Panelist included Izzi Keener, HotRod Heather, husband and wife duo of Kaikara and Meyoka of Meyokay-Kia Cosplay and Creations, and Kelly Morton Sutton. There are a ton myths and issues about cosplay. There are stigmas of age, height, gender and body types in the cosplay world. This panel focused on the positive vibe for the positive and inclusiveness of Cosplay.
They discussed that fact that everyone to Cosplay. If you want to cosplay, then you should. If you don’t look like the body type of the person, you should still cosplay. They discussed how it is okay to cosplay the opposite gender of the character you are cosplaying.
Gatekeeping of the character is a big deal to some people. If you don’t know the whole history of the character, then some will say, you shouldn’t be that character. But if you want to be a character, it shouldn’t matter if you know the history or not to cosplay.
There will be jerks out there. You have to be fearless when you cosplay because some people will criticize everything you do. “If we greet and compliment each other and keep it friendly, then we will out weight the negative jerks.”
They discussed the shaming that can happen from buying a costume. Their opinion is if you want to wear a costume you purchased, then do it. Don’t listen to the people that criticize. Ask them, “don’t I rock it?” when they try to do that.
I asked the question about people being inappropriate with cosplayers. They all had examples of people being inappropriate. They talked about the focus on “Cosplay Isn’t Consent”. It is important not to touch people without permission no matter if they are in costume or not. They talked about how the whole cosplay community will come to the help of anyone being treated inappropriately.
As a person just getting into Cosplay at age 46 and overweight, this was a great panel. It was a ton of fun with very friendly people.
You can check out the Facebook pages for Izzi, Hot Rod Heather, and Kaikara and Meyoka of Meyokay-Kia Cosplay and Creations. Their Instagram accounts are Hot Rod Heather, Izzi , and Kaikara and Meyoka. They mentioned they are open to answer questions you might have about cosplaying.
Stay Geeky My Friends!
