Leah Rose FTW!

Okay, I'm gonna try to do this without being insulting, I promise! But I really would like to get this across so that people can understand why "internet personalities" behave the way they do regarding social media and privacy, and I'll get into a little bit of why I think this is even an issue (that's really nobody's fault!). Also keep in mind that while facebook is the biggest source of the headache, you can really sub in almost any social network. ~ I'm pretty sure that you have, by now, come across a cosplayer's "real" facebook account. You know, the one their family is on, the real life friends, the one that you can't see many posts on but when you do they don't seem like public industry related posts. It may even have a cover image or bio that states "this is private, add my fan page!" So you add it anyway, public page be damned. WHY?! Okay, deep breaths. Such frustrate. Much invasive. Wow. People HAVE to und

Just as a note, this article is written for a yet-to-be-published fan magazine! Cosplay Spotlight is super fun and I hope it's successful- if you'd like to write or submit original content for your own site please send me an email!  Aloha, amigos! I'm Leah Rose, your friendly neighborhood cosplayer with real life bills- I'm assuming that's sounding pretty familiar. Nobody is denying that cosplay, and being a nerd in general, can be an expensive habit. Fabrics, wigs, shoes, undergarments, materials, commissions, source material.. I can't help much on that last one, but the process of cosplay shouldn't be something that breaks the bank. After over 10 years in the community, much of that on a poor student budget, I've collected a few tricks to help keep the cost down and keep enjoying the hobby we all love. I'll also include the base tools that you'll need, which are all relatively inexpensive but you may be able to find secondhand if the si

Even just beginning to think about how cosplay has changed in the past 10 years sends me into a tailspin. If you had told me that in 2015 people would be arguing over strangers donating money to cosplayers, I would have called you crazy. But really, how crazy is it? I fully understand why many people are rubbed the wrong way by Indiegogo, Gofundme, and most recently Patreon. It's not something that many people are comfortable with, you're just giving money to a practical stranger for something that up until recently was just considered a fringe hobby. Cover your own expenses and practice some financial responsibility, I get it. However, there are so many reasons why it's perfectly feasible for someone to use crowdfunding, and the cosplay community is constantly evolving to accept new things. Like Martin Wong said in a GREAT recent blog post, people didn't want to accept prints and booths when they were first introduced into the community, and now to a certai