ABSTRACT
Twenty-three-year-old Kiogenic, the child of one of the editors of this volume, has been a cosplayer since they were 13. In fact, it’s Kiogenic who introduced her mother, Elizabeth, to cosplay. As artists, they came home one day from school having learned about Steampunk and ready to begin costuming. Steampunk was the perfect creative outlet for a broke single mother and her kid. Finding new ways to repurpose broken jewelry and thrift-shop finds provided hours of cheap fun. Kiogenic’s story is a capsule of many of the ideas, concepts and stories presented here. A child cosplayer, they demonstrated their own agency in cosplaying in and out of recognized and accepted spaces. They learned a variety of skills: sewing, soldering, pepakura, and fiberglass application that they used in the creation of their cosplays. The tensions between risk and reward are at the heart of what entrepreneurship means.
