SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Blurred Spectrum Podcast. We are here today to go over not really all things spooky. Well, actually, it might be a little bit spooky because it's about people's attitudes or people's perceptions. Or is it a little bit of both? Maybe not attitudes. Maybe it's how people want to be perceptive. Or maybe it's people who who who are uh trying to rel regulate. Nah, they're not really regulating. I guess more so they're trying to compliment people. Well, I guess it's not really complimenting if the people who are being complimented don't feel right about it. So maybe it's more so about individuals who are replicating. Are they replicating? I guess maybe they're more so talking about the fact that they want to imitate someone. And imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery, unless somebody says you're doing it wrong and you're doing it for clout. I don't know. Let's talk about that. Let's get into it. Let's talk about it. So we are back today to talk about a specific topic by the words of Halloween, specifically Halloween, cosplay versus costume. And I know uh some of you know what I'm talking about, a lot of you might not. Uh, those who are, you know, of our vast cosplay community who listen to our podcast, have, you know, voiced their opinions about certain people who, you know, call themselves cosplayers by putting on a specific or donning a specific cosplay. Now, nobody is saying that if you you know get a closet cosplay or you buy your cosplay directly from the store or Amazon, that you can't consider yourself a cosplayer because, you know, maybe you just don't have the the foam smithing skills. Maybe you ain't a steamstress. Maybe you ain't, you know, like the baddie miss kiddos or like the the makeup goddess uh uh Sayon A cosplay. You know, you you have to you have to know you know your strengths and your weaknesses. But there are a group out there that are specifically buying these, you know, we'll just call them costumes and going out and calling themselves top-tier cosplayers. Or people who are doing things with, you know, graphic design and calling themselves cosplayers. But anyway, I digress. Let's actually get into the episode. Let's let's let's get into it. So, I of course have to introduce our panelists for this episode, starting with myself, your moderator, student children. I also have with me today Dr. Quinzel of the Shampoo Bracelet. What's up? I have the phenomenal, not who, but the doctor.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

What's good?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

I have uh Miss Tessa Tatter Terror. I have Miss Somebody Stop Me the Mask. I have Miss, he hasn't told us what the last one is yet of the spooky season, but she's coming out with some five, actually, probably gonna be more than one. Two more. There it is. Uh Ms. Kittles.

SPEAKER_06 2:34

What's good, everyone?

SPEAKER_01 2:36

And then we have uh uh today we have special, special guest uh with her, uh uh part of uh the brand name Purple Fitness, uh, along with uh Miss Sayone the Cosplay. We reintroduced themselves as The Flame, Talon Flame and Sayone Cosplay.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Hi.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

So uh this episode, of course, comes to you, brought to you by our uh our brainstorming episode. If you remember earlier this year, we were going over a couple of topics that we wanted to talk about. So this isn't something that just popped into our heads during this food season. This was something that has been near and dear to one of our panelists' hardly for quite some time. Uh and uh, you know, once he brought it up, you know, some of us were like, oh, that is a good idea. And then it turned into a whole conversation in it of that one episode. I had to actually calm it down and say, hey, let's wait for the actual episode. So um I gave a little preface on it. You know, I'm I'm I'm actually debating whether or not I should just throw her the ball right now because she might just talk for all of us in and of itself. Um, I might let her go laugh. Let's let's get everybody else's perspective and then we're gonna circle back. So let's start with the doctor. So the doctor, you know, you and I, we are not cosplayers. Uh, we are not cosplay costume creators. Uh, we of course love to and enjoy watching cosplayers do what they do at conventions, on social media, things of that nature. Um, you know, the concept of costume versus cosplay, uh, you know, costumes are stuff that we had when we were kids, you know. If we went to a treating, you know, you don't whether it be a sheet or something you bought from Target or guests, and you, you know, you went into school, uh, maybe they had gave you this storybook character parade. I know some of y'all did that back in the day. Uh, and you donned a costume uh where you were imitating a character. So, in your honest opinion, what would you say is either a difference or a comparison between a costume wearer and a cosplayer?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Um, honestly, this is something where I really I would almost want to go last because I would absolutely prefer the actual cosplayers on that stage, you know, because I don't know where I would even really clearly draw a line. So, like, I know that I am not a cosplay, you know, even though I, you know, I've done many a Halloween costume, I love Halloween costumes. And I think um, you know, and again, just deferring to the cosplayers on that, but I do, you know, probably the biggest difference that I kind of hear why I would say I'm not a cosplayer. Um, I just don't put as much work into it, like straight up, you know. So, you know, if it's something where I'm once a year, you know, doing this thing that doesn't really take a huge amount of time and I'm having fun doing it, but you know, it's I can't put that on the level of like some of the just incredible elaborate art I see from these cosplays and just the amount of work that that entails. Like, you know, so I I think that's a huge piece of it, you know, and I think there's just a lot that goes into, I mean, there's so much that goes into constantly beyond, you know, just wearing a costume as well. You know, like there's so, so much. I mean, even thinking of like going to the con, you know, a lot of times you have to be like you have to engage with people, you're like having photos taken with people all the time, and a lot of times it's like hot as hell, especially for summer and all that. And oh, that's tedious too. So there's this, I mean, there's just so much that goes into. So, you know, like I I love a good Halloween costume, I do, and I make try to always have one every year, but you know, I think I don't think that DJ's the love of cosplay in any form of fashion.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

I I uh this is why I let you go first, because I know how you tried to bullshit me and say, you know, I think I should go last. And then you gave like the perfect definition in comparison passing an event diagram of cosplaying and costume. Beautiful, beautiful job. Thank you, the doctor. Although you tried to bullshit me for a second.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Oh no, we don't.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

So um, I want to definitely uh I definitely I I I agree. You know, um I Jesus Christ, the last time I can honestly say I actually wore a costume was cool that I remember. I probably did one when I was older, but I think the last time I actually got costume was for a storybook character parade back when I was in fifth grade, and I was some type of samurai slash ninja. Like I my dad bought the costume from Target, I had kunai on my waist, I had like a fake sword on my back. I had it's funny, I was wearing a mask. It was like the the almost like a Power Rangers ninjetti thing, but it was like a cheap ninja costume. Um, and but like that's the last time I actually remember wearing a costume because my mother, you know, uh for those, you know, international or Nigerians or Christian household, you know, individuals, you know, uh Halloween ain't something that you really participated in.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Devil worship.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

It's it's like the only reason why I got away with that costume was because I actually had a book that talked about ninjas. And I said, well, no, it's a storybook character parade, and there's a ninja in this book. I have to wear it, and that's the only reason why I let it pass. But I I then had to go that night, the hallelujah night at church, um, where I had to do every single year because my real name is biblical. I had to be a Bible character, and I was the same Bible character every single year. So I wore the same sheet and clothing every single year. Uh so uh costumes for me, uh unlike the doctor, you know, the doctor says he tried to do one one a year. For me, I I even costumes I feel like are above my pay grade. Uh because, you know, unlike cosplayers, where there's oogops of effort that goes into the cosplay, with costumes, just oogops of potential money that go into it. And for me, I even with costumes, I think there's oogops of thought that goes into what you want to do. Now, for some, you know, you just want to be a slutty version of somebody and you know, live your truth. Um but you know, for others, I do know there's a lot of money and or I concept that goes into it. But then after being around these, especially these last two years, being around cosplayers um these last two and a half years, um, and seeing the behind the scenes cosplay process and you know, hearing the stories of the uh uh the sadness behind Persephone and the the um the hurt behind um what was it? Yodouichi, uh uh that well the the eventual Yodorichi because it was you know some faults before that. Um, and then of course uh the uh beast as well as so Alpha was it Alphamon or Ward Raymond? I think it was Ward Raymond. Black Ward Raymond, there it is. Uh hearing it from these cosplayers, you know, the idea of that this isn't just something that they get up in the morning and I woke up like this, like the fact that that's not the case is you know, it's eye-opening because you know, you think you know they're skilled, they have all the talents, capabilities, and if they're doing it, you know, they must have gone to school for this or they must have trained hard for this. And, you know, it's a realm of their own, and they know how to do this. But no, there's there's fault and there's failures and there's successes, and then there's, you know, uh perfectionism where they think this isn't right yet, and I gotta keep changing this. Like I can't even imagine. I know I'm a perfectionist of things myself. So being a perfectionist with something that costs a lot of money or a lot of time and effort uh scares the crap out of me, especially when I see the amount of you know paint that Cyanette Cosplay puts in and the amount of uh uh uh sewing and seamstress work, as well as, you know, although she says she's not a makeup artist, but makeup that uh Miss Skittles puts in, like the idea, shoot, now that I think about it, and the amount of gluing and construction that uh Cyanette Cosplay puts in, and then the amount of uh research and and background that Miss Skittles, you know what? I'm going beyond myself right now. I personally don't think that these could be compared in any way, shape, or um, and you I'm sure there are people who are listening who are like, well, why are we even comparing it? Well, because there are people in the social medias who outright not only verbalize that their costumes are greater or better than you know some cosplayers who put in a lot more time and effort, but they go further than that and they charge people for pictures and they charge people for appearances, and they charge people, you know, they're actually receiving monetary income, revenue, um, for doing something that's extremely simplistic, um, even as far as you know graphic, uh graphically enhanced cosplay, which when Miss Skittles brought that up in an earlier this year episode, I was completely floored because I'm like, what are you talking about? And she's like, No. Like, and I've seen some of those like you know, uh videos where they, you know, do something simple and then they enhance it and turn it into a video. Now, if you're turning it into a video for that premise, then perfectly fine. You're just showing your graphic skills. But if you're calling yourself a posse player on top of that, I'm like, friend, um that's saying. So my opinion is definitely that these are worlds apart. Um, but you know, as the doctor said we should probably let some cosplayers give their opinion. But before we do that, let's let Dr. Quinzel, who's also not a pos player, give her two cents. How do you feel about this comparison? Because I know these cosplays are gonna go off. So I'm trying to give us the ability to actually get a word in edgewise. Go ahead. I actually have a question. Ooh.

SPEAKER_09 12:28

Say on a cosplay MS Fiddle.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_09 12:31

So you know how we talk about people buying costumes from like Target or Walmart, and you know, some people consider themselves being in cosplay first, but then costumes. So, do you feel the same way when people buy cosplays or costumes from easy cosplay? And they just because it's kind of like the same concept.

SPEAKER_08 12:56

Um so cosplay to me is invoking a character but making it your own. And that's kind of how I see cosplay. I think of cosplay like if you're an artist, like a like a singer, they always say, How do you make yourself, how do you set yourself apart from everyone else? And it could be subtle or it could be very big. You know, not everybody's a soprano. You could shine being an alcohol, but everybody has their own creativity, like how we all don't look the same. Our styles, we all don't dress the same. So you don't have to, I think some people think that you have to learn how to sew to be a cosplayer. I don't know how to sew or shit. Um that doesn't take me, that doesn't take my my ability to know how to cosplay away. It's just that I found other ways to kind of go around it. I figured out my own way of doing things. Um, so when it comes to like what is a cosplayer versus just going to a store and just getting a a costume, like you can still buy a costume and and transform it into your own way. Like getting things from easy cosplay. You have a lot of cosplayers that get these outfits from you know these different websites online, but they make it their own. That you know, maybe the character's hair is actually straight, but because they're black, they're like, no, I want to have my hair pinky or curlier, I want to do it a certain way. I want to do my makeup a different way so that it invokes me that you might not have seen. Um, there are a lot of cosplayers um like Era Fleet. She makes things, she makes things that you know that this character is black, I'm black, y'all gonna see how blackly black I am, because she changes the texture of her hair. Where a lot of cosplayers at that time, they just kind of got a straight wig and invoke that character. Even though she'll probably possibly have bought the outfit, but she still makes it her own. Like you can buy an outfit, a store-bought outfit, but every her aesthetic, you can tell by her wigs that she makes. You can tell by the way of how she does her makeup, she doesn't whitewash herself. She makes it, she'll keep certain key aspects like to keep the contacts, to keep the color scheme, but she'll do it in a way that, like, oh wow, it's a press, it's new, it's different. But it's not like you have to be avant-garde, so to speak, um, compared to you know, Miss Kittles who can make wings and armor and that shit out of here too. But that I think what it is is that the difference of like for Halloween, you it's Halloween is very late. Halloween, even cosplayers were very late. There's a joke on the Halloween.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Before you make that statement, I know you and Miss Kittles are not about to say y'all be lazy around Halloween.

SPEAKER_08 15:48

No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what you that's not what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_08 15:54

So I'm saying, generally speaking, the joke is that cosplayers are very lazy around Halloween because we cosplay all year. And for Halloween, it's just kind of like a rest period where we don't have to go all out, but we still fucking go out anyway, because we can't. But but that's just but that's just you know, Tiffany and I. That's our personality. But it's really like a you know, we cosplay literally 265 days. Well, it's Halloween, we're kind of like, oh, we're just gonna chill, you know, it's not con season, we don't have to put too much thought into it.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Y'all have said that for the last two years. Yes, just see either one of you relaxed.

SPEAKER_08 16:33

But but to to answer um Dr. Quinzel's question, um, there's kind of like a gray area. I think what it is is that you can just get a uh you like let's say you and I can get the same outfit, but how we accessorize it differently, and I think that's really what it is, and that's kind of cosplay versus just getting a cosplay. You don't have to learn how to make the outfit yourself, but you can style it up, and that and that's adding your own personality to it, where anybody can get a you know, a dress and a wig and shoes and contacts and just be lazy and done with it. But cosplayers will the extra step, and you don't have to even do like our, you know, we're pretty avant-garde, uh, Miss Skittles and I, when it comes to our cosplays. Um, but I I really love I really love the creativity of closet cosplay. There's so many different ranges to cosplay where I can't think out the box to get the shit out of my closet and make it very simple. I wish I could think that way. I unfortunately I can't. But like it does brilliant cosplays that come from closet cosplayers, which is very, I would say refreshing for newer cosplayers because they're they might be looking at us like I'm not at that level. And we weren't at that level when, you know, a couple years ago. We had to work our way to that. So there's so many different like avenues to get into cosplay, so many different, like I would say, um, levels, tiers. So I think at the end of the day, it's more so as what makes you special? What make what sets you apart from everyone else? Are you more of like, we're trying to do budget cosplay, or are we trying to go above and beyond? But either way, all of that is we all look different because we all stylize everything. And that's why you have Miss Gittles, that's why you have Sionade cosplay, that's why you have Eric Lee. They all have we all have a brand, we all have an aesthetic. Even if we might not think so, people follow us because we have a certain aesthetic that's different from everyone else. And I think that's what makes a cosplayer. We have a certain look, a certain brand, a certain personality and uniqueness. We all don't have the same craft or or same skill set, but we all set each other apart from one another. So I think that's just kind of how I see cosplayers versus somebody just going to a store and just buying something just to buy it, just slap on and be like, I'm done. Like, yeah, like but no, even cosplayers are the same thing because we're fucking tired. We tired, but um, but that's I I hope that answers your question, uh, Dr. Pazell. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

All right. So like ice cream, man. Ice cream. Okay.

SPEAKER_08 19:28

I'm gonna put this back. I'm gonna put this on mute.

SPEAKER_05 19:36

Do you want me to answer it or do you good with you good with yeah, no? Go ahead, Miss Skills. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

I'm gonna let it go.

SPEAKER_05 19:44

Okay, so so um the the biggest thing for me, the cosplay versus costume. But what what that a person who goes from easy cosplay to get their costume versus somebody who goes to the Walmart. Um honestly, I don't think I don't think the the two are different in that aspect. Wherever you get your costume from, where is is possibly just what you can afford or or how that that's just the your means of um achieving a cosplay or achieving like getting a costume that you want. So like I don't fault people for you know having the resources or the money to go to an easy cosplay. Because easy cosplay, while while it is online, they do have some quality stuff. They have some quality cosplays that come out of there. Um Walmart, not so much, but if that is what you can afford, yeah, then by all means, as a cosplayer, do your thing. Like, and and I feel like a lot of times when people don't have the the money or the resource to to buy an uh a cosplay of that stack or from online or anything like that, they become more creative um with with making it their own. So I I appreciate that aspect. So when it comes to whether or not you bought your cosplay from Walmart or where uh Amazon, whatever, I don't that's not my issue. I don't have any issues with that. Please do what you can afford, be creative. It's all you do. My issue. So when it comes to costume versus costume, um, much like Diana said, um, it's it's making it your own. It's making it your own. But the the biggest thing for me is frequency, is lifestyle. How as a cosplayer, this is this is something you're living, you're living and breathing. Like she said, I understand. We do this all year round. It's not because it's an event. Like, even when you're dressing up in costume, usually it's an it's an event type thing. And it's not, I'm not even gonna single it down to Halloween, but Halloween is of course the main event that people are most commonly uh associated costumes with. But you can wear costume to any event that requires a costume, um, but that does not make you a cosplay. Okay, a cos cosplaying is a lifetime. Uh it's it's essentially like another like part of your body. Um not only is it even if you do buy your own, you know, if you buy your costumes or you're just positive, or I don't want to even say just a closet cosplay, but if you closet cosplay, if you lewd cosplay, um you you are it takes it takes a certain uh uh certain level of brain power and creativity and imagination to to constantly come up with something new um to as a cosplayer not only to produce that time but for content. Um if you're a content creator, cosplayer, like it there's a lot of effort, thought, and time that goes into being a cosplayer, and it it just really irritates my soul when when people you know throw on a costume for Halloween or whatever event they're calling, and then you know they end up on cosplay pages like oh oh my god, so and so cosplayed, and I'm like, yo, they wore a costume, so and so wore a costume for this period. They did not cosplay anything. Um and and not only is it a lifestyle, like Diana said, it's it's an embody. But a lot of a lot of people, even unfortunately, a lot of cosplayers, bandwagon cosplay, that something's hot at the moment, they'll jump on that that shit like you'll see a thousand, a thousand fucking Spider-Mans, a thousand fucking black atoms, uh, a thousand she-hawks, then like in in in a matter of hours, um, they'll hop on that shit. But um, and if that's what you want to do as a cosplayer, then by all means, cosplay the way. But for me, when when you're a cosplayer, it's it's just a it's just a lot of thought, a lot of time, a lot of effort spent on embodying the characters that you have chosen, regardless of what's going on in the in the world or whatever. It it doesn't, it shit, it don't have to fall within uh a fandom, in fact. Like when you cosplay your way, you you're literally cosplaying things that speak to you. You're trying to embody characters or beities or or or shit, inanimate objects that speak to you, and and and you just create you you bring them to like create something out of something that virtually just words or nothing or some some thought, some character that somebody brought up, maybe uh or your own character, original character. So yeah, uh I hope that answers your question.

SPEAKER_06 25:47

I think Sayone, Sayana got a hand up.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

I was about to say Sayane raised her hand.

SPEAKER_08 25:53

I actually wanted to piggyback off of um Miss Kittles and then uh Talon Flame had uh uh opinion to share as well. Um, so when it comes to like like Miss Skittles saying, when it comes to cosplays a lot of planning, and a lot of times for me per se, and I have to be careful because I don't get like get attacked, but for me, um as a cosplayer, you do it because you love art and you are willing to sacrifice views for the art that you want that's special to you. We will sacrifice shit that's hot, so to speak, because that don't even hit with us.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

Right.

SPEAKER_08 26:37

There's so many cosplays that I could have done to get a lot of views, a lot of likes, but I'm like, I'm not fucking doing it because it's just not something that is that speaks to me. Um I'm not chasing the clout because that's not why I was in cosplay. I I I was in cosplay because there there were characters that I saw as a kid, I'm like, oh my god, I would love to be that person, but I didn't in in my mind, I couldn't fathom me actually having the skill set to get to that point. And as I've gotten older, and because being broke is great for your creativity. You know, I didn't know how to sew, but I also wanted to I wanted to be, I would say, um a mentor or a figurehead for other people to look up to. Like you don't have to be able because like even easy cosplay is very expensive. It's out of my paycheck, to be honest. It's not the pen the good ones. I'm not spending a hundred and something dollars just to put on social media uh personally because I just don't have that type of bank role at the moment.

SPEAKER_05 27:45

The good the good ones are high up there, and then and then you don't even get the props and shit. I don't even get props.

SPEAKER_08 27:54

You don't even the fabric is hitting, but you know, it might not even fit your body type until you're waiting from China or Asia to get it, and you're just like, you know what I'm saying? So I don't have that type of money, so I make it known. So I mean uh but so I you know I make it I make it a habit to let people know like where did you get this from so that they can feel you know I'm not holding on to my secrets. I want y'all to be on this journey with I got it from here, I got it from this place, this is how much it was. Oh, I can get a funny back. Yes, my nigga, you too can get up a funny back.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

You too can be one of us.

SPEAKER_08 28:42

You know, it's it's and um kind of hearing that that it's a camaraderie, it's a family. That's how what cosplay was all about, especially with black faces. You know what I'm saying? We want y'all to know that not only can you invoke a character, you can put your own style on it. 14. Like a lot of cosplays that we've seen that that has inspired us to get into cosplay, they were of non-black people that had a huge fan base that that spent either a fuck ton of money or they had a fan base that was paying for them. We don't have that. We're on mass.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Sponsorship and black cosplayers. Yeah, sponsorship is very hard.

SPEAKER_08 29:23

I can name on hand the black cosplayers that I know that are sponsored that can probably afford that, but it still took them a decade to get to that point. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_09 29:33

So our creations ever get there, y'all know. I'll sponsor y'all.

SPEAKER_08 29:38

You but a lot of it is, you know, just going back to what Miss Fiddle's saying, it a lot of thought, a lot of thought process, you know, the characters that we that we really invoke in us. It's not that, oh my god, I've had so many people that said, or Sione Costco, you can you can cost it this hot right now. You could have done this or you missed the wave. And I'm like, I mean, that's hot. Yeah, you missed the wave. But I'm like, that's not why my followers are here. And I think with cosplayers, we all have followers because they love what we bring to the table, and we don't just clout tape. You know, I I'm not gonna be on um post stuff every single day because I need to fight the algorithm. Bitch, that has to fucking work.

SPEAKER_09 30:28

Like, what?

SPEAKER_08 30:29

I'm like, I literally think, I'm like, do these passports not work?

SPEAKER_05 30:33

Because I don't know how they need people. I don't I don't either. I literally, I literally be like, yo, she got like in her early 20s or something. She at home with her mom. I don't know what's happening because it's no, it's no fucking way you got a full-time job and you done made 17,000 TikToks in that no house. It doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_08 30:54

Or they'll and I think yeah, some cosplayers will literally spend like 12 to 16 hours a day just making content so that they can break up their content in pieces.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

I don't cosplay.

SPEAKER_09 31:10

I don't I don't have the time.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Once again, they it's a lot of people that work costs, like a even in the fitness community, right? They'll end up on a page full of real things, yes, and they'll wear something like what like it'll be Peking or some run of the real fight game, and then it's like boom. Look at Sonya, but you you bought that at a costume, yeah, or you over sexualized and you cut up uh that's it like showing you. Yeah, yeah. So because it's part of the big three, and bleak is back now, so we're gonna see a whole bunch of those, everyone buying the play, and you know, they don't do a lot to the cosplay, they buy it from somewhere else, cut it up, and then redistribute it on their page, and then put it back on their OnlyFans as a business. There's a lot of people in the cosplay community that it's a business, they don't do it because they love it. Yeah, I can see it in their cosplay. But with that being creatively, they kind of suck.

SPEAKER_08 32:09

But we ain't gonna say that.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

But the thing is he already said it.

SPEAKER_06 32:16

He already said he can do he said what he said, okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

The thoughts of the flames are not the thoughts of blurred spectrum podcasts anyway. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

One man said it like the warning label on M2.

SPEAKER_08 32:46

But Talent is right, and that boils down to pretty privilege.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

That'll be back to it. Back at it.

SPEAKER_08 32:54

And that is what it is. Or, you know, whether it's masculine or feminine, you can have someone that is wearing a store-bought costume the same way someone who has uh pretty privilege does, and the person who like I guess who is not as deemed as attractive due to social standards, they won't get the same clout as someone else who has that that standard European standard of so to speak.

SPEAKER_09 33:26

Or they gotta be real, but the pretty privilege that keeps a lot of people from actually trying to cosplay exactly someone who is like you know, thicker than what other people deem as okay, this is too thick, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_08 33:42

Yeah, there's no such thing.

SPEAKER_09 33:45

Yeah, there's uh thing where some people on social media will will go from oh she's not thick to that.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_09 33:57

Am I lying? Am I lying?

SPEAKER_04 33:59

No, no, that's not true.

SPEAKER_05 33:59

No, you're not lying. That's actually very true. Um, I have I have not experienced that. Um, I have I had people say things like oh, that's that's thick, whatever I'm cosplaying. The character, it's never just the character, because I I mean I do have some very thick vibes. Yes. Yes, okay. So like sometimes if most of the time if if the if the fan or whoever's on my page um is black, it's thick isn't a a good thick. And then if it's somebody else, sometimes it's like, oh, that's thick. And then and I I don't even know. I don't know if it's good or bad because because they spell it thick like regular thick.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Uh-huh. Yeah, thick with two C's.

SPEAKER_07 34:54

I thought I thought thick was thick.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

Whether it was thick, nah, it's a different thing. I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

When they put a K at the end, they mean thick and fluffy, and it's the rude term.

SPEAKER_08 35:07

Oh, but when I say but when I say thick, when I spell it, I mean shit. Only thing I know is K I C that's the difference.

SPEAKER_05 35:15

That's because you know, you know what you mean, and you're also a black woman who's sick. But if if if somebody else says thick and they not black and they use a K, normally they ain't talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

They ain't talking, they talk about they think fluffy. That's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_09 35:32

Oh, I I don't I don't see nothing wrong with that. No, so it's the if it's the it's their polite way of telling you that. Yes, right. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:41

I mean, all these other people reason now. No, stop it.

SPEAKER_05 35:49

Yeah, but it up in seasoned right here. But yeah, pretty pretty privilege is definitely a thing, um, especially in the cosplay community. I have I have when I first started cosplaying, first of all, when I first started cosplaying, this is something that I really want to talk about. When I first started cosplaying, I didn't consider myself a cosplayer until I was doing that shit for a few years. Because up until then, it was just like I'm I'm trying this out.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Right.

SPEAKER_05 36:16

You know, this is not something that I've I've been doing for years, or this is not my lifestyle yet. I'm just trying, I'm just trying this out. This thing that I I love going to convention, and I'm finally gonna put myself in a costume that I made. I did make my first costume, but it was still a costume to me because I mean trying this is me trying something out. I don't know if this is about to be a future thing. So it wasn't until my first full year of cosplaying that I said, oh, I'm gonna consider myself a cosplayer. I'm doing this. I'm you know, I'm making this, I'm creating it, I'm selecting my characters uh very selectively. So um there's that. But when so example of pretty privilege that when I first started cosplaying, I did um I made I made the whole back piece for Kanaki for um Tokyo Ghoul. I made the whole back piece, I made the whole the full costume, full costume, went to KatsuCon, got all kinds of love in person. When I posted the pictures, I I didn't, well one, I was new to cosplay. Um but I didn't get I didn't get that much love, didn't get that much back. I was fully covered, I was fully covered, Conaky. And another cosplayer, I won't say no names. Um, I think I think she's a cool closet cosplayer, but she closet cosplayed pinned in a more lewd fashion, I would say. And like the first day she posted that dog, I just it was just like mind-boggling. And that was my first time like ever like realizing like damn, like if I'm not damn near naked sometimes, I'm not going to receive any type of you know acknowledgement for all of this work that I did.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

I mean, and then there's third step, like it's different. You know, different.

SPEAKER_05 38:36

I I don't well the reason why I say pretty primitive is because I as conakky, I did I did conakky as a male conoke. I did not gender bend it, it was straight Ken, the boy, and she did a gender bend, and she had considerably less clothing on, and and she didn't even shit, she didn't even have she didn't even have bare minimal. She like she didn't even have and and when I say I just it it really it really was like disheartening and it was the first time I ever felt that way about something. I was so proud. I was so proud of that. Uh it took me hours took me hours to cut out each one of those pieces to put on to put on the uh the shit. What I know I'm I keep forgetting the name of it, but anyways, um but that was the first time I ever like took a look at the community and was like, damn, like this what we doing out here?

SPEAKER_04 39:43

Like so I agree, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:47

But it that but because I was doing it for art as I was doing it because I love doing it. That I'm not gonna say it was the that was the first in class, but that one is the only one that made me feel that bad. Because since then, I I don't give a fuck, y'all. Like I drop my shit, I drop my shit, and if it does well, it does well, but that's not why I'm here. I'm I'm here to show y'all, like I'm still proud. Like I'll I'll still be proud. If it if it got too light, I don't give a fuck. I'm proud because I spent hours on this motherfucking makeup, and I'm not a makeup artist. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Like all bullshit.

SPEAKER_08 40:34

Yeah, I'm not gonna let the makeup goddess say that she ain't no damn makeup artist. Oh my god, I'm not, I'm not. You be blending shit and winging shit and blending. Wing it, like winging, wing it and flight and shit.

SPEAKER_05 40:58

It's funny that you say that because I do be wing it, like winging it.

SPEAKER_07 41:03

Like, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, but I'm gonna trust the process. Listen, you be doctor stranging, got the petrol at them and shit with your final day.

SPEAKER_05 41:18

Another thing I forgot to mention that uh Siamate said earlier about like about like Halloween and cosplayers, like for me, Halloween, like like she said, it's like downtime. Halloween is the only time that you will see me do very common shit.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

I am sick and tired of being tired of cosplayers line. I am I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I don't I you know what you know what I I can't, I'm not gonna argue and and and say you're lying like it's not easier for you to do them. But don't don't don't act like because like okay, let's say for example, what you do in April takes you, let's say seven weeks to complete, right? And because one of the one of the many weeks in October takes you a week to complete doesn't mean that you should do five cosplays in the month of October and then all of a sudden you take a break to make it easy.

SPEAKER_08 42:18

But you know what though? If I would say with cosplayers, I think the mentality of policy is different. We're not stressed. I'm fucking stressed because people keep bothering me to do certain shit, and I want to, I just want to see. But I would say with uh with policy, we're not as impressed as I would say the inspiration when it comes to time. Because now this is gonna go, this is kind of going to conversation between social media cosplayers and real life.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Oh, that's that's not what today's about. Because that's a whole nother band of words.

SPEAKER_08 42:52

No, no, that's that's exactly what this is, and that's actually piggybacking off of what Miss Skittles is saying. But I'll just go into this. So when you with Tiffany, even though we don't we don't really like stress about Halloween, we thought with fantastic shit. Like that ragdoll busted up look, bitch, that's what I'm saying. I'm actually like how now we like zooming in, we're like, damn, that shit we got created. Like we got to look at We're like, damn, is that a cool thing?

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Like, how does she do that with me?

SPEAKER_08 43:31

Right? So, um, but I think the mentality, we're not as stressed when it comes to creation, but our creativity comes out effortly effortlessly when it comes to Halloween compared to a con. Because we're like, we're stressing that when we're on social media, we can have our whole entire back look like a hot ass mess. It's the part that gotta make sense. So when you're a con, shit can't fall off, and you know that we've been doing trial and errors all freaking. Month and then the day of con the day of con. Shit falling off. I already stopped bringing a glue gun. So you know what I'm saying? It's in that and going into these uh pretty privileged and social media social media cosplayers and using graphic, computer graphic, versus actual cosplay. Let me not say actual cosplay cosplayers going to convention. Because now you're having people looking at you with a fine-tooted tone. You're having you can't have shit fall off. You can't have them busting out. Whereas you can um paint, like, listen, like your head and your neck and everything else is just uh your regular brown melanated skin for social media, but you can't do that at a con. I am so stressed out going to conventions because I have to make sure my shit is on point. I can't make have I can't have anything looking crazy. And also, people look at my cosplay and in their mind they're like, Deline possibly does body paint. Some people didn't even think my body paint was real because social media, they always use filters. People really thought my shit was like, oh, you really do body paint? Like, oh, actually, it is real. And so, like, there's a certain caliber as a cosplayer and a certain level of, I would say, professionalism and perfectionalism that you have to bring to a convention. People are looking at you. So as a cosplayer, you cannot go in thinking that social media is going to give you that bump of confidence because it's not, because it's all about quick satisfaction, quick gratification. Whereas a convention, you actually have people looking at you as walking art. So if you kind of go it, go with that mentality as this is your art, this is your pride, and don't think about it as social media. Social media is just really supposed to kind of branch you out for people who are not in your state, or for maybe across the country, or maybe in a different content, can actually see you. But if you're looking for clout chasing, then you just stick with social media because those same class players that are getting 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 likes, you put their ass in a con, it ain't gonna be a fucking thing because they don't have the computer graphics to do the little little fireball shit. They don't have none of that. And they don't know how to make it either. So all they have is pretty privileged and a short ass skirt. But put that, put, put them safe to people in a con. No one will probably even know who they are. And that's no for real. Like for real. Like you walk right past. And it's funny because I I blur con. I I'm not gonna say the name. I took a picture like damn, but they got like 50,000 followers, and they even look like me in the real life.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

Look, look, that that kind of happened. That kind of happened to me. That kind of happened to me this year at um homo. I met I met some um people and in person for the first time. And I was like, I like I had to pull, I had to pull my friend to the side, and I was like, wait, was that so-and-so? And then I was like, oh shit. I had no idea. No idea. And these are content creators who have like double-digit, triple digit followers. And I'm like, bruh, I had no idea that was her or whoever. Who I guess.

SPEAKER_01 47:30

I'm not gonna defend these cosplayers or or these people costumers, the graphic artists, but I will say it's it's kind of difficult for anybody to be at a con standing next to Sailor Storm or Hexaleficent. Like, I just I don't think y'all can really, I don't think y'all can really like, you know, like in any way, shape, or form could anybody ever like ever compare when y'all be compared to what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_05 47:58

I don't think that's true. I don't think that's not true at all. Because I've been to I've been to convention because I don't have, you know, I don't have like 10k plus following. There there are cosplayers who will ignore you.

SPEAKER_08 48:14

Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

I thought they were regular people, and I tried to just talk to them and they looked at me crazy. Like, take your picture and move on.

SPEAKER_08 48:25

I just sat there and I was like, oh my god, this is how these people are. Yeah, there's there's a culture that I didn't know that I had to find out from Talent. So when I went to Flirton and even um Talon was like, You actually take pictures with everybody that asked? And that was so strange for Talon to say that. I'm like, well, yeah, why wouldn't I take a picture with the palm type of peer on? And and Talon was like, no, like people be like, I can't take pictures, I'm sorry. And I was like, Really? Yes, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_09 48:52

I thought the purpose of you like cosplaying was like, like, I think to me, it would be foolish for you. Like I you worked on this costume or cosplay for God knows how long. You know, people are gonna want to take pictures of you. So why would you walk into a space and be a dick?

SPEAKER_08 49:11

You know what? So so I can give the pro and the con of that. Especially dealing with this last blur trend. I didn't expect the people, I did not expect the audience that I got from the cosplays. I thought I was just gonna go in there. I I always go to cosplays to take pictures of other cosplays and to get and go to the art room. I just want to buy my shit and leave.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

I'm glad Miss Kittles is looking the way I'm looking.

SPEAKER_07 49:40

First of all, first of all, she chose Josh Smith too. Right. And hex hex, that's some little bit of a little bit of a little bit of hexalithin, as I call it. You thought you was gonna walk in? You thought you were just gonna walk in there and get some heart?

SPEAKER_01 49:56

And they walk right back out.

SPEAKER_08 50:01

Girl, what? When I do these cosplays, not thinking I'm gonna compete with other people. I literally go in there to push myself through the city.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

Because they could never. You could they they could never compete.

SPEAKER_08 50:12

Oh my god, they could never compete.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

That that yeah, I know that's why you all compete. Because they could never compete.

SPEAKER_08 50:18

This is not about me. I didn't go there to compete. This is not about me.

SPEAKER_04 50:29

She was gonna compete.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

But everybody just yeah, she never got there in time.

SPEAKER_08 50:35

So I understand as a cosplayer, I couldn't even stop compete. Like, I just wanted to be. I just wanted to yeah, I couldn't even I had to ask people that that I went with to hold my purse just to take a like I couldn't move. So I understand as a cosplayer, like if if if like if people gravitate your cosplays, you just need a break. Like, hold on, I just need a break. Like, I didn't know that people literally, like, no, uh no pictures, like an actual celebrity, which is strange because a lot of these people, they're like, wow, like I look up to you. I just want to be able to take a picture. And like, I didn't know that a lot of these high-end cosplayers, so to speak, that have numbers are assholes.

SPEAKER_05 51:19

I didn't know, first of all, first of all, as somebody whose cosplays look like yours do, then yes, I can see you being live. I need I need a break, bitch. I gotta pee, I need to eat, I need a snack or something. Give me a moment. Yes, absolutely. Because your shit is over the top, it's fucking phenomenal on on camera and in person. And when some of these niggas are are content creators, yeah, and there's nothing wrong with being a content creator, but at the same time, are you really a cosplayer? You're a content creator, you cosplay sometime, and then you go to these conventions and and act like you're too good to take a motherfucking picture. Bitch, people know you. That's why they want to take a picture.

SPEAKER_01 52:02

That's why they want to take your picture.

SPEAKER_05 52:04

It's not, it's not, it's not necessarily because your cosplay is fucking phenomenal. It's because you are a content creator. I like your shit, and I want to take a picture with you.

SPEAKER_08 52:14

Humor, humor, that is the one thing that I've noticed with content creators. They have a they're very, I would say they have the personality, is what people validate. Yes, not the cosplay. You know, you have people who do fantastic content, they're they're they they cosplay look like shit, but because they're hilarious, that is why we have in the biggest content creators in the black community, they're not fantastic. Majority of them cannot cosplay.

SPEAKER_05 52:45

I think they I don't even think they should be calling themselves cosplayed.

SPEAKER_09 52:48

I think they should be more costumers taking because they know their their cosplay look like shit and they don't want it on in.

SPEAKER_05 52:56

They might be like they're frequent costumers.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

Yeah, that I think that should be a new hospital. Like, like for real though.

SPEAKER_08 53:08

But it's funny because some of them actually say content creator on it. So some of them actually know they're not cosplayers, but they will hashtag cosplay though, just to get the views. Oh, just to get the views, of course. Just to get the views. So they know they are they do know that they will get they will get crucified by the actual cosplayers if they call themselves a cosplayer. It depends on the colour.

SPEAKER_05 53:36

Like how much clout they got, because uh uh a cosplay if this a if it's a I hate to say like low level uh under under 10k cosplayer, they're gonna be like, oh, that so-and-so is my favorite cosplayer. Exactly. And she's actually a content creator.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Yep. And it it just it just takes like a popular cosplayer to endorse it in some way, shape, or form. And and nine times out of ten, they're probably endorsing it to get their own likes and follows up. So if they endorse this content creator, then all of a sudden this person's verified or validated in whatever they're doing, even if it's not that good.

SPEAKER_05 54:13

These feature pages are also different. They will they will they will go find a celebrity costumer real quick and throw it on there calling it cosplay, and I'll be like, bitch, where?

SPEAKER_04 54:27

I do cover it.

SPEAKER_05 54:29

This nigga literally went to somebody's house for some event and dressed up as somebody, or or a lot of and a lot of celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon because cosplay is is it's becoming it's becoming lucrative, it's becoming popular, it's becoming mainstream. So they're jumping on the bandwagon. And I'm and I'm not, I'm definitely not for that shit because if you want to hear, if y'all want to call me a gatekeeper now, the moment the moment I see niggas popping up, and and I and I and I hate you know call out the because I know it's some wrestling fans ain't here, but uh Hey, hey, don't do it.

SPEAKER_04 55:15

What's her name? What's her name? We said we weren't saying no names.

SPEAKER_05 55:20

We wanna say we weren't saying no names. Okay, fine, fine. The wrestler, y'all know who I'm talking about. She's bad as fuck. She is absolutely bad as fuck. But that that one year, that shit is still circulating. That one year she wore the fucking it wasn't even a storm cosplay. It was literally a baby suit. She put on a motherfucking babysuit, some high boots, and and niggas went crazy for her body. She gets her shit everywhere. It's the pretty privilege. That is what it is. Look, the best storm cosplay I've ever seen in my whole entire life was the storm that I never knew I needed.

SPEAKER_01 55:59

So I was saying that the features pretty much make it. Like, I mean, but that that was that was that was less that was less cosplay appreciation and more just horniness. That that that had that was the two are different.

SPEAKER_06 56:11

No, no, no, no, no. They just doing everybody everywhere. Every cosplay feature page had them up there.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

No, no, no, I'm I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just saying it's it's it it initially started from a point of niggas being horny, and enough niggas say it, and enough pages say it, then it's like if I don't say it, then it seems like I'm not agreeing. And if everybody else is saying it, I look up, I look like I'm I'm I'm blind.

SPEAKER_05 56:33

So everybody that's actually like a mass communication theory, but I'm not gonna go into that. Well, yeah, no. But uh, but yes.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

Not by degree, people, not by degree. But um, okay, so I had a question you know, before we you know jump even further into that rabbit hole talk about wrestling shit. Um so there was a there was a uh a guide, a uh cosplay guide created by two theater uh theater art uh students, right? And it's called cosplay culture performance identity. And what and it was created in 2016, it's been updated every since every year since then. And what they did is they gave a rough definition to what cosplay is. And they said, you know, cosplay is a performance art in which the participants dressed in costumes and makeup, representing characters from anime, video games, television, and film, uh, and the like, in addition to creating authentic costumes, the cosplayers also act in character and are usually subject matter experts on the characters they are replicating. So, with that definition, and going back to what Shine, sorry, Sayune cosplay and Miss Kittle was saying, do you feel like with each and every one of those bullet points, is that what not necessarily validates the gatekeeping position of Ms. Kittle? But does that uh confirm what we're all discussing, which is when you even what Ms. Kittle said about when she was initially costuming before she did it, you know, year round or for a complete year where she felt like she transitioned to cosplaying, is that would you say those are the bullet points, those are the requirements before you can truly say that you are cosplaying, or is this kind of just like a superfluous?

SPEAKER_05 58:26

I think I think it's I think it's a good actually, I think it's a it's it's nail on the head for me as far as definition. Um now the only the only issue that I would see um well for me I don't see no issue, but as as a whole, as the if if if I could be like a spokesperson for the it takes it takes the actually no, it doesn't even take the the your way out of it because cosplaying your way in our community is uh it's it's like essential. Like and I think that that's the part that stops people from gatekeeping per se. Um because the moment you you if you give like a like a hard stop on something, yeah, it becomes you're a gatekeeper because you're not allowing that person to cosplay their way, even though they're not meeting the basic standards of what cosplay definition should be, if that make if I'm making it sense. Like that definition to me wholeheartedly speaks to what a what a cosplayer is or should should be. But if I'm not somebody who cosplays characters that that I embody or cosplays characters that I you know that I identify with, then part of that definition leaves me out of being a cosplayer. So again, I think it comes for me, I think it comes down to frequency. Yeah like how how often are you transforming yourself to a different character? Is it is and and and you're doing it not for clout, but for because this is something that you enjoy doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:28

Um that to me, that is what makes you a cosplayer.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:33

Um and and that definition is yes, because even even I read a little bit of the guide, and the guide wasn't even because you called when you were initially uh were were talking um and brought up that cosplay is a lifestyle, they didn't use the word lifestyle, they used the word culture. And I have an affinity for the word culture when you're talking about people being immersed in it, people being a part of it, people you know, having the option to uh to engage in the culture. So if you want to be a cosplayer, if it's like for example, like the the African culture or the the Nigerian culture, you can engage in the Nigerian culture and not be a Nigerian. You know, some people will gate people who are actual Nigerians, like ah, do not Nigel. So, you know, there are people that will do that, but you can still engage, immerse yourself and learn about the Nigerian culture. So, same thing with cosplaying. Like myself, Dr. Pinzel, the doctor, each of us have said we're not cosplayers. We appreciate it, we we love viewing it, we we reverence it, we honor the people who put in the work and the effort into it. And as it pertains to the culture, we're the aspect of the culture of the appreciator of the art and the beauty of it. But by no means are we cosplayers in ourselves. And going back to that definition where it specifically was saying that the cosplayers create authentic costumes and they act in character, and they usually are the subject matter experts on the characters that which they are replicating or embodying. Like it takes me back to when uh Siamate cosplay was um I mean was uh doing her cosplay at Potions, and she did the research. She did the she spoke to individuals of that of that culture before she decided to create a cosplay in reverence and replication of that character or or or that deity, rather not character, but deity. And it it that that's what I felt, you know, when I think about different cosplays is these individuals are becoming the subject matter experts. Because I feel like if I walk up to you, and this is me again, if I walk up to you and you're cosplaying a character, I should be able to ask you a question. Not necessarily like when they were born and what's their blood type, stuff like that, but I should at least be able to ask you bare minimum questions. What is this from? Why did you choose what about this character made you like when we interviewed cosplayers for the podcast? Why did we why did you choose this character to cosplay? Why, you know, if you made any variations to it, why did you choose this variation? Just like when uh uh uh uh um Finanic Castle was talking about how people, you know, decide instead of doing straight hair for certain uh for certain characters, they do pinky or or or uh afro or pearls or something of that nature. When I ask you why you made that choice, this character is this, they are based off of that, but because I was putting my own authentic spin on it, I decided to make it more like myself. But you're the subject matter expert because you have that initial information and you decided to base it off of that and turn it into something different. And I know Sion A cosplay was about to face it. I'm sorry, but for you.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:00

No, you're you're 100% correct. Um, that's why I stay away from doing cosplays that I don't know where it what it is. Um that's why I don't hop on the bandwagon with cosplays because a lot of the shit I don't I don't gravitate to, like I don't watch Naruto, so I'm not gonna cosplay Naruto. I don't want I'm just I'm just not fucking doing it. Yeah, but like a lot of people they'll they'll hop on stuff at the pot, but they won't necessarily know who the character is. Um, I won't cosplay Star Wars because I don't watch the right um and even though I like the makeup of like, you know, this this right? This yeah, yeah, something like that. Even though I love the makeup, I'm not gonna be, I find it hypocritical for me to cosplay it because I just like the look. And yeah, I could do that, but for me, it's it's out of pocket and out of brand for me. Like I have to have some type of relationship, be it even if it's small, some type of relationship with the character is a lot of emotional. Um, so and that's why sometimes uh going back to Miss Skittle's about frequency and also um her definition of a cosplayer. I have been cosplaying since I was probably 18, but I didn't because I didn't actually say I'm a cosplayer until 2019. Because it is a brand. I'm a cosplayer, I'm doing this often. Now you can still be a cosplayer, not frequently. And I I will say that because some you could you could be like the Dallas cosplay or the Beyonce cosplay. I know you only get content once every couple of years, and that's that. Uh, because you might have projects that take a long time. There's a cos actor named I think Everlasting, I forgot what the cosplay is, but they were there at BlurCon this year, and they made this in peak of meth like uh farmer and they said it took them a whole year to make it and so you're gonna see cosplays because of their build they're not gonna drop cosplay very often they're they're they're gonna be out of the the eye public eye of social media which will hurt their I would say social media um uh not cloud but like audience because with the algorithm you have to you have to bust out cosplays very often so you have amazing brilliant cosplayers that you've never even seen or heard of and that's why these conventions are so important because I didn't even know these cosplayers and I and I I saw their work and their aesthetic and their craft and their genius at these conventions because they take a long time years to buy to come with brilliant cosplays. So with the frequency it can be a little hit or miss because it depends on you like as in frequency when it comes to their mindset not necessarily social media you see I'm saying so like that I I I think that's what um I just wanted to uh kind of add on to mosquitoes frequency as in how often are we thinking about popular how often are we are we like how often is it in a part of our lives not how often we're busting out content because we can be busting out content every day but you're not gonna see it. You see what I'm saying? Or if we're not popular you're not gonna see it. But more so is how much of it is a part of us I always constantly think of every time I'm in the dollar store which we're in front of right now I think I'm like damn I could use those rows I don't even know what the fuck I'm gonna use it for. But I could just buy it anyway. You know just because it's it's a part of me now it's in my I know that I'm gonna buy these down. What am I getting it for? I have no fucking idea but I'm gonna keep it with me. So it's just kind of it's a part of that.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:52

So when Miss Kittle was saying frequency it's not frequency as you have to bust out content on social media because that doesn't make you a cosplayer. It's how frequent are you really thinking about it? It's a part of you. Like a mathematician is probably thinking about math problems all fucking day. Someone that is uh um in into like a um somebody in the medical field will have talent and I will talk about medical shit all the time because that's the part of us it could be medical jokes medical TikTok you know but someone in the medical field probably isn't doing that because that's not that's not ingrained in our personality.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:30

So the same thing with cosplay cosplay is ingrained in us which goes back to Miss Kittle's lifestyle now that makes sense okay yeah and I'm glad you clarified that but the frequency because that I mean I'm glad you brought that up because um well one I didn't say it but but two but I'm glad you brought it up because yes that that's a that's a good point to make um there are cosplayers out here who are not as frequent but their their craft because they are so ingrained in the lifestyle their craft takes them much longer and I and I I can't I'm not I'm not like a once a year cosplayer but for me I'm ne I'm never going to drop content like every day it's it's it's impossible because one I I have to make my shit it takes time it takes time I can I literally when I'm thinking about the cons that I'm going to throughout the year I literally have to think about okay so uh I want to go to this this time and am I gonna debut a new costume? If so I gotta start working on it at this time to get it done at this time and half time I'm still con car so but that I mean that that part of it is also it like like you said it's it's the frequency of how often you're thinking about it because it it's I mean it's ingrained in us like I mean yeah like um I mean as even as a graphic designer like I'm like looking at shit like oh like that typography like like who looking at who who's looking at typography like I'm looking at like book covers and movie covers like oh that's that's dope little design that's what they did but yeah um yeah so as a cosplayer yes um when I say frequency it's it's like how often as a cosplayer are you thinking about cosplay look the biggest the biggest thing the biggest thing that'll point out to to and and and and I hate it because sometimes I see actual like people I know I would consider cosplayers doing it but the my biggest pet peeve about people in costuming is not earning your motherfucking costume that look don't take pictures in your costume and it got wrinkled creases off like it just came out the goddamn pack. Why you like that that's how I know you don't give a that's how I know you don't give a fuck about cosplay dog you don't care nothing about that shit you just put you just threw that shit on and took some pictures for the internet that's all you did because there's no way it's no way you took any care and and took that shit out of the pack and it's and it's still not square you didn't wear anything but but again that goes down that goes back to pretty privilege and sex sales and there's nothing wrong with sex selling there's as well I'm saying as in there's nothing wrong with loot content and that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:37

So loot there's there's nothing wrong with loot content I'm not gonna show on loot content creators because that is their own um their that's their own brand and it's their market yeah that's their own market and loot content creators can be very very creative and they can bring in cosplays that actually look like cosplays how loot can you be without being naked yeah yeah basically or you know like killer kill a kill is basically loot content to the thing um you know I'm saying there's a lot of um there's a lot of characters that are as death and you know like you have things that are basically just clues out death and there's nothing wrong with it it's when you can't set them apart from anybody else you've seen that same cosplay on different people is just different bodies and it's the body that's selling not the actor cosplay yeah and that's my issue there's nothing wrong with getting implants or BBLs we I look I I love me a good rack and a nice ass ain't nothing wrong with that but the issue is is when that is the issue when that is overshadowing the issue is that when that's being old like everybody else's content that actually works hard when you have the Skittles literally spending months and looking up youth skills on how to create stuff when you have me trying to do trial and error of what body paint I should use what what outfit should I buy this shit didn't work because now you know the zipper broke. Now I gotta figure out something else. But it's the stress and the effort when you have and we bringing out content because I'm so proud of my work I know y'all gonna love violence because this is beautiful and that's overshadowed because of a nice body or very pretty face never trust the big button to smile yep basically and there could be beautiful people inside and out but the the most beautiful people do the most ugliest things yep I'm sorry I don't mean to quote you know Kanye and Belgip the boat but you you ain't wrong like when you finally had to be evaluated because when I met you I'm like oh you look like a fuckboy so I was like no we getting off we got off the rails now okay so we've we've wow we've learned but yeah but to go back um I think you know as a cosplayer you have to love and appreciate the work you do. If you think you're going to get the accolades and the praise needed from social media don't be a cop because you are going to be very very hurt very quickly you're going to create content that I love the most has gotten the least amount of life and that and and it's always it always goes like that. I think Miss Gills probably has gone through that too and then the content that I care least about that I put up that has the most likes because I shared a little bit oh I hate it.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:37

I hate that I post when I posted when I post first of all I didn't how many years ago and this year I posted that bathroom pick it was a motherfucking bathroom pick. Yep it was called there was I mean not calling there was a air trash can there was a trash can in the picture and I posted I posted that shit on Twitter and got 4000 likes dog 4000 lights but you was but you was fine look that's how I knew I was like I knew Tiffany from Victon I knew Tiffany from Dixon and I'm god damn who is and that was and that was years ago that was right a year before that was when you went to Castan or a year before Costukan I believe I don't remember but I was so intimidated I'm like oh we got a band oh and he's possible Lord have mercy I was like so um but yeah you're right and it's funny because I was like Tiffany did you see your your coffee like blow up again and Tiffany was like but I didn't even put no effort that was the so wild I when when I first did Big Ben I I I did it I edited pictures I put the little the little logo at the top from the from the comic and everything and and it was like oh okay and I post a bathroom pic on twitter from MomoCon and fucking 4,000 likes on 4000 likes.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:12

They lost their mom apparently apparently social media trends are changed the badge was in the picture dog what like so so like I I had to sit through this little info session about like social media and stuff like that. So apparently what's popular now is people actually seeing you like either putting on the makeup or putting on the whole cosplay or pictures that they can relate with. So like like you're outside you're in the bathroom about to go to a convention you standing in a convention around a bunch of people like for some reason those types of pictures are like getting more lights than spending all the time and effort even though it looks amazing as you do it with the background and everything people want to see the the nitty gritty pretty much yes and and it makes sense um and I'm not gonna say what I was gonna say because that'll be inappropriate.

SPEAKER_08 1:17:10

But what I will say is that um basically you know it's basically amateur versus you know like watching amateur versus you know people like amateur because it's more relatable that's why people like watching amateur because it's more relatable um also in a time of social media where you can you can enhance every goddamn thing now it's like oh so this person is actually real um yeah and that's so it makes sense um and I feel the same way so when I saw um you know Miss Skittles with that bathroom picture I'm like bitch she's fine as hell even with a damn uh picture with the selfie and whatnot and um the same thing when I went to Blur Ton I took just a basic ass picture of Yoshinitsu that got more light yeah than the actual photographer photographer picture I saw that I'm annoying really freaking wild it's fun yeah so it it brings it brings humanity which is nice yeah but then it's like you can't even keep up with what the hell people want anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:15

You know they don't know what they want they don't even know what they want.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:18

And then like real like now you have to that's why I can never I'll never be famous because I have no I I just don't want to be but also it's too much to keep up with it's too much mental demand. It's too much now you have to do it real I try to do what 30 seconds of editing and that shit took me three hours I'm not doing this shit. Y'all can have TikTok I'm not 30 30 free free three hours for 30 seconds I'm not doing it. So you know I'm saying so um but yeah so Tiffany uh well Miss Kittles I I understand why they they lost their mind I was one of them thirsty ass niggas so sorry um I zoomed in I don't know what to say um but yeah so um social media but but again you have to constantly because you love to do it um if you go in there for the wrong reasons like social media if you try to if you try to bust out content for people to to like your stuff it's only gonna make you feel more I would say uncertain about your own craft you'll always constantly second guess yourself. You'll always find yourself trying to compare to other people that really don't even have an ounce or a step of your count um which I often do like why what do I have to do for people to be able to see that I I'm I'm pretty cool too you know I'm not the greatest but I'm pretty cool and so you you fixate sometimes on certain things like numbers. So I stopped looking at numbers and I remember I on purpose stopped looking at numbers and what did Instagram do forced you to look at your numbers because they're like well guess how much you know you have a positive interaction you know this week compared to last week where it was a negative so it's like you have to kind of ignore of the follows the likes and you just have to post what is near and dear to you because even though you have one million followers you might not have many likes. It's not even 10% of people you know I'm saying like you how many of those followers are actually people that follow your craft because they really like right so you you know that whatever content you're pushing out and the people that's been there with you from like years ago they actually really care and want to see what you do. And that's worth more than having the clout having the likes because all those people that like your shit they don't even follow you anywhere. You can have 2000 likes and what you'll probably only get maybe a hundred people so that doesn't really validate anything you just have to kind of validate yourself and and just keep moving and pushing forward and trying to do be better for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:07

Learn and and and not take it too seriously um so that's I guess the best advice I have to give uh no we have learned a lot people uh we have learned the differences between costumes a cosplayer we've learned that uh if you ball it on a budget it is okay because you have to come to you have to come into this art craft where you are and then if you evolve you evolve if not you know keep it in the closet cosplay um if you know you're trying to you know grow to a different standard different capability it's it's very possible you just have to you know grow and great as people say but don't do everything class try your best to become an authentic cosplayer if that's what you want to do. No, we've learned a lot today um and I think we strayed away from specifically talking about Halloween but talking about cosplaying in general which is perfectly fine uh because I think we we people are going to really take a lot from this episode. But I must of course wrap up this episode and give everybody the opportunity to uh uh give uh our listeners a way to get in contact with them whether it's a cosplayer or just a you know a regular old nobody like myself uh I'm gonna go ahead and start with uh the doctor how can you be read uh Rod RT on Facebook Dr.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:29

Twinzel how can you read mostly at blur creations on Instagram at blur creations store on Facebook and then we have a Twitter.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:42

Don't we have a TikTok oh yeah we do we have a TikTok at Blur Creations as well okay uh and then myself Succi no shogun that can be found on Instagram Suchi underscore no underscore shogun Suchi is spelled T-S-U-C-A-I uh can also be found at Umbral Starcade on most platforms except for TikTok because you know we ain't doing that just yet um as well as blurred creations on a bunch of places but I don't touch the TikTok because you ain't gonna see me dancing. And then of course you can also find us at uh the blurred spectrum podcast on Instagram Facebook Twitter uh and we'll be on TikTok hopefully soon um or you can reach out to our mailbag at dblurred spectrum at humble sarcade.com now the reason of course that I'm talking about the podcast before I introduce these cosplayers again because since they have so much shine and because they're so phenomenal I thought I'd give them their own particular portion for them to describe themselves. So let's go ahead and allow the flames specifically uh um sorry Urkel Fitness uh to first introduce himself and how he can be reached and then we can do the active cosplayers Urkel Fitness Urkel Fitness on Instagram that's it that's it I don't want nowhere else nowhere else right there and then uh Miss Sayone cosplay cosplay on Facebook Sayone underscore cosplay on ID Sayone period cosplays at gmail dot com and then of course Miss Skittles uh Miss Skittles M Z Z Skittles T R underscore cosplay on Facebook Instagram and TikTok on Twitter it's M-I-Z Skittles of course you know this is as we've said before spooky season you know we're talking a little bit about Halloween but this is also gonna be the last episode of the seasons I hope you enjoyed yourself thoroughly uh we will have a couple of more events and and raffles and stuff before the end of the year also you know catch our friends giving uh live that's gonna come out in December uh we will revisit we will come back with season four right season four four season four season four season four people we will come back with season four in January 2023 actually I think if I'm not wrong not only will it be season four it might be episode 100 I was about to ask you it's gonna be crazy uh I'm really excited so uh I hope you're really excited to come along with us um if you already have been listening to us go tell your friends so they can jump in uh go listen to all of our old stuff our old episodes uh we have plenty to talk about we actually we still have plenty to talk about stuff keeps happening obviously um uh we have new anime coming out new video games coming out between now and then you know black atom will come out uh black panther will come out a lot of black stuff is happening a lot of melanin is happening um is popping uh we've gone to like five more cons um it's gonna be a lot of fun uh as we approach uh season four i'm excited i thank each and every one of you uh the listeners for joining us i thank thank thank each and every one of our panelists for 2022 uh for being on our episodes especially our guest stars during the melaninated solstice uh we've had a great time uh we thank you all for listening and participating um anything else i need to say uh have a good 2022 and we'll see you in 2023 there it is and as i always say as i end out these episodes i'm probably gonna change it for the next season we'll see because this one kind of sucks Sayonata