Conning Loki

Its Halloween weekend. Across the country, the world, various Film and Comic Conventions are taking place. In London MCM was help (and is ongoing at the time of writing this blog) and is one of the larger cons in the London area at time of year. It coincides with the October school half term so there are a lot of parents in attendance with their children over the 3 days.

However, as the title may suggest, this is not the main focus of this post. This post is looking at a particular character and how he (it) has evolved over the last few years. I assume most of you are familiar with Loki, in either the Mythological sense or the Marvel retelling. So I won’t offer you a history lesson and insult your intelligence.

On Friday, 28th Oct 2022 (for future reference) I attended MCM London dressed as Loki. My reasoning was fairly simple. Its an easy, but effective cosplay and I enjoyed the dynamic. And also, with the horns, instantly recognisable. Or so I thought but that is another blog post.

When I got there, I noticed a few Loki cosplayers, and I was excited because you are never sure what will be popular for any given day. I enjoyed walking around and got stopped a few times and asked for photos. Which is incredibly sweet and something that always makes me feel like an impostor. When I headed outside I got called over to a group of Loki cosplayers who were insistent that they wanted photos with all Lokis that they could find. The atmosphere was great and seeing how everyone had created a different version while still being essentially Loki was also a fun element.

In the afternoon, there was a call for Marvel coplayers for a photo op – I had a Loki come and tell me he was trying to ensure that there are as many Loki’s there as possible. It looked while we would out number all the other cosplays. And indeed we did, we had fun chanting that Wanda is a villain, placed dead center as morally ambiguous (fair) and chased a TVA Agent cosplayer. We all agreed that the Thor cosplayers were deliberately avoiding us although opinion divided on whether this was actually fair.

Now, a comment was made that we outnumbered the Spiderman cosplayers. No matter what day of the Con you attend, it is fairly clear that there will be a lot of Spiderman cosplayers and they will always be having fun, potentially with a Deadpool or 3 in tow. But not on this day, not only did we outnumber them, we bought a lot more energy to the table. We had fun channeling our inner Loki and caused mayhem.

Loki and Spiderman can be played in a similar fashion, playful, irreverent, outspoken, but the reason that I am happy to see more people play Loki is that you have so much more room to make the character completely your own. With Spiderman as an example, there are already variations and so you will be put into a box. Are you Peter Parker, are you Gwen, Mary Jane and so on. With the tv series of Loki we have introduced the idea of endless possibilities for a character. And moreover, as a woman, this is a character that can almost be seen as gender neutral in so much that you are not gender bending the character, you are just offering a variation.

If that isn’t something so liberating, I don’t know what is. It is cosplay at its purest and its best.

Cosplay by Beth

In a recent show, I talked about Cosplay, I love cosplay, and embrace the fact it has become more mainstream. I follow a few cosplayers on line – I love seeing the process and the costumes they come up with. There is a different level of interaction with different artists, and I approached a couple to gain some insight to their experience of cosplay and the community. One of the cosplayers I approached was Beth Yuka. Beth is a British cosplayer, the only one in this line up! Sorry guys, next time I will drag some more local artists into the love in! Beth is cute as a button, and so sweet! We met through wigs – but I really love her attention to detail and the fact that she shows the entire process. It gives you a glimpse into what it takes and the skill involved.

Beth is a really sweet person, go give her Facebook page a like for gorgeous costumes, some great art work and possibly posts dedicated to noodles. I can’t promise poetic dedications to noodles… but I am sure if you ask Beth nicely! Anyways, enough of my waffling, this is what the lovely lady herself had to say !

 

1. How did you first get started in cosplay
2. Why do you cosplay?
3. What are your favourite aspects of cosplay
4. How do you find the community
5. How do you select a costume – do you go for ease, comfort, do you consider your body type
6. Do you design and create your own costumes? And do you stay true to the source material or ‘inspired by’ designs?
7. Have you ever faced any negativity while in costume or in the wider community?
8. Have you ever faced or found yourself in an unsafe situation?
9. Tips for staying safe and having fun while in cosplay?!

1. I first got into cosplay back when I was 12 years old, I didn’t fully know about cosplay at this time but I was a textiles student and I had begun making bags and pillow cases ect and I was getting really into video games, anime and sci fi at this time too. I remember when I was around 14 planning out to dress at Princess Peach for Comic con in London but because I was 14 I wasn’t allowed to go.
2. I cosplay to become awesome characters. To leave behind boring Beth and bring to life Korra, Lady Loki, Thor or whoever I want to be. Also it gives me a pretty good reason to own a load of wigs.
3. My favourite aspects would be a majority of the community. They’re very loving and welcoming and accepting of anyone. I also love the fact that there are companies out there who have pre made costumes for people who don’t sew or build/craft like me. It means it’s available to everyone.
4. The community for the most part is great, there are a lot of people who are very supportive of you and the costumes you make/wear and will give you advice if you need it. However there is a side that’s become more apparent as cosplay ha gotten more popular and that’s the ugly side of it. There are a lot of people who will put others down for no reason and that can be really off putting for a lot of new comers but it’s all a game of just ignoring the haters (lol). You need to be tough and prepare yourself because there are people who will be dicks for no reason.

1. I don’t really have a process of selecting costumes. I mainly just fall in love with a character and want to be them so I go ahead and make that costume.
2. I sew/build all of my costumes, I’ve never bought one. I also like to stay true to the source material however I do enjoy seeing steampunk versions or armoured version and even mashups too, I’ve just never gotten around to making one.
3. I personally haven’t faced it yet but I feel it’s inevitable. At one point I think someone will start following my page and sending messages telling me I’m ugly and my skills are bad but I don’t care. I do it for me not to please them.
4. I haven’t found myself in bad situations before but I’m also a very safe and cautious person when it comes to conventions and what not.
5. Be part of a group, and make sure that the group are your friends. Whenever I’ve been in costume to a convention I have been in a group with people who care about me and help keep me safe. Also never send pictures to people over facebook, tell them that if someone wants to do business so photographing/doing a shoot then make sure you use email as it’s more professional and you can keep emails as proof just in case something bad happens. And something that every cosplayer in general should know is to always carry a bottle of water with you. If you’re in heavy armour it can get hot and in the summer it can only get worse so drink water and keep yourself hydrated. ❤