"The world is never fair. It's just there, spinning around, doing its best. And that's what makes it so beautiful." -Roy Mustang (Full Metal Alchemist)

(View photos of CosmosFox in our "Cosplayer Weekly" folder [link])

Alias: CosmosFox
Age: 21
Ethnicity: African-American/Native American
Location: Richmond,VA
Home Con: Anime Mid-Atlantic


So, tell us a bit about yourself outside of cosplay.
Um, I'm a college student majoring in Biology and concentrating in Surgical Technology. I am a HUGE fan of the Final Fantasy series and Invader Zim! I love baking pastries more than cooking. I own/have owned a large variey of animals such as iguanas, gerbils, hermit crabs, and dogs. I love playing RPGs more than anything else but that won't stop me from pawning somebody on fighting games! I read manga more than watching mainstream animes and prefer subbed more than dubbed but I support English voice actors. My favorite food is vegan lasagna and pizza with olives, sausage, ham, mushrooms and pineapples (Yes weird taste) And...I'm trying to get my butt back into War of Warcraft

How many costumes have you created/done so far? Which one is your favorite and why?
I've made 10 costumes so far and counting. My favorite so far would be between Fran and Torakaka because they are the cosplays I have put the most work into and I enjoyed wearing them no matter how bad my feet punished me afterwards (Darn heels and demi pointe stilt boots).

What are your cosplay strengths/weaknesses?
I'm pretty good at sewing and armor/prop making. Both I only have 3-4 years of experience in but with each cosplay I do I learn something new! I'm still a slow work-in-progress in the make-up department since I started using make-up only a year ago. I think makeup can really help put that finishing touch to a cosplay and there's so much you can do with make-up depending on what you are trying to portray.

What are the some challenges you face as a cosplayer?
Time management mostly since I work, attend college full-time, and work on commissions for other cosplayers. Another challenge would be keeping money in my wallet long enough for me to enjoy it XD Most of my cosplays are either extravagant, large, insane, or all of the above so that means more money I got to spend on bolts of fabric and supplies for props and accessories.

Name your biggest cosplay pet peeve.
I really don't have any cosplay pet peeves but one that comes to mind would be cosplay elitism. Cosplay is 'costume play' not a professional modeling contest so anyone and everyone should be able to have fun and enjoy themselves.

Have you ever competed in a costume contest?
Yes. Just started competing 1 1/2 years ago . I have won a few awards and it makes feel warm and fuzzy inside having my work noticed.
  
What are your dream costumes?
Lilith Sahl from Trinity Blood (currently in progress), Shiva Sisters Styria from Final Fantasy 13 (currently in progress) and Female Elementalist Devil Outfit from Granado Espada

What is your greatest cosplay-related accomplishment?
Meeting all my con friends from so many places!!! Love you all!

How do you decide what your next costume will be?
Hmmm....suggestions from fans and friends, watching old/new animes, randomly googling stuff, and sometimes just by season. I don't want to die from heat stroke XD I can live with freezing my butt off.

Is there any advice you have for those who are considering getting into cosplay?
Have FUN!! Don't take it too seriously and research on your character. Also don't let your ethnicity stop you from cosplaying as certain character. Just do it and rock it!
  

If you want to learn more about CosmosFox you can find her on Deviantart [link] or Cosplay.com [link]

Hey guys! I finally got some free time to get around to posting my report about SeishunCon II. For those who did not attend last year or this year, SeishunCon is Atlanta, Georgia's first and only summer anime convention. It's about high time GA had an summer con to tie us anime craved con goers over until Anime Weekend Atlanta in September. SeishunCon debuted last summer (June 25-27th) with an attendence size of about 600 from what rumors say. Either way, they surpassed their initial goal of 200-300 attendees and their success from year 1 is what movtivated them to return for a second go.

Because I attened both times I was able to see how much the con has improved, along with being able to see what the con needs to focus more on to ensure that it continues to grow and succeed so it can oneday become like its predecedors (MomoCon and AWA) .

As usual, I’m going to break this con report down into the following categories: Location, Hotel, Staff, Con-goers, Panels, Dealers Room, Food, Costumes and Dealer's Room/Artists Alley.

[Location]- For those who attend Anime Weekend Atlanta, you could easily recognize that Seishuncon's location was extremely closeby to AWA. For those with a bad sense of direction, such as myself, I was pleased that the con was nearby to an area that I have become familiar with over time.

[Hotel]- The fact that when you check-in into your room, you and your companions recieved FREE DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CHIP WALNUT COOKIES! won instant brownie points with me. I definitely liked the DoubleTree alot better than the old hotel (Can't even remember the name because it left no impression with me). The hotel staff were nice and they even gave out complimentary personal items such as toothbrushes, razors, deodorant, and sewing kits just in case you forgot said items at home. The place was big enough for a small con like Seishun. My only gripe is how wonky the elevators were throughout the weekend and that no one failed to put a sign or something to warn people of their potential death. I had the misfortunate to get stuck on one, but fortunately it was only for a few minutes at most, however others weren't as lucky as myself. The elevator issue had become so bad that alot of people just took the stairs. Mind you, the majority of the con goers rooms were on the 5th floor, so we definitely got a bit of a work out.

[Staff]- The con staff were awesome. They seemed a bit disorganized at times, in particular when it came to providing information about costume contest registration, but overall they did a good job. There were no major indicidents
(from my knowledge) that occured, so it appeared they were able to keep things running pretty smooth throughout the weekend. I recognized alot of faces of folks who staff at MTAC and Momocon who were helping out at Seishun. It's good to see how the con has the support of other cons and are backing them up!

[Con-goers]- I'm only 20 yrs old yet I felt like I was 30 due to how the majority of the con goers seemed to be in the 12-17 age range.  For many people there Seishun was their first con and so it was cute to see how excited people were getting. Despite the many youngins running around, they were rather tame.

[Panels]- The standard set of panels and events that you expect to see at most cons was present at Seishun. I think the only ones that stood out to me were the Toonmai Fan Panel (which brought back good memories), the Anime Dating Game, and Hetalia Fan panel. Oh, and a special shoutout to those who attened my Yaoi panels! It was my first time ever running a panel, so forgive me if I seemed nervous!

[Food]- A variety of food options to suit everyone's taste was available less than a mile away from the con. Panda Express, Fat Burger, Wendys, and Popeye's are just a few. I think what I loved best was how the Chick Fil A was literally right next door to the hotel. I definitely gained a couple of pounds by the time Sunday rolled around because of all the food joints. Oh, and of course the hotel had a snack bar, but as usual everything was kinda overpriced and the portions were small.

[Costumes]- Tons of Hetailia, Gurren Lagen, and Durarara cosplayers! I didn't see too much cosplay variety, but I will say that I saw wayyy more people in costumes than regular clothes, which was interesting. There seemed to be a lack of photographers as well, as I only stumbled across 1 or 2 photoshoots going on throughout the weekend. The costume contest was small and seemed to be finished within 20-30mins. Craftmanship wise it was easy to see many contestants were novices, however the judges did a good job on giving out awards to those who did recieve awards.

[DealersRoom/Artist Alley]- To be honest, I enjoyed the Artist Alley more so than the Dealer's Room. The DR was a bit bigger than last year, but merchandise wise, nothing stood out to me. The AA on the otherhand was much more interesting, even though there weren't many artists. Project K's own Ryen Wilson was present selling personal prints of her artwork, and I even bought a Teru Teru Bozu from KawaiiFix (by the way, check out their page as they have new merchandise!/End shameless Plug).

Overall Rating- 7.5/10

I know many people's complaints is how small the con was and how it "didn't compare" to MomoCon or AWA, but they fail to realize that both MomoCon and AWA started out small like Seishun and gradually over time grew as people continue to support. SeishunCon will only get bigger and better if you, the con goer either A)Volunteer, B) Help Run a Panel, and/or C) Spread the word. So for those who like cons that are super over crowded or has thousands of people show up, then Seishuncon is not for you. At least for now anyway. I'll admit I wish there had been more things to do, but overall I enjoyed my time there and look forward to a SeishunCon III. The reason why it didn't get a high score is because it did NOT have a gaming room. I don't go to cons for gaming, but I know some people do, so I hope next year that Seishun adds on a gaming section for all those video game fanboys (and fangirls).