Note: We will have a blog up with a gallery of photos from the con later today!
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Hey, everyone! This is Tatiana (aka Momo Bunny Cosplay), the newest photographer on the Kansas City Photography team. I was asked to shed some light on my experience at Naka-Kon and my cosplay construction.
Here I am cosplaying Viktor Nikiforov from the award-winning anime “Yuri on Ice.”
I’ve been attending Naka Kon since 2009, back when it was based in downtown KCMO with 1,500 or less attendees. It’s touching to see the first anime convention I went to grow and evolve as my cosplays have over the years. Now, it is based in Overland Park, KS, and the attendees almost reached 9,500 people! YOW-ZAH!
Some of you may be wondering: “what the heck is cosplay?”
Let me break it down for you!
Here’s the technical definition (thanks, Google):
cos·play
a contraction of the words costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character.
Here is a photo I took at the Kansas City Photography photobooth of Caitlyn Rook cosplaying the White Queen from Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland”.
Cosplay, to me, is an art form. I have unlimited outlets to create (sewing, welding, sculpting, thermoplastic, makeup, wig styling, etc.) — and endless possibilities of characters to choose from! Sometimes, it can be putting an outfit together to create a characters image:
Above is a photo Christine took of my Prompto cosplay from Final Fantasy XV! Although I purchased all the pieces of this look, I styled the wig, detailed the vest with studs and patches matching the character, and used fabric paint to create the undershirts design.
Another awesome Prompto cosplayer above!
Each year, there’s always a favorite anime or character that you see EVERYWHERE! Naka was flooded with Prompto’s since the voice actor for him was a guest at the convention (Robbie Daymond). Cons will often have special guests (voice actors, actors, artists, famous cosplayers, etc.) to draw more people in.
Oh, look! Another Prompto!
It was amazing being able to meet so many talented and kind people at the booth. This was my first time getting a taste of the vending life at a con, but it was a lot easier to connect with people being in one location vs wandering the halls.
Above: Check out Christine and I from Saturday as Punk versions of Sailor Venus and Chibiusa from the Sailor Moon series! We took concepts from the original character designs, such as Sailor V’s signature red bow and Chibiusa’s buns and pink obsession, and put our own spin on things for a unique costume design!
It’ll take weeks to months — even YEARS — to create a cosplay for an event such as Naka Kon, so I give everyone out there mad props (haha… props) who came to our booth to capture their works of art on camera!
Above: Featuring Madison Hankins from Akarii Cosplay as Neo from RWBY. She creates all of her cosplays herself! AMAZING!
Naka-Kon is a welcoming, happy place where I feel safe to talk to strangers and connect through the love of all things nerdy! I recommend anyone who feels shy or uneasy about expressing their interests to go and make friends! It’s impossible to NOT to find someone to share your fandom with and create wonderful memories.
Above: My niece Nya as Vocaloid Miku! Naka is a family-friendly event and I love that so many children have a way to express themselves in a safe, positive way.
Joining Kansas City Photography has opened up a whole new world of possibilities and fun times ahead! The Con season has just begun, and I’m excited to see how my photography and cosplay can inter-loop again.
A silly photo to end a memorable weekend. Lolita style!
