Ella Kitchens, Editor-in-Chief
On April 11, students gathered on the third floor of Slayter Student Union for the Big Red Cosplay Collective’s Spring Cosplay Revival.
The event provided Raising Cane’s as well as drinks from Sips, a student-run business on campus.
The Big Red Cosplay Collective aims to facilitate collaboration with students who enjoy constructing their own cosplay outfits and accessories. Juan Chaides ‘27, president, founded the club earlier this year.
“I came with the idea and the initial interest for it and kind of pushed it through,” said Chaides. “But my friends and the exec have supported me in doing so and we delegated our roles from there.”
Chaides said that while the club just recently started, they were already laying groundwork for the future with frequent events and workshops.
“We’re trying to remain as centralized as we can to try to get as much done in this semester because we really do want to do a lot more next year,” said Chaides. “We did apply for a budget for next year so we do have a little bit more stuff which we’re very happy about.”
The Big Red Cosplay Collective hosts biweekly cosplay workshops where anyone, no matter their level of experience, can create cosplay.
“I’ve been to their cosplay workshops because I don’t know how to sew,” said Elly Kennedy ‘28. “So being able to learn would be really useful to not have to spend as much money on cosplay and to make it more affordable and sustainable as a hobby.”
At the Spring Cosplay Revival, students dressed up as characters from TV shows, video games, movies, and more.
“This isn’t our first event, but it is our largest scale event so far,” said Chaides.
Kennedy dressed as Finn the Human from the TV show “Adventure Time.”
“I’ve cosplayed him a few times because Adventure Time is one of my favorite childhood shows, but I also most recently used this costume for Halloween,” said Kennedy.
The Big Red Cosplay Club recruits students through posters around campus, social media and word of mouth, but recruitment has been difficult for a variety of reasons.
“We gave a good, honest college try,” said Corvus Endo ‘27, PR chair. “I think it’s hard because we’re a very new org, but also a lot of people who do cosplay just left everything at home.”
“Unfortunately, since there are so many large events happening on campus today, and at the same time, the turnout wasn’t as large as we were expecting, frankly,” said Chaides. “So now it’s kind of another thing where it’s like, well, now we know when we want to do this sort of event a little bit earlier than this in the future.”
However, student participants at the Spring Cosplay Revival like Kennedy expressed happiness with how the event went.
“It’s been really good to see how it turned out and how they were able to work with Sips, get the Canes, and have people come here and even just be exposed to cosplay,” said Kennedy.