Wigs, Waifus, and Weebs: An Interview with a Cosplay Queen
By: Andee McKenzie
I imagine that most of our first encounters with costumes revolve around Halloween. In your early days your costume was likely picked out by your parents until you were old enough to decide what or who you wanted to be. Being a very fearful child myself I was too scared to enter any Halloween store and in order to make sure the demons and ghouls of the pop-up Spirit store did not feed on my soul, I sent my mother in to get my costume… until I was 11. This panned out relatively well with only one unfortunate incident involving a tissue box that said “Blow Me” and my Catholic middle school Halloween parade.
It is safe to say that for the majority of my life I was a once a year costume kind of gal. However, for some, dressing up and taking on the persona of a fictitious character is not only a part of their daily life, but it has shaped their story for the past 13 years.
I first met Aly Runke in my freshman year at college. I saw her at a PRIDE meeting and she was nothing short of a walking hermit crab. She hugged her knees tight into her body while sitting criss-cross in her chair and the hood of her sweatshirt covered the majority of her face. Eventually, we were selected for an event planning committee and had to get to know one another. Boy, did I peg her personality wrong. It was in no time that we became close and I was introduced to her world as an avid Cosplayer and overall Japanese culture fanatic. She used a vernacular I had never heard before. Terms like Weeabo, Otaku, Yaoi, Fanservice, Shounen, Shojo. She taught me the basic Japanese phrases that she had learned from years of anime training (Sugoi!!). The following year we were roommates and our dorm room doubled as our chill place and a factory for fabric sewing and wig styling.
This lifestyle, though exciting, was not always easy and accepted. I decided to interview Aly, who is currently knee-deep in a stew cosplay creations in her days of quarantine, and ask her about her life in character. It should have been no surprise to me when she answered my video call in a wig.
Q: What is your earliest memory of costume and playing a character?
A: Probably going to the grocery store. My mom would say we were going and I told her “Okay, but I’m going dressed as Snow White.” There was never a time where I did not want to be dressed up. I even had a Halloween-themed birthday party once because back then I knew people only dressed up for Halloween and I wanted my friends to come in costume. Both my mom and grandma were so supportive of me and my dress up dreams. They helped me sew together my costume even when I always wanted some last minute adjustment 2-hours before trick or treating. There was a lot of creative improvisation on their part.
Q: How has the environment of conventions changed now that things like anime and overall “Nerd Culture” have become more mainstream popular?
A: My first convention was 2006 Phoenix Comic Con when I was thirteen. I paid around $30 for my ticket and my dad drove my friend and I forty-five minutes to get there. The convention was in one tiny room with a single anime booth. The last time I went to Phoenix Comic Con in college, I paid over $100 for my ticket and the con took over 5 buildings and was six days long. There were guest panelists like Leonard Nimoy and even Stan Lee. I remember people telling me that they came from out of state which I was so surprised by because it was Phoenix in June!
Q: What would you say is the biggest challenge for you when selecting a character to cosplay?
A: The biggest challenge for me is self-confidence. Sometimes I talk myself out of playing a certain character because I’m afraid it won’t live up to my expectations based on my specific body proportions. I want to put on the entire costume, look in the mirror and see the exact character and when it doesn’t happen it’s disheartening. I follow a lot of cosplayers and the overarching messages of body positivity have been really great. I also believe anyone can play anything, but it’s always harder when it’s you.
Q: The debate rages on. People that make their costumes versus people that buy their costumes. What’s your take?
My take has evolved over the years. I used to get caught up in the elitism of “Made is better than bought”. However, the point of cosplay is that you are embodying a character. It’s hard because you don’t want to discredit anyone that has worked really hard to hand-make a cosplay, but you also have to give credit to people who buy their costumes and also portray their character in a great way. Right now I definitely do a more of a mix of both just recognizing my own sewing and crafting levels. For example, my jacket for my Catra cosplay from She-Rah and the Princess of Power, it was originally a twink BDSM outfit that I got on Amazon haha! Social media also has changed the conversation around closet cosplay* which used to be looked down upon. Thanks to platforms like Tik Tok, closet cosplays are super popular for people who want to see their favorite characters do things outside of what they do in their canons*
Q: What is it like to be a part of the Cosplay community and the LGBT community?
A: They overlap. HARDCORE. I think a lot of it has to do with putting on a costume and having an escape to not be “yourself”. A lot of cosplayers that I really loved helped me realized that I was gay and that the cosplay community was a very safe space for exploration. This goes especially for the transgender community because the cosplay community is very open and gender fluid as a whole to begin with
Q: What has been your most technically difficult costume to create and why?
A: Belle from Beauty and the Beast. It took over 200 hours to make and that was just to create the skirt. I wanted her dress to be very close to the Disney animated movie versus the Disney park version which meant that I had to do 50+ ruffles by hand in order to hide the seam. I also handmade my fiancé’s Beast costume and all of the prosthetics. It was definitely worth it though, it’s the most I have ever been stopped at a con for photos.
Q: You are engaged and have had your significant other join you in cosplay. Can you explain what about that makes it a special experience?
A: It’s fun because like anything that you enjoy doing, you want to share it with someone you love. My significant other isn’t totally into dressing up, but she does it because she loves me and that’s what makes it special, the fact that she wants to share it with me because she knows that it is an important part of my life.
Q: Have you ever had a moment that made you feel uncomfortable or unsafe at a con while you were cosplaying? How did you handle it?
A: The biggest thing is that cosplay is not consent. Cosplayer interaction at conventions has become a lot better over the years. I remember being in high school and I did a cosplay from Full Metal Panic. It was a sailor-moon magical girl type looking cosplay. Men would ask to take my picture and sometimes you just knew in your gut it wasn’t because they liked the character. “Glomping” used to be a big thing at cons where you didn’t have to introduce yourself you the person, you would just run and jump hug them. That is definitely not allowed anymore. Luckily, I’ve never felt super unsafe. Now when you go to convention you will see posters saying cosplay is not consent and they have volunteers and other resources for you if you feel harassed or unsafe as well as general security. From my experience, most people are polite when asking for a photo and will also ask if it is okay to put their arm around you or to do character poses.
Q: What are you currently working on right now?
A: Currently I am all-in with My Hero Academia. I love the anime and it’s really big right now in the cosplay world. I have completed costumes so far for Midoriya, Jiro, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Aizawa. I am making some tweaks to my Catra cosplay and my Princess Ariel cosplay as well. The most technically difficult cosplay I am currently working on is Elsa. I am working on her dress from Frozen II when she is inside Ahtohallan and there is so much glue and crazy embellishments.
Q: What would your advice be for anyone at the beginning stages of wanting to do cosplay?
A: Just do it and go out there. A lot of people get caught up in looking weird or being different, but you have to not care and push past that. Once you show that you don’t care what anyone thinks, even if at first it’s fake, no one is going to make a big deal out of it. You need to own the word “Weird”. For me, yeah, I’m weird, I’m hella weird and I’m proud of that and I have no desire to be normal. Normals are boring. It’s so much fun to be weird, so be weird!
You can follow all of Aly’s adventures in cosplay on her Instagram and Tik Tok at @thenerdiestofalys
*Canon- Anything that happened in the original story and not an adaptation
*Closet Cosplay- Typically just the characters wig and makeup and not their entire cannon outfit. It is making a cosplay out of what you have in your closet