game is like one of the smaller aspects. Yeah, that's something that no one's actually doing. Yeah, everyone's just buying the models and nerding out on YouTube about them.
Cosplay Challenges and Solutions
00:03:05
Speaker
and he doesn't even he doesn't even game games workshop don't look at this he doesn't really buy the models anymore he 3d prints them yes yes i mean because it's so much easier yeah i i had to buy the one guy like i wanted him as a reference
00:03:22
Speaker
And he was $60 or something like that for one guy. And they know what they're doing. That's why games were becoming the worst. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I bought it. So they won. They got your money. Yeah. But yeah.
00:03:41
Speaker
Um, Ken, cause I feel like there was one that you also have won awards for that you missed, um, with your Swain cosplay. Yeah. Yeah. Swain is actually my favorite league, um, character. And I, I kind of felt like I had to build up to him because I wanted to do him justice.
00:03:59
Speaker
Dragon Master Swain was also a practice costume because I wanted to make a Swain skin before I make Base Swain. Like I want Base Swain to be my masterpiece. Yeah. So I made Dragon Master Swain a couple of years ago and I got third in the LCS riots cosplay contest and he felt very, very good to wear. Very powerful.
00:04:30
Speaker
I'm a warlord type power. How many times have you placed in the LCS contest now? I have been a finalist three times, and I have placed twice. I was a finalist, and then I got third, and then I got second. So I'm building up. You're building up to a win. Maybe Dave Swain will be my year. We'll see.
00:04:57
Speaker
I know, Parker, you're also like, you want your magnum opus to be a base lux, right? Not base lux, but yes. It's because they keep changing her base design to be better every time. And I really want to be able to do part of the armor from the Awakened cinematic, but I want to also incorporate her Legends of Rutera card design with a more dynamic armor.
00:05:24
Speaker
because I hate the classic titty cups that are on that one. I hate it. I've cosplayed Star Guardian Lux twice. I've remade her. I've did a pop star Lux back when the pop star like concept are going around way back in 2013. I've done Lux a lot. My handle's Crown Guard Cosplay because I just adore Lux. You're committed.
00:05:44
Speaker
I've cosplayed a lot of League. I also started as a League cosplayer. My Draven photos, you'll never find them anywhere because I entered that in a contest two days post-op. Oh no. Wow, that was a hot mess. I hated that. You'll never find it. But I have to remake him because it's like I can't live with what I did. No. I mean, you have to get photos of it before it's gone forever.
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, they're a hot mess because my makeup was the worst part. I looked so pale and like, I mean, you know, you know how the curious is where it's like everything's out. Like I feel miserable. Oh, they also screwed you over at the convention because Zoe was because my sister was dariest to match. And you know how it is with EVA foam and glue and hot rooms that are humid because it's full of body heat. We had to super glue it to her clothes so we could get to stage. I've been there.
00:06:39
Speaker
I wrote a book about that, actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Glue and hot stuff not working. Yeah. That's the perfect lead in because we're here to talk about your book that you're making. Yeah. Next month, February, February 25th. Perfectly state. So soon. Yeah, I don't want to talk about it, but. Stress and also
00:07:07
Speaker
You know, I've been a reader and like, like reading is my main thing. Yeah. And the fact that my book is going to be at Joanne's and Barnes and Noble is just like, like, I can't eat. Yeah.
00:07:26
Speaker
That's so exciting, though. That's exciting. I can't handle it. It's a dream come true. It's something I feel like I've been working toward my whole life. So.
00:07:38
Speaker
Well, it's just from your content creation from the last four years of you making guides on what foams to use and what paints to use and how to use glue even like in your smaller forms of content and how to build these tutorials. Your tutorials all over Pinterest. They're all over DeviantArt now, which is funny because we're returning back to DeviantArt tutorials. They're everywhere. DeviantArt tutorials. They're my own dog. They got me.
00:08:04
Speaker
I'm not paying someone for a tutorial on how to stick two things together if I can do it on TV and art for free. But you've had such a corner on being able to produce this information in a way that's accessible to everybody where a lot of people weren't doing that. And so it's such a cool thing to watch it progress into your own book that you can have your name on. Yeah.
Cosplay Community and Competitions
00:08:28
Speaker
I mean, it's been, you know, I needed a lot of the tutorials that I make are tutorials that I needed either when I started or at that time, you know, like I made, I was working on barbecue Leona and I needed to paint plastazote and I didn't have an airbrush, which everyone was saying, like paint plastazote with an airbrush and the color will still go through, the lights will still go through. And so,
00:08:55
Speaker
I needed an option. And I did a bunch of experiments and made a tutorial of like, here, here's the way that I painted this with out an airbrush, you know, like, I'm making them for me too. That's present me or past me. Yeah. And that's so important as a creative, specifically as someone that works with their hands so much, because like,
00:09:19
Speaker
you forget the skills you didn't have the more you progress. And my partner, he has an airbrush and he paints miniatures with it all the time. So he knows so much more about that. But if I see a cosplay thing where they're like, oh, I used an airbrush for this. It's frustrating to me to an extent because I'm like, well, I don't have $400 to go drop on an airbrush so that I can
00:09:39
Speaker
paint this one specific type of plastic or add this one shadow on a wig and being able to build that community around, hey everyone else, here's what I did and then sharing what everyone else did as well is so much more empowering I feel and motivating to keep creating.
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah. Well, especially... Sorry, go ahead. No, you. I was going to say, it just makes it so much more beginner friendly too because that's a whole thing with beginner cosplayers is that they never know where to start because all these tutorials are like, bring out your $400 sewing machine or here's all of this war blood that you've had. Yeah. If I see another laser cutter in a tutorial, I'm going to go insane. You think I can afford that? I barely have things for my cricket. That lives on the floor sometimes. Yeah. I don't even have a cricket. Seeing those, I'm like...
00:10:27
Speaker
Mine was a gift. But it's so hard to find an icebreaker to get into cosplay when everything that you see online requires you to have $1,000 worth of equipment. And it's like, I'm already having to shell out so many cash just to get Plastizo as an example. Because you have to order it online, and you have to get it in bulk. It's like ordering Warblo back when Warblo was the only option you had for building. I understand that's what everyone is using right now. But how can we make this accessible for people who want to try?
00:10:56
Speaker
without having to use a $500 heat gun and everything possible. We can reassess this. And so when you have tutorials like yours where it's like, hey, you can get some glue at Home Depot and figure it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I also feel like the quality of cosplay has gone up so much. I haven't even been cosplaying for that long. And I've seen everyone get so much better. And the techniques get so much more intricate and more correct.
00:11:26
Speaker
Like, I don't see people gluing their sewing projects together anymore, you know? And I kind of wish that we could bring that, like, hackiness back a little bit, just so, because I feel like it's kind of intimidating to say, like, yeah, just do it. Like, it's going to be crappy. So don't look at anyone else, you know?
00:11:49
Speaker
I have a firm stance that I think newer cosplayers need to learn to fail a little bit. Well, that is absolutely true. I remember looking like a hot mess, and that's how I developed. But it's like, if you're so afraid of not being able to be perfect from the get-go, you're not letting yourself try anything new, and it's going to frustrate you and burn you out. Because you're always going, like, if you do great on the first step, and then you fail the second step, you're going to either stop or
00:12:17
Speaker
figure it out from there, you're gonna burn yourself out. It's like, it's okay to hot glue a seam if you need a hot glue a seam, okay? We've all been there. I mean, I also, like, as you grow as a maker, you're gonna keep failing too. I think if it's a lesson that you learn early, then you're only gonna be stronger as a maker as you get better and learn new things and fail at new things. And it's so like,
00:12:46
Speaker
Central and important to me and to Parker and I know now to you Annie to like
00:12:52
Speaker
not lose sight of the joy of it and to remember that you're doing it because it's fun and you love this character. And it doesn't matter if it looks perfect or not. It matters that you're enjoying the process and enjoying the final product. And I really get frustrated seeing cosplayers that have lost that because they've gotten caught up in the other aspects of it or the posting of everything. Oh, just I want to see the process. I want to see what you're working on.
00:13:21
Speaker
always care about the finished product. I also want to see how did you get there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's also just depressing when they have to come out and be like, I'm at a point where I'm burnt out now because the way that this has pushed me to it, I want to be able to go back to just building for fun again. And it's like, you can, please. I promise you, it's possible.
00:13:43
Speaker
It's for me, you know, like, I love competing so much. And once you reach a certain level, you can't compete with everything, you know, and that's where I struggle myself is I'm like,
00:13:58
Speaker
I'm making this thing that I can't compete with because it's not it's not good enough You know like Yone is not good enough even though I love him you know and I had a great time making him and so I feel like I'm constantly like I Love competing. I love making and sometimes you can't like do both of them with the same
00:14:20
Speaker
thing, you know? Yeah, especially with the range of like being a master in competing where you are. It's like you have to be doing all of these huge larger than life cosplays. Yeah, they're eye catching in every way. They have to show off your sewing and your props and everything that you do in every like you have to excel in every category basically with your big cost. And you can't cut any corners like I cut corners. I will show you the corners I cut. But like if you're going to compete, the judges are going to see that and they're going to be like, we can't
00:14:50
Speaker
like you're not showing us a master's piece right now. Yeah, right. So I don't compete because competing makes me so ungodly anxious. So I have lots of questions. But have you ever like, I know that you're at this master level with a lot of your builds, but have you considered entering in a lower level for some other builds that you might have cut a few corners on or just made for fun or done like a walk on or anything?
00:15:18
Speaker
Um, yeah, so once you generally, and this depends on the rules of the specific con or whatever contest you're in, once you're a master, you're a master forever. Um, you know, you've won your contests and no matter what you make in the future, every costume, um, you have to enter at that level.
00:15:38
Speaker
It's not by the quality of the work. This time it's have you won something, then you're a master. So like because I placed as at a small time little one I placed with my Onigashima armor from One Piece, I am now technically an intermediate cosplayer, even if it's
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, the quality of the work does not really matter for most contest rules. It's have you entered before? Have you placed before? How many times? Once you've placed like two or three times in intermediate, then they'll usually bump you to master's. Sometimes if you're still in intermediate, but they like your work so much, they'll look at it and be like, this is master's. And then they bump you without you even applying. And then you're just stuck there forever. Yeah, exactly. Once you're put in master's,
00:16:20
Speaker
We had this with our last guest, Ugami, where she entered beginners with me at this little tiny fair convention that we were at. They bumped her to intermediate. She placed. She had to enter groups intermediate for Bonsai. She got best in show. So now she has to enter at Masters everywhere she goes.
00:16:39
Speaker
I mean, deserved, obviously. Oh yeah, it was so, so deserved. But it's hard because once you basically catch one break with one good costume, you're now higher up than you want it to be. It sounds like Big Fish, Little Pond, and then everything else that comes with that. That's frustrating. I wish they would let you enter at the complexity of the build.
00:17:02
Speaker
Technically, in some places, say, if I entered, say, like, A-Con or AX or DragonCon, if I was to enter in intermediates there with a project and do, like, if I was to do well at intermediates there and then come back to a small convention, like, if I came to Bonsai or something, I would be masters at this level because the contest was bigger.
00:17:25
Speaker
Like the, yeah, even if it's the same level, intermediate, if you win there where it's a bigger pool, you come back to being masters when it comes to your smaller pool. So it's very complicated and it depends on the rules, but it's like, there's no break because it's once you're a master, you're a master and you're stuck there. But it's all about protecting newer
00:17:46
Speaker
or, you know, less skilled cosplayers. Like in the end, it is about giving opportunities to the smaller fish. It just can be frustrating for people who don't feel like they got their time. Which I totally understand, totally understand.
00:18:05
Speaker
especially if you're really good at foam smithing and not as strong in sewing or vice versa, and you want to enter a really big sewing project instead of a big armor build, you would be at a different level. You just have to grow real fast, which I guess is good for us. We're always learning new stuff. What has pulled you into that world, Annie? What's your big draw for competing? Why do you love it so much?
00:18:34
Speaker
Well, I like winning. I've had a great time, you know, yeah, winning. But, you know, talking to the judges, I've been judged by some of my absolute heroes.
00:18:58
Speaker
For me, competition has unlocked some incredible opportunities, like being hosted by Riot Games, or many times if you win a competition, you'll be brought back as a judge the next year, things like that. And then there's money, prizes. Oh, my favorite part, I don't know how I glossed over this, the backstage
00:19:25
Speaker
um experience of cosplay competition is just it's literally one of the best parts of cosplay i think everyone there loves each other so much and is so supportive like if you say if you mutter to yourself oh no my seam just split there will suddenly be like six people with a needle and thread like
00:19:49
Speaker
It's the supportive energy and atmosphere. And these are all people who are competing directly with each other. Yeah, it's a wonderful community to be a part of.
00:20:05
Speaker
Uh, yeah, love it. Yeah. Well, especially like within either regional or something specific like league, it's like, these are people you've competed against multiple times or they're in your same circles. Like, you know, everyone around you, the camaraderie that comes from the green room, like space is so big because everyone wants to see each other improve. Everyone wants to see each other make more stuff and everyone wants to see each other win, whether it's them or not. You still want to see everyone with you progress.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah. And I would say that that's one benefit of entering Masters as well, is that you are now in this circle. You know, everyone's going in and falling out of the of the beginner category, you know, as they lose interest or as they get promoted or whatever. But within Masters, like we're a set group that's just welcoming new folks in. And so
00:20:52
Speaker
If you go to C2E2 and compete, for example, you're going to know a lot of those folks. You've competed against them before, or you followed their builds, or they've judged you, or you've judged them.
00:21:04
Speaker
Yeah, the community aspect of competitive cosplay is really, really good. That's awesome. Yeah, I've never had that competitive experience. The only thing I ever competed in was I played violin and so I competed in school and it was so like cutthroat. We want you to fuck up and not helpful at all. And it sounds so much more welcoming. It sounds almost more like theater, I feel. Yeah, well, I mean, it is theater. Yeah, yeah.
00:21:34
Speaker
Like, I'm not a theater kid, but I see everyone else. And I feel like theater kids, theater kids, theater kids, you know?
00:21:44
Speaker
your own special breed of theater kid, I feel like. Yeah, I hope I'll be accepted as a theater kid someday. I would have assumed that you would have been a theater kid. No, I was a band nerd. Okay, no, I can see that too. What did you play? French horn. Love that. Love that for you. I still dream about it. I love it a lot.
00:22:05
Speaker
one of my college roommates, he played French horn in our university marching band. And now he's a middle school and high school band teacher. So yeah, many a morning woke up to the dulcet tones of a French horn in my house. At least it's not a trumpet. Yeah, or cornet. My boyfriend's a trumpet player.
00:22:31
Speaker
No judgment. It's just loud. That's why he doesn't play the trumpet anymore. Well, my fiancé played tuba. Oh, that's cool. That's cool. And he can still do the mouth thing. He can mimic the tuba sound just normally.
Inspiration and Future Projects
00:22:48
Speaker
And it really freaks me out, but in a really cool way. I'm like, how do you do that without the instrument?
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah, that conversation because Gavin was telling me the mouth thing you need to like be able to play the trumpet is I think I'm stupid because I don't know how to do that. Like you're describing it like it's easy and I don't I don't have that. I can't do it. I'm not a would win person. I some people I mean, I remember like some people it took a long time to figure out the muscles to turn on to to make it happen. I think it's not something we're really born with.
00:23:24
Speaker
You either have to just really like the instrument and hope for the best. I feel like that way with every instrument because I remember there was a kid in my orchestra in middle school that he played cello and he was so hardcore about it he would sleep with these like
00:23:40
Speaker
hard plastic spacers in between his fingers so that he would have a better reach on the fingerboard. Oh my gosh. No, that was normal. That's a professional normal thing to do. That's professional, but from a non-musician standpoint, psycho. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It reminds me of what ballerinas do to their body. Oh yeah, good. But then think about what cosplayers do and all the shit we can ourselves do.
00:24:11
Speaker
Yeah. I personally am willing to be in pain for a cosplay. I made a bomb devil helmet from Chainsaw Man and wore it to level up expo. And I have all of my full makeup and contacts underneath so that way I could take my helmet off and be ready. Oh my gosh. That's epic. And while we were in line, because I live in Utah where it was cold because this convention was in February, none of my spray paint properly cured.
00:24:37
Speaker
So when I put the helmet on, it smelled like spray paint inside. And my contacts dried up in my eyes and fell out in the middle of the line outside the convention. And everyone was so mad at me. Everyone was so mad at me. They're like, this is so bad for your eyes. You can't do them. It is what it is. You're breathing. I'm like, yeah.
00:24:58
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was not good. What am I supposed to do? Not wear my helmet? I would say not wear the helmet, but that would probably make me a hypocrite. So yeah, I fixed it. But I mean, I'm just I put myself through the pain for cosplay because it's like I'm going to look good. I don't care. So any what's oh, oh, no, you tell me. I'll ask later.
00:25:25
Speaker
My first cosplay was I made digitigrade stilts. So like the hoof with like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if that's a word digitigrade that everyone knows. I know it, but it's because my friend's a furry artist. Yeah. I love the adjacency of furriness too.
00:25:44
Speaker
It's like, it's like the drag, the cosplay, the furries. And then like theaters. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Anyway, my first cosplay, I made digital grade stilts and all those things are so fun and also dangerous. Like the, you can trip so easily in those things, but I want to get back to them. Those are really, really cool to wear.
00:26:08
Speaker
I want to make some. I used to want to make some for a portal cosplay because oh yes yes that'd be awesome silly boots but break my ankles yes I thought it was worth it I'll do I will I'll do anything I'll have my big cosplay oh go ahead sorry no you go I was gonna say all of my big cosplay plans for this year I'm gonna try to make Garuda from Final Fantasy 16
00:26:32
Speaker
with like the wings from the head, the wings from the arms, and the wings from the hips. Are you gonna compete with them?
00:26:39
Speaker
Yes, but I have to figure out how, because I might have to do it like how I think Honey Rabbit did her kindred cosplay with the wolf that's on a stand. That way I can mount the wings properly without them cutting me. So I'd have to figure out how to make it. But basically for the whole thing, I had to make a bodysuit and then I have to rubber cast all of like the fleshy bits all over it. That's so cool. And then I'm doing that again for two persona cosplays. So I'm going to be doing this a lot.
00:27:06
Speaker
But you're like, like, yeah, I'm getting myself up there for it. Yeah. But who it's going to hurt to wear like seven pairs of wings. I'm going to feel like every Morgana or Kale cosplay ever. I love big dreams. I'm feeling inspired by you right now. Thanks. I'm inspired by you. Oh, let's make a.
00:27:25
Speaker
Well, feedback loop. Yeah, I love it. I was going to ask any if you've ever done. I don't know the word for it. It starts with a Q and it's escaping my brain. Oh, kind of stilts where it's all for. Quads. Quads something. Quads something. Yeah. No. Yeah. My I want to make a fursuit someday. Like that's one of my I haven't found the right character. I don't know if it's going to be like Warwick.
00:27:55
Speaker
or I don't know a My Little Pony maybe I'm really I'm a My Little Pony fan um so yeah maybe I'll make a quad suit and that'll be like my first suit but I honestly really look up to the phrase man those kids
00:28:10
Speaker
go hard. We have a lot to learn from them. They're nice as hell too. I had to get custom fur for capes because the mauve color that I want is not going to be sold at Joanne's of all places. I had to specifically go through the furry site. He purchased my car twice. I had to email them like, hey, can you help me? Nicest people I've ever spoken to in my life. I won't ever diss a furry. I have nothing but respect for them. Sorry.
00:28:38
Speaker
I think I have to come to terms that I'm like halfway a furry because of all the anthropomorphic characters I've cosplayed. I think that's what I have to do. I think there's like, it's like almost a circle that cause players and furries. I really think like the Venn diagram is very round. If you cosplay like two cat girls, you're bare.
00:28:59
Speaker
I cosplay Carrot from One Piece. I cosplay Femme Tales from Sonic. Yeah, Sonic character that went two girls away. Rouge the Bat from Sonic. I've done both of them. So it's kind of a problem. I mean, I am wearing my Sonic shirt, so it's fine. Baby Girl Tales. You're there. You're there. Well, okay. You don't have the fursuit to be there.
00:29:27
Speaker
Well, then I would suggest, Annie, since you love armor and are fascinated by furries and anthropomorphic characters, there is a wonderful video game from 2006. You love pushing this agenda. I love pushing this agenda because no one ever talks about it. I didn't proselytize that. I'm ready to write it down. There is a PlayStation 2 Neopets game. Oh.
00:29:54
Speaker
Okay, I'm ready. It's called Neopet's the Darkest Fairy. Yep, that is extremely 2005. But it's fairy spell F-A-E-R-I-E. Oh my gosh. And the main characters, one of the main characters, his name's Tor. I forget the name of the Neopet he is, but he's like a wolf basically. He's yellow.
00:30:16
Speaker
He's yellow and he's a knight so he has armor and a sword This is
00:30:32
Speaker
Anyways, I love the game. It's really good. You can emulate the game because if you can't get a copy for PlayStation 2. Yeah, but I highly recommend it one just as a fun game, but also the characters rule and there's really hot fairy ladies in it. So there you go. I thought you were gonna push Okami agenda. Also Okami, if you haven't played Okami.
00:30:56
Speaker
I have not played Okami. Have you ever heard of Okami? Yes, it's the one with the... Yeah, the one with the wolf is what I was going to say. I love it. Aren't there multiple of these? No, there's only one. There's two. There's two Okami games. The second one is Okami Den and it's for Nintendo DS. Yeah, that's why I don't recognize it as a real game. Well, that one's more like Chibi because it's the main character. She has a puppy.
00:31:25
Speaker
because she's a wolf, so she has a little baby. And then all of the people that you helped in the first game that have gotten married and had babies, all their babies are your baby's friends. So it sounds amazing. It's really cute. So I highly recommend both of them. And Okami is just a beautiful game in general. But there are several like, if you wanted to do a big build with some really intricate moving parts, a lot of the Okami designs for like the princesses and stuff are really interesting.
00:31:54
Speaker
Cool. I have them written down. Thank you. Those two games shaped me. Do I have any games to recommend? Would love to hear it. Other than League of Legends, I won't play it. I will never recommend League of Legends. You're going to cosplay it, though. I am going to cosplay it. Oh, you are? Yes, I got her. What are you doing? We have so many that are like eventual plans. We want to do like couples, pairs.
00:32:24
Speaker
Yes, I do have there's a cosplayer that's local to me in Oklahoma. Her handle is Rebecca law. I'll absolutely send you her page after this, but she and her fiance cosplay. Zaya and rakan.
00:32:40
Speaker
and also Set and Aphelios. And Vi and Kate. So they're kind of convincing me to do little groups with them as well as groups with Parker and our other cosplay friends. So I love Ari. She is the only one I've actually tried to learn how to play and I can't do it still. But I adore her and would love to do. It's a hard game.
00:33:09
Speaker
It doesn't make any sense to my little brain. I am a Kingdom Hearts type person. I am a beat-em-up all the way through. I can't really play this. The more you go here, I go here type games. But I love the artwork and I would love to do a spirit blossom re-build eventually.
00:33:28
Speaker
That'd be epic. And I know, Parker, you wanted to do what spirit was some? I technically wanted to do Cassiopeia, but I don't, because we have to, when we cosplay together, we kind of have to prepare for cons because that's the easiest time for you and asking each other. I don't want to wear no goddamn snake tail to a con. We don't want to do it. Not worth it. If we did it for a speech.
00:33:49
Speaker
I could, because my friend did that with a Nami cosplay. I think it was the, not, I think it's the spirit, like River Spirit Nami is what she made and she competed with it. She had to make the rock and like the tail comes over the rock and the rocks were here. But I don't, I'm afraid to do that. So if we were doing a staged photo shoot, I would have made Cassiopeia, because then I could just slither my little legs.
00:34:15
Speaker
But I'm probably going to do Riven or Vayne if we do that, unless they drop the new ones this year. They have not said if they will yet. Just for them? Just for the two of them? Well, no, just for like new Spirit Blossom, if that event's coming back or not. Oh, Spirit Blossom. Right, right, right, right, right. Yeah. But I have a ton. I'm going to remake all my Lux cosplays. I did Slayer Jinx back in the day, but before I was even like a real cosplayer. That was like, I got this shirt from Target and printed the symbol off and wore a hoodie and a pink wig. That sounds like a real cosplaying to me.
00:34:46
Speaker
Well, okay. I was 13 though. Yeah. So it's like, I have to, I'll remake it eventually, but I have a bunch of jinx cosplays. I want to do cause like main her. I also made my main logs. It's like too many at once. So I'm kind of in between.
00:34:59
Speaker
But I want to revisit Riven at one point because Battle Bunny Riven was technically my first real build. And so was Pool Party Leona. So it's like I want to I want to do more of these so I can really show that I benchmarked myself. That's why I made Star Guardian Lux. Yeah. But I love making a cross play. And especially if you can like
00:35:21
Speaker
if certain parts, like the underpieces or whatever, are still OK. And so you're recycling, and you can see your own growth, and then you can have those gorgeous side-by-sides where you're like, five years ago and today. And I eat that stuff up. I want to do it really bad, especially now that there's like, we have way better fabric choices now. I don't have to use the cheapest gold pleather that I got from Joanna. It's not great. Right. Ugh, man.
00:35:49
Speaker
I also like started that Star Guardian Lux back when like resin printing was just barely beginning. So I bought a kit from a different cosplayer on Instagram for like my head pieces and stuff. Wow. Were those not finished? 2013 was a rough time. It was totally fine. I got it. But it was like looking back, the stuff that I had available to me then to now is so different. It's insane. So I really do want to revisit everything. I still have my German axes and they still spin. So that's cool. So I can't remake them. I want to see you remake them so bad.
00:36:19
Speaker
Yes, I want to see it too. I will. When I'm not sick and dying when I take the photos, yeah, I got you. I pulled up our duo Trello board that we have. Oh, yeah. We have a Trello board. I have four. Oh, I got her addicted to Trello. It's a Trello. Well, I have over 100 costumes in my closet, and I can't keep track of what I have, so I have to put them on the Trello.
00:36:47
Speaker
But we have Spirit Blossom, Ahri, and Riven, and then some ideas to do as baddest K.D.A, Kaisa, and Ahri, and all out K.D.A, and Kaisa, and Ahri. I do also want to make Kaisa's new skin, like the catgirl one that she's getting. And with my local friends, I'm going to do Star Guardian Ahri to their Zaya and Rakan, so.
00:37:13
Speaker
I'm also making Zyra Khan, but not, I was going to do redeemed, but I think I'm going to do Arcana now. And do you mind planning on making Kaisa, right? Yes. Yeah. I'm surprised that y'all aren't making any arcane since you don't play League.
00:37:29
Speaker
I was going to, and then I got really burnt out of it for a minute. It's like, I want someone else. I want a different jinx skin, please. Yeah, yeah. But I also, I don't know. I like her, and I do. But that's like, there's other designs I want to do. Like, I want to do singed a little bit, because it'd be fun. Yeah. And I say this to you as a singed cosplay. Yeah. Like, maybe I want to do a little bit more with the artwork we have and get more creative with it.
00:37:55
Speaker
Like, I really love Jinx's design. I love everyone's cosplays of her life scene. Oh, absolutely. I just feel like for me, I want to be able to utilize what I can build a little bit different. Yeah. Yeah. We briefly talked about doing Caitlin and Vi from Arkane. But I love their designs. I adore them. I am not the greatest with makeup. And I feel like with Arkane, you kind of really have to nail the makeup style. Yeah, it's stylistic. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I would do sin, so I can just bandage up all this.
00:38:24
Speaker
Love that. Same with a JoJo cosplay. I love JoJo cosplayers, but I don't think I could cosplay JoJo consistently. Or like Borderlands. Yes. I was a JoJo cosplayer. I know. What haven't you cosplayed? A lot, actually. I started League. I did JoJo after that. I did JoJo once, and I got made fun of. And I was like, OK, well, I've never cosplayed men again.
00:38:49
Speaker
So I stopped. But you are. I am now. I got over it. I was like, fuck. I was 15 when it happened and I'm 24. So it was like nine years ago. Got bullied for it once at a convention. I said, all right, that sucked. Never doing that again. Then I went back to League and I made arcade Sona and normal Sona and fuck who else? I made so much shit like in the period of three months or
00:39:14
Speaker
I don't know, wow. I just made a bunch. I made so much stuff. I made an Ari tail harness, but it was before fur was good, so we made it with fleece, and it was not great. Oh. Photos look bad. And we stuffed it with paper. Times are better. Times are better. But I made it work for back then. Yeah. But I went back to League for a very, very long time. I made mostly League stuff until I was in high school. And then I started doing, I feel like I had to look at my Instagram, just get a reference of what I've done. But I went to League, and I went back to, yeah.
00:39:45
Speaker
went to league, went to JoJo. Then I went, no, DC was after. My timeline is so wonky, but I've done so much that I just forget. Cause I- You don't have to have a coherent story. No, no, I don't. I went, okay. It went from, let's see.
00:40:02
Speaker
Okay. Annie's trying to give you an out and you're like, I went from my, I went from my league phase hardcore into my devil may cry phase. That's where I went. Parker. Yes. Back off the mic a little bit. I know. Thank you. Sorry. I went hardcore to devil may cry.
00:40:22
Speaker
Then I went into a little phase where I did a Disney princess and then I went hardcore. Wait, which princess did you get? I did the Anna, we did a huge like mild boudoir session. So I did like a pinup, like we did like 80s pinups. That's cool. A whole Disney shoot and I was invited to do that and I was the Anna. And then I went into Dragon Ball. I dropped League of Legends. I was like, fuck that Dragon Ball. And then I started doing horror and then I got into One Piece.
00:40:49
Speaker
So yeah, I'm a hardcore one piece cosplayer. Um, I have 41 piece cosplays and I've only been into it for two years.
00:40:59
Speaker
I make one cosplay a year. I come from a sewing background because my dance makes dance costumes professionally. So she gifted me for my birthday my first Supergirl suit that she custom made for me. And the same with my Adam Eve suit that I reshot recently.
00:41:20
Speaker
But because my boyfriend was also a cosplayer before we met, when we started dating, he's like, yeah, I'll cosplay with you. What do you want? But he doesn't make for himself, which is fine. I don't mind it. But it's like, give me a list, and I'll make it. So I went and made him a bunch of costumes. So they're technically in my 41-piece list that I made. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of the one-piece ones are also just clothes. So it's like, all right, I buy a tank top. I alter it. We're good. Yeah. I have made and won awards for my one-piece cosplays, though. Wow.
00:41:50
Speaker
Yeah, I make too much. But now I'm kind of spiraling into persona. But League I hope is always like lurking. It is. It is. It's like I just I want to keep up but it feels like there's a new skin every time for the champions I
Conventions and Logistics
00:42:06
Speaker
like. Like I was going to make a redeemed Zaya and Rakan and then
00:42:11
Speaker
the Arkane came out, the Arcana skins came out, like, now I can make those ones. But then Broken Covenant came out, it's like, okay, but now I can make those ones. And now Rakan's getting a new skin that has a Prestige, and they're getting Redeemed. The Redeemed came out finally for PC, where it was only on Wild Rift. There's just so much. It's like, League, will you please stop releasing stuff? I want to be up on the times, but I don't want to have to drop everything.
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah, but right now Kai says who I'm kind of attaching myself to just because her model is drawn with like high violin hips. And I feel like all of her costumes can come like fit me a little bit better because I'm really tired. So focusing on that but League is always there. I can't escape it. It's been a long time. Yeah.
00:43:00
Speaker
I still play it. To the point that you have now dragged my fiance kicking and screaming back into playing League. I did not. He kind of volunteered himself. He showed up. He was like, I'm three years clean. I haven't played League in three years. No. I'm done. I'm out. And then our friends on Discord started playing it more heavily. And then Parker was online a little bit more. And he's like, OK, maybe I'll play League with you guys. And now it's like a couple times a week.
00:43:28
Speaker
I mean, he has a good time. He plays Darius, so it doesn't matter. He's having fun again. It's really cool. Good. I think there are healthy ways to play League. It's just a little tough to get there sometimes. That's why I'm mostly an ARAM gamer, because I can play it. I'm like, wow, that sucked. I'm done. Yeah. And then I get trundled four times in a row. I could end it right now. I could just turn all of this off and go away. Uninstall.
00:43:55
Speaker
Yeah, I play ARAM and TFT and nothing else. But I really, really like those two modes. Me too. TFT is the one that I have played consistently and it felt like I got good at, but then I didn't play it for like a year. And so now I am intimidated to get back into it. Yeah. The meta changes a lot. You kind of got to keep up with it. Yeah. I don't know what to build. But yeah.
00:44:20
Speaker
I've moved up places a lot. I'm still into League, but I am trying to bring myself to do more intense detail builds this coming year. So I'm hoping that I do come back to League a little bit more because I want to be involved. My friend is looking at entering the LCS contest herself. So she's asked me for tips on where to go. A friend who won best in show, she's like, I'm at the top now. Let's start going harder. I'm like, yeah, do it. I don't care. So she's been asking me for references on which one. Sheeshia cosplay.
00:44:47
Speaker
So it's like, well, if you're going to cosplay it, then maybe I should get back into cosplay. Absolutely. So that contest is really, really fun. I yeah, I really, really recommend it and.
00:44:58
Speaker
Riot will treat you very well. And it feels really special. So yeah, do it. Especially when Cobalt just got flown out to Korea. Like, wow. How she want it? I mean, it was a surprise, you know? Maybe Riot treats everyone so good. A free chip to Korea sounds sick. Yeah.
00:45:19
Speaker
And I feel like we've heard nothing but good things from our friend Trey Watson, who's done work with Pentakill. Yeah. They've also mentioned that they were treated pretty well by Ren and all the work that they've done with them. Wow. Are they in position?
00:45:34
Speaker
Yes. Trey Watson, if you have not listened to their music, you should. We've also interviewed them on the podcast. They're the ones who did vocals for Viego, for Aftershock. They did the guitar work for almost all of it, didn't they?
00:45:52
Speaker
Oh my gosh. They didn't do vocals for Viego. It was vocals for like the- No, sorry. The big- A monster version of Viego that's in the background. The monster god guy that pops up in the background. Wow. Sorry. That is Viego, but it's inside Viego. Yeah. So they did all of the gente style guitar. I think it's like an eight string guitar that they predominantly used for that album. In the episode that we interviewed them in, if you listen to it, they talk about it.
00:46:18
Speaker
pretty extensively their stylization and stuff. But they worked on the most recent Pentakill album. Oh, that's sweet. I've made like four cosplays to that album, like just running it over and over. I love that album. Me too. I think Pentakill is so underrated.
00:46:38
Speaker
Love it. True damage and pentakill are my favorite. It's like, can we can we get that back a little? Yeah, I'm kind of surprised we haven't gotten at least one more true damage, but maybe I missed them. Yeah.
00:46:52
Speaker
Yeah, I am very close. League is near and dear to my heart. It's the most shit game in existence. I love it. I love the designs for it. I love the teams involved in it. And I wanted to always, I would look to the LCS contest every year because I was excited about it. And so whenever I saw you popping up repetitively, I'm like, wow, this is really cool. This is really attainable.
00:47:17
Speaker
It's just, it's really cool. And I'm glad that it's been so good of a space to be into. Because once you're in it, yeah, it's you're with these people, you're gonna be practicing with these people, you're gonna be watching their progress, and they're watching yours. And it's just, I admire the camaraderie that comes from all of it. Me too. Me too. Yeah, it's a really, the Discord server for that contest is so wholesome.
00:47:42
Speaker
supportive and excited like it's nice to be in a discord server that's just that just loves things yeah you know yeah I love it there you y'all listening should join the LCS cosplay contest discord if you're at all interested in joining the contest someday
00:48:05
Speaker
So I feel like we've sucked right stick enough. Okay. For Annie, what is your favorite cosplay that you've built that is not League of Legends? Oh, um, so I have, so my Brigitte cosplay, which is from Blizzard, which
00:48:31
Speaker
Complete black and white difference. Same opinion. I used to play Overwatch. I don't anymore. I still love the character design. Yeah, me too. I can't quit with the new hero releases and stuff. Yeah, I just can't quit.
00:48:50
Speaker
I feel that cosplay feels like me, kind of the way that Leona feels like me. You know, it's very comfortable. I get to wear my own hair. The hammer is very large, but very easy to walk around with. And it's just even though that cosplay is like six or seven years old now, I still
00:49:13
Speaker
Think about it and wear it and like I think it holds up, you know, so Yeah, that's probably my my favorite just because it's like going home a little yeah
00:49:25
Speaker
That is one, very sweet, love it. And when I look at you, I can absolutely see like the Brigitte connection. Like I can hear the spirit vibes. But two, my brain went, oh my gosh, Brigitte has been in a game for that long? Because of my brain. I might be wrong. I might be wrong. In my brain, I'm like, yeah, she's the newer healer. Yes, I know. Me too. Yeah.
00:49:50
Speaker
A lot has changed in Overwatch. I haven't touched it since college, and it'll probably stay that way. Yeah, I haven't touched it since they announced Overwatch 2. That was kind of my last draw, but... Yeah. Sad moment. Still love the artistic designs and the artists that worked on the character designs. Them, big fans. Big fans of them.
00:50:19
Speaker
I'm cosplaying OCs I found on ArtStation. I don't know what Overwatch even is. Check out this cool character I saw, this artist design. Someone says it's from Overewach. I don't know what that is, but I like this dude. Honestly, I feel like there are a lot of League cosplayers like that too.
00:50:41
Speaker
They're just like, I have no idea what is going on with any of this, but I thought they looked cool. And I'm like, yeah. And that's why it's so that's why I like League cosplay. It's like you don't have to play this fucking game. Oh, I feel like you don't have to know.
00:50:58
Speaker
Sometimes you cosplay because you love the guy. And sometimes you cosplay because you love the way the guy looks. It looks cool. I'm going to wear it because it looks cool. Yeah. I'm a little afraid that the Warhammer dudes won't understand why I'm cosplaying Ralgan Ral. But hopefully I can just memorize this Wikipedia page.
00:51:20
Speaker
I think you're okay because all the Warhammer cosplayers that Parker and I have seen at conventions recently are always approached with like, whoa, you look so cool. You did a great job on that armor. And they don't really give a shit about the lore in that moment because it's more of just the sheer surprise that someone made a Warhammer. You put the work into it. I'm not going to question your credentials.
00:51:47
Speaker
Oh, well, I guess I'm thinking now so many Warhammer dudes are also artists, you know, like they're painting their guys, they're putting their bases on and stuff like that. So, yeah, it's it's anxiety. It's unfounded anxiety. So.
00:52:03
Speaker
No judgment on the Warhammer community. It's just, it's amazing. I get it. I've been there. I cosplayed comics. I've been there. It's an AFAB existing and nerd culture situation. Yes, it is. Because I cosplayed Black Canary from DC Comics. I'm doing a shoot this weekend of her.
00:52:26
Speaker
And I every now and then get so nervous when I cosplay her in public because I'm like, I don't want anybody to approach me and ask me about the comics because I hate the new Black Canary comics. I only like the ones from like the 80s and like a few of the ones from the early 2000s. But I love her newer designs. So I don't, like no one approached me about this. I like the character, leave it at that. I mean, hopefully things are changing.
00:52:54
Speaker
Yeah, like I do feel like that sort of questioning doesn't happen as much. Yeah, I feel like the Oh, you know that band or you're wearing that band shirt and three albums has kind of fallen off. Yeah, but I think it's also a game store. Well, it's alive and well at the game stores. Yeah. And the comic stores, unfortunately, they're the same place minor connected all of the ones here they sell comics to.
00:53:22
Speaker
But I feel like we're also kind of aging out of that. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. The AMAB folks are maturing. They're learning. They're growing. Yeah. One of my first cosplays was Jane Thor.
00:53:43
Speaker
back before she had her movie. It was like right when her comics started. And it was kind of nice because at the time
00:53:55
Speaker
some of the comic people didn't know yet, like she wasn't very popular. So like, I was the one who, you know, like I was the one who knew that I'm Thor. I'm not Lady Thor. I'm not, you know, Jane in a Thor outfit. I'm. Yeah. And they'd be like, hey, Lady Thor. And I'm like, no.
00:54:16
Speaker
It's Thor. It's Mighty Thor to you. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Oh, I actually I gotta wear that costume again. That's a fun one. That reminds me of a cosplay post I saw years ago that was right after the DC Comics amikami line came out, which is the it's a like alternate universe line where all of the main
00:54:41
Speaker
DC heroes are all women and it's inspired by like anime style designs so they're very like super like futuristic and yeah they're kind of sexualized but in like an interesting way and not just in like a here's a bikini way yeah and uh there is a character in there that's Joker's daughter like that's her name is Joker's daughter and she works with
00:55:08
Speaker
Catwoman and Harley Quinn and they have very specific designs for that comic run and someone who's played them. Oh my gosh. I know what you're talking. I've seen this. You mean the Duela Dent meme? Yeah, Duela Dent. That's what I'm thinking of. This is Duela Dent, not Joker's daughter. And everyone being like, oh, Steampunk, genderbent, Joker. This is so stupid. This is Duela Dent from the fucking comic line. It is still Joker's daughter. She just has Dent as a last name.
00:55:37
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Cool. I'm glad I can root DC comic nerd cred. I do feel, I mean, that's kind of what we're talking about though. And I do feel like I have not seen that as much. Yeah. It's totally faded out.
00:55:52
Speaker
I feel like it's just begun because we all have gotten to the point where it's like we don't want to tolerate it anymore. So whenever we hear that, we're like, that's a weird thing to say. Yeah. We don't like hearing that. Yeah. Because I've had to use that at conventions where guys will like try to spot or feel out like hitting on me and they'll be like, we step on me. You're like, whoa, weird thing to say, buddy. And they're like, oh, I'm sorry. Like, yeah. Yeah. Think about self-reflect. Yeah. And they don't like it. They don't like sharing it because it forces them to do better.
00:56:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's fine. I'm fine with that. I want you all to do better. Oh, no, absolutely. But it's like, when people are involved in the cosplay space, they understand the cost of what has to go into it, whether it's actual financial costs, material time, blood, sweat, tears, they understand to some extent. So it's like, okay, you're doing this, like, obviously something you had to put something into this. So it's not just like you did it for no reason. Yeah. And do it because it's like, you want to humiliate or like make fun of the character or you just
00:56:52
Speaker
it's it's we did it because we like them obviously and that's good enough of an answer where it's like okay leave it alone you look cool great move on instead of the 20 questions or whatever that's that's one thing i really like about judging or like being involved in judging is that you know the judges generally do not care who you are like who you're dressed as they do not care about the character
00:57:17
Speaker
with some exceptions at all. It is all about the work, the creation, the craftsmanship. It's simply like, flip my seams and look at this cool thing and look at my build book. It's like kindred spirits, I think, when you're hanging out with a judge or you're being judged or you're judging.
00:57:43
Speaker
That's also what I like about sharing cosplay photos with people who are not cosplayers because then they can appreciate.
00:57:52
Speaker
the craftsmanship that goes into it. Because I learned to sew from my mom and my grandmother. And when my grandmother taught my mom to sew, it was like, okay, so this is how you sew for practical things. And then my mom taught me to sew like, well, if you need to adjust anything or you want to make something, here's this. And I'm like, cool, I'm going to roll with it. And now I'm going to make all these stupid costumes. Has your grandma seen your costumes?
00:58:21
Speaker
She passed away when I was 12, so she has not. But what I did, she saw some of my like early Halloween costumes that my mom made for me. Yeah, she saw it happening, like it was coming. And I actually showed Parker this photo not too long ago. I was cleaning out some of my sewing supplies and I found scrap
00:58:42
Speaker
pieces from my Jasmine from Aladdin costume that my mom made for me when I was seven. Oh my God. And pieces from my Kyrie from Kingdom Hearts 2 cosplay that my mom and my dad made for me when I was in middle school, which I have here, I'll grab it and show you. I feel like I show every guest this. This is the segment we call Looking at Baby Photos.
00:59:12
Speaker
So I have, you mentioned that your dad helped you with your craft room. My dad made this keyblade for me when I was 12. I'm 26. So this thing has come with me. It's moved to so many different places. It went to college with me. It stays in my line of sight in my office at all times. So I know where I came from.
00:59:34
Speaker
uh like what I built and stuff and man that I wish I wish I could I can see where it is right now I have my jasmine costume
00:59:44
Speaker
that my mom made me when I was probably seven, six or seven. And it's like, it's like, with me like it's it's part of my you get my workshop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it has to go with me now. Like I can't get that Kyrie cosplay ever again. No, no, but it will always stay in my cosplay closet because that's, that's why I'm here, dude. That's why we do this. Yeah. It almost makes me want to make a cosplayer but not
01:00:13
Speaker
I can make cosplay cats. Do you have any nieces or nephews? There you go. Yeah, I do have nephews and they are really into costuming. Actually, they're like baby nerds all the way.
01:00:29
Speaker
How old are they? Um, the one is 15 and he is a dork. He is not like too cool for dorky stuff. He plays trumpet. So like, yeah, you can't be too cool if you play trumpet. No, no, no, no. Um, and the other ones, um, he's, he's probably like 10 maybe. Yeah. And he's the most recent photo I saw of him. He was wearing an Iron man helmet.
01:00:57
Speaker
Prime time, you gotta build them some stuff. Be the cool other person in their life.
01:01:06
Speaker
I hesitate to use gendered terms. I can't even remember what that term is. I don't know. I refer to my sibling's children as nifflings. I saw that online once instead of like siblings, but like nifflings. And it's the first part of niece, the F, like pH from nephew, and then length from siblings. So niffling. And that's how I mostly address them.
01:01:36
Speaker
Oh, it's Pibbling. Pibbling. The gender neutral aunt and uncle is Pibbling. Pibbling. So my nephew's Pibbling. Great. Love that. Oh, Pibble Annie. Yeah. Pibbs, what's up? It's like it's another name for someone's grandpa. I'm not common with you that. I'm going to come up with something better, and I will make it happen.
01:02:06
Speaker
They call me Inky. We don't do aunt and uncle or whatever. They call me Inky. They call my partner Whooper. That's so cute. And my sister, her name is Aubrey, and we wanted to have her go by Aunt Aub. But my oldest niece couldn't say that when she was little. And so she called her Aunt Bob and it has stuck. So now she's Aunt Bob. Oh, that is so cute. Oh.
01:02:34
Speaker
Too, too cute. Anyways, sorry to derail and talk about my knee flings. No, I love this conversation. We've gone.
01:02:45
Speaker
I'm just waiting for them to get bigger so I can make costumes for them because the oldest just turned seven. That's old enough. My mom was making me costumes the minute I was born. Because it was the minute I was born, I can't wear them. They're not in my closet. They're gone. They did not survive the moves. The problem is that in the time it takes for me to plan it, get the materials, measure them, they've already grown out of it.
01:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, I do feel like Halloween is having a moment like I feel like a lot of the kids coming trick or treating recently have made their own costume or they've put it together and they're like a FNAF character or you know some
01:03:28
Speaker
other horror game that I've never heard of, you know, or they're like from Lord of the Rings. And I'm like, that is retro, you know, like, like, I feel like kids are kind of into it. That's kind of where I was. When I was in fifth grade, I really wanted to be the girl from fear. And obviously, I couldn't do that because that's not like a standard costume. So I made my dad get me a ratty wig and I was scared and poured blood on myself. My goodness. Yeah, I was the weird kid that was just going to make stuff happen because my mom made my costume.
01:03:56
Speaker
I don't think that's even weird anymore. Judging by the kids I see. I don't know where Skippity Toilet is, but you made a Skippity Toilet costume. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You did it. I think some of the current kids' stuff might be a little odd, and I don't know what it is. I don't know what Roblox character you are. Yeah. But you made it, and that's cool. Yeah, yeah. You have the foundation to want to build that, and that's awesome. That will take you somewhere someday. Absolutely.
01:04:23
Speaker
I think all the reasons that I originally quit cosplay, because I did cosplay, I keep hitting this chord. I'm so sorry. Ryan, our editor, I'm sorry, I keep hitting it. When I was in middle school, I started cosplaying and I cosplayed like home stuck.
01:04:39
Speaker
because I'm one of those. I feel like that's OG material. You can put that on your cosplay resume. I get a veteran's discount because of this. I don't want to do anything for Halloween that's store-bought. I think there was one Halloween where I wanted to be
01:05:00
Speaker
this like fucked up nurse like from a horror game but I wanted to do like a like a unique version and my friend was this like messed up patient that I had like tied and drug with and built this like giant fake cleaver and just dumped fake blood on a nurse's outfit it was like cool we're good that's our costume but now all of the things that I like quit cosplay over of people
01:05:25
Speaker
seeing you and being like, that's weird. Why do you do that? It's what's celebrated for kids, that now it's so cool if you're unique and doing all your own costumes and like, oh, you made this character and you decided to wear it out for Halloween or to some costume party. That's really cool, dude. And I'm so happy for the younger nerds that get to experience that. Yeah.
01:05:48
Speaker
little jealous, but happy. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I didn't start cosplaying until I had graduated college. So like hearing all of these stories, even from y'all who cosplayed as young folks, like, I, I definitely missed out like on that, you know, the Homestuck.
01:06:06
Speaker
and the stupid horror characters. And yeah, it sounds so wonderful. And watching young folks at cons now, like they just look like they're having so much wholesome fun being their FNAF or their anime guys. I can't recognize. I got mine from my mom. There's a photo of her because she my mom would always my mom goes hard on Halloween. Hard on my costume. She went hard on hers. She went and spent like
01:06:36
Speaker
I don't know, like a whole week just braiding macaroni to make a skirt. So she could be Miss Macaroni or Murderface from, uh, Metalocalypse and like made the corset by herself. She went crazy on this costume. My mom consistently goes hard on Halloween. Your mom wants to be a cosplayer. Yeah. Well, she cosplays with me. She does Scarlet Witch and I've taken her to karaoke.
01:06:53
Speaker
We've entered contests together because she made the kimono and the jacket from scratch from Kubo and the two strings. My mom did the mom and me and my sister did the sisters together. We went and competed in that. We didn't place because of bad stage management.
01:07:14
Speaker
It was cool. It was cool to do with my mom. And so my mom's always been like that. But at one point she did Carrie and like the blood all over herself. And I've also done Carrie and I need to find the photos of her doing it. I think it's in print. So we can put them side by side. But it's like, it'd be cool. My mom being able to just be like, I'm just going to do whatever I want, lol. Like, OK, yeah, I'll I can do that. Thank you. Yeah. Is it open the door of like, well, is that weird? Is that niche? It's kind of like, who cares? Yeah, I feel like a lot of people need to hear. It's like,
01:07:44
Speaker
who who cares like recognizes it just do it for you if they're whether you just like the design and that's it or you really care about this character just do it just I feel like that's becoming more cool in like our age bracket too as like D&D and
01:08:05
Speaker
I mean, even the furries as like the furries get more accepted and everything, like all of us are making these OCs and like putting so much work into not only the costume creation, but also the character creation, like writing stories for them or role playing with them. And it's like, yeah, like the character doesn't like I'm not doing this to be recognized at a con. I'm doing this because
01:08:30
Speaker
I love the creation of the character or I love the story I'm telling or whatever. It's like, I don't know. I just, I feel like this is character growth for cosplay that we're going through right now. I also feel like we're getting a renaissance of Bijinka cosplayers again. Yeah. Cosplay 20 different Pokemon again. Like let's go back to doing Pokemon groups.
01:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, yes, please. I'm going to think would like fall off because it was so big at a point. You're like, oh, yeah, it's not cosplaying Pokemon. But I feel like in 2015, 16, 17, everyone was doing huge Pokemon groups for every big con like Katsu con 20 million different Pokemon groups.
01:09:07
Speaker
different versions. Everyone's doing them armored. Everyone's doing them as like dancer classes from Final Fantasy. I've seen it all and it's disappeared. But now it feels like because of the Miku Pokemon designs, everyone's smack at it. And that's what we need. We need a big community like project where we just get obsessed with making our own designs. Yeah. Someone needs to hire Sunset Dragon to make like another Eeveelution just to like kickstart it. I love Sunset Dragon's work. Yeah. Sunset, come on. We need a kick in the pants.
01:09:37
Speaker
Let's go. There's another artist. Oh, yeah. I can't remember their name and it's going to kill me. Hold on. I know Zach Fisher posted on Facebook the other day is like, maybe I should make a big group again. Like, wow, do it. Come back. Please. Oh, my God. I miss that. But like, I would I would jump in on that so quick if he did another.
01:09:55
Speaker
Please, I know how much work it is, but please make another 30 different armor sets for WoW classes. I'm begging you. Okay, I found the other artist. Her name is Hannah Alexander. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of her designs are great too. And I feel like that's also with the Nintendo aspect is coming back a little stronger too with like the more relaxed versions or like extreme versions of the Nintendo princesses and stuff. Yeah. I love it. I love cosplay.
01:10:24
Speaker
I love it. I love talking about it with you guys. This is so fun. I'm about ready to get back to work. I'm like, I'm feeling fucked up right now. That's how I feel. It's like maybe I should go plug my sewing machine in after this instead of maybe for dinner. Oh, that's what I'm going to do because I have to bust ass for this fucking shoot that I'm doing. I have a shoot on Sunday too. I need to prep. Remind me what your shoot is. I know you said earlier. Oh, I'm shooting. Are you familiar with?
01:10:53
Speaker
the Black Canary Green Arrow wedding special. I don't know anything about DC. Oh, okay. Well, in DC Comics, Black Canary and Green Arrow were a thing. And in like 2007, one of my favorite comic artists did a wedding special comic that was their wedding
01:11:14
Speaker
And Black Canary has like a special bridal version of her superhero costume. So I styled that and did the wig and everything. And then a friend of mine who I met at a previous job started cosplaying and going to conventions because
01:11:31
Speaker
I started doing it like he saw me with all the fun I was having on Instagram. He's like, Okay, I want to try now too. And he's in his 30s and has never done it before. And he's he's gonna be my green arrow. So I'm making his green arrow cosplay. Has he done a shoot before?
01:11:47
Speaker
No, he's been to a convention and he like, he and his wife always go really hard on Halloween, but he's never done like a full photo shoot. But my photographer is a good friend of mine from college and she's very like laid back and easy to work with so it'll be fine. Yeah.
01:12:04
Speaker
Oh, that is going to be so fun. I am excited. And he's like a bodybuilder, so he'll be able to pick me up and actually do like the superhero poses. You are going to get such cool photos. I'm stoked.
01:12:18
Speaker
I have a Yone photoshoot schedule, like just like solo Yone without the group. And we're doing like a graffiti wall and we're going to be like, yeah, like downtown aesthetic and like urban. Yeah. Is your heart shield group at Katsu-kan? Yes. I'm doing it with cobalt. Yeah. I love cobalt. I mean, that's how I felt when she invited me. I'm like, what? What? What'd she say?
01:12:47
Speaker
I follow like every single like winner or even like every top five finalist the minute I seem like I'm here. I'm obsessed with them I stock everything they do I think the sona that entered the same year that you entered debonair maybe yes I still follow her on tiktok and she's been hoping like her getting used to being on her.
01:13:12
Speaker
She'll post TikToks of her on her hoverboard going around. It's like, this is so cool. I want to do the same thing. So it's like, I just love following everyone who does it. And so whenever I saw you and Cobalt were doing a group together, I was pointing the whole time excited. Like, my people I like are working together. Wow. Are you going to be there? No.
01:13:32
Speaker
I've never been. I'm a newbie. I want to. It's just very far for me. And a convention that a friend of a friend runs, they're anonymous because running a convention is hard. But I'm her handler for the weekend, the same weekend that we were caught to. So it's kind of like I could travel for a bigger convention, but they need me here to come talk about this. Oh, yeah. I mean, that'll be fun too.
01:13:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited about it. Most of my conventions that I'm doing this year are all West Coast, just because it's easier for me to travel. We are going to, both of us are going to SakuraCon, if you're going to be at SakuraCon, Annie. I don't know where that is. It's in Seattle. Oh. I'm in Ohio. And I'm in Oklahoma. What's your excuse? It's a little bit. Have you ever been to Emerald City Comic Con?
01:14:26
Speaker
Uh-uh. No, but it's in the same convention center that the second half is because, so, SakuraCon was in the old arch building. Okay. And Emerald Comic Con was in the new summit building. Okay. And so, they put a little, like, they close off one of the roads that connects the two. Wow. And they do an entire huge exhibitor hall and all of the panels. And outside?
01:14:47
Speaker
No, well, you have to walk out between there's an easier way to do it. I got posted on Twitter and everyone was really mad about it. But it's like you're going through before it's open. So you don't know how easy it is to get between. But the traditional old building where the arch is is where the artist alley is. And because they got everything out, the artist alley is four times the size that it used to be. So all of it. Yeah, it's a huge for soccer. Yes, it's for it's for. But
01:15:14
Speaker
They're in both buildings. So ECC's building is where all of the panels happen and all of the exhibitors. So it's like, if you want to go see all the industry stuff, it's over there. But if you want to see all of the artists and the meetups and the contest and stuff, it's all in the arch buildings. You can pick your poison for where you want to be. Cool. It's so cool. It's such a cool building. I love that con. It's my boyfriend's favorite because all of my friends from Vancouver go,
01:15:39
Speaker
I'm going to put it on my other monitor so I can look it up. It's in March. It might be a 2025 option. Maybe I'll ask them if they want me to come to this. My friend who actually placed Best in Show at ALA has judged for them before. Oh, cool. I don't want to say easy to get in, but it's like you can apply.
01:16:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's approachable. Yeah. But we're doing that one. Neb's not joining me for level up again, but that's fine. Do you like level up a lot? I do. It used to not be anything pre-COVID, but that's because all of the convention scene in Vegas just wasn't very great because most of everyone there will just go to California. But after COVID, they really amped up everything in terms of their guest poll.
01:16:27
Speaker
their space is now much bigger. So it's like, they're really bringing it and their parties are nice. If you like those, they have like their game section is huge because it's mostly a gaming convention. Their panels are really good. They get really good guest polls. They get really niche guest polls too, which I like because I don't, sometimes I just want to see someone that does like a niche game. No one's heard of, but I really like level up. I consistently go, but it's also really close to me cause it's a six hour drive. Yeah.
01:16:56
Speaker
I keep, I think I've applied to guests there like three times cause I want, I feel like they need to bring a link cost layer out. That's what I'm saying. Can we get some gamers in here? Yeah. Yeah. Um, my friends guessed it for them before and has had fun and she didn't do it last year or they did do it the year before. So it's like,
01:17:14
Speaker
get in where you get in, but I really enjoy it. It's why I go out of my way for just because it's accessible because it's on the strip. So Earth slightly off the strip. So lodging is cheap and food is cheap. Metro is cheap. I like it. But that's the only two that I'm doing. I was going to do a con, but something's come up. So I just can't. That's where I'm at. My favorite con is within driving distance, too. And I think
01:17:41
Speaker
if I moved outside of driving distance I would still go every year but the fact that we can drive there and I can put stupid props in the car and it's a board game convention so we always shop too much because we're big board gamers. I'm talking about Gen Con. I don't know if you've ever
01:17:57
Speaker
I do know about GenCon. I haven't been, but my friend runs a gaming store in Salt Lake, so she's been to it. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. GenCon is amazing. And one of the things I love about GenCon is that it's a board gaming and TTRPG con. But it is very extensive in everything. It has its fingers in lots of things. So they have a writing symposium for authors and potential art authors. That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:27
Speaker
They have a pretty nice cosplay contest. Well, better than pretty. It's a nice cosplay contest. And yeah, a bunch of like
01:18:36
Speaker
Arcade, they have a whole hallway of like retro arcade machines. Oh, I love that. Yeah, it's a huge mini painting competition. That's awesome. Oh, my God. The level of skill there is just mind blowing. Yeah, I highly, highly recommend Gen Con if you're at all into board games, because it's just it's one of those cons where it's like there's always like 50 things to do.
01:19:01
Speaker
That's how I feel about Sakura because it's a 24 hour convention. But oh, yeah, if you don't want to party and go play mahjong at 2 a.m. for like three hours. Yeah. Yeah. I've had to I've almost had to go do that. My boyfriend. Where is Gen Con? Indianapolis. OK. Yeah. Yeah, it's awesome for you.
01:19:21
Speaker
And GenCon is in the Indianapolis Convention Center, but then it's also in like 10 connected hotels. So it's kind of like what you were talking about with SakuraCon. You may have to cross the street.
01:19:34
Speaker
But it's okay. I was complaining about that. I was like, because at Akon, Akon spread between four different buildings. Like you're in a plaza. It's cool. It's okay to walk. Yeah. And like conventions now, so many of them, they just don't fit in the regular convention center. Like I'd rather they work it out rather than just like cap it completely. Yeah. Yeah.
01:19:56
Speaker
I want more artists in my artist alley. That's what it comes down to. That's one of my biggest complaints with Akon too. It's like, can we kick some of the exhibitors out of here? Yeah. Or just move them to a different room, maybe. I'm waiting for them to do better, but I don't know. I prefer those types of conventions over fan expos and stuff just because they're completely different breeds of like, we have more money and we're just people who like to do this. Okay.
01:20:24
Speaker
Cool. So it's like, I'll give grace. That's how soccer con is too. So when I saw people complaining about walking a little bit, it's like, we should just be surprised they got two buildings. Yeah. These are folks. These are like real individual people that you're talking about. This isn't a corporation. Like a corporation did not get this. Yeah. Yes. Yes. But that's what I look for in my convention. And that's how I feel about level up too. So I really do recommend it, especially because Vegas is just fun to be in to some extent, if you ignore half of it.
01:20:52
Speaker
Well, I like dinosaurs and rocks. So if I went to level up, I would definitely- Would you go to St. George too? Yeah, I'd be taking a detour to see the dinosaurs and the rocks. That's where I drive up through. So I'm in Salt Lake and I drive down because we don't have good conventions here. We do big fan-ics and that's it. And that's kind of...
01:21:15
Speaker
It's hard to describe, but it's not really good for bringing niche stuff to. It's like you enter your Marvel cosplays to the contest and you win and you go. It's like, okay, so if I bring something niche, no one's going to know what I am. Yeah, exactly. It's like, I don't want to wear this. So I'm finishing my Odin cosplay from One Piece where both my swords are like
01:21:33
Speaker
six feet long. And I'm bringing that to Vegas because Robbie Damon, the voice actor for Odin will be there. And I'm gonna have him sign my really long swords. But that's where I bring my bigger cosplays to that I can't fly like with my bomb double cosplay. I cannot fly that shit anywhere. So I can drive down to Vegas. But I really want to take the weenie to katsukan. And I have been putting off
01:21:59
Speaker
trying to find a box or something that I can put it in to get it on an airplane. Like it comes apart, but it doesn't get that small. Yeah, the weenie can't. There's only so many ways you can try to make that happen. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just like,
01:22:17
Speaker
People really want to see it. Which I get it. I just worry about traveling with big, like making big things. It's like, okay, but that limits what I can bring them to. I hate going to conventions in other states and like wearing what fits in a suitcase compared to what I want. It's like, guys, I promise I'm a real cosplayer. I'm just wearing my uniform because it's all I could pick. I know.
01:22:38
Speaker
Especially if your specialty is armor or props and it's like, you're not even looking at like what I'm the best at necessarily. Yeah. That's how it felt. Like when I brought my big pirate hat for my one piece red nami hat, I had to like put something in between the middle parts and then I had to completely heave it. Like that whole thing, it took up half my suitcase, not counting the shoes I needed. Like this is too much.
01:23:03
Speaker
Yeah, my onigashima armor takes up half my suitcase and I have to like roll up my clothes and put it in between so it doesn't get squashed. It's just it's impossible to pack armor. Yeah, I hate it. Unless you have like six suitcases and are willing to pay for all of that. Yeah. Oh man, when a con flew me out. That was one thing I was like, heck yes, because they
01:23:22
Speaker
They were like, how many suitcases do you need? Akon's awesome with it, because my friend works with their idol team, so she gets to bring her people and get to work with their hotels and stuff. They treat you so good. I love Akon.
Cosplay Meetups and Community Spirit
01:23:35
Speaker
No, that was a great guessing experience. And I think the past couple years, I've seen their cosplay department really pop off. I'm like, oh, I see why they're not interested in having me out again. They're getting like,
01:23:48
Speaker
They're going to be like freaking huge guys. Last year they had Yaya Han, and then they had one of the big sewing machine companies there. Yeah. I can't compete with that yet. I don't think anyone can compete with that. No one can compete with Miss Yaya Han. No, we've heard ACOT, and we were both crying.
01:24:11
Speaker
But I really like the way they treat their cosplayers because I feel like Akon's one of the only cons that does meetups well. Oh. Because I'm the one that hosted both One Piece meetups on Friday and Saturday and they were huge. Yeah, they were. I feel like I only go to cons with good meetups because that's most of what I do.
01:24:29
Speaker
like soccer con meetups are amazing. We get 100 people every year for the One Piece meetups. And we all cram in and we take a little photo and I have to be the one to do all of it because my boyfriend's the loudest one at the event. And we did not pack megaphones, but it's fun. I like the camaraderie of going to meetups and like, just we take our little pictures together. We say, who's here? We raise our little hands. We run up. I like that. That's the part that I like to cosplay for.
01:24:54
Speaker
And you get to appreciate what everybody else makes and like see, because I feel like there's a difference with if you care about the character and you're cosplaying them, you put in a little bit more effort. And so maybe someone's cosplaying a character you're not super fond of, but you love how they cosplay that character. So you get to appreciate it more and in a different way that you wouldn't have.
01:25:14
Speaker
I've never been to a cosplay meetup. They're so fun. I'm going to the League one at Katsu-Kan. That's why I want to take the weenie. You have to prove it. Everyone wants to see the weenie. Yone, I'll take if I have to, but I know there's going to be other Yone.
01:25:38
Speaker
You should definitely go to any meetup that you can, even if you're not cosplaying for that, if you just like the general concept, if it's a game or an anime, because there's a lot of people that'll just kind of show up and hang out and walk to meet up and talk to you about the media. But we at the second One Piece meetup at ACON this past year in 2023,
01:26:01
Speaker
there was a cosplayer that we were like, oh, no one ever cosplays this character. I don't know if you're familiar with One Piece very much, Annie. Not enough to know a niche guy, no. No, it's a very niche guy. Very niche character. And she's running around and she's so excited and she's super in character and posing and way into it. And then we found out 12 hours later that it was the voice actress.
01:26:24
Speaker
for the character. And she just didn't say anything. And her handlers were other voice actors in one piece. So we were surrounded by three voice actors and we did not know it. And some of them are for my favorite characters. So I was very shell shocked when it was like, hey, Momonosuke's over there. What? It was really sweet though, because she got to have such a fun time and meet people who were big fans of the show. And there were specific people cosplaying the arc that her character was in.
01:26:54
Speaker
It was really cute, so highly recommend to go to any meetups because you might find a gym like that.
01:27:01
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I think I'm not sure they have those at Gen Con. Like, I think there's it's just not. That's why you start making up. Well, yeah, that's true. It's a lot of work, but it's like I have fan X used to do that. That's the someone here. And they used to you could just submit them yourself and you show up and there will be an official photographer that just sits at the staircase and takes photos of whoever shows up.
01:27:24
Speaker
And then as it started to get more and more every year, we got less, like there used to be a League of Legends meetup and I was the host every year. So much so that I was like riding to Riot Swim and I was like, hey, I'm hosting the event. Will you, can I send you the photos? And you guys look at them and she's like, yeah, absolutely. And then someone else took credit for my event.
01:27:43
Speaker
breaks my heart. But it's like, that's how niche it used to be, where we could do that and get a little groups in. And then it would change every year. And now it's just gaming and you show up. They don't even do it all three days anymore. You show up on Saturday, get to the staircase for general gaming, pack in and then hope for the best. Everyone's doing unofficial meetups again, like it's back in 2015. It's like, we're going to meet up no matter what. Yeah, it's just retro. It's the retro way of
01:28:11
Speaker
It's the community of it. That's what makes it beautiful. That's what I care about. I don't give a shit about all your other nonsense, your corporate bullshit, Mr. Convention owner. I want to tell the cool Ari cosplayer that she looks really good.
League of Legends Content and Fandom
01:28:28
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you should get into LCS so you can get to the real, real cool Ari cosplayers.
01:28:36
Speaker
I'm not going to talk about League anymore. You can talk about League as much as you have. You can talk about League. You have permission. You have permission. I usually don't get to talk about League on the podcast because Neb doesn't play it in one. Yeah. So it's just me. I mean, it sounds like you're doing a pretty good job of converting her, though. A little bit, yeah. Yeah.
01:28:58
Speaker
I like TFT. I like the Arcane Show. Very excited about season two. Yeah, me too. You don't even know who's in the... You don't even know who's in the teaser. Yes, I do. You don't know any of them. I do. Name both characters. Name both characters right now. Singed in Warwick. Wow, she showed you so hard.
01:29:16
Speaker
What theme was playing in the watch, though? Do you know that one? No, I don't know that one. Boom. That's a bit of a deep cut. Yeah. It's the new League animatic that came out today to date the day of the recording. I did. Let me cry. I thought it was gorgeous. It gave me chills, even though I didn't really know everything about it. I knew a little bit. Yeah.
01:29:40
Speaker
Um, I've been on the trend. Amir Ash is not just a political marriage. They actually like each other train for the last five years. Um, yeah, I was, I have been on the, it's a political marriage. No, the first thing I said when I watched that video, literally the first thing was,
01:30:02
Speaker
they really look like they love each other. Like, I think they did a really good job of, like, correcting. Yeah, I was so satisfied at Crumbs. I also play Legends of Runeterra, and they have the Ash voice acting for those cards of, like, Trinipid dying. Like, wow, am I gutted? Like, it's so intense. I played them together just for the plot. I don't like that deck. Annie, you would be phenomenal as an Ash if you ever cosplayed her.
01:30:32
Speaker
I don't want to talk about how amazing her outfit was. It's not the stupid dress anymore. It's like actual padded leather armor. I think that Kale looks really good too. I love Kale and I love Morgana. I cried. Everything about the cinematic made me cry today. I broke down multiple times. So is it your favorite cinematic? No, mine is still the Draven one. Yeah, I do.
01:31:00
Speaker
I stayed up until 5 a.m. to watch that one as it aired. And then I after I watched it, I stopped and I took two second gifts of every single Draven scene so I could have the gift of him doing stuff because, wow, wow. He looked fine in that cinematic. He wasn't I didn't like him until that cinematic. And now he's like he's my third favorite character. Like that cinematic is what
01:31:27
Speaker
Did it for me. I used to be a League of Legends tumblr role player. Oh, I love that. Oh, you are such a goober. So I just I wrote Lux. So I really, really liked the parallels of shipping Draven and Lux together. And so when they were both in the same cinematic. Do you still ship Draven and Lux?
01:31:53
Speaker
answer the question. I can't ship Raven with anyone. I cannot imagine him with anyone because he's such an asshole. I don't want to give this man another human being, but I respect you.
01:32:13
Speaker
I like him for me. And I like that one is my, Lux is my person that I put onto in the ship. It's not, I don't expect it in Canon. I don't expect anyone to acknowledge it. It's for me to project into, but I still ship them. They're my background on my Google screen. Cause I have spent like over probably a thousand dollars in commissions of them. If you've ever seen Draven Lux art, it's probably been commissioned by me. I'm literally going to Google it.
01:32:43
Speaker
Let me see if like any of my yeah. Oh my god. Front and center. If you see the Star Guardian one, that's me. That's my Draven design. If you look up Draven X Lux, the second one is mine of like the Chibi design. The third one is also mine by Vangestic.
01:33:04
Speaker
Oh, I see the Star Guardian one. That's my design. I literally drew that in a whole lot. Let me see if I have it. I drew that on a little sketch pad I had at Universal Studios on my senior trip as a design concept. And then we sent it to my friend to draw. Let me see if I have it. Because if I have it on my phone, it's going to be so funny. There's several of that. I can't believe you were talking about this right now. Yeah, all of these are my commissions. There is someone. Have you noticed that there's someone who's commissioned a bunch of Draven Nami artwork?
01:33:35
Speaker
Yes, one of them is one of the people on the roleplay community as the name writer. Yeah, same with Soraka. Our community is tight. Let me see if I have this. Maybe I need to get... Yeah, literally one of the number ones is Draven and Lux from League of Legends Commission done for and then your actual fucking name. My real name's on it? Yeah, because it's an old handle that you had. Oh no! Don't look at that. I don't care.
01:33:59
Speaker
Um, cause it's all my, it's my old Twitter. I don't give a fuck. Um, it's really cute though. Thanks. Yeah. Let me see if I have this cause I'm for real. I love this. Yeah. Here we go. I love your voice of art. That's if it doesn't hold on, it's catching my light. Tap it.
01:34:16
Speaker
Settle, settle down. Let it, let it fucking, let me turn my brightness down. Sorry, I was trying to- We do have a chat that you can drop that into. I can't drop it in there, just drop photos. I drew that 2018. And then because Death Punch, the Draven artist that does that has been drawing Draven for years and they finally opened up their commissions. So I begged, like I begged my role-playing partner and we went havesies to get this done.
01:34:43
Speaker
But I designed the original design and then I had, what the fuck? I just realized someone posted this to Reddit with like weirdos, damn. Don't look at Reddit. Reddit comments are terrible. But I had my friend draw my design better because she drew a small comic for it. And then I passed it along to that. But yeah, most of these are my commission.
01:35:13
Speaker
I love that. I like them a lot. If you find my old Tumblr, they're all there too. And I think a lot of these posts are from my Tumblr. Hey, Tumblr's coming back, man. It is coming back. Hey, it never fucking left. I'm going to be real with you. I've been on Tumblr since 2011. I never role play. Tumblr role play is coming back.
01:35:36
Speaker
Well, all the communities that I was a part of, they did not change very much after 2017. I love that. I like to hear that. My community died all time. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. But it's back. Sort of. So yeah, come back to Tumblr. Tumblr rules. Tumblr fucks. It's still fun. I need to choose a ship.
01:35:58
Speaker
You have to have a ship. No, not even. Most of them, I come from just interaction. You can float. Yeah, float between them. Find one or two and then if you go in that tag, they'll have just like every other ship in the tags.
01:36:19
Speaker
It sucked me and it kept me in the community for a long time. So I'm still slightly biased, but that's why the... Is it Ryze? No, Ryze is the other one. Which fucking... Oh, Awaken. Yeah, Awaken. That's why it's one of my favorites. Same with the Warriors one. I don't like Imagine Dragons, but I really like the Warriors Worlds version only. But yeah, I'm biased. Jarvan and Lux are my favorites. I'm just smooshing together. Yeah, that was really lucky that you got them in the same. Wow.
01:36:50
Speaker
I cried. I cried for multiple hours. There's actual videos of me like tears streaming down my face whimpering because I was 18 years old and my ship was slightly like hinted at. I don't care if Silas was in that animation and people liked them together more. It doesn't matter. It's not for you. It's for me. Dude, I was thinking today about how I would feel if Swain showed up in Arcane Season 2.
01:37:15
Speaker
Um, I would... Well, especially with, um, they're adding Badarda to the game, so we might get a cinematic for those two. That swain might appear. Yeah, I would love to see them interacting. I just want him to have a new style, please. Can we animate him? I don't think he's been in an animatic since that one, like, quick Darius one, if you remember what I'm... They're like...
01:37:38
Speaker
Let me see which one I'm talking about. He got a very short animation when he got his big update. Yeah, I think that's what I'm thinking about. Not fear, but God, Darius has gotten so many. He's the main character. I don't want anyone to complain about Lux, because whatever Darius got going on is way more intense.
01:38:03
Speaker
It's the he's not in this one for some reason I thought he was I don't think he's been in any other than I guess I was thinking of the Legends of Runeterra Noxus one back when the game first came out Oh, yeah, Darius going into that throne room and throwing that person. Oh like crown in it. I swore not I Swore swine was in it, but I guess swain did not come out or I forgot he did not come out and there is an old Noxus thing. It's been so long Those Lord videos are really cool. I
01:38:30
Speaker
I liked those. I kind of missed them. I wish we made more cinematics. Yeah. Annie, do you ship any of the characters with Swain? No. There's not really good Swain ships. I mean, maybe Medardah. Maybe Medardah now. Do you think Medardah would suit it? Yeah, maybe. Or Renata Glass would also, I think. Oh, yeah. I know a lot of people ship in with Darius, but
01:38:56
Speaker
I don't know. I never really like Darius has a canonical lover. I like his wife. I do. I also like them together. And I'd love to see like either backstory for them or.
01:39:11
Speaker
Crones. Acknowledgement. LeBlanc and Swain used to be really popular back in the day, but not as a romantic ship. We're coworkers and we fool around. I can respect it, but... Not for me. I just felt like with Swain's update, there's not really anything to work with for that.
01:39:30
Speaker
I mean, it's hard when you're the boss, too. Yeah. Yeah. And you want underlings. Yeah. I guess that would be the problem with Medarda, is that she literally reports to him. But that could be it. OK, maybe I'll see if Renata Glask feels right. I'll noodle it. We can have it then. We'll workshop it. Either way, Lee doesn't have to be all ships. I just, when you're in the writing community, it's like, what else can we do? No, I think it's fine. Yeah, yeah. I wrote fan fiction. This was before League of Legends existed.
01:40:01
Speaker
So I was into Harry Potter fanfiction. I was into Hungry Games fanfiction. Oh, yeah. I feel like we're showing our ages right now. Well, I should not have been looking at the fanfiction. I was looking for my age. You were a little too young for it. Well, I was still I was writing I was writing age appropriate fanfiction for my age, but it was also like I maybe shouldn't be posting on forums when I'm like 13.
Fandom Reflections and Personal Identity
01:40:26
Speaker
Yeah. Well, kids have the Internet. That's just the way it is.
01:40:30
Speaker
But yeah, Harry Potter fan fiction. Were you were you a dreary shipper? Was that your game? Or were you like a moment right now? It is. It's in a new Renaissance. I think it's like getting the same air that like Reylo fan fiction was getting where now Reylo fan fiction is getting published as books. We can make that happen with Hermione. Let's bring it back.
01:40:54
Speaker
I'm like, okay. That's so funny. I think I've distanced myself from the Harry Potter fandom because, you know, I'm like a trans person. I'm like a trans person. What does that mean? I'm a trans person. I feel the same because I identify as non-binary, but I'm like, trans? I don't think I can take that title yet. I'll just float.
01:41:18
Speaker
Yeah, so, you know, it's just hard to be. I was, you know, I literally wrote fan fiction. Like I said, I was really, really into it. And I have a cosplay from Harry Potter that I would like to wear again, but I'm not going to because it feels bad.
01:41:34
Speaker
You can always wear it to like private Halloween parties or something and then just be like, yeah, I'm wearing this for the nostalgia aspect. Or maybe I'll make it gay. Reclaim it. Oh yeah, for sure.
01:41:51
Speaker
My sister-in-law bought me a tote bag for Christmas that is Harry Potter characters as cats, and she bought it from an Etsy shop or something. It's not official merch by any means.
01:42:07
Speaker
She's like, I'm so sorry, I meant to pull that and replace it because I know of all this stuff with JK Rowling right now and you don't want to support them. And I'm like, was this official? Did you give JK Rowling money? And she said, no, I'm like, then it's fine.
Crafting Techniques and Materials
01:42:19
Speaker
Then you give it to me and I'll keep it because it's from you.
01:42:24
Speaker
Oh, I love that she worried about that. Yes. That was really, really nice. She's a really sweet person. She's also part of the reason I got back into crafting because she's one of those people that's like, when we move into a house and we buy a new house, I have to dedicate at least one room to my crafts. Less so now that she has three small children running around, but no more craft room. But soon she'll be making Halloween costumes. Yeah, it's just her reentry. Yeah, exactly.
01:42:53
Speaker
It's fun. So Annie, we are coming. We're closing in on two hours and standard for us. You make it sound very crazy. But I wanted to ask because we had a couple of questions from our Discord. So a couple listeners had a few cosplay questions for you. Thea asks how to make something look solid without weighing it down a ton.
01:43:18
Speaker
she's had issues with flimsy things in the past, whenever trying to cosplay in particular, she's had issues with weapons being flimsy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I have also had this problem. So yeah, totally feel you. I have two things. One, have a structure on the inside. So I'm gonna roll
01:43:39
Speaker
I told you. There's going to be any reason reading all the way up. Oops. So this is one second. Well, what's your editor's name? I need to call it out. Right. Deal with it. So this is a a scythe gun that I was that I'm making. And if you see, it has a piece of PVC pipe in the middle and this serves two functions. It
01:44:08
Speaker
collects hair. So that's nice. All right, three functions, one collects hair. Two, you can use this to connect to the other pieces of this big stupid scythe gun. But then three, it provides structure for the piece. So like, down here where there's no PVC, you can see like it's wiggly, you know, but then here, it has that internal plastic that's, you know, it's not flopping around. It's not an embarrassing prop. So that's my number one piece of advice is to just put
01:44:37
Speaker
something lightweight like PVC pipe, like this isn't going to add a lot of weight to your prop, but it'll make it rigid. And then the other thing is I am really into XPS foam recently, which is a rigid material. That's what the weenies made out of. Like if I have something that I need to be really, really lightweight and doesn't need to be flexible at all, like you may not be wearing it on your body or something,
01:45:04
Speaker
Um, then I'll make it out of XPS foam because that's going to hold its own shape. 100%. Do you know like brands of XPS foam off the top of your head or like, um, Lowe's has the blue kind and Home Depot has the pink kind or maybe the other way around. Okay. And other than that, like it doesn't matter. I've had better luck with the pink kind just because it comes in better sizes sometimes, but that's just me. I don't, I literally,
01:45:34
Speaker
Whatever you've got in mind from the side of the road. Yeah. So, you know, it doesn't matter. We love it. Yeah, I've used it to make that's how I made my Draven X's. Oh, yes. X's. I love that. Yeah. But my Draven X's are two wood frames because I needed to hold, you know, the Lazy Susan like core part inside. And then I used an aluminum rod that goes into my X's. That's how I did too. Yeah. You got to make sure.
01:46:02
Speaker
Do you have a preference of PVC versus a wood dowel rod or anything like that whenever you're building that structure? Yeah, for me, I prefer PVC because you can. They come in wits that are supposed to slot inside of each other. You can get a connector that connects this piece to this piece. And then you've got a suitcase size gun piece. Plus, I don't know for sure, but it seems like it's lighter than wood.
01:46:30
Speaker
I feel like in the grand scheme of things, it is lighter because it feels like with the wood that actually does hold structure, you have to get pretty hefty on it. Also with PVC, you can bend it, but you have to wear PVE for that. But if you heat it, it will bend. So if you need to make like a bent sword or like an axe or something like that,
01:46:58
Speaker
like with a curve, you mean? Yep. Yes, exactly. If I could stand, I would show you. That's a lot of people with bows if you need to make a larp bow, but always wear your pony because it is so mega toxic to heat up penis. Really, really bad for you. Oh my gosh. I'm going to get back to questions, but you just unlocked a memory in me. I did
01:47:18
Speaker
if you know what that is. It's a version of larping and fighting. It's like a game, basically. I did that in high school. And EVA foam, it was when EVA foam was not accessible at all. And you had to special order wholesale-sized rolls of it. And that was the only foam we were allowed to use to coat our weapons or to make any of the weapons.
01:47:40
Speaker
And that the PVC Larping Bow thing just like unlocked that memory for me. Thank you, Parker. You remember when foam clay came out? Yes. Yeah. Wow. I used it to make zyrahorns. And there were no guides on how to do it. And my wrist sucks. And so I have just one single dragon zyrahorn chilling in my basement. Oh, no. I keep doing it. It's so good for you. Hell no. I was like, this sucked. And now it lives there. You can't do anything with it because I can't rehydrate it. But yeah. I just remember how miraculous that
01:48:09
Speaker
I mean, it still is to me. I like it. Wow. It was so insane. Especially like when Warblo was at Michael's firm. I was like, what the hell? You can get this now? Yeah. Wow. We've come so far. Thank you, Yaya Han. Honestly, Yaya has done so much for making us cool. Love her. Yaya, we've met once. You mentioned you might come on the podcast. Come on the podcast. Come hang out with us. Because she's busy. I know. She's so busy.
01:48:36
Speaker
But yeah, wow, it's so much more accessible. Foam clay dropping was so big. It's like, wow, thank you, Lumens. We needed this. Yeah.
01:48:46
Speaker
You can just like the normal sized rolls of EVA foam. Whenever I saw that in my- You used craft foam or you hopefully got floor mats that worked. I've ordered floor mats on Amazon so many times and I've only gotten actual working floor mats I could use twice. My Leona shield was a hot mess because they sent me the wrong kind and no matter how much I sanded it, it didn't work to the point where I just paper machined all over that shield so you wouldn't see it.
01:49:12
Speaker
I love my Leona shield though. It still is in my mom's basement. She hates it. She thinks that I haven't taken it or moved it or done anything with it. Bounce it on your wall.
01:49:21
Speaker
I, uh, my original Leona shield, I, it was a victim of the, the garage cleanout. I just, I had to get rid of some. Beloved her and her damn big shield. But the sad thing is this memory is burned into my mind. I threw it away. It wasn't recyclable and it was hard. I mean, you're throwing away your artwork and the day the big trash pickup came, I saw.
01:49:48
Speaker
the trash truck driving down my street and my Leona shield was on top of the pile and and it was just like like watching you go yeah i was like i don't what is it was that was its funeral procession yeah i guess so i'd like to think they liked it and that's why they put it on top they gotta show off to all the other trash trash trucks that they drive fast
01:50:15
Speaker
My arcade, Sona Eatswall, this is back before tutorials were helpful, because none of them tell you to heat seal your foam. I'll straight up say it. None of them say it. And they also don't tell you, because everyone's just like, just spray paint it, LOL. Just use Plasti Dip, no matter what. So when you use it on that kind of foam and it melts a little bit, I had that happen. And I was able to cover it up with my buttons and stuff, so who cares? But at the same time, as it started melting in the sun, I could feel tears streaming.
01:50:44
Speaker
Cool. I just, I remember having to be a builder back then. Yeah. And now all of it just lives in my mom's basement, like a, like a memory of what used to be. Cause it's like, well, what do you, what do you do with it? I can't throw it out. Those are my children. I don't want to see. Yeah. I don't have regrets, but I do wish that I hadn't seen it in the trash truck. Yeah. Wow. It's like a sad goodbye. Yeah.
01:51:12
Speaker
Our other question from the Discord is from Jett, and he asks, what's one of your best slash worst interactions that was a direct result from your cosplaying? So anything, I guess, particularly memorable that happened when you were cosplaying. Yeah, gosh. Nothing's jumping out.
01:51:42
Speaker
I hate to bring up riot. You can bring up riot. When Nate took us to Chicago.
01:51:50
Speaker
and it was the first time back in person since 2020 and so there were three years of us finalists there at the same time and you know we'd all been like hanging out and competing against each other for two and a half three years at that point and we all got to meet each other and okay so
01:52:14
Speaker
They were feeding us and we the rehearsal day we ate in like the crew restaurant. And it was so good. It was like gourmet crew food.
01:52:28
Speaker
And we were telling swim or like handler this and she was like, oh, well, tomorrow you get to eat in the VIP suite. So like, don't even worry about it. And we're like, oh, this is the crappy food. We're eating the lower stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And then the next day we go up into the VIP suite and it's like. When she says VIP, like she means VIP, like that's where
01:52:56
Speaker
the real celebrities are and then us goofy goobers are there in like half cosplays and like stupid makeup with no wigs on you know and we're like hi am I supposed to be here and we did not pay for anything the entire time like everything was yeah and we just like it was just like a friend group getting to have this incredible experience all together you know and yeah it was amazing it I can't wait to go back
01:53:26
Speaker
And do it. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. That's awesome. It was just being treated like that, like the fact that they see these people creating content for them and realize the value of that content.
01:53:47
Speaker
as a corporation, you know, like Riot paid for that, Riot paid for us. And that just feels really good as fans, you know, I want every fan to feel that respected. Well, it's like even before their contest, they were always so I feel like they were one of the first like
01:54:05
Speaker
companies to be so cosplay focused to some extent because even before they were doing like the contest, which now they do the contest so that way they can bring people in. Like one of my friends who I've cosplayed with, like we met because we were the only two league cosplayers at FanX in 2016 or 2015. Sorry. I was normal Sona. She was Star Guardian Lux and last year she got to go fly out to be Star Guardian Lux at their like
01:54:30
Speaker
I think it was an AX or one of the other big comps. Like they're paying people. Yes, like they always put that foot forward. Like we need cosplayers to come to our events. We need people
Annie's Book and Educational Resources
01:54:41
Speaker
there. And they would always like, if you're in California and you have a cosplay, come be on our stage for like finals. And as they've gotten bigger, they've brought, they've shared that love, you know? You know that you've seen it firsthand because... No, absolutely. Yeah.
01:54:56
Speaker
So any, um, I would love to give you the floor to promote your incredible new tutorial book if you want to talk about it some. Yeah. So, um, my book, I'm going to read it off the other screen because I can't remember the subtitle ever. It's called the ultimate glue guide, everything you need to know about adhesives for cosplay crafts and more. And it is a
01:55:19
Speaker
book about glue and tape. I learned while making this book that tape is glue. There's something you can learn from the book, just a little tidbit. Anyway, the book is not just for cosplayers, but because I am a cosplayer,
01:55:41
Speaker
You know, I'm coming from that perspective as a maker. There's a big chapter about contact cement. I talk about hot glue a lot. And I'm just basically going through each kind of glue and talking about how to use it, when to use it, safety, alternative uses, like if you're using PVA glue as a sealer or something like that.
01:56:01
Speaker
Um, I learned a whole lot writing this book. Like I thought I knew about glue. I did not. Like there's a lot of really cool stuff in it. Um, it is available for pre-order. It's, oh wait, it'll probably be available. Yeah. This episode is going to air at the end of this month. I think we're dropping it on the 1st or 2nd of February. Oh, February. Okay. Um,
01:56:26
Speaker
It comes out on February 25th, so depending on when you're hearing this, it may already be out and you can get it from all the places. Yeah, I hope you like it. And it's also, I noticed in the book, the copy that you sent us, it has good references for miniature painters and anyone that works with miniature building or like any kind of modeling or anything.
01:56:53
Speaker
And I learned so much because I read the whole thing and did not realize how many different types of categories and like adhesives and what they do and how they cure. And I think it's also great, even if you don't do any crafting, just to know for household repair. Like you point that out in your book several times, this is great for household repair if you need to do this, this or this. And that can be intimidating to learn. So highly, highly, highly recommend the book. Oh, thank you.
01:57:19
Speaker
I really, really like it. And I, like I said, I learned so much and, and I hope to give that to y'all a little bit. So yeah. We've given it to us. So I hope we can give it to our listeners as well. Yay. Um, and Annie, where can everyone find you online and see your beautiful work?
01:57:39
Speaker
Ah, um, yeah. So I'm maker fish meal on the internet. I am on Instagram and Facebook. And, um, if you go to my website, which is maker fish meal.com, I have a newsletter, um, where I send kind of like behind the scenes stuff and also a coupon for my store.
01:58:00
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know that. All right, I gotta get your coupon. And thank you so much for guesting on the show. I mean, so much. I feel like I geeked out so, so hard. No, love it. That's what we love it.
01:58:16
Speaker
The first time that I learned about your cosplay stuff was at your panel in ACON in 2022 when Parker dragged me in and was like, you're going to learn about foam smithing.
Community Support and Conclusion
01:58:27
Speaker
And I feel like every time I sit down now to do something cosplay like foam related, I always have your voice in my head. So it's been nice to be able to chat with you.
01:58:38
Speaker
That was a good con and a good panel. I was thrilled. The minute you started handing stuff around, I was like, look at it. Look at the inside. It's so pretty. They have free stuff. If you come to my panel, I'll give you a pen or a sticker. I have the sticker. I still have it.
01:58:56
Speaker
I have it, I don't have it on my desk, but I do have it on my little emergency cosplay kit. I keep it on the kit. That's such a wonderful place. I reuse old pill bottles to keep in my bags and stuff, and so I have it on one of them, just not this one. Okay, perfect. Thank you. And Parker, where can everybody find you? Oh, what are you sharing to me first? You can find me on Instagram at crownguardcosplay, Twitter is littlelightb, and those are really all I'm on right now.
01:59:23
Speaker
You can find our podcast at patreon.com slash fandamespod and you can find us at fandamespod on Twitter and Instagram. And you can find me on Instagram and Twitter at nebula underscore inky. Thumbs up. Look at all of our cosplay stuff. Cosplayers support other cosplayers and try cosplaying if you haven't. You can start with all of Annie's phenomenal tutorials. Yeah and like I love
01:59:48
Speaker
newbies like if you want to send me a message you actually about like a tip about something and I think that was our first interaction with me like how do I do this?
01:59:59
Speaker
Yeah, please. I love that. Like that's what I'm here for. Um, that's where I get my totally did. Yeah. You gave me no 100%. That was the outfit. My boyfriend wore it to the panel and in there I was like, this is what I used your guys for. Thank you. Oh my God. Yeah. It's all coming. Because now you're helping me with my thing. Absolutely. So
02:00:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you for being on the show and thank you everybody for listening. See you later. Check out the book. Buy it. Give any money. All the information about this will also be in the description. So if you just... Yeah, it'll all be in the show. Yes. Look down. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.