Name: Amanda (PixieQuinnCosplay)
City: Los Angeles
Social Media: Facebook.com/pixiequinncosplay; Instagram:Pixiequinncosplay; Twitter: Pixiedust0623; Snapchat: pixiequinn92
What was your first Cosplay Experience?
My first cosplay experience was during San Diego Comic Con 2014. I had been to the convention the previous year for the first time and was blown away with not only the scale of the convention but all of the amazing costumes. So the next year I decided to do my first cosplay. I was initially going for Harley Quinn from the Arkham City video game as that was my favorite version of Harley Quinn and I am a huge gamer girl. However my outfit eventually turned out to be a complete mess (to me anyways). My boots were spot on from the video game as I got them off of a cosplay costume website however my friend and I had attempted to make the pants Harley wore from the video game and it was a complete disaster since we bought upholstery fabric and not actual fabric for leggings…I don’t know what we were thinking! So in a panic I quickly went on Amazon and got these black and red leggings that could be shipped to my house in a rush. Completely the wrong type of pants for the look. Then for the corset part of the costume that she wore I purchased a “Harley Quinn” style corset but it was completely the wrong look. So all together my Arkham City dreams were dashed due to my lack of experience. But a year later I would redeem myself at the next SDCC and have the Arkham City costume of my dreams.
How long have you been Cosplaying?
I have been cosplaying for a bit over 2 years now! I had always been nerdy and geeky but I never really had a way of expressing it since I was the only really nerdy girl in the group of friends I had. Everyone would call me weird for being overly passionate about all things pop culture. One day I was browsing Youtube and I found this girl named Traci Hines who dressed up as every Disney princess and sang their songs. Not only was I amazed at how amazing her costumes were and how she was able to literally transform herself into any character, I was inspired; I then knew that is exactly what I wanted to do myself. Really it was Traci Hines who inspired me to start cosplaying. And not only are we good aquaintences at conventions and online now but she also follows my cosplay work which really means the world to me. To me my cosplay goal is already reached, since I now have the respect of my role model.
What is your favorite cosplay you have worn/created?
This is hard! There are definitely ones that I love but are a literal pain to wear and then there are some I am proud of myself because I really created them from scratch rather than just bought them. But I think my favorite would have to be my new Gwenom cosplay I just recently wore to LA Comic Con. Not only is it comfy but it is also another one of my cosplays that I had done previously that didn’t turn out how I wanted and this year I felt I really redeemed myself with a brand new suit and some awesome face makeup.
If you had unlimited resources, what Cosplay would you create?
My cosplay “white whale” as I call it, my ultimate goal, is to do a cosplay of Anya Stroud from Gears of War 3. She is one of my favorite video game characters and I always took pride in kicking boys’ butts in Gears of War online whenever I would play, so that character has a lot of meaning to me. Her costume is extremely detailed with the COG armor that she wears. I have been talking a lot with Evil Ted Smith who has been motivating me to just get started. I haven’t worked much with foam and I know it is going to be a mostly foam outfit. It is going to be super expensive too with all of the rest of the detailing I will have to do with Worbla and LED lighting and painting most likely. I am scared to tackle such a huge project!
What advice would you offer others trying to break into Cosplay?
I would say to literally just get started and do it! I had no idea what I was doing that first San Diego Comic Con when I tried to be Harley from Arkham City and then when I learned more skills and branched out in the cosplay community and got advice my cosplay really started to take off and I ended up redeeming cosplays I wasn’t too happy with not once but twice and probably a lot more times to come. Most cosplayers will tell you their outfit is never perfect to them; so even if you think yours isn’t good, that is normal, most cosplayers are never satisfied. I would also urge new comers into the cosplay community not to get caught up in the idea of becoming cosplay famous online. I know here especially in SoCal the cosplay community is a bit competitive especially with follower amounts and who has the biggest and best costume, it can get a bit stressful, so try not to go in with too many expectations.
