MARZ STARDUST - COSPLAYING WITH A SMILE

Now I know that this may sound a little crazy, but while I was interviewing the following cosplayer, Marz Stardust, during our chat I couldn't help but think of the Mama Cass song, care of Doris Day, 'Dream a Little Dream of Me'. Want to know why? Then please check this out.





1) What are your own origins, Marz Stardust, plus what path did you take in life prior to getting to where you are today?   I grew up in Southern Illinois within a family where geek culture was a normal thing. It goes without saying that I followed suit, and became really into fantasy and gaming. I even played real life "Final Fantasy" outside with sticks, doing so while my siblings and friends fought invisible "bad guys", which gave us the opportunity to create and role play as different characters. Later on down the line, my love for geek culture grew, from Magic the Gathering, to World of Warcraft, to DnD, to comics, and even Dagorhir!

I didn't know what cosplay was until about 2011 when I met my current boyfriend. I always loved dressing up for Halloween, including my first (official) cosplay of Link from Legend of Zelda, and in another year, I went as Slave Leia (store bought).

When I was a stripper (during my married years in an abusive relationship, but that's a story for a different day), I used to like to dress up and put on a show. I loved becoming a different person, a different "character", because it helped me cope with the situation. When I met my current boyfriend, he told me about cosplay, and it all sort of fit into place. I knew that's something I've always wanted to do, because I loved dressing up.

Eventually we went to my first con, Anime Expo, and I dressed up as Yoko from Gurren Lagann (my favorite anime) and he went as Leeron. I made both costumes, and I was very proud of myself. Not long after the con, I started to get a better idea about cosplay, and my ideas have been growing ever since.

2) What are the most persistent comments you’ve received from your followers?   I always get comments about my Yoko and my She-Ra cosplay. Those two seem to be fan favorites!

3) What is your ‘regular’ job? And does it in any way shape or form aide you as a Cosplayer?   My regular job is making reservations for Hyatt hotels, while I'm currently going to school for criminal justice to become a police officer. I love my job, because we always have random days where we get to dress up! The free nights come in handy too, especially with traveling to different cons.

4) How did your friends, family, and work-colleagues first react to the news that you like to cosplay?   My family already knew how creative I am, and yes, they are very supportive. They always tag me on facebook with anything that has to do with cosplay, and its great. Cosplaying as Catwoman on one of our random dress up days at work helped me gain a great friend who was also into cosplay! I have a hard time making friends, and cosplay has helped me make friends, even at work.

5) How do you decide what Cosplay costume to wear for a convention? And who makes them?   I always cosplay as characters I feel very passionately about. I also try to wear different costumes to different cons, to challenge myself, or remake something that I have already worn, but wasn't completely happy with the first time around. I have cosplay line-ups prepared for all of my cons for 2017 already. I make all of my own costumes!

6) What have you learnt about yourself whilst Cosplaying? And were their any unforeseen obstacles you had to content with?   I have learned that I am good enough! I use to always have so much self doubt about my crafting abilities and about the shape of my body, but now I have such a supportive fan base they always lift me up. Whenever I put on a cosplay, and I get to be a character I really love, I feel powerful, very powerful! Sometimes I even say to myself, 'I made this and it looks good!', plus people want my picture!

The only real obstacles I face involve me going to work full-time, going to school full-time, and I'm also a mother who's looking after her beautiful 4 year old son. (By the way, She-Ra is my son's favorite cosplay of mine).

7) What was the best / worst convention you ever attended?   The best convention I have been to so far was Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California. It was my first con and there was so much positive energy there and such amazing people. I loved every bit of it, as I really do enjoy going to a lot of different types of conventions, big and small. I have ran into a few cons that don't have a lot of energy to them, but I try to bring life and energy anywhere I go!

8) What would be your dream Cosplay gig and outfit?   My dream cosplay has always been Kefka from Final Fantasy 3. He is my absolute favorite video game character, although his outfit does entail a lot of seamstress work, and it kind of overwhelms me a little bit. I will tackle it one of these days!

I really want to go back to Anime Expo one day. I also want to go to Dragoncon, because I've never been, but that will change, because I'm going in 2017!

9) Has their ever been an outfit you just did not like wearing? And if so, why?   The only outfit that I don't like wearing is my Harley Quinn one on a really hot day. The material that I made the body suit out of is not very breathable at all, and whenever I take it off at the end of the day, there are pools of sweat on the inside. I plan on remaking Harley, now that I've learned more about different body suit materials!

10) Do you have a credo you live by?   I live by two. One of them is by Shia LaBeouf: "Do it. Do it. Don't let your dreams be dreams"; where as the other is from the Rocky Horror Picture Show:"Don't dream it, be it".

Wow! And you can't say fairer than that, can you dear reader? So with that said, all I have left to do is to thank Marz Stardust for telling us about her life as a cosplayer, before directing you towards her official cosplay facebook page.