Heroes of Cosplay Sanctuary

Welcome to Season 4 : Inferno!! Here to talk about his new book, Cosplay : A History – The Builders, Fans and Makers Who Bring Your Favorite Stories to Life, is author Andrew Liptak.  Andrew has an amazing book out in stores now and we're here to talk all about his writings, how he came to create this fantastic book, and his observations on Cosplay as a long time member of the 501st Legion.  ...

We're here friends!  The final and 100th Podcast episode of Season 3 : United.  And the 250th Podcast! I'm very happy to say that we'll be back for Season 4 next year, and there's a lot to to between now and then. Many updates, large projects, and so much going on. Also - I wanted to take this episode to talk about the wear and tear that Cons have on us. A few tips for you on h...

It's about time that I talked about Cosplays at C2E2 this year. Today I'm talking to you about what I observed in the Cosplay space, at the competition and in general with Cosplays this year.  There was a lot going on, and congratulations to all of the competitors, it was fantastic and wow - really wonderful work everyone! Of course, a big shout to @jedimanda and for signing her book for...

We are continuing our talk on C2E2 today.  How the Con went, what we did, and how it was to be back at Con.  Fun for sure, and more space than usual.  Listen in and get my thoughts on this year's event! Find us online: https://www.heroesofcosplaysanctuary .... Find the Sanctuary on Social: With Co-Host @astravoidcosplay Follow Her On Instagram & Join Her TikTok Community! https://linktr.e...

This week, we're re-capping a little bit on C2E2, which happened just this weekend.  Sad that it's over, but it was such a great time.  This week, I'm going to give you a bit of an overview, and talk about the event and those pieces that I was able to get to this weekend.  There's always too much, even for 3 days, but I'll do my best to tell you what went on. If you'r...

Friends, we made it!  We've reached the end of the Season on YouTube and we'll have one more week of re-cap episodes here on the Podcast to talk about C2E2 and what's going on there this weekend. They say that you make 100 crappy YouTube videos before you start to get the hang of it. Though my guests have been the greatest and I appreciate them all, one thing that I know is that I h...

We’re Going to C2E2 !!   This is the talk up C2E2 episode, which means the end of the season is here As of the end of this season, we’ll have created 100 YouTube videos and 250 podcast episodes, which is well beyond anything I thought I would make back in 2019 when I first went to c2e2 and started the whole journey to Cosplay and what I could offer the community. Find us online: https://www.heroes...

Don’t get used.  This can happen a few different ways at a Con, and in brief, you want to be careful, but not paranoid about Con-behavior. Let's talk about what to look out for at Cons, and how to have a great time while being mindful of those things that can go on at Conventions that could leave you having a bad experience, or even leaving the community. Find us online: https://www.heroesofc...

Promotion at a Con can be tough.  There are seas of people, and a lot of options. Whether you have a booth, or it’s just you going – if you want to get noticed and network here are a couple of tips from a Marketing perspective. Promote as early as possible – many Cosplayers put ‘next Con’ info in their bios, but few have too many pre-posts about going to a Con.  It’s just the weekend of and you se...

The Con-essentials episode.  What do we need for Cons, what’s essential to being at a Con, and what do I even mean by essential – because there’s nothing essential about going to a Convention, unless it happens to be your livelihood. Fun – if you’re just stressed, just trying to meet deadlines, just prepping everything to be on display, you’re missing something essential. Find us online: https://w...

PART TWO of TWO - go back to listen to Part One here . This is the wrap up to last week's overexplain where we talk through the original trilogy, and prequels.  In this part, we cover many of the finer points that come up with the newest trilogy, many of our thoughts on the franchise, and how all of this relates for us to Cosplay and the storytelling that surrounds the industry. I have with m...

We've been talking Star Wars for nearly 2 weeks, and as a change of pace, we're looking into questions that have come up in my mind as I've been going deep into the fandom.   Your time, money, and resources are all going into Cosplay – and now what? Is Cosplay an investment? Is any hobby an investment? An escape – is it all just about escapism, networking – what is it for you really...

How did Heroes start, where did it come from, where is it going? Is there a rise, so to speak, of this brand, and what it will do in the future?  Will I spend time and resources building it when I know that there’s little chance for success?  We went over the likelihood of creating a large channel, or online presence – it is an uphill battle. What can we provide, where will we go, and how will it...

What’s the final Cosplay going to be?  How does one go out in grand fashion, and will it matter?  Will anyone even know? Or care?  In the Last Jedi – it wasn’t really about the last Jedi. It was about one final act by one Jedi. It seems there will always be more Jedi.  There will probably always be more Cosplays because there will always be more movies to create characters from – costume design is...

When you decide to be a Cosplayer, there's a moment when you make a choice with Fandom and what you want to build and share with it.  For me, it was back in 2019 before the Podcast, before the YouTube channel...I found my way into the world of cosplay.  From there, I just needed to find out how I was going to contribute in this space. Here's the story of how I got into what I got into, a...

PART ONE of TWO This week, we've been talking about Star Wars and we've been talking about Cosplay and the conflicts inside of us, and the world of Cosplay as we wind down this season which I've been calling #united I have with me @melbournesuperman whom you can find and follow at the links below: https://linktr.ee/Melbournesuperman You may remember him from last season: https://www...

What do we do when we have the high ground in Cosplay – when we gain momentum? How do we use it?  Do we wait, do we hope for someone to recognize our effort, or do we just stay the course? Where do the Prequels fit in the grand scheme of Star Wars?  Do they really fit – besides giving Disney an easy segue into new content that can weave in and out of all the episodes? Are we going to see a complet...

Jedi was my least favorite of the first 3 movies, but the one I watched the most. It was conclusive. Becoming a Jedi meant something back then Does becoming a Cosplayer now mean less than it used to?  Is there less of a path, less meaning behind having someone teach you things – do Cosplayers have basically the same road map that Luke has? Crappy training, learn what you can, make it up as you go...

Star Wars Episode V is the best, in my opinion. No main character deaths. There’s a massive plot twist – which generally we do not see in sequels – can you name sequels that have mega reveals or plot twists like Empire?  What do we like about Empire? Is it one of the greatest sequels and stories of all time?  Does it make an impact and has it stood the test of time?  Will it be overshadowed by wha...

What can we symbolize and celebrate and do we or are we too busy trying to cultivate attention? This week, and next :) we're going to be talking about Star Wars.  Everything about a Fandom that started for me a long time ago... What can Star Wars tell us about Cosplay, and was it the first time that Cosplay became mainstream? Everyone scrambled to theaters in 1977 to see this movie and some s...

We’ve talked about Yaya’s book all week and covered the first 4 sections – feel free to listen to the Podcasts that summarize the book Buy the book – Yaya’s really great about getting it to you right away. She signed it for me and even included a signed print. Above and beyond. In this final section, I think it covers the most ground of any section of the book.   It goes over really how Yaya Han w...

In today's episode, we're talking about Yaya Han's book and the Duality of Cosplay that she covers in the 4th section. It goes over really how Yaya Han went from Cosplayer to Business Owner and developed partnerships, protected intellectual property, and in a short amount of time saw a lot of growth professionally. Results not typical – but it reinforces my statements on the show –...

We're continuing with our review and coverage of Yaya Han's book with the 3rd section which talks about the creative process of Cosplay.  This is really the part where I "got it" and really started to understand Yaya's perspective on Cosplay.  This is the part of the book that made me want to be better at creating my own works inside costume design, makeup, and characteriz...

In this episode, we're continuing our look through Yaya Han's book and covering the second part of the book which goes through the history of cosplay. She goes through her journey over the years and how she got started – all the ups and downs Recent history in Cosplay, but also a brief on costuming throughout history, which I thought was great to include Cosplay pillars – Sewing and Armo...

This week we're talking about Yaya Han's Book and everything that it contains. Every day we're covering a section of the book, which is broken into 5 main parts. Part one is called the World of Cosplay, and it serves as your introduction to Cosplay and to Yaya Han Her origin story is very unique, and definitely not what I thought. Learning that she’s from Germany and immigrated here...