I thought it best to share this post with you since Fan Expo Vancouver is right around the corner. This has always been an issue in the cosplay community, and there is more and more awareness being brought to it each and every year. As the title says: COSPLAY IS NOT CONSENT So what does that mean? It means, just because someone is scantily clad dressed as their favourite character, or wearing sexy clothes doesn't give other people permission or the right to go and oogle them, harass them, touch, contact or haggle them in any way. They are showing their respect to a character they admire, and are dressing up in a style that is comfortable to them, but it doesn't mean it is an open invitation to other people to be rude or inappropriate towards them in anyway. It means, If someone is dressed up in a costume that may not look as polished or finessed as someone else's that you can go harass them, or bully them It means, If someone is dressed up in ANY form of costume, YOU HAVE TO ASK FOR PERMISSION! Permission for photos, permission to touch their costume, permission to stop them and have a conversation. Cosplayers don't bite, we want to have our hard work admired, we want to share the excitement of fandom with you, we don't want to have people harassing us and following us around and being inappropriate. So please remember, when you are headed to the Con this weekend, or any other Con, Please be respectful of Cosplayer's. They are fan's too, and are there to enjoy the con. If you are a Cosplayer, go with a buddy or a Cosplay tender, someone who is willing to be a buffer for you and help you out. Original art by Amy Reeder. Photo from cosplayisnotconsent.org
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Fan Expo is just over a week away and I'm officially starting to get super excited!
The convention is a lot earlier this year than in previous years, but the biggest change of all is it is now being run by the same fabulous folks that run the Calgary Expo. I have high expectations for this year just because of that! We are going for just one day this year, since last years Expo was only a few months ago, and we are going to Calgary at the end of April, so expo budget is tight. We've decided we are going to attend on the Saturday since this is usually the busiest and most action packed day of any con! I'm super excited to go and meet Patricia Summersett, who plays Princess Zelda in Breath of the Wild. The first official Zelda voice actor in the game series! Also going to to meet George Takai from the Original Star Trek. So even though I've been working my butt off to get Journey done in time for Expo, it looks like it may not happen. On the plus side, Fan Expo Vancouver is having their first EVER costume contest! I've entered Skull Kid and I'm super excited for my first time being on stage! Scared, but super excited! Can't wait to see how it all turns out! See you there! Halloween is only a couple days away!! Honestly my most favourite holiday!
It's time to get your pumpkin's carved, last minute costume prep or maintenance, snacks ready and all that! I'm excited that this year I'm going to be celebrating with my co-workers and having a pseudo halloween party at work. Lots of snacks and great costumes, not to mention we decorated the whole office :D Afterwork my husband and I are going on a ghost tour of New Westminster which I can't wait for! Learning the haunted history of the city we live in. What are your plans for halloween?? What a whirlwind weekend!
There were so many things about this Fan Expo that made it incredibly memorable. This was the first year that I noticed a significant lower amount of attendees, retailers and sketch duels to name a few. The venue had changed from Canada Place to the Vancouver Convention Centre, but instead of using multiple floors for panels and such, they put everything all on the ballroom floor. This made it more accessible and more compact, but also meant it was a lot louder than usual with quite a few less retailers. The one constant I will say is Saturday is always the most popular day with the most amazing and talented cosplayers! I love seeing all the effort people put into their costumes, and how many people come in costume. Makes me SO HAPPY! My own personal cosplay experience was definitely overwhelming in the most positive way! I know that when you wear a costume you expect to not walk very far or get to do a lot of shopping because people want to talk to you and take photos, but I was not expecting the magnitude of people who were stopping me. Got lots of fabulous photos, and brought home some super great swag! New artwork, keychains, pins, plus some new crafting material! Bought myself a GIANT roll of Worbla as well as this amazing stuff called Foam Clay, blows my mind! I attended the Foam Clay panel learning all about it, which was super interesting. My husband got to attend both the Ron Perlman Q&A and the Kevin Conroy Q&A. Needless to say he was beyond excited for both of those. We also had the opportunity to meet Wil Wheaton who is honestly the sweetest person ever! Overall it was a successful weekend, lots of fun and definitely looking forward to next years con in March! We spent the past 2 months getting together multiple nights a week and on most weekends grinding together costumes! For Advait and his Naruto costume, this was his first time creating a sewing pattern, stitching together a jacket, styling a wig, and altering shoes. He did a fantastic job and didn't need a lot of help. He was quick to pick up on techiniques. He is now REALLY excited to start another costume!
This was my first time working with denim and leather as well as making a jacket! It was so much fun! This was also Steve's very first cos-play, he picked a pretty complicated one with Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, BUT it was all finished in time and looked amazing! We had to alter a shirt he bought, added sleeves and a zipper to it. We created a side apron with multiple belts. Altered his pants to have clasps on them. Added zippers to boots, styled a wig, sewed gloves as well as between the three of us and some friends who helped, he managed to make a 6 foot tall foam and wood sword! Another friend helped out to make an incredible sculpt for his shoulder armor. We had our first convention together and the experience was absolutely intoxicating! We didn't make it 2 feet without being stopped by multiple people for photos. We found many other Naruto characters so Advait had some great team photos, as well as Steve and I found 2 other FFVII characters. The one person we found dressed as Sephiroth (villian from FFVII ) allowed us to re-enact some pretty integral parts of the game. At the end of the day we had a group of 20+ people encircling us for photos. Once the convention was over, we walked through the city to a local Ramen shop all the while getting people honking and waving at us, a few even getting into character. All in all it was a fantastic experience and we can't wait for the next convention!! - Kim |
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