Lio aka Lionbcos joins me to talk all about Cosplay, the characters they do, and so much more.

I had come across Lio's Instagram several times thanks to their collaborations with others, and people sharing their work to their stories. I really enjoyed what Lio did, and here we are, getting to talk about it!

We're talking all about the Cosplay and characters that Lio does. However, we start off at a young age as Lio talks about growing up with parents who are nerds, and how their influences rubbed off on them.

Lio talks about some of their favorite characters, and we do spend a bit of time with Laura Kinney aka Wolverine, fka X-23. We talk about the characters that Lio cosplays as, like Claudia from Interview with the Vampire, Invisigal from Dispatch, and more. While they trend towards emo characters, a surprising princess made it into Lio's rotation - and we talk about how and why!

We talk about how they choose the characters they cosplay, the group collaborations they've done, and what Lio is planning to do in the future.

You can find Lio at:

https://www.instagram.com/lionbcos/

https://www.tiktok.com/@lionbcos

I kept seeing a number of cosplays shared by people that featured Moe. That lead to following Moe, and then having Moe on the podcast. You might know on Instagram as DreadheadCos.

For this episode, we're sticking to talking about Cosplay, so if that's your thing, then sit back and enjoy. Moe and I start with talking about how they got interested in Cosplay. From there, we talk about some of the first characters they've cosplayed, and how sticking to canon doesn't have to be standard and how to put your own flare and personality into cosplays.

As we talk about the characters they've done, we do venture into the fandom world to discuss, particularly with Red Hood. We also talk about Moe's work with prop making and how they approach the different pieces, along with how they work deciding which cosplay or prop to work on.

One of my favorite quotes of the episode is "When in dobt, add a corset and belts"

We wrap up by talking about what Moe is working on this year, their dream cosplay, and more.

You can find Moe at:

https://www.instagram.com/dreadheadcos/

https://bsky.app/profile/dreadheadcos.bsky.social

Saint Valkyrie joins me from Puerto Rico as we dive into a number of different fandoms! I had stumbled across her account on Instagram and really enjoyed her work, and I'm glad you all get to listen!

We start things off by talking about Video Games. Broad topic, as we start with how she got into gaming, her first console and games, and more. Then we have a focused disucssion on Cyberpunk 2077. We talk about what that game means to her, why she enjoys the game, and how it informs and educates in its own way. Her discussion changed the way I looked and approached the game. It was a great discussion. We also talked about a game she recommends, Sun Haven, and why you should check it out (link below!)

Then we jump over to more gaming, but this time, tabletop roleplaying games! We talk about games like Dungeons and Dragons, and Pathfinder. We talk about the kinds of characters and stories she plays, the amount of games she's in, and how she got into TTRPG's in the first place.

Next, we're flipping the coin of comic giants, with DC and Marvel. We get to talk about how she got into these two giant fandoms, where she falls on the spectrum of medium - comics? TV shows? Movies? Plus, we're talking about favorite characters, and favorite properties.

Then we're wrapping up with a conversation about Cosplay. She talks about how she got started, some of the characters she's done and skills she's learned, along with characters she's currently working on and future plans.

You can find Saint Valkyrie at:

https://www.instagram.com/saint.valkyrie/

https://www.tiktok.com/@saint.valkyrie

You can find Sun Haven on Steam at:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432860/Sun_Haven/