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Yashuntafun Cosplay

Thirteen years and counting (2016)

July27

It’s hard to believe, but with the anniversary of my first convention coming up, I can officially say I have been cosplaying for 13 years and I have over 100 costumes to show for it. I have transformed into a whole variety of characters from superheroes, to princesses, to villains, and have worn wigs of nearly every style and color over the years. And while cosplay has given me confidence and pride in my abilities at times, it’s all the people I’ve met through this hobby that have been the best reward of all! Thank you for all the support and encouragement, and here’s to many more years of creative expression!

2015 Continued

October3

I haven’t updated this space since April, so I have a whole lot to report starting with one of my favorite local conventions, Momocon:

This year’s new costumes for Momocon were all about Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. Avatar is one of my favorite cartoons and one of the best episodes is the Ember Island Players in season 3. When Tom and I found out our friends were doing Sokka and Yue, we decided the best costume choice for us was to be their ridiculous counterparts from that episode. What’s not to love about overdramtic acting, caked on make-up, and a costume that was a monstrosity of misproportion and strange fabrics.

Jessie Lykens and I also cosplayed as Korra and Asami, showing our support for this wonderful couple. Jessie is always a joy to cosplay with! We have other future costume plans with these characters as well, so stay tuned for that!

     

     

Momocon seems to be a rapidly growing convention and I really appreciate all the new changes they incorporate each year. This year the con was held in a new venue, the Georgia World Congress Center, which will give them plenty of room for their inevitable expansion. My favorite part of the con this year was the gaming room they had set up for both video games and board games that was as big as the dealers hall. From a hilarious table flipping game, to DDR and Rock Band, this game room really had it all!

I also had the opportunity to go to the Georgia Aquarium in costume as part of a Momocon event. I didn’t have any underwater appropriate costumes, but I still had fun as Anna. The aquarium is breathtaking and made for a wonderful photo-op!

Some of the biggest cosplay news for me this year is that I was invited to be a part of the Marvel Cosplay Covers project as Spider-Woman! I had to work really hard to get this costume together in time, but it was completely worth it! Below is my cosplay variant cover of Spider-Woman #1, which will be released on November 18th! I can’t thank Judith Stephens and Marvel enough for the opportunity! Also a big thank you to Yaya Han for helping me get involved!

While at Dragon Con this year, I sat down with Judith Stephens and Jay Justice to record a Women of Marvel podcast to talk about the creation of this costume and cosplay in general. I’ll make sure to share that on my Facebook page once it’s released.

I went to Play On Con for the first time this summer. I loved the camp atmosphere! I went swimming, played beer croquet, enjoyed some archery, and of course, played lots of board games! I also had fun watching the Rock Band challenge and Lip Sync battles. Oh! And the con’s set up for the spaceship bridge simulator, Artemis, was top notch! So much awesomeness in one weekend!

I had a lot of fun making two rather casual costumes for this convention. First I made Beth from Wet Hot American Summer because I love that movie and the camp atmosphere couldn’t have been a better place to wear this costume! Second, I joined some friends for Game of Thrones swimsuits, and yes, I did swim in this costume! At least, when I wasn’t sitting on my lifeguard perch throne, that is.

     

I only made one new costume for Dragon Con this year, but I stayed busy all weekend rewearing Asami, Beth, Spider-Woman, my Hufflepuff robes, Cally from Battlestar Galactica, and Bombshell Supergirl. My new costume was a cheerleading outfit inspired by Ygritte from Game of Thrones. Kapalaka Cosplay designed cheerleading outfits based on several GoT characters, and all of us recruited to be those characters had a blast cheering together!

Anime Weekend Atlanta always comes too soon after Dragon Con, leaving me struggling to get costumes done on time. Still, AWA was my first ever convention and I haven’t missed a single year in the thirteen years I’ve been cosplaying. I wasn’t able to finish the big costume I was planning in time, but I did finish some smaller projects, and thanks to some friends, I still had a really fun line-up of new costumes to wear!

          

Jessie Lykens and I were invited to display our Frozen costumes in the AWA Cosplay Gallery this year. It was such an honor to be included among the other gorgeously crafted costumes by such talented cosplayers. Dressing mannequins is harder than it looks, but everyone involved with the gallery was awesome and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if I’m invited back!

So what’s next for me? I have one more convention this year: CONjuration. I have never been to this con, but it looks like it will be a blast! Plus it’s all about magical things like Harry Potter and my personal favorite, Lord of the Rings!

Over the winter, I will be continuing to work on projects I didn’t finish this year, including Lillymon from Digimon. I wanted to debut this costume at AWA, but it just wasn’t in the cards. However, here’s a sneak preview of the progress I’ve got done so far!

I wrote out a list of the other costumes I have planned for next year and it’s already getting long. I’m so excited about every single one of them, so I hope I can stay productive and get as many finished as possible! Wish me luck!

2015 Update

April19

2015 has been a busy year already, despite what my costume page says at the moment.

I helped model in a couple product shoots for YayaHan.com, including a shoot to showcase her new line of wigs designed by Yaya and produced by Purple Plum. I also wore cat ears, fox ears, steampunk wings, and more! I’ve never worn so many outfits in one day, but good company made it a lot of fun! All these accessories and so much more are available in Yaya’s store!

Last month I had the amazing opportunity to get a few of my costumes immortalized in statue form thanks to the good people at 3D FigureWorks. The results were amazing! Below is a picture of me holding the statue of myself in my Anna costume. The details they were able to capture and translate to the figure are immaculate.

I was feeling the con blues since I hadn’t been to a convention since October, so some friends and I made a impromptu trip up to MTAC for the weekend. We just ran around in our Hogwarts robes representing our respected houses (Hufflepuff pride!). Sometimes it’s nice to just wear a simple, comfortable costume and have no particular agenda.

Yesterday I went to JordanCon wearing my new Shallan Davar cosplay from Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series. JordanCon is always a great experience, with interesting panels, and wonderful people. My friend Seth and I entered the costume contest, him as Kaladin, and we took home a Judge’s Award! I should have more pictures to post of Shallan soon!

Over the next month I will be working on four different costumes for Momocon, which include Cornet from Rhapsody, Asami from Korra, and a couple other Avatar related things. Momocon is such a well run con that seems to grow and improve with each year. I’m looking forward to checking out their new venue this year and debuting a new set of costumes.

Thank you for all your support!

The Second Half of 2014

October4

I kicked off the second half of my cosplay year with a road trip with Meru to visit Tham! This was the first time our cosplay trio had been together in a long time, and we made the most of it! Downtown Charleston is gorgeous! We did cosplay groups from Frozen, Zero no Tsukaima, Umineko, and Mawaru Penguin drum. BentPic5 was kind enough to hang out with us and take our photos and The Wicked Tailor showed us where all the best photo spots were.

          

In July we had our annual Suikoden group shoot. This year we focused on Suikoden 2 and took our photos at an old abandoned mill, which made an epic backdrop! We also made various props this time around including cook off signs, fishing rods, and my favorite, Ho-Hummm Cat! Our Riou also made the wonderful bear/lion flag that really completed all of our group shots!

This year I dressed up as Yam Koo and made a matching robe for my husband to be Tai Ho:

     

Next year we will be taking on Suikoden 3 and I have already decided that I want to be Chris! It’s my hope that this group will grow with each year as we continue to share the Suikoden love!

With labor day weekend came another Dragon Con, which is still my favorite convention of the year! I got to be in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and DC Bombshells groups with some of my best friends, so that was a blast!

          

This Dragon Con I also got to dance around as a giant popcorn in a “Let’s all go to the Lobby” group, reenact an iconic scene from the early 90s classic Terminator 2, participate in a large Frozen group, hang out with my purgatory sisters, and do a fun, yet somewhat scandalous schoolgirl photoshoot with Tham and BentPic5. It was a busy con, but so much fun!


After Dragon Con I immediately started work on my AWA costumes! It was a close call, but I was able to get both costumes together. I wore Chief Chocowacker from FFXIV and Kayano Kaede from Assassination Classroom:

     

I always have a great time at AWA and this year was no exception. For me it’s a much more relaxed convention than Dragon Con and it will always hold a special place in my heart as the first convention I went to. I especially had fun this year hanging out with my friends in the evenings dressed in our Hogwarts robes. I was representing the Hufflepuff house!

Now it’s time to start planning costumes for next year! 2015 is sure to be exciting! And who knowS? Maybe I’ll update this front page more often. Thank you for reading! <3

The First Half of 2014

June21

I can’t believe 2014 is already halfway over! Though this is sadly my first front page post this year, I have been keeping my costume pages updated and if you ever want to see more frequent updates from me, please check out my facebook page!

In January I got to be part of a product shoot for YayaHan.com, modeling some of the pony products that they offer. If you watch Heroes of Cosplay on the SyFy channel, you may have even seen some footage from that shoot!

January also brought a lot of snow to the Atlanta area, which I of course had to take advantage of since it’s a rare occurrence! I had been waiting for appropriate settings to wear my Game of Thrones Ygritte costume and Wreck-It Ralph Adorabeezle for a long time and this proved to be the perfect opportunity!

     

Despite snowstorms closing down roads and airports, I managed to make it Katsucon again this year! I only had one new costume to debut, which was Hikari from Mawaru Penguindrum, but I rewore some of my favorites and got a bunch of great new photos!

          

I also went to Jordancon again this year, though I didn’t make anything new this time around and just wore Min again. The convention was wonderful though and I plan on becoming a regular. In fact, next year I’m considering making a costume from Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive, which I’m very excited about!

Free Comicbook Day in May gave me an opportunity to wear my Jesse Quick costume again and hang out with some fellow comic lovers. Teahouse Comics is my absolute favorite comic shop! I was asked to do a interview about Free Comic Book Day, which you can read here if you’re interested!

Momocon was fantastic this year as well! I spent months working on two new elaborate costumes for this convention: Mockingjay Katniss and Anna from Frozen! All I can say about Anna is that I don’t want to do any more hand embroidery for a very long time, but I have gotten to wear her to a couple birthday parties, which has been a ton of fun! My favorite part about my Katniss costume was getting to wear it in a location where the movie was actually filmed. It was also my first time making and wearing wings, which was a great new experience.

          

This coming weekend I will be reuniting with Meru and Tham to do a series of Kamikaze Kiss photoshoots with the help of BentPic5 as our photographer. I can’t wait! I also have another Suikoden photoshoot planned for the summer and some exciting costumes to work on for DragonCon and AWA. 2014 is panning out to be a big year for me! Thank you, as always, for following my work!

Please support Con Quest if you can!

January22

“Wish you could have that fun, crazy, & memorable con experience anytime you want, anywhere you want?”

Con Quest is a card game that simulates the unique and hilarious events that can only happen to you at a geek convention! I’ve played a part in the development of this game, and every playtest has been a seriously fun experience! No play through of Con Quest is quite like the last, but it always ends up being insanely amusing.

Please check out Con Quest: A Convention-themed Card Game on Kickstarter and help us spread the word so we can make this game a reality!

Thanks so much!

Website Updates

November11

I made a couple updates to the website this weekend! You may notice that I have all new images in my rotating banner on the front page. I have also added links at the top of my costume page to allow visitors to sort the costumes by genre. New photos from this year are also continually being added. Thank you so much for visiting!

If you are interested in seeing progress photos, upcoming costume ideas, and more frequent updates from me, please check out my Facebook page!

Another con season comes to a close!

October23

Dragon Con (now without the asterisk) and Anime Weekend Atlanta are two conventions that never disappoint. I feel extremely fortunate to live so close to both of them!

I made several new costumes for Dragon Con this year: Marian from Double Dragon Neon, Jesse Quick from DC Comics, a Mad Men themed bunny suit, and Dr. Darling from Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. I also brought back two favorites: Josie from Josie and the Pussycats and Martian Queen Cheryl from Archer.

          

          

What can I say about Dragon Con other than it was awesome?! The convention has been growing so quickly that Thursday is the new Friday. Many of my friends have started booking their rooms starting Wednesday night. I predict that soon the convention is just going to be an entire week of epic partying, and I’m all for it!

For AWA I made Jessica from Lunar, a costume I have been wanting to make since I first started cosplaying, and Sinon from Sword Art Online.

     

Despite Lunar being an older game, many people still recognized my Jessica costume. I was thrilled! I wore Sinon with an awesome group of friends and had a blast! The weather really couldn’t have been more perfect that weekend here in Atlanta. AWA has such a great mix of attendees and really has something for everyone. The new food trucks were a great add and I really enjoyed my daily taro bubble tea!

What’s next? Well, I will update the above costumes with more pictures as they come in. In November I’ll be heading up to Chattanooga to meet up with Envel Cosplay and do a Lunar shoot with her. She makes a gorgeous Luna and I can’t wait to shoot with her and get more Jessica photos! For now I’m taking a short break from costuming to play Final Fantasy 14, though it won’t be long before I’ll need to start sewing again! My next convention is Katsucon in February! Next year I hope to make costumes from Eternal Sonata, DC and Marvel comics, One Piece, Fairy Tail, and more!

I hope everyone has a very happy Halloween!!

Suikoden, Seishuncon, and Upcoming Convention Plans

July12

It’s been a so long since I’ve updated, but I’ve been super busy. Back in June I coordinated a Suikoden dream group of mine that came together wonderfully thanks to some great friends and the talent of BentPic5 photography. We were rained on a bit, but that didn’t keep us from having a great time and getting some fun photos. I’m also so happy to have some good pictures of my Odessa costume now!

Later on in June was Seishuncon here in Atlanta. It’s a small convention, but they were in a new venue this year that was quite nice and had a beautiful garden. I made a new costume to wear with Tham and also rewore my Horo costume, which was a gift from my friend, Twinklebat. Pictures of these costumes are starting to roll in, so please check them out:

     

Next up is Dragon*Con and AWA in September. I’ve already gotten started on my Dragon*Con costumes, which include Marian from Double Dragon Neon, Jesse Quick from DC Comics, and a bunny suit. I also have Jessica from Lunar and Alicia Rue from Sword Art Online planned for AWA. I’ll post progress on my facebook as I continue to work on these. Thanks so much for watching!

Publications and Photoshoots!

May27

This year I have been lucky enough to be featured in several publications!

First, prior to the premier of Season 3 of Game of Thrones, SFX magazine released a GoT Bookazine that had so much great behind the scenes stuff and a feature on cosplay from the series. My Doreah and Littlefinger costumes made it into the publication. Thanks so much to Miles Hamer for including me in this Bookazine and LJinto for taking the photos that were used. It’s very exciting to be included in something like this, and Season 3 of Game of Thrones has been amazing so far! I can’t wait for the season finale!

Then Yaya Han, Allison DeBlasio, and Joey Marsocci put together a book called “1000 Incredible Costume & Cosplay Ideas”. This book features so many amazing cosplayers and I feel so honored that four of my costumes are pictured among them. You can pick up your copy here on Amazon. I am so inspired by many of the costumes shown in this book!

This month I received the news that I was selected to be a part of the Women of Comicbook Cosplay’s 2014 calendar. You’ll be able to see my Shadowcat costume featured during the month of June! Please check them out on facebook to find out when this calendar will go on sale and to see all the beautiful ladies featured on the other months!

I also have a lot of new pictures to share thanks to three photoshoots I did recently with the amazing BentPic5. Please check out the new shots of Juvia, Ruffnut, and Shadowcat that I have uploaded:

          

In upcoming news, I have arranged a Suikoden gathering and photoshoot coming up in early June. I’ll get pictures from that up as soon as possible! If you don’t know what Suikoden is, please check it out, as I believe it is one of the best JRPG series ever made. I will be wearing my Odessa costume, but we will have a lot of great cosplayers doing characters like Tir, Viktor, Pahn, and more! I’m super excited!

So far 2013 has been an amazing year and I know there’s only more great stuff to come! Thanks as always to all of you who follow my work!

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