Name: Antonio G

Where are you from: Brooklyn, NY

How long you have been cosplaying: Since 2007

Characters cosplayed: Megurine Luka (Vocaloid), Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid), Rin Kagamine (Vocaloid), ONE (Vocaloid), Yuudachi Kai ni (Kantai Collection), Julie Sigtuna (Absolute Duo),

Reki (Hidan no Aria), Ruby Rose (RWBY).

Website or Facebook fan page: The Ultra Luka Fan Cosplay

The reason why I started to cosplay/cross-play is to inspire other people of color to cosplay whoever they want to cosplay, and to have confidence and have fun.

Nobody likes to be put down by other cosplayers, but if you have confidence in yourself and have fun, you can do anything.

When I’m not cosplaying I work as a security guard at various retail stores and when I’m not working I play video games.

Cosplaying as females has provided biggest challenge and rewards because not many males cosplay as females in the cosplay community as a whole.

I started to cross-play about a year ago and to be honest people think that I’ll not get no love for doing this.

The advice I’ll give a POC person new to cosplaying is to have confidence in yourself and have fun. There’s going to be a lot of haters

out there that are going to judge you, but if you have the confidence to cosplay your favorite character regardless of race, gender, size, etc.,

 and you’re having fun, that’s all that matters.

The cosplay community is great in itself, but the real problem in the community is people who have high egos and judge other people’s cosplay.  It’s really upsetting that people who started cosplaying or trying to get their name out are being put down because the cosplay is not accurate, the person is too fat, skinny, black, Hispanic, etc. We must support all cosplayers regardless of race, gender, etc. and have more diversity.