“My nerd dream would be for me to play Psylocke in an epic X-Men/Avengers team-up or Avengers vs. X-Men type of movie. Just any of the big story lines involving the X-Men and Avengers cast would be amazing.”
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting USMC Veteran, Superheroine, loving wife and mom and Pyslocke Cosplayer extraordinaire Caroline of www.carolinecosplay.storenvy.com Caroline was featured in Neo Magazine’s May 2014 issue and Geek Fantasy Magazine’s 2014 Epic Cosplayer issue. Though she’s not a professional cosplayer, I think you would agree she definitely pulls off a remarkable Psylocke as her photos attest. For the uninitiated, Psylocke, aka Elizabeth “Betsy” Braddock, was the twin of Captain Britain, the character who eventually acquired the body, skills and elements of personality of a Japanese female ninja known as Kwannon, a mutant super heroine and X-Men member with powerful telekinetic and telepathic powers created by Chris Claremont.
“Pyslocke has been my favorite character since I was 10 years old, so it was important for me to do my best portraying her and that other fans approve as well. I have a Psylocke obsession [she has awesome Pyslocke tattoos], I have done 3 different versions of her costume so far. It’s a good time to be a female comic book nerd. We are seeing more strong female characters taking the lead and getting the spotlight they deserve. It’s even more exciting that they are starting to have more minority heroes taking the spotlight and/or being created. It always bothered me when I was a kid that I could never find a superhero that looked like me. The only female Asian characters I usually came across were bad guys or submissive girlfriend types. That’s one of the things that first caught my eye with Psylocke. Even though I knew she wasn’t born Asian, I could still kind of relate to her in a way.”
“After her transformation, she was like me, half Caucasian and half Asian. I was also happy that Betsy was a strong personality and could hold her own and was a good guy. Everything about her is controversial, but I always found her more interesting because of that. I found her identity issues even more intriguing because I have gone through those several times in my life with not always being able to fit in with certain groups because I’m not fully white and not fully Asian, so I didn’t know where I fit it. Sure, we all probably wish they would have just created a whole new character and left Betsy as she was, but it is what it is and in a time when most of the characters were Caucasian and very few minorities, I took what I could get.”
“Cosplaying, for me, represents fun and community. I like being able to meet new people who share my love for these characters, create amazing photos, and showing the creators my appreciation by doing my best to bring their characters to life. I got started seeing pictures online and on TV of fans dressing up as their favorite characters and always thought it looked like so much fun, but I never had the courage to do it myself until I met cosplayer, @Ridd1e, in 2012. Riddle gave me some encouraging advice and basically told me to just go for it and have fun. So I always credit her for getting me started down this awesome path.My biggest supporter is my husband. I had no idea how to sew or make armor or do anything else involved with costume making (I’m still learning as I go), so we have worked as a team in making my costumes. It’s all about trial and error. He is also an artist himself, so he helps me a lot with helping me create these really cool images with my pictures. I have worked with three different photographers so far, but my favorite has to be my husband. He is a comic book fan himself, so he knows these characters just as much as I do. He is able to recommend poses, locations, and anything else that helps my character come to life even more.”
“My time in the Marine Corps was definitely a learning experience. I spent four years active duty and stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA the whole time. I met my husband during our military occupational training in North Carolina. My general job field was an administrative clerk. Joining the Marine Corps was one of the best things I ever did. I met my husband, served my country, met some life long friends, and it helped boost my confidence. It helped me learn about what kind of person I am and who I want to be. I am very proud of my time there. I was in the Marine Corps for 4 years. It was a great learning experience and I will always treasure it, but I was not one of those motivated Marines you picture from A Few Good Men that just followed orders. I questioned everything because that’s what good leaders do. I didn’t want to be a good follower. I COULDN’T be a good follower and I even tried when I first joined. I discovered that I was born marching to the beat of my own drum and that was something I could never change.”
“ I do have an online store where I sell prints, but that is mostly to try to help fund this expensive hobby. I do want to change things up a bit and challenge myself more though, so I’m currently working on Lady Sif from the Thor movies. I have never made armor before, so this has been very exciting for me to learn something new. I was hoping to have it done on time for Stan Lee’s Comikaze this year, but the armor is taking longer than expected, so it will have to wait for its debut at Wizard World Las Vegas next year. I also have plans of doing Faith from Mirrors Edge at the Level Up Expo in Las Vegas next year. I have a long list of characters that I want to do in the future and more keep getting added to that list. All are welcome to my online store where you can purchase signed prints of me in my various costumes and help me be able to travel to more conventions as well as purchase materials for new costumes. I have several different prints of three of my Psylocke costumes. They come in two different sizes and are made of thick, matte high quality card stock I plan to add more, the more costumes I make. I sign all of my prints. Thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy!”
“I think it’s awesome that you encourage your kids to do what they want, like what they want, and not feel ashamed of being a geek. I have two daughters myself and it is very important to me that they learn to be strong individuals, not just follow the crowds blindly, and be accepting of everyone. I tell them that whatever they want to do in life strive to be the best at it. Whatever they like, love it with their whole hearts and don’t be ashamed to scream it from the rooftops even if it’s not popular.”
Please visit her online store carolinecosplay.storenvy.com and follow her or send her a message on Facebook page or Twitter (@CarolineCosplay)
Sections of this article were originally printed in Ministers Of Good Taste
Photo Credits: photographed by Philip Kokoczka & Ron Bird Art
Awesome cosplay, and she certainly looks impressive wearing the Psylocke costume, who happens to be one of my favorite X-Men. By looking at her, I wouldn’t think that she’s a US Marine veteran – she definitely looks like a woman who lives next door. I’d love to see an Avengers vs X-Men storyline too, though I wouldn’t think it’s possible due to ownership concerns!