Leah Rose FTW!

Obligatory sorry for the delay in posting, lots of things have been happening! Daria is moving to California which is AWFUL but fabulous at the same time, it's my birthday, mermaid life, getting ready for con and an AZ trip... I know you understand and I love you for it <3 Today I wanted to just have a fun little talk about Pokemon! Cause I'm the master, sorrynotsorry. It's so crazy to think that Pokemon launched in Japan in February of 1996! Obligatory complaining about getting older here... Anyway, I remember when I was about 8 years old, my mom and I were in the shop getting the car worked on and I found an abandoned copy of Pokemon Blue. I didn't even have a Gameboy at the time, but the worker said it had been there for a few days (so sad since it was like, brand new at the time) so I could feel free to take it. I did, and did SO many chores for like a month while I saved up for a Gameboy. I even remember when I finally started my game, I didn't quite fig...

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...

I'm obviously very delayed in posting this to my blog proper, but I'd like to introduce you all to my newest pet project! I think the easiest way to explain what I'm doing is to show you one of the letters I sent to a super talented commissioner I came across. Hi there! How’s it going? My name’s Leah, I’m a cosplayer from Hawaii. I’m writing to ask if you’d like to get involved with a project I have going on right now involving Daenerys from Game of Thrones. And I already know what you’re thinking, no, I’m not asking you to work for free, haha. Saving you the long details, basically I’m sick of the attitude that a lot of people are starting to get of “you are less of a fan if you don’t handmake all your own costumes by yourself” thing that’s going on, you know? Especially when there are cosplayers that get help on things then lie about it, mostly because of that whole stigma. And to expand on that, I feel like a lot of crafters are underappreciated and need more public...

(Note: Thanks to a website glitch and by glitch I mean I clicked something wrong, I unpublished this on accident. Here is is again, a year and a half late I guess!) Okay okay stop yelling at me, I'll finish updating! Gah!! So I hope everyone has been doing well, I know most of you keep in touch on my Facebook page (COUGH HUNT COUGH Facebook.com/leahroseaz) and please keep/start doing that!! It's so easy!! Anyway, Phoenix Comic Con 2013 went so SO much better than the last few years for me personally, though it was bananas. This time, I personally worked three (!!!!!!) jobs this year, which I'm never ever trying again. It worked well only because the clients are all friends and knew what I was trying to do. First half of the day was with Media Collectibles, an hour and some with Cosplay Calendar, and then the last half of the day with Japanime Games. Hnnnng. This was the time we got to surprise Aspen Comics with their three title women in their logo swimsuits (po...

Catching up on these reviews! YAY! Just two more and I'm caught up!!! IT'S A MIRACLE! Ahem, anyway. Arizona Matsuri isn't a con, per se... hence its name. Matsuri is the generic Japanese word for festival (today you learned!), and this one was a celebration of all things Japan for Nihonophiles, Japanese natives now living abroad, artists, cosplayers, and anyone who happened to waddle around Phoenix downtown that weekend. Nothing really major happened at this one, since it wasn't a specific festival or convention. I did have the chance to work for Joe and his mama, who we all call Mama, at Tokyo Sky like I did last year! I LOVE THEM!!! They sell lots of plushies and some ready made costumes and lots and lots of hats and toys and I have no idea how I left that place with money.... Other than working with them (and Cory and Anjelo ofcourse), I ate. A lot. Like, Japanese festivals for me always ALWAYS turn into a game of "how fat can Leah make herself". Green tea ...