WEBVTT - Episode 2: Cosplay 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.959 Hello, and welcome to Nerdificent. I am Danny Fernandez, and 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.880 today we are tackling costplay. Yeah, cosplay is that a 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:18.919 thing we're always going to do? Her? Did I force that? 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.600 I don't know. I don't know if we'll actually ever 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.079 get it at the same time, but cosplay something iffy 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.319 that you and I know quite a bit about because 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.680 our friends also do it. Oh yeah, we have Hello 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.920 cosplay friends. It's pretty great. Yeah. So, for those of 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:38.120 you that don't know, cosplay is actually just the two 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:42.479 words costume and play, and it is a hobby. Okay, 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.800 I didn't say this. This is the definition. It says 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.080 it's a hobby, but I bet most of my friends 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:52.880 would take issue in that. It's it's a lifestyle. Yeah, yeah, 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.240 it's a lifestyle. So for those of you that don't know, 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.600 it's basically where participants, known as couse players, they dress 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:02.000 up in costume to represent a specific character, so that 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.840 character can be from a video game, from manga, anime, cartoon, 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.520 basically anything like that. And we want to preface that 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.680 it's so much more than just dressing up for Halloween 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.800 or Marty Gras or whatever. It's not just having themed 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:22.480 clothing necessarily or just wearing it for a holiday. It 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.800 stems from a subculture of role playing. And actually I'd 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:30.720 say it's less like dressing up for Halloween and more 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.200 like wearing your favorite jersey for a sport. It's more 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.360 to support the culture that you're a part of and 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.640 less to dress up differently for fun, even though that 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:41.640 is an element of it. That is an element of it. 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:43.800 But I would say that cause players normally they take 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.319 a lot of pride, so they normally make their own 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.640 costumes as well as they actually embody the character. So 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.120 these are people that grew up with these characters or 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.160 they worship these characters. They know them really well, and 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.880 they normally try and have their mannerisms down, their catchphrases, 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.840 to sound like them and look like them as much 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:04.880 as possible. So I will say that it is like 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.000 if he was saying more of a lifestyle than just like, hey, 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.840 I'm gonna dress up for Halloween. Yeah, totally. It is 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:16.040 the highest form of I feel complimenting or imitation. Imitation yeah, yeah, 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:18.280 it almost is like it comes from the idea of 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:20.799 thinking a character is so cool, You're like, I want 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.280 to be that character, and for a lot of people. 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:25.480 You get to be that character for a day, and 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.160 it's not only cool for the person wearing the costume 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.280 or the cosplay. It's also cool for people to see 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.960 these characters come to life with great cosplay. It's just 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.320 fun all around. Yeah, it's like fully immersing yourself in 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:40.480 that character. And if he and I actually we do 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:42.960 know a lot of professional Cause players, which we will 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.720 get into. Yes, there is professional causeplay, but one of them, 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.840 just off the top of my head. If you remember 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.200 our friend, he lives the lifestyle of future Trunks from 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.440 Dragon Mozy. So this is a man. Yes, this is 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.280 a man who not only dresses like him, but has 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.400 made his word work out so that his body looks 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.960 like him. He has dyed his hair so that he 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.400 looks like him, and tries to live the lifestyle of 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:09.680 this character. So, like if he was saying, you're trying 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.320 to be as much as his character as possible. Now, 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.040 that's not everyone. Sometimes people will just Cause plays something 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.079 for a day at Comic conn or something like that, 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.520 but again they're trying to make it as close to 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.160 the character as possible most of the time. Definitely, And 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:26.160 I feel like we're going to have such a fun 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.760 deep dive into that because on this episode, uh, we'll 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.440 have our first guest professional costplayer, Stella Che. We're gonna 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.920 be interviewing her on the second half of this episode 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:37.840 is probably gonna be the meat of the episode because 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.920 we're going to get the information right from the genius's mouth. 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:42.600 I'll say, I didn't want to call her a horse. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:46.920 I don't know if she would appreciate, although it's possible 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.840 she may have dressed up like that very So let's 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.120 let's deep dive. Let's do this is the deep dive. 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:59.000 I don't know if we're di dive. What is cosplay? 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.280 What is cosplay? So, like we said, it is essentially 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.840 the words costume and play, and it is where you 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.559 are embodying this character with not only a costume, but mannerisms, 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.480 body language. And it can be anything from a movie, 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.920 TV series, book, comic book, video game, music, band, anime, 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.200 or manga. Yeah, there's also a ton of mashups. So 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.440 I've seen at comic Con myself. I've seen like Stormtrooper, 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:27.000 Disney Princess. Have you seen that. What's cool about these 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.920 mashups is they become legends, like the hip hop Stormtroopers, yes, 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.680 they walk around. They have Adida's out Stormtrooper outfits, just 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.960 the whole run dmc dally, and they do it every 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.040 year and you become I feel like, just to take 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.120 a step back and talk about professional cost play, there's 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.880 two types of professional cost players. You have the professional 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.320 cost players who are known for a cost playing multiple 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.719 people like Stella Chu and Yah Yahan and those folks. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.719 Then you have like professional cost players that are known 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.960 for one king character because it looks so much like them. 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.360 Oh yeah, outfit is just like like the hip hop Stormtroopers. 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.400 That's pretty much all they do. And a Deep Pity 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.920 who does Deadpool and he does all the comedy videos 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:10.760 and he like embodies Deadpool. Everyone loves them, you know. 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.280 And my friend Julian who is Future Trunks Future Trunks, 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.839 So someone's gonna branch out. But I've only seen sometimes 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.839 when they look so much like that character. I don't 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:22.599 want to say it's easier, but they just embody that 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.880 character so much. And so then what happens, and we'll 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:27.920 get into this as well, is that they end up 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.040 getting asked to be at these cons for that specific 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.000 character because they look so much like them that they 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.920 then make appearances, and they get paid to make appearances 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.960 and beyond panels and be in sketches and representing this character. 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.279 Um so iffy, Do you want to talk about the 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.440 first ever cause plan? Yes? Yes, yes. So. One thing 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.560 that's cool is I feel like women are trailblazers and 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.680 a lot of fields, especially nerdy ones, like, for example, 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.520 a woman was the first person to create science fiction. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.400 And it's so funny that there's this flip now where 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.200 women are underrepresented in a lot of nerd groups. But 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.680 the first cosplay ever was at the first World Science 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:12.560 Fiction Convention in New York in nineteen thirty nine. A 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.320 twenty two year old forced Jay Ackerman and his friend 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:22.760 Myrtle are Jones appeared, And that is such we need 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.680 that back, and I feel like we might have talked 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.840 about the science fiction convention back when we first talked 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:34.919 about convintions. Yeah, so, murder R Jones and Vorg j 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.960 Ackerman appeared in their first San Francisco costumes among a 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.080 hundred eighty five attendees. The future editor of the famous 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.760 Monsters of Film Filmland was dressed as a rugged looking 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.440 star pilot and his female companion was adorned in a 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.239 gown recreated from the classic nineteen thirty three film Things 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.720 to Come. Both of them created quite a stir among 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.720 the somber gathering of writers, artists, and finn plural of fan. 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.600 I guess they're trying to say finn is plural a 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.160 fan even though people say fans. I don't. I don't. 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.719 This might be a breakthrough that we just found about. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.120 But basically, what it seems like is they were like 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.080 one of the only people who dressed up since everyone 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:19.040 was kind of blown away, you know, Oh, okay, I see, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.960 But still would you consider this causeplay? It sounds like 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.400 they just essentially dressed up. They were the only people 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.640 that were dressed for the con essentially where now everybody 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.120 is cause playing at cons. Well, I feel like, yeah, 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.840 they this was the This isn't the first group cosplay, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:34.640 but I feel like this is the first evidence of 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.320 someone being like, I'm a dress up like these people, 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:43.560 especially since they came, especially since Myrtle came specifically from 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.800 the film Things to Come. It seems like our Man's 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.240 force Jay Ackerman was just a rugged looking star pilot 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.480 so and it seems like Myrtle was the one who 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.480 was like, no, there is a specific thing. I'm cosplaying 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.360 as I'm gonna give Myrtle the crown a rugged pilot. 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:05.520 It sounds like someone that rhymes with fawn Colo. Don't 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.800 edit that out. Okay, So that's in the States. But 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.760 I want to talk about the first cosplay in Japan. Yeah, 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.200 And a very important reason we should talk about that 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:18.360 is because the term cosplay was coined by someone in Japan, 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:22.920 by Nobuyuki Takahashi of the Japanese studio Studio Hard while 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.720 attending the Los Angeles Science Fiction World Cars. So he 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.640 was impressed by the hall and costume fans and reported 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.760 on both in the Japanese science fiction magazines. Yeah. So 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.720 he reported back in Japan in the science fiction magazines 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.960 and called it cosplay. And right before that, in ninety eight, 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:46.000 we had a young woman portraying to Zuko Sawmos character 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.120 Umino Trotan or Triton of the Sea. And again that 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.920 was back in ninety A lot of people think that 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.960 this took place at the comic market, but it actually 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:59.440 took place at Ashi Con, which was another science fiction convention. 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.480 So then the growth of cosplay also continued in Japan. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:09.640 In the ninety nineties, we saw cosplay cafes that started 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.040 to pop up in Tokyo, which is normally seen as 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.320 like it's called the Otaku center. If you do you 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.320 want to tell people what otaku is, it's a general 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.920 Japanese term for people with obsessive interest, even though it's 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.959 more commonly used for anime fans. So otaku's I feel 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.480 like it's not derogatorially used, but it's pretty much used 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.800 for huge fans of anime, and web is the derogatory 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:39.280 for bo for fans of anime, we bou is the 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.480 ones that are It's a derogatory term for people that 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.360 are obsessed with like Japanese culture and anime um. You 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:49.360 think of people that have fetishes essentially, or people over 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.880 here that like their level of anime love is borderline 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.320 and appropriate. If you do you want to comment, basically 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.560 is where you kind of go over the line and 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:03.240 you almost obsessed about if it's your culture, fetishize Japanese women, 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:09.199 I'd say fetish Japanese culture, and it's just this whole 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.959 cool thing that you automatically assume you know more than 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.920 anyone about. It's kind of a tricky line, but I 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.680 feel like you would know, like if you met someone 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.319 like that's otaku that just like they love it and 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.280 appreciate it, as opposed to someone that fetishizes it, if 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.680 that makes sense. But not to be confused with we blow, 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:32.520 which is the boy Scouts. We be loyal Scouts. Have 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.400 you not heard that? If you know, okay, my brother 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:41.000 was a wee blow and bow. If you could be 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.440 both of those things, you could be a boy scout 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:45.480 that I bet there are tons of boy Scouts that 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:51.199 fetishized Japanese culture. So yes, Cosplay cafes were essentially themed 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.560 cafes where servers were dressed in costumes um for example, 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.480 like Made cafes where servers were dressed as maids and 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.800 would serve customers like Made would. So yeah, so that 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.800 was very popular in the ninety nineties, and then cause 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:09.720 place slowly started with the increase in comic conventions, we 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:13.120 saw more people coming out that would dress up and 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.640 really take on this lifestyle of cause play. Sorry, I've 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.720 really went into a deep dive of because we because 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.360 I'm trying to see what the word comes from. But 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:26.560 it seems like it just is a coined word, like 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.880 a we a bow is just a coined where there's 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.439 no real meaning of it. And then there was this 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:37.160 like whole interesting crunchy roll forum post that was like 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.520 the difference between otaku and a we a bow, and 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.680 they basically said otaku basically means by its American definition, 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.440 the Japanese one is drastically different and an insult there 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.800 that someone is obsessed with manga, anime, Japanese video games. 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.439 They often collect many versions of Japanese video games, manga, 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.360 and anime. Many people like myself probably put this label 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.680 on themselves. However, the other word we abo has been 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.600 around it as long and isn't used as much as otaku. 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.120 We Abo is basically just in a taku is taking 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.520 their passion into something more drastic. Basically, they start replacing 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:12.040 English words such as cat and cute let go in kawaii. 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.160 They will use these words almost all the time online 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.440 and offline and abuse them. Also, they curse how they 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.720 aren't Japanese and don't dare touch stuff as American video 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.760 games and watch any American media. We abow is an 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.760 insult because of this. A brief desh venition is this 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.679 picture and it's just stolen picture from now your man. 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:32.760 I feel like it's someone who doesn't understand that it's 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.600 also not their culture, because I've had to deal with weaves, 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.760 that's what they're called, weaves who argue about anime as 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:41.600 if it's like I don't know how to put it 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.160 where they crap on certain things, and it's like that's 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.480 not yours to decide. Who gets to enjoy this, Like 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:50.680 you're kind of borrowing it. At least that's how I 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.160 feel about it, And people will probably write us and 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.120 argue about it, because when we talked about this on 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.920 our other podcast, which was an anime one, we had 0:12:57.920 --> 0:12:59.800 people that would write us and be upset. But to me, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.240 it's like, that's not from your culture. Like, so just 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.960 remember that you get to enjoy it and borrow it. 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.880 You don't get to tell people what's wrong or they're 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.000 not allowed to enjoy it. Yeah, you don't get to 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.200 gate keep something. You don't get to gate keep, thank you. 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:15.880 That's the word I was looking for. You don't get 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.079 to gate keep something that comes from a culture that's 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:22.000 not yours and or correct people from that culture. Because 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.640 that's also what we'd see a lot as well, is 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.800 weaves would correct Japanese people about their own culture or 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.320 how it was represented in anime, and I know some 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.200 of our friends that our Japanese would have an issue 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:40.760 with that. So going back to this, going back to causplay, No, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.920 I think there it's important. I did want to say so. 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.840 Pablo bay Ran, he's the president of Cosplay dot pH. 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:53.720 Uh So he created this website, so Cosplay dot pH 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:55.480 he started in two thousand and six and it was 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:57.840 essentially a website where Cause players could go and check 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.280 the schedules of convention so that they could be up. 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.880 So this was in the Philippines. He said. In the 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.720 early days of cosplay, the movement was kind of like 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.840 they were treated like zoo animals. That's literally his quote. 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.360 He said before cosplay was more of a side event 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.040 in comic and toy conventions. During that time, they were 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.520 sort of a side show. So usually Cause players are 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.080 stuck in a small space like mascots, but we're treated 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.240 a little worse because we were like zoo animals. So 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.000 I don't think they were as appreciated or respected the 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.520 way they are now, where people are literally lining up 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.600 and pain sometimes to take pictures with them. Yeah, that's 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.520 always I feel like the drama that comes with being 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:40.520 the first of something even within our lifetimes. I remember 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.440 cosplay wasn't as cool as it is now, Like it 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:47.240 always like, oh man, like these people dressing up and 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.360 you know, if you were in the culture, it was good. 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.120 But I feel like at this point, cosplay is generally 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.880 understood to the mainstream. I remember one of the first 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.800 Long Beach City comic cons, people would be out what 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.400 people are, like, what's going on? What? What? What is this? 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.240 And last time we went, it seemed like the general 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.360 city of Long Beach was pre in it. Yeah, I 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.680 would say, you know, but I still think my classmates 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.560 from Frisco High School in Dallas, Texas, if I was 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.760 a professional cause player, which they do. Dallas has professional 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.120 cause players. But I'm just thinking of like my specific town. Um, 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.120 I think they would think it was weird. I still 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.640 think that a lot of suburban like people that maybe 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:32.400 or maybe even that aren't in major cities, which Frisco 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.320 is now. Please don't write me, I know that, but 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.200 I still feel like if you're an adult that dresses 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.560 up every weekend, I feel like you're still going to 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.400 be treated like you're weird, just not an our group. 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.440 We're really lucky because we live in this nerd bubble 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:48.680 essentially where we get to go to cons all the 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.720 time and this is a regular thing. But I do 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.400 feel like there are probably people in other areas and 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.000 or rural areas where if you dressed up every weekend, 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:01.040 you would be seen as weird. So oh flee. That changes, though, 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.240 because people should be allowed to let their freak flag fly. 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.320 Not saying that this is a freak thing, but I mean, 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.200 if you some of the cause play which we're going 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.760 to get into, is a little freaky, though, And the 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.800 debate of whether it should be allowed to is one 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.000 of my favorites because I do feel like cousplay is sexy. 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.920 It can't be very sexy. You're you're often caused playing 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:25.680 video game girls or something like that that have major 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:33.440 you know, cleavage, not as much close I respected. I 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.120 respect you got to show the goods. If you got 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:36.880 the goods, show them. But there's been a lot of 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.920 debate of you know, a lot of these cons have 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.080 young kids, and sometimes a cause play can be b 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.560 d s m ish um. I think that's fair to say, 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.600 and so how much should be allowed is a conversation 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:54.560 that we're actually going to be having with Stella. Right 0:16:54.600 --> 0:17:05.359 after the break, Welcome back to Nottificent. We are here 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:10.480 joined with professional cause player Stella Chew. Thanks for coming on. Hey, 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.840 how's it going? Yeah? So, I think before the break 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:14.879 we were talking about sex and cause play, which we're 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.679 going to get into, um, but still I wanted to 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.520 know how did you first get started? UM. So, I've 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.680 been cost playing for um probably like seven or eight 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.680 years now, doing it like seriously because prior to that, 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.600 putting on a Halloween costume kind of called class playing. 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.879 But after I graduated from college, I started to teach 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.240 myself how to make my own costumes and um, traveling 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.880 to a bunch of different conventions, and I think I've 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.040 been doing it like actually professionally for the last three 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.800 to four years. Day. It's crazy because it kind of 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:47.840 happened like out of nowhere. There wasn't like just one 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.520 day in which somebody was like, now you're a rail 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:54.080 profession quit your job, right. It's just like kind of 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:58.120 happened over time slowly. I knew people standing for you 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.320 at least two or three years before I'm at you, 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.720 because I my my ex was real into like yeah 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.200 yahan and then so I would go on those like 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.840 cosplay deep dives and I found you, so you know 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.520 you were you were like the underground king. You know 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:15.920 you g K before the rise to professional man. Thanks. 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:20.000 So as far as like your suits, because you make everything, 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.359 you make your car and you also stream it a 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.480 lot of the times, like live so people can watch 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:29.240 you making your cosplay. How much of that sewing and 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.120 talent and like stuff did you already have or did 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:33.400 you pick up? And how long does it take? Um? 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.159 So I went to school for like fine arts, like 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.240 graphic design, like drawing on the computer, but that did 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.200 not prepare me like at all where cosplaying because cosling 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:45.600 is all about working with your hands and like working 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:48.600 materials you've never heard of before, working with like really 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.600 cheap material because no one's gonna want to work with 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.439 like metal and wood. Instead you want to work with 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:58.520 like ava, foam and like fabrics and stuff. Um. And 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.080 so all of this is I stuff I taught myself, 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.560 and I've learned kind of with the community because we 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:05.960 all learned from each other. Like everyone figured out how 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.200 to paint armor the right way together at the exact 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.560 same time. Everyone started using war blood at the same time. 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.239 It's all skills I've developed over time. And I wish that, 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.160 like I could have gone to a school or had 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:17.960 some kind of like sense a they like come to 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.040 teach me on how to do all this stuff, because 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.359 I probably would have like saved a ton of money. 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.560 I have like fifty dollars in student loan. So now 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:27.399 I don't know if you need to go to school. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.440 You didn't, your boys skipped that. Your boy was like, yo, 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:33.000 this comedy thing. There's no degree for that. So I'm 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.159 gonna just drop out. And it worked out fine for me. 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.320 But you know, for the listeners who may not know, 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.959 because this is a nerdy deep dive for everyone. So 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.480 we'd like to fill in everyone. What is av a 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.200 foam and war blood? Because I know about war Blow 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.240 Like when I was like, you know, confident and thought 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.840 I could get into a cosplay like war Blow was king, 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.200 And now it's all about av a phone. It's it's 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.240 still about war blood though, um, so let's talk about 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.879 some like materials. War Blaw is this material that was 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:02.680 and I want to say developed in Germany and like 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.199 it's being sold out of Germany and it's a like 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.000 thermal plastic. And when I say thermoplastic. It's basically just 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.040 a sheet of plastic that you can heat up with 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.640 like a hair dryer or a heat gun or even 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:15.280 in your oven, and you can shape it into, you know, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:16.719 the way you want it to look. So it's kind 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.560 of like sheet clay. So imagine you're a little Plato 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:21.560 that you have at home, but instead it's it's in 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:23.280 cheat form and you can shape it however you want, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.200 and when it cools, you have an epic set of armor. 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.399 So it doesn't take much technical know how, which is 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:31.439 fantastic for a lot of people who are just jumping 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.640 into it, and the like curve to like learn how 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.879 to use it is like it's so simple, it's so easy, 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:39.640 and once you get good at it, you get real 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:42.639 good at it, like super good. People have been making 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.240 the coolest looking things that will just blow your mind. 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:48.080 You're like, what that's made out of a thermoplastic? I 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:50.800 thought that was like real metal or something. Oh totally, 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.080 because in my head, when I started deep diving, my 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:57.679 idea of what war Blow was was, I thought they 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.000 were just shapes you would buy with the material. And 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:02.520 then when I went and looked it up and I 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:04.199 was like Oh, it's just a sheet and I have 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.720 to shape. But oh, I'm a just nope out because 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:09.280 I don't think I'll be good at it. But you're 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.840 saying it's easy. It's pretty easy. I feel like if 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.040 somebody just like sat down with you for like twenty minutes, 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.560 you'd like get it right away, versus like, you know, 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:20.159 spending five years as a metal spitting of systant and 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.800 stuff like that. Um. And then the other thing I 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.760