Heroes of Cosplay Sanctuary

How many Conventions is too many? I’ve been to two and that’s been about as expensive of a vacation as any I’ve ever taken.  I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth it to attend several every year after my 2022 experiences and I certainly do not know how anyone goes to Con after Con – some 20 or more.  In many cases, they’re not headlining or at a booth.  They’re just going to see celebrities and we...

There are some really high barriers to Cosplay.  It’s expensive, it’s time-consuming, and it’s hard to break into it right now.  There’s a feeling that you have to be a personality on the internet and circulating online in order to dress up and connect with your favorite characters.  Have the barriers gotten too high, and is it hurting the community? Find the Sanctuary on Social: With Co-Host @ast...

We love obscure cosplays, but we know that social media does not. If you’re not a major player in the community, and even if you are, the likelihood of choosing something that isn’t mainstream is slim to none.  In the podcast today, I want to talk about why you don’t, but also why you should look at what you consider an obscure cosplay as your next passion project. Find the Sanctuary on Social: Wi...

We're very excited to have FanX Cosplay Hall of Famer Shandra Mutchie with us on the show. We're talking about her many accomplishments in Cosplay, her origins, the many competitions, charities, and events that she's organized and been a part of, and we're very happy to again talk about the phenomenal group that she has co-founded to enact characters from A Court of Thorns and...

I got into the Cosplay world in 2019 and was almost immediately scammed. After that, it got better, but I finally found a space that I like to be in and it’s helped me grow a lot in skills and even made my regular career grow.  In this episode, I want to tell you why I choose the content I choose to share, what my method is, and the format for the programs and eventual products that I will offer....

We’ve talked about gatekeeping more than once.  It’s a real thing in a lot of spaces.  Creating content online in general does not have many barriers, but you’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t be) at how much permission you have to ask in the Cosplay community to do things.  There’s a lot of going behind backs, there’s a lot of “cliques” and there are groups and factions that actively prevent...

In a not click-bait sort of way, I want to take some time to talk about what the Marvel cinematic universe, backed by Disney, and other large companies could do to make Cosplay a lot less fun. What we’re talking about today is the acceleration of content in phase 4 coming out of Marvel, the drop off of cosplayers coming into the community, and those who are in it and established seem to be creatin...

There’s a big difference between creating quality content for the masses, and quality Cosplays than there is just making as much as you possibly can just to try to stay in the “game” of cosplay. Good is really defined by you, but if the only reason you’re making cosplay after cosplay is to keep it constant for the gods of social media, you might be in it for the wrong reasons. Find the Sanctuary o...

Have you thought about using a character from a book for your next Cosplay? Some of my recent guests have done amazing work with Cosplays adapted from Novels.  It's not for the beginner, but if you're looking for something to challenge your Cosplay creating skills and really appreciate the fandoms in a different mainstream media with books from any genre or era, this might be a new set o...

What skills do you need to Cosplay? None, you build them as you go.  Today I want to talk to you about why this is a good space to learn if your lifelong dream wasn’t to be a designer or videographer.  You may not have the skills in these areas but that doesn’t mean you can’t share what you’re building in Cosplay with an online community. Find the Sanctuary on Social: With Co-Host @astravoidcospla...

We're excited to have @missgreeneinthelibrary back on the show.  In this episode, we're talking about a very exclusive event coming to Salt Lake City in May presented by Book Bound Events.  With it, will be a Cosplay group that pays tribute to A Court of Thorns and Roses - which is growing in popularity and has been compared to Twilight in it's fandom. We talk about the Cosplay grou...

Let’s talk about what I think about Cosplay content in general today. I’ve been in the community for a few years and I’ve seen many changes and an evolving way in which Cosplayers have been growing their platforms and creating content.  Find the Sanctuary on Social: With Co-Host @astravoidcosplay Join Her Twitch Community ! Follow Her On Instagram Subscribe to her YouTube Channel Like, Comment, an...

With the inflation and economic issues that have come up in the last year, have we given up on Cosplay? I see more and more cosplayers selling their cosplays, reducing content, and moving away from the cosplay scene.  Even I’m scaling way back this year, not attending any cons and re-thinking my long term plans in light of the recent downturns looming over our heads.  What happens when you decide...

In today's episode we're talking with Cosplayer LiliPopeCosplay. We had the opportunity to sit down and talk about her decade of work inside of Cosplay, how she go started, and why she decided it was time to bring her work online. As a new mom, she's looking for balance in everything, but also about not being categorized as one thing or another in life - you're the sum of all y...

Wow.  Well - Twitter is still here Cosplayers.  Just when you were getting frustrated about how bad it is over on Instagram and moving to a better platform where there's still reach - it got bought and now it looks like it's taken a massive turn for the worst for the Cosplay community. Do we want to pay for people to see our hobbies and interests?  Does it just make people leave the plat...

Have YouTubers gone overboard?  Have companies gone overboard to use Influencer followings to promote their own brands and premium events? Well - I don't know, but what I see is that there's a lot of pressure on the small YouTuber, such as myself to really create a lot of meaningful, viral content.  We're up against content creators like Logan Paul, Mr. Beast, and others. Speaking o...

Celebrating and remembering Kevin Conroy today as the greatest Batman of all time. I knew him best for Batman the Animated Series, and came to love the character because of his connection.  Any time I heard him since the 90s series that I watched growing up, it would light me up and feel right to see him reprise the role in every shape and form - including video games and special cameos on a serie...

Friends, were here to catch up a bit in this Halloween Episode for the Show We're still in Season IV and we're still talking Inferno, but wanted to just make a quick video for you all and let you know the state of the show as it stands and where we will be in coming years with the show, the cosplays, the guests, and the journalism that will make HoCS something new and different in future...

If you fish, eventually you go to contests if you’re looking for a way to get competitive with fishing, but still happen to have a job as an executive.  I rarely hear about executives joining up with the PGA, but I do hear about how they get better at fishing.  So…fishing analogy. In reality, if you like what you do, then getting better at it shouldn’t be too much of an ask, but how do you measure...

Lost on content, not sure what to post, worried about engagement?  Well – today I want to talk about why it’s not really too important to constantly engage on every platform and what you might try to do if you’re feeling a little lost on what to post next – or how to pay for it (because…cosplays). You don’t need to do what everyone else is doing, and you don’t need to work at their pace either Spe...

We’re just on the phone too much. Do you remember when this was an issue because we ultimately ran up our phone bills on long distance calls?  Does anyone remember long distance calls?  Once upon a time, there was very little chance of connecting with people from everywhere. You were more or less stuck in whatever town you were growing up in.  No Facebook, no Instagram, no world wide web, and comp...

If you accept money from someone, is that someone your client?  Are they a patron?  Supporter?  Good Samaritan?  Creeper? Sponsor?  How do you define support and how is it different than providing a good or service – which is the standard way of conducting business. In the cosplay world, when cosplayers create businesses, do they really want clients? If you’re selling a product of any kind, you pr...

The time we spend with people online, isn’t really spending time with them – it’s more the time we spend dwelling on their content.  This actually sounds a lot like the kinds of unhealthy relationships that we tend to find in high school or middle school when you ‘crush’ on someone.  You don’t know them, talk to them, or really interact with them at any level, but you think you know them, and you...

I tend towards one, but often I am stuck in the reactive lane – just working to keep up no matter how hard I try to get everything done and out of the way in time for something – I thought I’d have at least one episode about what this means in the Cosplay world. Find us online: https://www.heroesofcosplaysanctuary.com/ Find the Sanctuary on Social: With Co-Host @astravoidcosplay Follow Her On Inst...

Not much to say here - we'll see you at ECCC this weekend!  Shooting in Cosplay and enjoying my time there.  I hope we'll see you - if you see the shirt or recognize the Cosplays that I have with me - come over and say hello! Find us online: https://www.heroesofcosplaysanctuary.com/ Find the Sanctuary on Social: With Co-Host @astravoidcosplay Follow Her On Instagram & Join Her TikTok...