WonderCon 2023 was wonderful. I woke up early Friday morning, hopped on my motorcycle and made my way down to Anaheim, California. After an hour and a half motorcycle ride (stopping for espresso along the way) I was ready and excited to film at the convention. I hadn’t been to a convention in a few years due to covid as well as life happening, but now I decided it was time to return to the YouTube grind and start making YouTube videos again. I just made a new video on my channel which you can check out here, leave a comment, like, subscribe, tell me how awesome I am hahaha https://youtu.be/IFxikNSs8IM ahhh shameless self promotion, I just love living in the modern age.

WonderCon 2023 Convention was a truly wonderful experience. The vibe was real, beautiful people everywhere, beautiful weather, people dressed in their best and looking to impress! The vibes at WonderCon were some of the best I have experienced! I am convinced that the retired ravers of the early to mid 2000s must have picked up cosplay as their new obsession. If you have never been to WonderCon in sunny southern California, USA; here is a little picture of what the people from around the world bring to the show. They bring the good vibes, the neat costumes and their beautiful hearts. Come next year! If you can’t afford a ticket, come and hang out outside the convention and see all the cosplayers!!!!

Cosplay is artistic expression and is a LOT of work

Costumes, makeup, hair, props, playing a character; Cosplay is all of these things. If you go to a movie set they have entire departments dedicated to each of these disciplines. There is a costume department, an art department, there is hair and makeup, a prop department, a special effects department, there are the actors themselves. When you find a cosplayer they are representing all of that and some of them do all of it themselves. Whether or not they do it all themselves doesn’t make their costume any less cool, however when you find a cosplayer that literally spent every waking hour devoted to their craft and then arriving with a look for every day of the convention it means they truly have love for the show or movie character they are portraying, they have respect for it and how it may have impacted their lives and they love the world of cosplay.

Cosplay is life giving.

For some, cosplay is just dress up, it’s just fantasy, it doesn’t matter to them. For others it is not only dress up and fantasy, but it is their lifeline. It is their connection to other people, their group, their identity and it is the only thing that matters. The characters they portray are from the stories we tell, this is truly an extension of or fables and legends. Many tales based on our history, our moral values and what we think are important lessons to teach people or make them remember in a meaningful way. Cosplay is an extension of that and for some people the all encompassing world of cosplay is a fascination that keeps them in this world. It keeps them going and their next convention is something to look forward to. People put a lot of hard work and energy into these conventions and a good portion of them do it for free. They dress up because they love the character, want to make a unique look and maybe take some pictures with their fans.

Movies Have Impact!

Everything Everywhere All At Once was a movie that reinvigorated my love of film. It touched me so deeply in its unique story and humor and I was amazed at the modest budget and small crew that worked on the film This gave me hope to become a film maker of my own someday and about a year after watching the film I have successfully worked as a camera assistant in a short horror film so I have now seen the process up close. This movie may have slightly changed my life in that it helped me realize my goals and that they are not unachievable. it was great seeing these characters at WonderCon and an honor to put them in my video.

What is the next convention?

The next convention will most likely be Anime Expo and possibly San Diego Comic Con, by then I should be using some better camera equipment and hope to have some mics as well so I can splice in some interviews. I really enjoy making these videos and am happy to be back doing it again.