I was scrolling on Instagram as one does, and I saw news that The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood was being adapted into a movie. I read The Love Hypothesis in 2021 when it was released, and loved it. Ali Hazelwood is one of my favorite authors, and I have enjoyed every book she has written. To say that I was excited for the film adaptation would be an understatement. The cast was also revealed, with Lili Reinhart posting on Instagram with The Love Hypothesis. Lili is playing Olive while Tom Bateman is playing Adam Carlsen. I can’t wait for this movie.
The Love Hypothesis was inspired by a Reylo fan fiction story. For those who have no clue what that means, Reylo fan fiction is short stories where Rey and Kylo from Star Wars end up together. I’m not here to shit on what other people love, but I am not a fan of Reylo. Kylo Ren is not a good person, and I find Reylo fan fiction glosses over all the evil atrocities Kylo’s done. If there were any Star Wars fan fiction that I’m in favor of, it would be Finn and Poe. Anyway, reading The Love Hypothesis and the way the characters are described, Olive has brown hair, and Adam is tall, dark, and broody. This tracks considering what I just said.
Interestingly enough, Tom Bateman is married to Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in the films. With The Love Hypothesis’s origins, I find it hilarious that Tom is playing Adam and is married to Daisy in real life. I have no idea if that played a role in Tom Bateman getting the part of Adam, but that feels too perfect to me. The other ask I’d like from this movie is for Adam Driver to have a cameo. I don’t care where he is in the movie, but he needs to be there. The budget for the film may not be able to afford Adam Driver, but I think it would make the film even better. Quite frankly, throw Daisy Ridley into this, too. It wouldn’t be too much to ask, considering her husband is one of the leads.
I don’t think I have been this excited for a book-to-movie adaptation in a long time. The Love Hypothesis absolutely deserves a movie, and I cannot wait for this movie to have a release date.
Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent is a short novella that takes place in the Crown of Nyaxia / Obitraes world. Obitraes is the main setting of the Crown of Nyaxia series, which is a series that I love. It’s vampires with wings, what is there not to love? With the Crown of Nyaxia books and romantacy books in particular, they tend to be hundreds of pages. Six Scorched Roses is 187 pages and takes place between Serpent & The Wings of Night and The Ashes & The Star Cursed King. For being less than 200 pages, Six Scorched Roses has no business being as good as it is.
Lilith is dying. Her town of Adcova was stricken with a plague by Vitarus, the god of abundance and famine. Lilith is desperately trying to find a cure for the plague to save her sister, Mina. Lilith stumbles upon Vale, a vampire from the House of Night. He agrees to give her his blood, and Lilith provides him with roses in return. Vale is intrigued by Lilith and eventually agrees to loan her his research and other academic books. Lilith faces a challenging concept: she knows how dangerous Vale is, but she needs him, and Vale comes to terms with the fact that he needs her, too.
I flew through this book. I felt the pacing was fast, and everything was set up quick. Lilith and her disease, meeting Vale, asking for Vale’s help, moments where Lilith and Vale started to fall for each other, Lilith and Vale hooking up, and eventually, Lilith risking everything to save her sister. This book didn’t waste any time, and everything was succinct. For Lilith and Vale, I thought they had great chemistry together. I didn’t find the story to be rushed; instead, any extra scenes were cut, and it showed only what was needed to. I liked Lilith as a character. She’s a scientist by heart and dedicated to her cause. Vale was moody and lonely, and Lilith brought out things in Vale that he had long since buried. I wouldn’t mind reading other novellas starring Lilith and Vale throughout the moments of the Obitraes books.
I have no notes; this book was everything I needed it to be. I’d love to see more authors writing shorter novellas set in their fantasy worlds. Not everyone has the time to read hundreds of pages. I rated Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent five stars on Goodreads.
I remember watching Man of Steel the summer after my first year of college. I didn’t mind the movie, but a common critique I saw online was that Man of Steel didn’t feel like a Superman movie. There were discussions about the tone of the film and how Henry Cavill’s suit was darker than the usual bright blue and red suit from the comics. As a comics fan, I like how each era of superhero films has its own take on the characters, and Man of Steel’s take was a grittier, more realistic superhero if Superman were to exist in the real world. James Gunn’s Superman film was under considerable pressure. If this film were bad, it would be a terrible way to launch his DC movie universe. It’s safe to say that Superman was a delightful take on the character, and I’d ride or die for Krypto specifically.
Superman (played by David Corenswet) revealed himself to the world three years ago. During a fight, Superman is defeated and crash-lands near the Fortress of Solitude. Saved by Krypto, Krypto drags him to the Fortress, where he’s exposed to the sun and is partially healed. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult) discovers the Fortress and gathers additional information about Superman that he can use to take him down. A video is revealed where Superman’s parents tell Superman to take over Earth. Superman feels he has no choice but to give himself up to Lex. Lex imprisons Superman in a pocket dimension where his true intentions are revealed, including helping to start a war in another country to make a profit and defeating Superman.
For the most part, I never had any doubts over the casting choices for this film. David Corenswet has the look of Superman, and I found he had natural chemistry with Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnahan). The only casting choice I was a little torn over was Nicholas Hoult. Granted, I thought Jesse Eisenberg was a mis-cast for Lex, so that set me up to be a little more picky this time around. With that said, Nicholas Hoult was phenomenal, and as soon as he threatened to kill Krypto, the whole theater gasped. How dare he kill Krypto. Nathan Fillion played Guy Gardner, and that bowl cut is horrendous, even though it’s comic book accurate. Mister Terrific (played by Edi Gathegi) played a huge role in this film and is instrumental in breaking Superman out of the pocket dimension. The cast made the movie as great as it was.
Let’s talk about Krypto. Krypto acts how you would think any dog with superpowers would act. During the climax of the film, there’s a scene where Krypto breaks into a pet food store and is eating biscuits and treats. How cute is that? There’s another scene where Krypto viciously attacks Lex, and Superman tells him to put him down. To be fair, Lex did imprison Krypto, karma is a bitch. It reminded me of the scene from The Avengers where The Hulk smashes Loki around. Krypto’s look is really scrappy. He isn’t this perfectly manicured dog; he looks like a dog you would adopt from a shelter. I like that a lot. Krypto is so well-loved that there was a 500% surge in dog adoption interest after the movie was released. Krypto was a highlight of this movie.
There were a few cameos throughout the movie that were fun. Peacemaker (played by John Cena) was being interviewed on TV. Rick Flag Sr. (played by Frank Grillo) is one of the political players that Lex talks to when trying to get approval to attack Superman. For those who haven’t watched Creature Commandos, Rick Flag was animated, but not seen in live-action.I think the most surprising or least expected was the appearance of Supergirl (played by Milly Alcock). James Gunn is working on the Supergirl film now, and I think Milly was a good choice to play the character. I love how she’s off partying in outer space, and Krypto is misbehaving because of that. It also means that Krypto could appear in her movie too, and I’m here for it.
Another thing I read online was how some people hated Superman because they felt it was “too woke”. First of all, I think it’s perfectly fine if some people (like myself) liked this movie and some didn’t. That’s a part of being a fan of anything. With that said, comics are political. I hate to break it to you, but comics have always had political messaging throughout. Captain America punching Nazis. The X-Men are fighting for mutant rights. Superman is an immigrant. I always laugh whenever I see this pop up again in various fandom spaces. Comics have always been political; hell, Star Wars has been political. If you didn’t notice the message, that’s on you because it’s always been there.
I would not want to be James Gunn. The amount of stress of trying to relaunch a movie franchise sounds awful. With that said, Superman was a solid start, and I thought it was worth it to see in theaters. It gives me hope that DC can finally have a successful and solid film franchise.
A Court of Mist and Fury is the second book in the ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) book series. I read the first book, A Court of Thorns and Roses, in 2023 while I was in Europe. I liked it, but not enough where I wanted to rush into reading the second book. I was contemplating whether I wanted to continue the series, and shortly thereafter, I received the box set of the series from my father-in-law. If you’re wondering why my father-in-law reads a smutty fae series, his response would be, “None of the Amazon reviews told me this series was going to be so pornographic”. My father-in-law is not on BookTok / the book side of TikTok, so he was out of the loop. Anyway, he gave me the box set of the series that he bought, and here we are. I read A Court of Mist and Fury, and I feel like this book redeemed the series for me.
Feyre is trying to rebuild after what she endured under Amarantha’s wrath. She’s fae now, and she’s trying to understand what weight that carries. Tamlin has been pushing Feyre to get married, and her wedding date quickly approaches. Right away, she recognizes differences between herself and Tamlin, and when she walks down the aisle, all she wants is out. Sure enough, Rhysand hears this through their bond and whisks Feyre away from her wedding. In those weeks, Rhysand teaches her to read, and Feyre can take a breather. Through Rhysand, Feyre realizes that Tamlin has hidden so much from her and that a war is on the horizon.
A Court of Mist and Fury blows ACOTAR out of the water. This book was much more interesting. I liked reading about the Night Court and Velaris, this secret city that Rhysand protected. I liked hearing about Rhysand’s court, including Mor, Azriel, Cassian, and Amren. I would ride or die for Mor. Give Mor her own series! I found myself reading hundreds of pages in one sitting and getting completely lost in this portion of Prythian.
I liked Feyre more in this book than in ACOTAR. She seems to have matured, and I liked how she wanted to pursue knowledge. She saw through Tamlin, putting her in a box as a wife, and that’s it. Towards the end of the book, she knows what she must do and how she will try to fight back to save Prythian. Feyre grows a lot as a character throughout the book.
I can’t talk about this book without talking about Feyre and Rhysand. I don’t think I am as obsessed with them as other fans are. I think Feyre has been through so much, and it would be good for her not to be matched with someone else so quickly. I felt that throughout the book, it took away from their romance. I don’t mind them together. I wish Feyre had had moments on her own, and they would have gotten together in the third book.
With all that said, there were a few things I noticed that irked me. Can Sarah J. Maas, please stop using females and males in this series? I had to change this in my head to either lady, woman, or something else. I get it, fae aren’t human, so maybe woman or man isn’t correct, but female, really? There’s one quote where a character is describing losing the love of his life, and the quote says, “losing the female I love”. Am I the only one who doesn’t like this? I must be because I don’t see this mentioned in any other review I have read. Another thing I noticed was the description of Feyre being so skinny. Yes, her trauma is causing her to lose weight, and that’s accurate, but it was described enough where I’m like, okay, that’s enough.
The last thing I wanted to mention is the amount of sexual violence that is in these books. I have talked about including sexual violence in media before, specifically regarding Alan Moore. I can’t ignore this in Sarah J. Maas’s books. There’s one character who, in her backstory, is beaten because she was no longer a virgin. It’s not just this character; Feyre experiences her own abuse in ACOTAR. On top of that, it’s hinted at that in fae society, females (again, not my choice of words) are seen as lesser than and are there to provide pleasure to males. It gets to a point where this book and series teeters on the line of where this is a bit much. I felt this towards the end of ACOTAR with all of Amarantha’s trials and what Feyre has to go through. There are plenty of ways to build hardship into the women in your story without it being sexual violence. It seems like Sarah J. Maas relies on this as a plot device. I will be fully transparent in that I am sensitive towards sexual violence. If it’s in a book series, I tend to avoid that series altogether. I wonder if this is something that’s in every Sarah J. Maas series, or is it specifically in this one?
With all that said, this book was a page-turner. I am curious to see how this series plays out, especially with that cliffhanger at the end. I rated A Court of Mist and Fury three stars on Goodreads.
I have mentioned Twin Cities Geekthroughout my blog posts. Twin Cities Geek is an online magazine that’s local to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul), along with the suburbs surrounding the cities. I started writing for Twin Cities Geek in 2015, and my first article was published on July 15th, 2015. I have written a few articles since then and have tabled at the Twin Cities Geek booth at a variety of different local conventions. I wanted to share how I started my journey writing for Twin Cities Geek and what writing for this online magazine has meant to me.
I found out about Twin Cities Geek through a random Facebook post. The post indicated that the website was looking for contributors. This wasn’t a paid gig, but volunteer writing experience. At this time, I had just launched Bizarre Brunette, and I was specifically looking for more ways to get my writing out there. The process was simple; I had to send a piece of my writing, so they could see what my style was. When remembering back to this moment, I can’t remember any more specific details. Once I sent everything in, I was given clearance to start picking what I wanted to write about.
When I initially became a contributor, I was going to write for the Fit Geek section. The Fit Geek Section is how fitness, exercise, and health can intertwine with geeky topics. I wrote for this section for a bit, but fell out of love with it. It’s hard to pinpoint an exact reason, but to summarize, I found a lot of toxicity within the health and wellness space, so writing for this section brought a lot of that up on my end. I moved into other categories, and now find myself writing about local businesses, reviewing books, and coming up with topics on a whim. Twin Cities Geek has opened my horizons as to what I like to write about, which is one thing I have learned from the last decade.
When I first started writing articles for Twin Cities Geek, they had to go through a ton of editing. I’m not even kidding, I had to rewrite whole sections. The editors were kind, but honest, and had a lot of good feedback for what I submitted. Throughout the years, my articles would take a lot of time to write with all the back and forth between the editors. Now, I can write an article, and maybe have to change one thing before it gets posted. It shows how my writing has gotten better over time. It’s funny, I’m going through and editing my older posts on Bizarre Brunette, and some of the posts are cringy. The way I wrote did not flow well, especially when I read the posts out loud to myself. I noticed how much better my writing is, and that’s because of Twin Cities Geek.
Reflecting on these past ten years with Twin Cities Geek, there’s a lot I want to say. Besides improving my writing, Twin Cities Geek has allowed me to table at conventions. I love tabling at conventions! It’s high energy, and a two-hour shift flies by. I enjoy talking to people who may be new to the Twin Cities area or are curious about geeky events that are happening. Another benefit of writing for Twin Cities Geek is that it’s a great resume builder. I have had job interviews ask me about Twin Cities Geek, and it has led to interesting conversations.
Writing for Twin Cities Geek is something I enjoy. It’s become a hobby of mine, and I continue to learn so much about writing and editing. Here’s to another ten years of writing!
I debuted a new cosplay at CONvergence this year. I am proud of this cosplay for a few reasons. The first is that I used clothes I already had in my closet. It goes to show that cosplay doesn’t always have to be an extravagant costume. The second is that I loved this character for so long, so it was fun to cosplay as her. I cosplayed as Moonshine Cybin, from Not Another D&D podcast(NADDPOD). I wanted to share how I put the look together.
What made Moonshine more difficult is that there isn’t a standard look for her. Unlike characters from Critical Role, where they have an exact look, Moonshine isn’t that way. By scrolling through NADDPOD’s art prints for purchase, there are so many different looks for Moonshine. On my cosplay Pinterest board, I found a look where she has red hair, overalls, and has Paw Paw (her pet possum) stuffed into one of the pockets. Once I saw the picture, I knew that’s the look I wanted to achieve.
In going through my cosplay dresser, I found these overalls that I used from my Mario cosplay back in 2013. As far as a shirt, I didn’t have a shirt that was an exact match. As I looked through everything, I found this white and floral swimsuit top. I put it on underneath the overalls, and I thought “this was perfect”. It was going to be hot that weekend anyway, so I knew I would stay cool all day. I found a red wig that wasn’t too red, nor was it too orange. I styled my hair in braids, which I felt fit Moonshine’s vibe.
Picking what shoes to wear was tougher than I thought. When I think about Moonshine, my mind immediately goes to cowboy boots. The more I thought about it, I didn’t want to buy cowboy boots because when would I ever wear them again? Cowboy boots aren’t my style, and I’d hate to buy one pair of shoes for one cosplay. When I was browsing, I found these green rainboots. I don’t have a pair of rain boots currently, and I liked the color. When I put them on, they fit immediately with what I pictured for Moonshine. For the staff, it’s the same staff I use when I cosplay Keyleth. The staff comes in two parts, so I broke the staff and took the portion with the green gem on top. The final piece was the mushroom crown. A big part of Moonshine’s background is her fungal spores, which she uses to communicate with the other characters. This mushroom hat sealed the look and helped bring Moonshine Cybin to life.
If I’m being honest, I didn’t expect anyone to pick out that I was cosplaying Moonshine. While NADDPOD is popular, I wouldn’t say it’s as well-known as Critical Role. I was incorrect. I had several people come up to me asking if I was cosplaying Moonshine, and that they liked my cosplay. I heard someone say from across the room, “Is that Paw Paw?”. The theme for CONvergence this year was tabletop gaming, so that could have helped in making my cosplay more recognizable.
I am excited to wear this cosplay again! I like how I already had everything in my closet, so it made this cosplay much easier to pull off. This is a go-to cosplay for CONvergence since it’s perfect to wear when it’s hot outside. I’m glad I could check off Moonshine from my characters I’d like to cosplay list.
When I go to CONvergence, I almost rarely spend money on merchandise. I’m usually busy throughout the con, whether that be listening to a panel, going to a live show, or walking around. I forgot that the Dealers’ Room is there, except for this year. I wandered around the Dealer’s Room, not looking for anything in particular, and ended up finding something I wanted to purchase. I wanted to share my haul from the con.
Distilled
Distilled was the game I won from the raffle. I had no idea I was going to win and entered only because someone stopped by to hand us board game raffle tickets. Distilled was one of three games you could enter to win, and the only one I recognized. It’s funny how things work out, since I demoed this game at Gen Con a few years ago. It was like it was meant to be.
CONvergence T-Shirt and D20
Out of all the times I have been to CONvergence, I have never bought any CONvergence t-shirts. I noticed that I have a ton of t-shirts that are more form-fitting, which works if I want to wear a t-shirt out or if I want to wear a t-shirt to work under a blazer or a cardigan. With that said, I wanted to have more comfy, oversized t-shirts on hand for those times that I’m around the house cleaning, reading, or playing video games. I bought this shirt because I liked the design, and playing TTRPGs is something I love, so this shirt fits into that. This shirt has an oversized fit, which is exactly what I was going for. They were also selling D20s for only $7, which I thought seemed cheap, so I added that to my purchase.
Lotions and Fragrance Sprays
I walked by Moxie + Babs‘s booth several times. All the products were displayed in an organized way and there were several tester bottles with strips, so you could spray the fragrances and smell them. I like how there are a variety of different scents, from something sweet or floral to something a little more neutral. With lotion, I always find that lotion comes in such big bottles. I like having smaller bottles of lotion, so I can switch up the lotions I use. After talking with Babs, the owner, I found out that we live near each other. She told me that she has a local pickup option, so I could order online and pick up my order without having to pay for shipping. That’s so convenient! I linked her website for those who are curious, but I can’t wait to use what I purchased.
It’s not a big haul by any means, but more than I spent other times I went to CONvergence. I’m wearing my CONvergencet-shirt now, and it’s comfy. I might start purchasing more t-shirts, so I can have oversized, comfy shirts to wear as I write out my blog posts for the week.
I was at CONvergence last weekend, which is always a blast. I look forward to CONvergenceevery year, and it’s always a highlight of my summer. I counted, and this is my 9th CONvergence. While I have attended CONvergencenine times, I always either learn something new or think about something I want to do next year that I didn’t have a chance to do this year. This year, I went to a photo meet-up, won a board game in a raffle, and debuted a new cosplay.
CONvergenceis a four-day convention, although I go for three full days and skip Sunday. Sunday is my day where I recharge my social battery. Since I live close to the Hyatt Regency, I don’t reserve a hotel room. With the constant commuting and high energy of conventions, I need a day to unwind. On Thursday, I volunteered at the Twin Cities Geek table like I usually do. I spent four hours talking to geeks and handing out free swag that we received. From my time at the table, I always get people handing me badge ribbons. Badge ribbons are big at CONvergence, and once you get a badge ribbon, you stick it to the end of your badge. I always have several ribbons by the time the convention ends, and usually it’s because I’m talking to people who happen to have badge ribbons with them. Thursdays are the chillest day because I’m only at the con for a max of four hours. I don’t want to get too burnt out too quickly.
Friday is the day I’m at CONvergencethe longest. I always arrive in the morning and don’t leave until 11:30 PM or later. After volunteering for Twin Cities Geek, I went to a cosplay photo meet-up. I didn’t start doing this until last year, but at CONvergence, there are several pre-planned cosplay meet-ups. They go for an hour, and it’s where cosplayers can get professional photos taken. Photos are uploaded two or three weeks after the convention ends. This year, I went to the Marvel photo meet-up as I cosplayed Scarlet Witch. I cosplayed as Scarlet Witch at Planet Comic Con this year. The only difference is that I was able to find a copper red wig to wear. There were two other Scarlet Witch cosplayers, and we were able to take a selfie together and have our photos taken. I can’t wait to see how the photos turned out!
Besides the photo meet-up, I played at one of the Badwolf Adventure Studios tables. I tried a new TTRPG that I have never played before called Monster of the Week. I would describe Monster of the Week as Scooby Doo meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The system itself is easy to learn as it utilizes two six-sided dice for every roll. Our table was high energy, and I liked being able to sit back and watch the story unfold. The session was two hours, which flew by. Towards the end of our session, someone came to our table and offered us raffle tickets. I entered to win a copy of Distilled, which is a game I demoed at Gen Con. I was not expecting to win, as I saw the number of tickets in the jar for this game. Several hours later, I got a text saying I won the game! I can safely say that Distilled is a heavy game to lug around for several hours at the con.
After gaming, I went to two panels. The first panel was tips for how to be a good Gamemaster (GM). Five panelists shared their experience with GMing a variety of systems, including one GM who had experience putting together a LARP (live-action roleplay). They took questions from the audience, which helped tailor the discussion to topics the audience would be most interested in learning about. I have always wanted to be a GM, or I think it would be fun to be a GM for one game. If I were to GM any system, it would be Vampire: The Masquerade or Call of Cthulhu. I like Dungeons & Dragons,but as a system, I’m not passionate about telling a story within that system. The second panel was a cosplay-themed panel where panelists discussed their costuming horror stories. This was an easy panel to listen to, and the panelists were knowledgeable but engaging. Some of the stories were hilarious, and the panelists themselves kept it lighthearted.
To end the day, I went to two comedy events: the first featured several comedians with their ten-minute sets, and the second was Vilification Tennis. Vilification Tennis is an event I never miss. It’s where comedians will stand up and insult each other. The insults are downright diabolical. This show is inappropriate, hence why it’s always at 10:00 PM on a Friday. After Vilification Tennis, my plan was to wander the party rooms. However, my wig headache was wearing on me, and I had my new copy of Distilled that I didn’t want to lose, so I left shortly after the show.
On Saturday, I debuted a new cosplay. I had been putting together this cosplay for a bit. I cosplayed Moonshine Cybin from the Dungeons & Dragons podcast, NADDPOD. I am so excited about how this cosplay came together. I’m going to break this down in a later post. After my volunteering hours at Twin Cities Geek, I went to the Geeks Without God panel, which is a live recording of the podcast. Geeks Without God has been a long-running podcast, but I didn’t start listening until last year. This episode was about AI, and the guests included a college professor and someone who works in publishing. I liked hearing the perspective from the professor, as it shows how much has changed since I went to school. They covered a variety of different topics, and the episode itself was fascinating to watch. After the panel, I was exhausted. For next year, I’m going to arrive on Saturday later in the day. I wanted to stay and go to the party rooms, but I was tired. Friday was a long day, I woke up early to get ready, therefore I left earlier on Saturday.
CONvergence was so much fun. Besides arriving later on Saturday, I want to commit to volunteering at CONvergence. As mentioned, this is my ninth CONvergence, and it’s about time that I pay it forward. I won’t miss anything if I volunteer, and for me to enjoy the con for all these years, volunteers made that happen. I’d like to be able to make that happen for someone else. Additionally, I’d love to get back into being on panels. I was a panelist several years ago, and I keep missing the cutoff for signing up to be a panelist. Those are my goals for the next CONvergence and the one after that.
By the time this post is published, CONvergence will be over. If all goes well, I will be debuting a new cosplay and improving on a cosplay I have done in the past. One of my go-to CONvergence cosplays has been Red Riding Hood. Red Riding Hood is a simple cosplay. It’s the red hood, a white corset shirt, a black skirt, and the basket. The basket serves as my purse for the day. It’s bulky to carry around, but it holds so many convention essentials. I thought for my next cosplay reflection post, Red Riding Hood would be fitting since it’s a cosplay I have worn at CONvergence before. Red Riding Hood has become a cosplay staple for me.
Red Riding Hood is a cosplay I rent. Through word of mouth, I found out about someone who was advertising renting costumes. They had a variety of different costumes including Snow White, Leia, Wonder Woman, and other costumes. They used to have a Facebook page created for their business, but when I went to link to it, it looks like it was deleted. One of the cosplays I would rent the most was Red Riding Hood because I knew the cosplay fit and it was comfortable. As far as cost, it would depend. It depended on whether I would wear it to multiple conventions, how long I would keep the cosplay for, and how much was I renting. It’s hard to put this into an exact dollar amount. I can confirm that I never paid more than $80 for one cosplay.
With my cosplay reflection posts, I will break down each cosplay based on a series of prompts. Why did I choose this cosplay? How easy was this cosplay to put together? When did I wear this cosplay for the first time? Do I still wear this cosplay, and would I cosplay from this fandom again?
Why did I choose this cosplay?
This cosplay was presented to me versus me choosing to cosplay Red Riding Hood. During one of my costume consults, they suggested Red Riding Hood and once I tried it on, I knew that this was what I was going to rent.
How easy was this cosplay to put together?
This is the easiest cosplay because I didn’t have to put it together. The costume and the accessories were handed to me. I didn’t have to put any effort into this and once I was finished wearing Red Riding Hood, I simply dropped it off at a designated time.
When did I wear this cosplay for the first time?
I want to say the first time I wore this was CONvergence 2023. I scrolled through my convention photos and that was the earliest photo I could find.
Do I still wear this cosplay?
Yes! As long as it’s available to rent. I usually cosplay as Red Riding Hood for both CONvergence and Gen Con. This year will be different since I’m not going to Gen Con. Additionally, I already have my pre-planned cosplays for CONvergence and Red Riding Hood is not one of them. However, it doesn’t take away from the fact that I love this cosplay. Hopefully, I can wear this cosplay before the end of the year.
Would I cosplay from this fandom in the future?
This is a challenging question to answer. Red Riding Hood isn’t a part of a fandom, really. Red Riding Hood is a fairytale, so are fairytales considered a fandom? I don’t think I can answer this with a simple yes or a no. I think Red Riding Hood has inspired me to cosplay in a different way. Cosplay doesn’t have to be creating a costume that ties back to a character from a specific medium. It could be anything! It could be putting costume pieces together and creating a new character in costume. Red Riding Hood was part of the process of cosplaying in a different way than I was used to.
Red Riding Hood is one of my favorite cosplays and it’s been nice to cosplay this over and over again. It’s also great that I can rent this costume because it leaves more room in my closet for my other cosplays. I’d highly recommend renting a costume if you can. It’s a way to be thrifty and to cosplay without costumes taking up as much space.
For the first time in my life, I am not actively looking for a TTRPG group. I never thought I would say that, but here we are. I have spent a majority of my time searching for groups, so it’s kind of shocking that I finally have reached a point where I’m at my max of what campaigns I can make time for. I am in three campaigns right now, including the new Vampire: The Masquerade campaign I joined. This group is the same group I played Candela Obscura with, but instead, we switched to Vampire. The concept of this campaign is fascinating and I wanted to share more about it.
This campaign takes place in the Twin Cities in the 1920s. Most of my Vampire playing experiences are stories that take place in the current day. The fact that this takes place in the 1920s will be neat. I did a lot of research to create my characters and what would be realistic during this time period. This campaign will be interesting because we will be creating two characters. The first character would be the sire, an older vampire. The second character would be the vampire our first character created. This concept is fascinating to me. There’s a lot of back story that needs to be created. Why would our vampire choose this person to turn? What motivates them? What are the differences between this older vampire who is less attached to humanity versus the vampire who was just turned and still wants to keep their humanity? These questions were at the forefront of my mind when writing everything out.
There is still a lot of finalizing I need to do, so I won’t share much more than that. The only thing that I will share is the clan and I chose Tremere. Tremere is the clan of Blood Sorcery and notably considered blood witches. I have only played Tremere in various one-shots, so this is my first time playing a Tremere in a longer form campaign. I like paging through the sourcebook and learning what blood rituals I can learn. There’s one ritual that I’m working my way up to and it is NASTY. It’s a good offensive ritual to severly injure someone and I can’t wait to level up enough to unlock it.
I am curious to see how our sessions develop! Once I know more about my characters and their back stories, I will be the first to share it here. I can’t believe I’m in two Vampire: The Masquerade campaigns simultaneously after I went so many years without playing the game once.
Bizarre Brunette 