Comic Con, fandom, Cosplay, Kirby, Princess Daisy?
Welcome to ‘nerd culture,’ a celebration of videogames, cartoons and Anime (Japanese for ‘animation’), and an expression of digital media and pop culture.
Still confused? Emerging Technology librarian at the BWG Public Library, Sarah Petryshyn can explain.
She grew up playing videogames, regularly attends Comic Con – the Comic Convention, that draws fans of superheroes, games, Anime, Star Wars and other fantasy worlds – and enjoys Cosplay or costumed play, dressing up in costume as a tribute to a favourite character.
“Fire Emblem is my favourite,” Petryshyn said, referring to a role-playing tactical game published by Nintendo. Her costumes have included characters from the game, Princess Daisy from Super Mario, and this year, “I’m doing Zelda from Wind Waker,” she said.
“I usually change it up every year,” but admitted that, “if a costume is really elaborate, you might revisit because you’ve poured so much love into it.”
A room of full of teens turned out for Petryshyn’s first Cosplay Creators’ Workshop at the library on Monday afternoon.
The talk was all of favourite videogames and anime characters, Dungeons and Dragons, and school, as they worked on their first project: creating shoulder armour out of foam and metallic paint.
Petryshyn provided the templates, tools and materials for the free workshop, while the teens provided the creativity.
“It’s a lot of crafting,” Petryshyn said, encouraging participants to choose a pattern, and then make any changes they wanted. “There’s no rules in cosplay... There’s no way to do it wrong.”
The teens cut, glued, enjoyed free cookies and juice boxes, as they helped each other and shared tips.
“Cosplay is about sharing, and sharing, and sharing,” Petryshyn added, noting, “It’s kind of nice to be able to share with other nerds!”
And if anyone doubted that it’s a culture, they only had to listen: the music being streamed wasn’t any Top 40 tune, it was all from favourite videogames, including Kirby – a series involving a small pink blob sprite on the Planet Popstar.
“Kirby was my childhood!” said one workshop participant, as everyone in the room hummed along with the music.
The Cosplay Creators Workshop is a mini-series, meeting once a month to “tap into the nerd culture,” said Petryshyn, and hopefully inspire the participants to create a costume in time for the library’s mini Comic Con, the Free Comic Book Day Celebration planned for Sat., May 2.
The next workshops will take place March 2 and April 6, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Teens 12 and up are asked to register in advance for the free series.
Future projects could include wrist-braces, belts or even (a request from one participant), fuzzy ears.
“I’ve never done fuzzy ears, I have to admit,” said Petryshyn. “Getting creative – I love it!”
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