You’re not ready for that Canary Cry!

My name is Simi Alycia but more people know me as Harum-Scarum Cosplay, and I am based out of Philly. I’ve been cosplaying for a little over five years now. My most cosplayed characters are Black Cat and Loki from Marvel Comics, and Dinah Lance aka Black Canary from DC Comics.

1. I started cosplaying on a whim, really. There was an artist that I had come across online who I followed for their work in digital and traditional art. One day I came across their post of making a Tinkerbell cosplay, and I said “Wow, I’d like to do that someday”, so when I went to my first con around 2016 I gave it a shot!

2. My day job is simple clerical work, but for my hobbies I model every now and again and I do some digital art myself. I also like to bake from time to time, and play video games when I can.

3. I think my most rewarding build was my Asgardian Storm cosplay. It’s one of those that I attempted to tackle very early on with little to no know-how on how to do anything. The first attempt was atrocious, to say the least. But I tried again a year later and I was able to apply a lot of what I had learned in that time to upgrade some of what I already had. My most challenging was my Queen Mera from the DCEU Justice League version of her costume. It took maybe a week or two to make the armor. The scaling was probably the most difficult part, but I got a lot of compliments on it when I was done and I was honestly kind of surprised with myself that I was even able to do it.

4. My best advice to cosplayers of color is to find your circle. Find your people who are gonna hype you up and help you out where you need. Get a good support system behind you as it does make traversing cosplay a little easier and just a little less scary, to say the least. Do things your way, don’t worry about what is the most accurate way to do your cosplay. Cause half of us are never gonna be seen as “accurate” and it’s never been about accuracy to begin with. It’s about having fun for yourself.

5. Something I think the cosplay community could do a little better in regards to dealing with one another is don’t expect everyone to jump on the hot cosplay, and don’t come at people for what resources they do have to make a cosplay. Many of us are struggling out here to live, day to day, and continue what is a pretty expensive hobby. It doesn’t make it better having to deal with people coming down on you for re-wearing a cosplay you’ve worn to several different conventions, or not using the “best” material on the market. I’d also say stop stepping over others to get the chance of getting a top spot in the community, don’t treat people who helped you get where you’re going like they’re expendable or like they’re competition. If fame and success comes, it will come, but we’re all here for a fun time with friends.