Episode 59- Cosplay with Rachel Devine

This week we explored the mysterious and fascinating world of Cosplay with Rachel Devine. Rachel is a college student, an Avenger, a Mandalorian and soon a Girl Who Has No Name. She’s also a lot of fun and gave us an awesome look under the helmet of what it’s like to not only dress up as these iconic characters, but to actually create her own interpretation of them from scratch.

Rachel has been participating in Cosplay events for several years now and has made all of her costumes. Take one look at the recent pics she sent us of her Mandalorian garb and you’ll quickly see this isn’t your average pulling together random clothing pieces from your favorite thrift store. To say the costumes are elaborate is an understatement. The artistry is quite impressive.

For those who think Cosplay is just a bunch of nerdy adults who like to play dress-up you are sorely mistaken. There’s way more to it than that. From envisioning the interpretation, to design, creating a back-story, finding the materials and then piecing it all together, it can be quite the labor of love. Rachel told us for most participants this isn’t something you find a pattern online for and just stencil it out. You have to truly create the look from the ground up.

We talked to Rachel to find out what drew her to the craft, the difference between LARPing and Cosplay and what it’s like to have a bunch of heavily costumed people in line at a Comic Con bathroom. How strong your bladder is; yet another thing to keep in mind when creating a costume.

Rachel’s love of sci-fi and all things pop culture is what first drew her into the world of Cosplay. She’s since joined a group and travels with her fellow Mandalorians to Comic Cons, movie premieres, fundraisers and a slew of other events. Much like any famed character, she and her fellow members are often greeted by fans and asked for photos. And yes, occasionally, there are crying toddlers too although we’d wager Santa gets way more tears.

Next up she has plans to create her own version of everyone’s favorite badass little sister, Arya Stark from Game of Thrones. We wonder if she’ll be fashioning her own version of her trusted sword Needle and her dire wolf Nymeria. You may laugh, but if someone can have a floating Baby Yoda we don’t see why she can’t have a dire wolf.

We may have put some duress on her to deem our Why? team with who she would suggest they portray for their first Cosplay experiences. Now we can’t get Heidi to stop talking about the fact that she told her she would make a great A New Hope era Princess Leia. It’s like all her childhood dreams came true in one sentence. Luke talked about his dismay that no one ever wants to be Werner Herzog so much in the interview we’re pretty sure that’s his chosen spirit character. She wouldn’t spill on her good friend and our intern Randi, mostly because she knows we’d totally make Randi go do something like go to class dressed in costume.

We loved our chat so much with Rachel that we promoted Randi to Junior Reluctant Executive Producer. Say that five times fast.

May the Force Be With You as Winter is Coming.