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!

Anxious Over Your Future? Me too!

We all have the pressure at a young age to decide the career path we want to follow for presumably the rest of our lives, do we not? Being in Wales, UK and working my way through the public schooling system we were given choices at 14 years of age for what four subjects we'd like to studying along side core subjects (Science, Maths, Welsh, English, P.E.) for the next academic year. Obviously I choose subjects I thought were fun and didn't think about the future as I didn't know what I wanted to do yet. I didn't really see the connection between school and our lives once we finished school. To me it was just something we had to do five days a week.

Then moving into Sixth Form and having to choose more subjects there, still unsure of which career path I wanted to go into but now seeing more of a connection between my grades and my future. I focused on Art. I've always been a creative person and have always found enjoyment in drawing. Until Sixth Form that is. I started to really hate the school I was at. I was dealing badly with my own mental health and I was falling behind, having my teacher constantly telling me that I needed to pick up my slacking in order to pass my exams. I felt trapped in Sixth Form and like I didn't belong so I made the decision to leave before the exams.

When I look back on this now, I regret it so much. I would have preferred I had stuck it out and gotten my AS Level exam grades and worked harder but I don't feel so bad because leaving Sixth Form resulted in what I like to call my big move!

I moved in with my Dad, a hour North up the coast of where my Mum lives, and enrolled in a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Childcare. If you've read a previous blog of mine (Half Way There!) you'll know that I studied Childcare. Reading back over that post there are a lot of things I said that didn't come true. For one I didn't go to work in Australia. I still plan to go to Australia to stay with family but the issue there is funding! Two I didn't go through with doing the extended essays to give me the option of university. I began to get bad again with m mental health and decided that I had enough work to do with the actual course let alone stacking three essays on top too. Sometimes I wish I had gone through with them but it doesn't bother me too much to be honest.

Once I had finished the two years in childcare I was thrust into the pressure of trying to find a job in the local schools or nurseries. I already have a weekend and holiday job in my village anyway so I wasn't paranoid about being left without an income (not that I was desperate for one because I am still living with my parents but I want to get on my own feet) but I wanted a full time job. When the summer was ending and I still hadn't found a job I didn't want to be sitting around doing nothing all week and decided to apply for another course at the college. 

Media Productions was my course of choice! I have been interested in filming for a couple of years and obviously I have a YouTube channel but I had never really given thought into pursuing it as a career. Since starting the course in September I have felt as if I have finally found something I feel really passionate about pursuing as a career path. I did enjoy childcare but I enjoy and feel incredibly at home on this course. I have two years of this course overall and then I'm thinking about university as an option afterwards. 

The reason I decided to write this blog post is because I haven't always had the best responses or support from those closest to me when I have decided to change my mind with subjects through my education. They have grown to support me once they have gotten used to the idea that I'm on a different course. I've learnt that it doesn't matter that if you don't know what you want to do when you're older. There's nothing wrong with exploring different subjects and trying different hobbies to find something you're really interested in. Don't worry about your age as much as I do sometimes. I'm turning 20 in two months and while most of my friends are nearing the end of their second year in university and could be out by 22 years old I won't be out of uni until I'm 24. 

I wish you all the best and I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments below!

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

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things!

Have you ever had a hobby you once really enjoyed but had given up? 

Throw back to a six year old me. I once took ballet classes and I LOVED them. I had made a lot of friends there, all of which I can no longer remember (funny thing I found out recently that my brother's girlfriend had in fact gone to the same school and may have been in my class! My good friend, Alesandrina, had also gone to the same school but we think she may have started after me and in a different class at the time). I left because I was simple bored. It's strange to think back on: 'A six year old me being bored of playing ballet games and actually wanting to learn more than what the teacher was teaching us'. That is the reason I left.

Going throughout school I hadn't picked it back up. I have always loved dance in general and continued to hold a love for it throughout my teenage years. During secondary school there were different dance groups held during lunch times we could sign up for. If I remember correctly I joined anything to do with danicng: Dance Mats, Zumba, Hip-Hop, Body-popping. 

I also remember feeling the effect of quitting ballet all those years ago. I really missed dancing and when I become friends with Alesandrina in school and a few other friends and people I knew were in the same class I felt the desire to dance again. I didn't follow those desires though and just continued on with Street dance in school. 

During those years where I joined those dance groups, we competed in three competitions of sorts. The first was the body-popping. It was a friendly competition of sorts (another funny fact: One of my friends from Childcare was at the same competition!) were schools in Ceredigion all competed with their hip-hop/street style dances. 

The next was with the Zumba group. It was more of a showcase than a competition if I remember correctly and a few different groups from different schools all came together to show off their Zumba routines. 

The one I remember the most is the Street group where we competed competitively with different schools in Ceredigion once again. We were all so excited because we had a really strong routine and our teacher was pretty confident in us that we could pull it off without a hitch. After everyone completed their routines we were judged. We were really upset with the results. We would have been happy with what ever place we came, don't get me wrong. Saying that, our dance teacher revealed on the bus home that she had talked to the judges, asking for feedback on how to improve our ability. She had explain we had come second (which is great!) but we would have come in first place if we had not worn the masks with were using during the dance (which is not so great). 

She wasn't happy that they had judged us on something that wasn't our dancing ability. The judges had told her that they wanted to see more emotions in our faces during the routine. Although we were annoyed with this fact, we were still happy because we had all been doing what we loved - dancing.

Since leaving school I had not had the opportunity to join any dancing group or class. Until recently. I'm now in my third year of college in Aberystwyth, no longer studying childcare and the teacher from my last street dance group has set up adult dance classes. Although it is back in my old town, an hour and three quarters journey on the bus from college, I knew I had to take that opportunity. I have been attending her classes now since Septemeber 2016 and I cannot express how much I love dancing again. We have gone through Tap, Jazz, Street and Ballet. Starting out one a week until December and now twice a week. 

I am so glad to have had the opportunity to get back into dance, especially ballet. I may have waffled on but the whole point I had for this blog post was to share with you my story. How I gave up something I loved because I was impatient. Don't give up on something you really love only to regret it later. Keep on going.

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.

Halloween Fest - Halloween Playlist 2k16

Hi guys! 

Seeing as I didn't post anything in September and seeing as October is my favourite month of the year (for many reasons a few of which are pretty obvious if you follow my social media accounts, haha!) I thought I'd challenge myself to schedule a ton of blog posts and videos to upload for you. 

I know I don't actually have a great track history with sticking to these things but I am going to try my damn hardest this time! I'm hoping to be posting every other day starting from today; two blog posts followed by a single video over on my YouTube channel before repeating. Don't worry about missing my video, I will be linking it into my blog through a post. Now, let's get in with my Halloween playlist for this year!  

🕸💀 S A M H A I N    2 k 1 6 💀🕸

1) It's Almost Halloween by Panic! At the Disco 

 2) Zombie by The Cranberries 

3) I Put A Spell On You by Creedence Clearwater Revival 

 4) This is Halloween by Panic! At the Disco 

 5) (Don't Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult 

 6) Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell

 7) Ghostbusters (I'm Not Afraid) by Fall Out Boy ft. Missy Elliott 

8) Monster by Paramore 

 9) Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs 

 10) Time Warp by The Rocky Horror Picture Show Original Cast 

11) Remains of the Day by Danny Elfman 

 12) Disturbia by The Cab 

13) Highway to Hell by AC/DC 

 14) Tears to Shed by Danny Elfman 

15) Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Emily Browning - Sucker Punch 

 16) Haunted by Evanescence 

 17) Superstition by Stevie Wonder 

 18) The Addams Family Theme Song 

 19) Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett 

20) Spooky Scary Skeletons - The Living Tombstone mix

I hope you all like this playlist as much as I am at the moment and let me know down in the comments of other songs I could check out and add to my playlist!

Love, 

A Wanderlust Being.

             -x-

Harley & Mistah J's Relationship (Suicide Squad Spoilers)

Hi guys! Sorry for the inactivity recently. I've been trying to write blog posts and create videos to upload to my channel but I'm never happy with them. I recently told a good friend of mine that I don't want to just upload pointless posts to my blog for the sake of it. I want to create enjoyable and interesting posts for everyone to read.

Going straight into today's post: The relationship of Harley Quinn and The Joker. Now, I have to say that I'm in no way an expert. I rarely go towards anything DC create, I just prefer the Marvel universe but I do have a soft spot for J and Harls. I've just fallen in love with what I have seen of their characters and think their brilliant villains. 

http://screenrant.com/suicide-squad-action-figures-joker-harley-quinn/

Only a couple of days ago I went to see Suicide Squad and loved every second of it! I think Margot Robbie played Harley so well and I loved Jared Leto's Joker (despite being a big fan of Heath Ledger's version!). Despite some of the flash backs I can't remember the Joker being at all manipulative towards Harley during the current time events. However, perhaps that was just because of his desire to have her back by his side and resume creating havoc with her throughout Gotham.

It's nothing new to people who are familiar with the characters that before Harley became 'Harley Quinn' she was in fact Harleen Quinzel, a psychiatric intern at Arkham Asylum. She encountered the Joker and he gained her sympathy before seducing her. Harley is infatuated and madly in love with the Joker and there are a few moments where J shows affection in return but it is more than anything an abusive and manipulative relationship, often with the Joker actually trying to murder her. Due to Harley's obsessive love for the villain, she will go to extreme lengths to stay devoted and loyal. She often has no regards to her own life over her Puddin's. 

I'm not just writing this as a way to get to know the characters or for the sake of it. I have a message behind this. Before seeing the film I've been seeing people writing online about how they are experiencing young girl's with little knowledge about the relationship between the two characters stating that they wish they had a relationship like Harley and the Joker's. 

The bottom line is that Harley was a promising student working towards becoming a psychiatric Doctor (or possibly having already obtained her degree) but due to a manipulative man she gave up her dreams for the promise of love. She gave up everything to be in an abusive relationship with probably the greatest and most well known villain ever created. Yes she may be able to hold her own in a fight and looks like she is a strong willed character but that cannot be said about her mental health. She has no concern for her own health and is very dependant on being with the Joker. 

http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/harley-quinn-joker-suicide-squad-romance/

People need to learn to be able to spot the difference between an abusive relationship and someone who genuinely loves and cares for them. It is show that mother's often tell their daughters when a boy picks on them that 'it's only because they like you'. We shouldn't teach others that love is shown through aggressiveness or abusiveness behaviour. I'm not saying I think Harley and J's relationship shouldn't be shown due to the abusiveness. I'm stating that everyone should be taught that they don't deserve to be treated like that.

Despite this I have to say that I feel that the Suicide Squad movie was fantastically written and directed and I loved how much the Joker was actually portrayed in the film without being made the centre of attention. In my opinion they kept the focus heavily on the squad's goals whilst weaving in bits of the Joker. I highly suggest you go to see the film or buy the DVD when it is released. I know for sure that I will be preordering it soon (and possibly going to see it again on the big screen)!

I hope I am actually achieving my goals to write interesting and enjoyable posts, any feedback would be fantastic!

Love,

A Wanderlust Being.