For this edition of our Marvel Fandom Feature column, we showcase Cosplay Parents. The Cosplay Parents were nominated for our next feature by Jenny Riddle.
The Cosplay Parents – Steven & Millie
Can you please share some background info? How did you meet? What do you do for a living?
We met through a personal ad, and we’ve been married for 27 years this September, and we are both retired now – Steven worked as a Produce Manager and retired after working 32 years with Ralphs Grocery Co. in 2008. Millie retired at the end of 2013, and worked as a Sr. Computer Program Analyst for a community college district after 33 years.
Steven’s other interests/hobbies are cars, planes, all motor racing, and making plastic model kits. Millie likes to do arts and crafts, and sew.
Since this is the Marvel Report – what are some of your favorite characters?
Captain Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter (of course) and our other favorites are also Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Lady Sif, Agent Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Agent Melinda May, and Edwin Jarvis.
The Marvel Fandom includes people of all ages and from different walks of life. What do you enjoy about being involved in the Marvel fandom?
We have enjoyed meeting and making new friends (young and old) that share the same fandom. We were also amazed that people who saw us at the convention or other events, and through social media have embraced us in that the older generation can cosplay too, and have made comments like “#relationshipgoals.”
Through the Fandom, we also support the current campaign to bring Agent Carter back on television or cable. It’s so awesome to see all the petitions and the call to action to bring her show back; hopefully the networks are listening to us and we can get our Peggy ‘kicking butt’ again!
How did you get into cosplay?
We have one daughter who’s an eight-year cosplay veteran. She likes to make her own anime/manga/TV cartoon character and Disney mashup costumes. Cosplaying at conventions was never our goal, as that is our daughter’s forte. However, our desire to attend a Disneyland Mickey’s Halloween Party in 2014 led us to our first cosplay adventure. We didn’t want to visit in just a themed T-shirt or come in plain street clothes, so we decided to go as Carl & Ellie (from Pixar’s movie “UP”). We were very self conscious about how we looked until a young adult dressed as Russell came running up to us and was so excited to take a photo with us! It was at that moment we realized that this was something we could add to our hobbies in our retirement years.
What are your favorite characters to cosplay?
So far, we’ve only done Carl and Ellie, Captain Rogers and Peggy Carter, Mary Poppins and Bert, and Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps from Zootopia. Future cosplays are Han Solo and General Leia Organa from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, an Indiana Jones duo, and a Marvel/Star Wars Boba Fett mashup.
Do you make your own costumes or buy them?
We try to use items and clothing already in our closet or we scour thrift stores for items we can buy or modify. Currently Millie is sewing up the General Organa jumpsuit and vest. At last resort, we will buy an item but never a full costume, as the fun and accomplishment is making it yourself.
What is your convention experience?
We’ve only done two so far, one-day at Comikaze in 2015 and this year’s WonderCon in Los Angeles. The experience and reception has been rewarding, so we’re planning to do multiple days at the two mentioned and add D23 next year, along with non-convention Disney Dapper Days and Halloween Parties.
Any advice for people new to cosplay?
When we first got started we researched our characters by watching the movie several times, created photo folders of other cosplayers, and tried to find ideas we could incorporate into our costumes. We try to use items and clothing already in our closet to keep costs down, and we like to be age appropriate in choosing our characters. We would suggest that new cosplayers attend a smaller fandom convention to gain experience, but by all means just have fun. Don’t let negative comments deter you because of body type, age, or ethnicity; there are an abundance of cosplayers who are more than willing to give you support, tips, or advice.
Just be yourself and enjoy the experience!
What would YOU like people to know about you?
We’re both pretty shy and that dressing up in costume for Halloween was our least favorite thing to do. This whole cosplay thing would seem like a big stretch for us. But the fandom has been very kind to us, so we would like to send thanks to Ron ThatOneNerd for “discovering” us with his photo tweet of us at WonderCon, Shawn Richter for helping us find that tweet (since we weren’t on Twitter at the time), JustJenn for her Nerdist article about us, Julie as a role model, Jenny Riddle for nominating us for this article, and our daughter for her inspiration and love.