Here at Bgeekyblog we have grown to appreciate the community of cosplay. There is something special about the cosplaying community that deserves more recognition for their craft. Countless hours and hard work go into the details of bringing to life beloved characters. Your gender, physical appearance or age should never hinder you from your passion to cosplay. Cosplay is for everyone.  With that ideal, we are excited to expand our highlights to the cosplay community.  We are excited to highlight Amity Cosplay.

1.) What sparked your interest in cosplay?

I’ve been a nerd since day one! In 2012, it really started to blossom when a group of friends got me seriously into the lure of… wait for it… South Park. That’s right, Comedy Central’s: South Park. We started looking at loads of fan art, Skype RP-ing as the main boys, and low and behold, at the Baltimore Comic-con 2013, we walked in with our Goodwill found South Park cosplays; with me as our favorite Jew boy, Kyle. Even though our cosplays were novice (at best) we were adored by so many fans. From that moment on, I feel completely in love with cosplaying.

2.) What has been your favorite character to cosplay?

Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood!  He has and will probably always be my favorite.

3.) What would be your dream cosplay?

You ready for a real shocker here? My dream cosplay would probably have to be Optimus Prime from Transformers. Along with anime/manga I’m subtly a comic book fanboy. X-Men, D.C, Sonic and Transformer’s were my gateway universes. For Optimus, instead of doing a mech suit, I’ve actually always wanted to base an entire suit of armor off of him. More like a Skyrim/medieval/fantasy battle armor with some pulsing LED’s for his weapons.

However, it was friends that got me into cosplay in the first place. So I have to say, that having a fully casted FMA cosplay group and just spending an entire day together, getting photos, being dorks in character and having mini RP moments would be absolutely perfect as well.

4.) What has been the most difficult cosplay for you and why?

DC Comics Selina Kyle, Catwoman. My favorite version of this kitty is from the 1990’s movie “Batman Returns” with Michelle Pfeiffer staring as this crazed gem thief. I have never worked with latex before, and with that any form of PVC leather and let me tell you—I regret that I ever did. I’ve always wanted to portray Catwoman, and with that I’ve always wanted to do it right, but the quality I want does not come close to the little experience I have. The skin-tight body suit is just the beginning of the sea of troubles, top that with the corset and that mask and your asking for some serious nightmares. Unless you make all from scratch nothing will ever fit you just right. It hard enough making a mask, but one that allows you to both breathe and fit is close to impossible. The corset bases its self from the old Victorian ages so is close to impossible to find, and you cant purchase a base or a template from any old fabric store. Last but not least…. THOSE HEELS… Its hard enough for me to fit myself into that suit without being uncomfortable, but you add 6 inch stilettos to that equation and you bet that I’ll be dead in mere hours… Regardless…. I plan to get her to a condition that is as close to perfect as I can get, it just might take a few more years.

5.) If you could reenact any scene in cosplay from any fandom, what would it be?

I’m going to jab everyone, including myself, deep in the heart and soul with this answer. If there were any scene that I could recreate and reenact perfectly it would be transmutation of Nina Tucker. This scene has to be one of the most powerful throughout the entire series, hell maybe one of the tops throughout anime. Edward has never been more human then in this moment. Realizing how helpless he was to do anything. The amount of desperation and anger that was portrayed in this scene is extraordinary. Though it can bring tears to my eyes, it’s a beautiful moment of growth in Edward as a character as well as the series.

6.) You cosplay a lot of different fandoms.  Which character (if any) would you say you relate to the most and why?

Edward Elric (I know, big surprise) would have to be the one. I relate to him the most because he and I shared a very similar childhood. I was born and raised into a military family; my father was always on deployment so my mother was left to take care of my younger brother and I. My father wasn’t really present in my younger years, and I remember I would always ask my mother why. I always tried to do what I could to help her, and for me that was consistent of raising my little brother up while she was busy taking care of the house and family. My little brother is my best friend and someone I would climb heaven and hell for. Very similar to the relationship that Edward shares with his younger Brother Alphones, I guess I was always attracted to that.

7.) If you could hang out with any character from any fandom, which character would you like to hang out with and why?

Itachi Uchiha *insert fangirl moment* *cough* Obviously, I have a bit of a soft spot for characters who are willing to give up the world for their younger siblings. But it’s a little deeper than that for Itachi Uchiha. He has to be one of the strongest characters in all of anime and, regardless if you dislike him or not, he is one of the most essential in all of Naruto, and one of the most memorable of Anime as a whole. I would love to spend a day with him just to talk to him, hear everything I could about his life, his thoughts, his morals, everything. AND~ Maybe ask to see those amazing Sharingan up close and personal ;P

8.) You’ve been to a few conventions in cosplay.  What has been your most memorable convention moment?

Katsucon 2015, I attended the Maid Café on Saturday—Valentines Day actually—as Edward Elric with my cosplay wifu as my Winry Rockbell (*cough* Elric *cough*). We had a reservation around 5:00 pm that evening, and yes I remember it all this vividly. We were seated, chatted with the server for a little while as he took our order, and she and I began to chitchat back and forth in character. After a little bit, our food was brought out and Winry immediately began to tease me. I was (and sadly still am) completely helpless to feed myself while wearing Edward’s automail. We playfully bantered back and forth until I was able to convince/beg Winry enough to feed me. It was actually a very excellent strategy, I kept frustrating her by complaining about my inability to use the chopsticks until she was so annoyed that she gave up and feed me. Even still, I kept teasing her and complaining/ insulting her for her automail crafting abilities or lack of. We began to raise our voices (all in humor) and next thing you know, we were standing up from out seats shouting at one another. She called me “Shorty,” so I reposted with “Gear-head!” and when I saw she had no intentions of backing down I decided to take action. Stepping around my seat, I brought myself face to face with her and before she could question what I was doing I pulled her into a kiss. The look on her face was the funniest mix of shocked, embracement, and hysteria. But before we even had time to blink, the entire café has erupted in applaud and screams of excitement.

We were so caught up in our little world that we hadn’t noticed the entire café had stopped in its tracks to watch us. The attention of employees and customers alike had fallen upon Winry and I. Compliments and laughter poured over us and one of the café maids came over with watery eyes, telling us that we “just made her entire Katsucon!” People asked us if it was planned, and they were genuinely surprised when we told them that we just loved to embody the characters while we cosplayed and it kinda just happened. We left that café with an entire crowd of fans behind us—it was the best moment of my life!

9.) What advice would you give to people who are just starting out or getting back into cosplay?

Ho’boy, this is a loaded one… I’m just gonna bullet 😛

• I don’t care what color your eyes are, hair is, skin is, how big you are, what gender you are, how tall you are, or what people tell you. If you love a character throw your heart and soul into them and cosplay!

• Don’t be ashamed of buying cosplays, or commissioning it. Many of mine are actually store bought – I’ve just recently gotten into making my own and there is much to learn. There is just as much honor in working your ass off for the money to afford the cosplay, as there is in making it yourself.

• Accept failure and don’t be destroyed by it – learn from it. Cosplay is hard; it’s painfully challenging at times and if you’re too afraid to “mess it up”, to “waste money & time” or to “not be perfect” you’ll lose your passion for the hobby. There is a kinship in sharing the “good and the bad” with other cosplayers so don’t be scared.

• Research your wigs and research your contacts (especially your contacts) – The most expensive thing is not always the best but neither is the cheapest. Join Facebook help groups, chat on forms and just see what other’s have done. You can also always ask people at cons! Most people like being helpful ☺

• Don’t be afraid to truly embody the character. There is no shame in truly roleplaying the character when you are cosplaying them. It’s half the fun! When I’m Edward Elric your damn right that I let the name “short” piss me off and people LOVE IT when I run after them yelling “WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT?!”

10.) You are known for your incredible Edward Elric cosplay from Fullmetal Alchemist.  What about his character drew you in to cosplay him and what was the hardest part of his costume to make or acquire?

You know, funny story, at first I refused to watch FMA cause I thought it was going to be lame, and that the story behind it would be far to exaggerate. Damn was I wrong. To keep it simple: Ed loves Al more than the world.  My brother is my closest friend and sometimes feels like my only family. My dad wasn’t always there when we were kids. He was in the military so deployment took him from our family for months, sometimes even a year or so. My mom was left to take care of the house and us, so I tried to help her out as much as I could. Raising/Taking care of my little brother was my most important job.

Chemistry major: Yeah, I’m a comic/anime nerd, but I’m also a Forensics major. I find the human body to be incredibly fascinating. So a show based on the chemistry of the human body almost seems like it was written for me. On the flip side, I really like the cross of science and religion of the show: I grew up Roman Catholic; yet fell in love with the sciences. My life is an interesting scale of faith and scholastics and I love finding the few points of intersection between the two.

The most difficult part?

THE AUTOMAIL! My partner in crime, Nicole, and I have made a total of 4 automails. Each time they improve in one way but challenge us in another. By Otakon 2017 we will have yet another one completed and it’s our hope to maximize both comfort and functionality in this version. At some point I will defiantly be making the automail leg as well, but I’d like to perfect one before the other.

11.)  You cosplay a lot of well loved and heroic characters like Edward Elric, Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake.  If you could create your own heroic character, what three personality traits would they have?

Inner Strength, never falling from their path in life

Compassion for those that are important to them

Being a humble sex bomb 😉

Having compassion can be a difficult thing because it can bring the closest bonds, but when abused or broken it can leave a huge hole in the heart. That’s where the inner strength comes in. It takes strength to keep faith in people. When we’re betrayed or hurt, we want to close ourselves off. Kakashi and Minato, for example, were betrayed by circumstances out of their control, yet they were still willing to lend a helping hand during every moment. And being a sexy fangirl slayer would just be too much fun 😛 I can’t help myself.

Thank you Amity Cosplay for doing this cosplay highlight with us.

Please make sure to follow Amity Cosplay at:

@amitycosplay on Instagram

AmityCosplay on Facebook

Photography Credits:

Banner picture and another picture of same background: @_kjhphotography_

Rin and Kakashi picture: @officialemcp

Minato with a Kunai: @coolsteel27

Minato and Kushina: Vander the Generalist

For most of the cosplay pictures: @nikkiscosplayphoto