The weather is cooling. You've put on a comfy sweater for the first time in months. The sun sets sooner and you have the unshakeable urge to drink something warm and comforting... Autumn is finally here! While Halloween is just around the corner, many of us cosplayers are just winding down from con season. Instead, we wanted to celebrate autumn with our favorite fall tradition: hiding under a blanket and re-watching some beloved Halloween films and shows. Of course, this must include an appropriate warm beverage pairing!

The first recommendation comes from me - Sherri. Without fail, when the leaves begin to change color, I am always reminded of Over The Garden Wall. This animated series from 2014 has a hold over me - at least for 2 hours, it's short! - every autumn. With its nostalgic music and art style, Over The Garden Wall is the perfect rewatch with a cup of mulled wine.

While the show is set initially on Halloween night, it is a celebration of the entire season from the autumn harvest to vibrant forests, without losing that characteristic ghoulish touch. From the start, brothers Wirt and Greg encounter ominous creatures and characters and events that are simply unexplained - like skeletons who dance around wearing pumpkins as heads. 

As each episode introduces increasingly bizarre scenarios, the underlying question pushes the plot forward: why are they on this journey? Mulled wine is the perfect drink to pair with this rewatch. Savor the complex flavors as you contemplate the complex mystery and its references to classic literature and mythology.

Our next recommendation comes from Lani. It's no surprise that Lani has Monster High playing during the month of October. Just check out her amazing cosplay of Clawdeen! 

In 2010, the Monster High doll line was released to great success due to its trailblazing characters modeled after monsters, myths, and legends. Their edgier fashion and the diversity among characters made the dolls an immediate hit. Now with over 700 dolls, several reboots, shows, films, books, and even video games, Monster High is an undeniable phenomenon.

The media for Monster High follows the lives of the spooky students as they navigate everything from everyday teenage problems to supernatural adventures. Throughout the series, the main cast discover who they are and learn to embrace their differences. Another mainstay is each character becoming more confident, more fierce and fearless. Monster High makes for a fun and motivating watch, especially with anything pumpkin-spiced in your hands! 

P.S. Lani breaks down the diverse personalities of the Monster High ghouls!

From Mengshu, a truly classic autumn rewatch is The Addams Family. This iconic family will no doubt put you into the mood for Halloween. 

Of course, start with the beloved 90's live-action films starring the unforgettable Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia as Morticia and Gomez, and a young Christina Ricci as Wednesday. Whether it's Morticia and Gomez modeling the epitome of romance, or Wednesday stealing the show in The Addams Family Values, this pair of films are true cult classics. 

Next, venture into the original TV series from the 60's. Even in 2023, the original series still holds up to its successors. Its historical context highlights the sharp satire of that typical 20th-century American family. From there, whether it's the animated renditions or Netflix's Wednesday, the Addams family always celebrates embracing who you are. 

For your drink pairing, an unconventional family deserves an unconventional beverage. Mengshu recommends cozying up with a nice cup of chai - spicy, and yet, soothing.

Last but not least, Ashley comes in with a slasher classic - the Halloween films with Michael Myers. Starting as an indie film with the debut of Jamie Lee Curtis, the Halloween franchise now fittingly has thirteen movies in total. 

Start with the original 1978 film. It is truly a masterpiece that stands the test of time. The amount of dread you feel from just a man standing, creeping, appearing in suburbia is simply invigorating. The fantastic score enhances the atmosphere and introduces us to the iconic theme song. 

Then, it's dealer's choice on where you go from the sequels to the reboots. This franchise has come back to life more times than Myers. 2018's fresh take begins with true-crime podcasters visiting Myers in prison. 1982's Season of the Witch is an entire movie focused on a side plot where the villain is not Michael but a toy company. 

With Michael Myers gracing your screen, Ashly recommends hot apple cider, a drink to contrast the crisp autumn air and that never-changing blank mask.

Let's celebrate autumn with our favorite tradition: hiding under a blanket and re-watching some beloved Halloween films and shows. Of course, including an appropriate warm beverage pairing!

Our favorite fall re-watches and beverages to go with them!

If you've been cosplaying, then you'll probably have heard of the name "Roger Senpai" or read one of his blogs. Roger is a cosplayer based out of Toronto, Canada. He's best known for his cosplay blog, the Senpai Blog, where he gives a ton of helpful tips, advice, inspo, and resources for cosplayers. I was thrilled to chat with him today and hear more about his story, how he got into cosplaying, and blogging. 

Do you mind sharing a little bit about your background? Where did you grow up and how did you get into cosplay?

Yeah, for sure. My name is Roger Senpai. I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. I've always been into the geeky stuff, like video games and I'm still getting used to using a webcam. I first got into cosplay when I went to my first convention called Anime North, and it was really cool. My first time going, I thought it wasn't so cool to be a geek back then. So naturally, I didn't cosplay at first. But over time, I met some friends and they got me into it. I guess that's how the story goes. Then I got into the cosplay community, I get some cosplays and help out other younger people, and I just wanted to do it all year round. So I actually started my own cosplay group and I did my own cosplay events. I have my own website: rogersenpai.com, so I can help other cosplayers not just in Toronto, but around the world.

I love that! And how long have you been in the community? What would you say has kept you there?

I'd say at least 10 years in the cosplay community. It's cool to see everything sort of changed.  Like back then cosplay was really niche while it's pretty much mainstream now. It's like a really big industry. What's kept me to this is the people and like I just said, I'm a geek, so it just naturally comes to me and yeah, there's honestly a lot of really good people in the community as well. That's partly why I've been in it for so long.

What would you say is your favorite thing about cosplay or the community, or the thing that really comes to mind that brings you happiness?

I'd say the fulfillment. Like holding the events, it just always feels good when you do an event and get people to meet each other. I got to meet so many friends and I had so much fun at this cosplay event as an organizer. It's very fulfilling to me to hear positive feedback from the cosplayers. I guess if I went to a goth event, I wouldn't understand some of the jargon that they use. So it's the same way with cosplay and the anime world. When you're in the cosplay world, it's easier to explain stuff to people, and they will understand what you're going to say.

You mentioned the cosplay events. Can you tell us a bit about the different types of events you hold and how you got started?

Yeah, so I started with just the casual. Just the cosplayers hang out and do some activities casually because there are only limited conventions happening in the city, especially now with the pandemic. So I want to give people more opportunities to cosplay and to meet other cosplayers as well. I started with the picnics, and then over time, we got more experience so I added stuff into the picnics like scavenger hunts and crazy events. We actually did one thing called watermelon smashing, and it's pretty cool. I have so many videos of the watermelon smashing and I will send them to you. It was pretty fun. Oh, we have karaoke nights, too. Those were always fun.

What would you say is the one thing that the cosplay community could improve upon? Or that you wish they would get better at?

Um, I'd say keep an open mind. Because there's a lot of accusations going on, there's a lot of times where someone thinks one thing, and that happens to be another thing, and leads to a lot of drama and stuff like that. So I think it's good to keep an open mind and try to stay away from the troublemakers. And one of the main features of the cosplay community is that it's very open to all sorts of different subcultures. I was reading a scholarly article about how cosplay can be built on subculture within a subculture.

Moving onto your blog. Can you share a little about what motivated you to start your own blog, and how long you've been doing that?

Of course. I was always into writing. One of my organizers tells me that I'm really good at writing event descriptions, so I thought it might be a good idea to write a blog, and then I just decided to start my own little WordPress blog by writing a few posts. Then later, I got my own website, and it's even better now because I get to interact with people from all over the world who read my blog. The first one was a little tricky because I made so many mistakes in writing the blog and I got some likes, yet some hated it. But over time, when I get more experience and look back to the stuff I did a few years ago, I've definitely improved a lot, which was a nice thing to have. And I can say my writings have gotten a lot better, too. So I definitely enjoy keeping the blog, because not only do I get to help cosplayers, but I also get to grow from it.

You mentioned the mistakes, so if you could redo this, what are some things that you will do differently to avoid those?

Back then I used to just write about whatever I wanted. When I was on my blog, some people agreed with me, some disagreed. I really just try to keep an open mind and make sure how would somebody feel if I said this. Would it offend anybody, or is it the right thing to say? Or there are some topics in the cosplay community that people prefer not to talk about, and it's definitely a learning experience. And also, writing wisely too. 

How do you decide what to write about nowadays? And where do you get your inspiration from?

I guess it's a kind of a balance between what you like to write versus what people are actually searching for. So I try to meet in the middle. Recently, I wrote an article about wigs, which I'm not too familiar with. But there's a lot of people searching for this, so I'm gonna try my best to help out. Even I wasn't too familiar with wigs, I had a cosplay expert friend who was really good. And for any question that people are typing on Google, I would ask her like how do you detangle a wig or something like that? She gave me a whole list of instructions, which is nice. And sometimes, as long as I think it's an interesting topic or something big, I wrote. It also has to do with SEO, too. When people go on my website, they search for wigs. So I'm like, Okay, I should include a topic about it.

Got it. You mentioned SEO and like I said, a ton of your blogs are at the top of the search. Can you share a bit about the top SEO things that you do? Or how much work is it to get your blog to that spot?

I try to be a little different. Like, I don't want to repeat what other people have said. So just take up space, I guess. And people want to find information really fast, so that's why I only do a lot of listicles because I want to summarize the points for them. My wig article, for example, was about 10 most frequently asked questions. So it's like bite-sized pieces. I would say don't give them everything. When I go on to Pinterest, they give the entire information on the pin. I'm like, wait, that defeats the purpose. You want them to click your site, then you don't want to give them everything at the same time.

Some cosplayers may be thinking about doing a blog. What would you say? What are the things cosplayers would have to know before thinking about monetizing the blog? And where does the revenue come from?

If it's just for fun, they could do it for free. They can just start off by doing a WordPress website. But if you're like I want to monetize and yeah, that's a completely different story. It takes a lot of commitment. Like, you got to be in it for the long haul. Because if you're okay with no one reading your articles for at least six months, then you're good. You cannot expect instant results, especially with blogs. So I would recommend just to try out for six months to see if you like it. For any website, there are different ways like affiliate marketing, advertisement, selling products, and sponsorships.

What has been the hardest thing about running your blog? And then on the flip side, what's been the most rewarding thing? What goal are you hoping to get to with your blog?

I'm kind of a people pleaser, so I like satisfying people. And when you put yourself out there whether it's like YouTube, running a blog, or a website, you're never gonna make everyone happy. So it's definitely hard when you have good intentions, then someone takes it the wrong way, and they completely blow it up. Also, it's always hard to stay consistent all the time. But I try my best. For me, the most rewarding is when somebody shares my blog post, or I feature cosplayers on my websites all the time, and they get so happy when I feature their cosplay photo on my website. And I always feel fulfilled by that. And for my goal, I'm hoping to reach way more people through my website and get me to work with people affiliated with the cosmic community. That's something I always wanted to do. So talking to you is also getting me there.

Check out Roger's blog here: The Senpai Blog

Here's the story of how another cosplayer made cosplay a part of their lifestyle. I hope this chat was helpful for those of you who are just getting into cosplay or who are thinking of doing it more seriously. We have more conversations coming up and if there's anyone you particularly want to learn from, just let us know!

We love to hear about how people are fitting their passions into their lives and if you'd like to share yours, give me a shout!

If you've been cosplaying, then you'll probably read one of Roger Senpai's blogs. His blog has a ton of helpful tips, advice, inspo, and resources for cosplayers. We chat about his story, how he got into cosplaying, and blogging. 

Merrlia Cosplay is a medical student living in Romania. She has an incredible passion for cosplay and increasing cosplay accessibility in Eastern Europe. During this conversation, Merrlia discusses what keeps her cosplaying, the cosplay community in Romania, and how she gives back through commissioning.     

Do you mind sharing a bit about yourself, your background, and how you got into cosplay?

Well, I'm Merrlia and I'm 22. I'm a medical student in nursing. In my free time, I do cosplay, I sing, I write lyrics and stuff like that. But cosplay is my main hobby. And I've been doing it since 2017. When I was a child, I would always make those clothes for my dolls, and stuff like that by hand. I couldn't spend a day without doing something creative. And, frankly, my dad got me into the PC world. And some years later, I saw a random ad for a con, and this is when I actually got to know about cosplay. And this was so nice because I was wanting to do it for like two or three years before but I didn't have the guts to do it. I first did attend the festival here in Romania. It was a cosplay/Japanese-themed event. And there were these nice cosplayers from Bucharest, and they showed us their costumes. They do the parade in the mall. And this is how I got to do it. 

How did you get started with making costumes?

Well, my mother was a seamstress. And one day, I just dug out the sewing machine and I started sewing because before that I was using my hand to sew and that was okay, too. And this is how I got into doing my own costumes. I tried doing trial and error. Because when you're self-taught you always learn from your mistakes. And my mother recommended to me that I should get glasses. I shouldn't use the sewing machine because the needle will break and it will get into my eye but that just talking because I broke so many needles and neither one of them broke into my eye. So it was okay.

That sounds great. And can you talk to us a little bit about what has kept you in cosplay since you were 17?

That's a pretty interesting question because I've tried countless hobbies, and I would always not be interested in them. I tried singing, I tried playing guitar. But I always went back to cosplay just simply because I could do anything I wanted. In terms of creating, I would have my own liberty of choosing whatever I want. I would bring stuff to life literally creating stuff from games that I couldn't have in real life. Simply because where I live in Eastern Europe, you couldn't buy those things from a local shop, for example, you had to do it on your own.

I see. So it's really about that creative aspect and getting these novel things that you can't get elsewhere. And can you tell us a bit about what is the cosplay world like in Eastern Europe?

There is a limited number of people that are in the community. There are new people every year. I don't know if they take it very seriously, but that's okay. Cosplay is a fun hobby. After all, you should have fun first. We have our own community, and we share secrets, we share our work in progress. We are like a huge family and we know each other very well. We even create costumes for one another or help with props. I've helped people in the community with some props. They're basically the only ones I've built commissions for. Now I'm really ready to do commissions for people outside my country. But I do offer a 50% discount to people in Romania because they are my family and because there's people that wants to do cosplay, but they're afraid. And this is how I can encourage them to get started. I help them with something here, I help with something there, mostly small cosplay commissions, but it gets them started and makes cosplay less scary. 

You mentioned that you do commission work, Can you share a bit about how you first stepped into the commissioning world?

The most important thing when I accept a commission from someone is that I have to be sure I can do the project. Because if I don't have the skills, then I'll just let the person know that they can go to someone else in the community because there are more people that are more skilled than me. Or I just give them advice on how to do it, or how would I think what to do. This is the first step to know that I can make it happen to know that I have the tools and I have the means.

Do you remember the first commission that you took? And how did that process happen? 

I started doing commissions in 2018. I started by doing necklaces. Then after I made a few, I started to do rings, jewelry, accessories and so on. And when I was more into cosplay, I started doing more intricate, more time-consuming projects. That's when I started to do garments.

What has been the challenging parts for you as a conditioner and running your conditioning business?

You know that when seamstresses work, they usually go and call their clients and say, Oh, you have to come and take a fitting for me. Well, this was the problem for me, because I couldn't see the person who I was supposed to do the garment for. And to the first client, I actually asked them to send me a t-shirt that would fit them. So I could take the measurements and do that. Frankly, I don't have to do that anymore, because I discovered other techniques to do the fitting. I asked the clients to do their measurements like everyone does. And after that, I make the pattern and then I modify it so I could use it. 

You mentioned you're a med school student right now. Do you want to go down the medical path and have this as a side business? Are you trying to do this full-time? And what bigger goals do you have for yourself?

I kind of have a safety net with this university right now. I'm really scared that I would hurt someone if I go to the hospital, to be frank, but I want to work in a laboratory. I've been eager to do so since I joined the medical school and just do this as a job or either I go to the second University, I learned marketing, I learned fabrics, I learned everything I need, and I open my own business. But it's gonna be such a stressful situation if I want to do business here because we don't have a very open market in Eastern Europe. What is gonna happen? I think in 10 years, that customer is going to be a great deal here, but only in 10 years. This is why I want to build up my skills and be ready when that time comes.

We hope this conversation has helped you get a glimpse into ways to support yourself through cosplay but also help the community flourish. We will be hosting more conversations with cosplayers, makers, and more. If you would like to share your story, please get in touch with us!

Medical student increasing cosplay accessibility in Eastern Europe

Introducing ChatterCove, a series of open dialogues with makers, cosplayers and others in the cosplay community.

Astelier Studios is a maker duo from Malaysia - Midori and Mitsuki. Being seasoned makers with 10 years of experience, Astelier Studios shared their struggles with confidence in both roles, how they became full time commissioners during COVID, and the challenges they faced. We also discussed the power of cosplay to build communities and the importance of having the right mindset.

Starting off, would you mind introducing yourself, a little bit about your background, and how long you've been in the cosplay world?

Right. So we've been cosplaying for I guess 10 years? Yeah, I started back in high school. We got to know about a newspaper centered around comics and pop culture. So then we got to know about cosplay through those kinds of media. And we've just really like sewing. At that point, we just wanted to cosplay our favorite characters, and then attend a convention with friends. So that's how we started. We learn mostly from YouTube and Google. We actually had the most fun when we are making the costumes. 

I love that. Can you talk a little bit about what's kept you in the world for as long as it has? What are your favorite things that you've done in the past 10 years?

I think it's really about meeting people. Our best friends are together because of cosplay as well. I think we make the most meaningful relationships through cosplay. It's really what made us start learning new games and theories and character designs. Most of us are living separated right now, and you're in different states. So we usually come together, at least once a year, and cosplay together. So it's something look forward to all the time. And after many years of doing it, just like it's like a tradition. 

That's awesome. Community is huge when it comes to having fun and being with people who share love for similar things. I'm curious, what is the cosplay world like in Malaysia? 

Actually, cosplay is really popular in Malaysia. It's been really growing over the years. There's conventions every year. There's a convention center and it's connected to the mall. We can see everyone likes cosplaying and they do multiple character. It's like a carnival. If you're into games or anime manga, you have a natural feeling to want to express it more. So of course, like doing fan art drawing doujins, cosplay is one of the another ways you can express your love for the characters. 

What do you think the community can improve on? What are some challenges that you see with like cosplay and the costume community?

For me, I think a lot of people tend to compare themselves to someone else. You're always feeling a little inferior, like, "oh, they look so good. Why I don't look as good". or "someone else already cosplayed this character and they did it so well. So I don't want to do it anymore". But that's not the point. It's your cosplay. It's your self-expression. So yeah, you should put in your own effort and just go for it. If someone else's costume looks really good, you can reference and learn. It's important to study what makes it look good. Learn, observe, and try to find how to do it. I think having the right mindset to keep on improving will motivate us to do better. 

That's awesome. Kind of looking within and looking at your own journey, rather than looking outward towards everybody else. 

I'd love to hear more about how you got started with commissioning. I know you said there was definitely some self doubt. So curious to hear how you decided to take take a commission for someone? And then how did you guys eventually transition to full time?

Three years ago, people have been telling us "oh, you should make costume for other people". And we were like, "Nah, we're not good enough, maybe next time". And then our friends came to us, and really wanted this character, but she couldn't find it anywhere. We wanted her to be able to cosplay and the desire to help her was stronger than the insecurity. And to be honest, that costume actually turned out not that great. We had so much doubts of our work, we were spending more time going around in circles, procrastinating, and fearing not be able to deliver it. Well, in the end, the costume we delivered wasn't really that great. So after that, we offered to remake the costume for her. 

We realized that there's no point to beat yourself down when things didn't go well. We learned a lot from the experience, how to do better and how to communicate with clients, learn better ways to manage the process. Yeah. If you run into problems, you can be honest about it and talk to your clients. So in the end, she was, of course, very pleased with the final costume. 

Turning your art into a business is definitely challenging. When did you guys decided to go full time? Can you talk a little bit about that transition?

Three years ago, we weren't doing it full time. It was just that one costume and another friend as well. So COVID definitely pushed us to start this full time. We were in the tourism business. And we were kind of stuck there it was hard to find an exit point when you're in it. then COVID just forced everything to stop. So we finally sat down and focused on what we wanted to do. We should dedicating our time into something that matters more to us. And with the costumes, we eventually just got enough orders to sustain a business. We really enjoy it so much more than the job that we had previously. It makes sense to just stay here than go back to tourism.

Sounds like a blessing in disguise. Do you mind sharing what is like a day in the life like for you as full time commissioners? How do you split the work or the responsibilities? 

Day to day, I will mostly be on the computer doing the planning, figuring out what comes first, what next. Most of the costumes have different parts, like accessories. So one of us will be working on that the other will do pattern makings. Wherever I'm weak, she's good at. She's the best work partner.

It's amazing that both of you complement each other's skills so well. I know you mentioned there's a couple things that you had to learn. Can you share a little bit the skills you had to pick up after you became a commissioner?

So back in university, we were Media and Communication graduates. I think that really equipped us for the business side of things. There was a lot of skill we had to learn from scratch, because there's no one around us that runs a business that could really guide us. So just a lot of trial and errors. And even things like accountings, that's something we had to learn on our own. Any problems that come up, we just learn, ask people, books, and YouTube.

What would you say are some biggest challenges that you faced as a commissioner?

The biggest hurdle we had so far is how to price how to price for things. Even giving an estimate like a quotation is not easy. It's not as simple as just estimating the materials and estimating how much time. Those two are not enough to really give you a good estimate. There's a lot of things you don't realize that goes into the work of making a costume. There's a lot more research time, equipment, communication that needs to be put in. 

Also, you have to market your work. Writing Instagram posts or things like that take time. There's no one that's gonna do it besides you. You can pay for someone else to do but not at the beginning when you're not really profiting much. You have to manage your time well. and balance all of those business tasks. But I think you have fun, so this doesn't feel like a chore. 

And I guess most importantly, if you're tired, take a break. Taking breaks is the best way to keep yourself performing at high levels. I mean, we've done costumes that we burned the midnight oil to finish. Versus what we've taking time to do well. Obviously, the quality and the results are very different. So we'd rather take more time because we don't want to rush the process at all.

For others who have done a few commissions and are thinking about "should I do it full time", do you have any advice for how to think about it?

Hmm, I guess it's quite personal. I mean, if you have an existing job that pays you well, then it's okay to do commissions part time. But if you're talking about plunging into full time, there's a lot more considerations, like your finances to sustain yourself. Because there's going to be low times certainly. In our case, we kind of had no other options that we wanted to consider. So it worked out for us, I guess. most importantly is why you want to do it? What's your your core reason why do you want to do commissions? We really wanted to help people achieve their dream cosplays. And because this is something we really enjoy doing, it makes sense for us to do this full time. 

Thank you so much for sharing! This is super helpful for anyone who has struggled with confidence when they're making costumes, or anyone thinking about getting into commissioning.  

We hope this conversation has helped you get a glimpse into the joy of cosplay and the life of a commissioner. We will be hosting more conversations with cosplayers, makers, and others who have found a way to turn their passion into a way to support themselves. If you would like to share your story, please get in touch with us! 

Introducing ChatterCove, a series of open dialogues with makers, cosplayers and others in the cosplay community. Astelier Studios is a maker duo from Malaysia - Midori and Mitsuki. Being seasoned makers with 10 years of experience, Astelier Studios shared their struggles with confidence in both roles, how they became full time commissioners during COVID, and the challenges they faced. We also discussed the power of cosplay to build communities and the importance of having the right mindset.

Going Fulltime on Commissioning during COVID

ChatterCove: Interview with Astelier Studios

Chattercove

Coscove Fav's for Autumn

ChatterCove: Interview with Roger Senpai

ChatterCove: Interview with Merrlia

ChatterCove: Interview with Astelier Studios

Let’s cosplay together