Our exploration of the stars of the cosplay world takes us this time to the San Francisco/Bay Area, catching up with Roxanna Meta. She’s been one of the Big Three of the NorCal cosplay scene for some time, and last year made a huge splash (puns intended) with her gender-bent Aqualass.
Q: How long have you been into cosplay?
I’ve made costumes as long as I can remember, though I started cosplaying movie characters in 2003, and started cosplaying at comic conventions in 2007.
Q: How did you first get into cosplay (did you go to a convention/event initially out of costume then get into it later, or did you burst onto the scene fully costumed and ready to roll)?
Ready to roll, more or less! The major draw of the convention scene, for me, was costuming. Of course I’m now totally into comics, but originally I mainly loved the idea of having a reason to dress to the nines beyond Halloween. A few of my friends (Winken Goodfellow, Psykitten Pow, LTC America) tempted me into it, because they were starting to go to cons and I wanted to be one of the cool kids ; )
Q: Are you a fan of comics/film/tv as well, or was it the costuming that first attracted you towards being a cosplayer?
Cosplaying movie characters was my gateway drug – my first several costumes were Captain Jack Sparrow, Guinevere from King Arthur, Jadis from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Rogue from the X-Men movie. After movie Rogue, I went headlong into comic costumes.
Q: Do you have a particular character or type of character that you like to play? Is it an appeal of their costume to you, or to the character itself?
I appreciate your asking this question as if both answers are valid. Some cosplayers get elitist about only cosplaying characters that they love and have a previous attachment to, but honestly because my love of comics stemmed from my love of costuming and not the other way around, I am first and foremost drawn to aesthetics. I generally make a costume because I like the way it looks, and I’m attracted to characters because I like the way they look… Although often, I grow to love the characters for their personalities as well, and my costuming benefits even more from that in the end.
Q: Do you tend to roleplay in costume to some extent, or are you your normal self in the costume?
Yes, I like to roleplay a little bit. Nothing like the sheer dedication you’ll see in my friend Tallest Silver, who throws herself in wholeheartedly and almost never breaks character; but I like to put the edge of a character’s personality into the way I act. I hold myself differently depending on the character, the tone of my voice is different, etc. I don’t go all out, but I like to really feel like the character. Gives me a real connection and I think it makes the costume look better on me. I hate seeing a slouchy Wonder Woman, you know?
Q: Do you create your own costumes? If so, what was the biggest challenge of getting into costuming? Did you have any help/resources, or did you just grab a sewing machine and glue gun and go for it?
I do create my own costumes, and over the years I’ve learned to make more and more from scratch as opposed to modifying pre-existing pieces, although I still do both. I more or less jumped in. I had been given a wonderful sewing machine that I never learned how to use, and being determined to make awesome costumes made me determined to finally learn how to use it. Actually I’m grateful for this hobby having taught me how to sew! I’m learning all sorts of useful skills. Sewing spandex is a huge challenge and still something I struggle with. I have great friends with lots of knowledge though, particularly the amazing people at the Superhero Costuming Forum, and Mia Ballistic, who’s a theatre costume designer. By the way – I had never used a glue gun until I got desperate late one night while I making my Aquaman belt, and Mia convinced me to just hot-glue it already!
Q: What kind of advice would you give to others who are getting into costuming, or thinking about making their first outfits?
Don’t feel bad about buying pieces, but make them your own! Do It Yourself a little something, and next time you’ll Do It Yourself a little more, and your skills will grow organically. Don’t let feeling unskilled stop you from putting something together and going out and having a good time. You don’t have to be Yaya Han straight out of the gate – that’s an unreasonable expectation and not worth you holding yourself back!
Q: What do you think about kids at conventions who come up to you thinking you’re actually the character (or does that happen as often as it seems)?
It doesn’t really happen too often. Of course I love when a kid knows and loves the characters – like when a little girl said Green Arrow was her favorite hero, or when I’m wearing Batgirl and I’m approached by a little girl who’s also wearing a Batgirl costume. That’s cool. But mostly I think kids just like seeing adults in fanciful, colorful, exciting costumes. They usually don’t know enough about the characters to mistake me for the real thing; they just like playing dress-up and pretend! And in some ways, I don’t think kids necessarily differentiate between real and pretend. If I’m Batgirl, I’m Batgirl, and they’re not going to spend time worrying whether I’m “the real thing” or not. Alas, our brains become wired differently as adults and we place too much import on whether something is true or “only” imagined…
Q: Do you have any stories that you’d like to share from your convention travels?
I did have a little girl become obsessed with my Polaris costume at Dragon*Con 2010 – she didn’t know who I was, of course, but she loved the outfit. It turns out that was because her favorite color was green! She was wearing a Tinkerbell costume, herself. She stared at me in awe and I crouched down to talk with her. As we chatted, she insinuated herself onto my lap, cuddling up close, wrapping her fingers in my green wig. “It’s so green… your hair is so pretty… so green… greeeeen.” She was mesmerized. I had to basically untangle her when her parents wanted her to go. I wish I could have taken her with me!
Q: What kind of advice would you give to someone who’s about to go to their first convention in costume (for either guys, gals, or both)?
Once again, I’m gonna go against common wisdom here. A lot of costumers tell you that it doesn’t matter how you look in a costume, you should be able to wear anything you like. But honestly, I think you should take a hard look at yourself in the mirror before going out. Have a friend take some pictures of you (practice posing! very important! get your good angles!) and examine them. Tweak the costume to suit yourself, don’t be afraid to make design changes – comic artists do it all the time. Wearing something unflattering in public could very well end up ruining your con experience, either at the time or when looking at the photos online afterwards. But wearing something that looks good on you will give you a huge confidence boost and make things extra bright and exciting for next time!
Q: What are your thoughts on the current state of cosplay at conventions? Is the demographic changing, are the costumes improving or declining, are there more people into it or fewer, and just on the events themselves – are they more cosplayer friendly or less these days?
More cosplayer friendly, definitely, as is the world in general (although there are still a lot of people who think we’re freaks). There are more cosplayers at every kind of convention, and with more cosplayers comes higher quality costumes. And conventions are much more crowded – just take SDCC, which when I started I could still walk up to and buy a ticket the day of! The only downside is the abundance of models and such who are hired to wear costumes, or who do it for the attention. I hate to sound like a purist, but it’s so much nicer when someone does it for the love of the hobby and not purely for a chance to dress skimpy.
Q: What’s your favorite event of your annual calendar and why?
My two main events are WonderCon and SDCC. I love WonderCon because it’s local to me (except this year, as they’ve moved across the state, hopefully temporarily, for renovations to the original venue). It’s a good size, not too overwhelming. But then I love when SDCC rolls around and it’s COMPLETELY overwhelming – my girlfriends and I take a road trip, absolutely destroy our feet in our costumes, rush from one thing to another for four days straight, and have a total blast. Comic-Con is maybe my favorite time of year!
Keep track of Roxanna’s adventures and her costume lineup for this year’s events at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Haus-of-Meta-Roxanna-Meta
[nggallery id=5]
Fill out your spandex with ComicsOnline.com for more Cosplayer Spotlights and everything geek pop culture!
