Summer Bucket List 2017

Every year I decide I want to create a summer bucket list to make sure I don't waste a single day off sitting in my bedroom wasting my time being unproductive. This year isn't an exception. I thought I'd share with you guys what I have so far starting from May to the beginning of September and maybe this inspire you to create your own.

Summer Bucket List 2017

@awanderlustbeing

1. MCM London Comic Con 2017 (27th & 28th of May) - I already have my tickets book for Saturday and Sunday! I'm hoping to cosplay Kylo Ren on Sunday and Dr. Jillian Holtzmann on the Saturday (We'll see if I finish them in time!). I'm planning to go to a meet up to see Nyx Rising Industries (at the moment it'll be at 1:30pm - check their website for updates!) and a Disney meet up on the Sunday (2pm next to the statue). If any of you are going I'd love to meet you so leave me a comment down below! I could make a group chat on Twitter and we could all organise to meet!

2. Explore Wales - I have lived in Wales since I was nearly 2 years old and I still haven't been to a lot of places in this country. I just want to explore and see more of what this beautiful place has to offer before planning to move away.

3. Film - I feel like I'm slacking with filming and uploading videos to my YouTube channel at the moment. This is partially because I don't really have a good editing software and Windows Movie Maker severely kills my motivation to edit. I'm hoping to use the editing software at college and get some videos done and ready to upload over the summer!

4. Develop My Cosplays - Work on finishing touches and details I may have missed or had to leave out before Comic Con in order to get them ready. I don't want to start any new major cosplay projects over the summer due to no. 5 but I want to have the majority on my cosplays finished and ready to wear at any time.

5. Save Money - I want to save money over the summer for multiple reasons. One being I plan to go on holiday with my good friend and her two friends for her 21st birthday in September. I want to be able to have some spending money whilst out there to explore a bit more. Save up for a laptop (high hopes but fingers crossed!) and to just have some money saved in my bank account for moving out or starting university.

6. Delve into Portrait Photograph - I have already taken some portraits and have found a desire to do more. Over the summer I'd love to find a few people willing to model for me so I can practice and hopefully get some nice shots for my Instagram.

And last but not least:

7. Get Fitter - I plan on starting going to the gym and eating healthier to loose weight, build muscle and live a healthier lifestyle. This is my choice because I am overweight and I know I have an unhealthy diet. I want to do this to feel more confident, health and positive.

If you guys are inspired by this post to make your own summer bucket list or you've already beaten me to the punch I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Perhaps you may strike me with inspiration and I may add to my own!

Cosplaying Harley Quinn

If you happen to follow my personal Intsagram account (yagooobian) and/or my Amino Cosplay profile (awanderlustbeing) you may already know that I cosplay Harley Quinn from the Suicide Squad movie. At the moment I don't have a lot of the cosplay done. I basically just have the wig, make-up and t-shirt sorted for her 'superhero outfit' and the wig, make-up, slippers and props for her outfit in the last scene in her cell.

I recently wore the 'superhero' cosplay to Film & Comic Con Cardiff back at the beginning of March, despite the plan being to cosplay Kylo Ren. As this year goes on I'd like to add to my Harley Quinn cosplays so at least the prison cosplay is done and the 'superhero' cosplay will be further alone or even completed.

I want to tackle something though which pushed me into writing this blog post on a Saturday morning before work. Leave Harley Quinn cosplayers alone.

It is entirely up to each individual person who or what they want to cosplay. Some people are negatively pointing out that there are a lot of Harley Quinn cosplayers with the Suicide Squad cosplays yet I don't think they realise that there were a lot of Harley Quinn cosplayers before the movie was announced. I have seen plenty of classic Harley cosplayers as well as some from the videogames and cross overs or original pieces for the character.

You are allowed to cosplay anything or anyone you want to cosplay. I would love to cosplay Foreteller Ava for example, yet I haven't played that particular part of the Kingdom Hearts series. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to cosplay that character. Even if you haven't seen the movie/tv show, played the game or read the book the character belongs too doesn't mean you can't cosplay them. Cosplay is to celebrate characters whether that be you're drawn to a character because of their design, personality, backstory or if you feel a connection to them in some way.

So what if they are now more Harley Quinn running around at comic conventions? I think it's pretty cool that all those people want to celebrate her as a character. I'd also like to just say, not one cosplay is the same.

Are you a Harley Quinn cosplayer? Have you experience this judgement first hand or seen people criticising people for cosplaying certain characters? I'd love it if you left a comment below!

Cosplay: What It Is and What It Isn't

Cosplay, or 'costume play', is the art of dressing up and pretending to be a character. It's something I found out about around the age of 14/15 or what I like to call my Japanese phase seeing as this is around the time I was obsessed with everything Japanese culture. Through Anime I found people cosplaying on YouTube who went to conventions and created skits. Instantly I was hooked.

To me cosplay is a creative outlet. I barely draw or paint anymore like I used to in school, I seem to have lost a lot of motivation to continue with it despite it having being a big part of my life. I've mentioned before I struggle with bad mental health and cosplay is a huge help with keeping positive. It give me a goal to work towards and I feel a huge sense of achievement by the end when I wear a cosplay.

Of course cosplay is a wonderful thing where everyone in the community interacts with you as your characters at conventions and it can lead to making new friends and learning new skills. However, there is also a negative side like everything has now. The cosplay community is full of lovely people with different skills and tips if you can find them. There are also those who find it hard to understand that anyone can cosplay and that everyone's cosplay efforts should be respected and celebrated.

It doesn't matter if you are black and want to cosplay a white character or vice versa. It doesn't matter if you want to cross dress to cosplay a character identifying as a different gender than the one you identify as. It doesn't matter if you buy or make your cosplay or do a mixture of both. It doesn't matter if you don't have the skills another cosplayer does. It doesn't matter if you weigh more or less than the character you are cosplaying. The thing about cosplay is that it should make you happy. Having made the effort to research and make/buy your cosplay is personally the best feeling to me. 

Cosplay is everything to me and I'd love to learn new skills and develop my cosplays to make them the best I can. I want to build up the range of cosplays I have and build up a portfolio of sorts just for my own entertainment and the entertainment of others.

I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Tell me what cosplay means to you and if you send me a link to where you showcase your cospalys I'd love to have a look.

Let us all support one another and celebrate cosplayers of all ages, genders, skin tones, heights, weights and abilities!

Cosplay Chatter

I always hype myself up every year to make New Year's resolutions and I never end up meeting them by the end of the year. I simply forget about them. Take this blog post for example, this probably should have been written and uploaded back in January but you should know me by now -insert sad laugh here-.

Despite not having created New Year's resolutions this I did decide to make some Cosplay plans for the year to try to meet. There are six cosplays altogether:

1) Kylo Ren (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

2) Maria Posada (The Book of Life)

3) Anastasia Romanov (Anastasia 1997)

4) Elizabeth (BioShock Infinite)

5) Han Solo - Genderbend (Star Wars 4, 5 & 6)

6) Belle - (Beauty and the Beast)

(Originally posted on my personal Instagram account: @yagooobian)

I don't want to go into detail about cosplaying and my plans during this blog post. The reason being a friend of mine (Mivi) suggested I make a video over on my YouTube channel about my experience and plans for cosplay. I filmed it but I wasn't happy with it and felt it was too long so I have decided to turn it into a series of sorts as well as the plan to film videos with updates of my current cosplays. 

Thank you for reading,

A Wanderlust Being

Halloween Fest - Halloween Day 2k16

Hi guys,

sorry this post is being uploaded in November but I was waiting for my friends to confirm that it was okay to use the photo with them in it in this blog post and I've been working the past few days so I haven't had a chance to write it but here I am!

This Halloween has been one of the best Halloween days in my life so far. My friends and I decided that we wanted to low-key cosplay to college due to the fact we all love Halloween and wanted to dress up but no one else in college would be obviously in a fancy dress. 

We came up with the idea that a theme was the best way to go. Of course, we chose Marvel.

I've been thinking about doing a Peggy Carter cosplay for a while now and when the opportunity arose I couldn't pass it. Mivi cosplayed Steve Rogers aka Captain America; Famber cosplayed Tony Stark aka Iron Man; and Leona cosplayed Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Solider. 

Famber as Tony Stark (left); Leona as Bucky Barnes (middle); Mivi as Steve Rogers (right); Myself as Peggy Carter (back).

Later that night I got home and decided to change into my Suicide Squad Harley Cosplay to give out sweets to Trick O' Treat-ers (although we didn't have many callers I still enjoyed a lot).

Myself as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad the movie.

I'd love to know what you think of our cosplays or what you did for Halloween so be sure to comment.

Thank you,

A Wanderlust Being.