Cosplay Live Magazine 2017

The amazing Abby holds a Bachelor
of Arts degree in Visual & Performing
Arts, and a first degree black
belt in Tae Kwon Do. She hopes to
use her talents to contribute a little
something to this world...
Hi Abby and welcome to Live Magazine
and also Cosplay Live. Can you
give us a bit of background on yourself?
Thank you so much for having me!
I’ve been in the cosplay game for
a while but this is actually my first
cosplay interview in a magazine so
I’m really excited and honored to
be a part of your publications. Really
appreciate what Live Magazine
and Cosplay Live is doing for cosplayers
and the community! As for
my background, I’m originally from
Southern California in the U.S. where
I grew up doing a lot of random hobbies
other than cosplay. I grew up
with strict parents so I guess I had
to find my own ways to keep myself
entertained at home. Once I got into
cosplay, there was just nothing else
like it and my passion for it grew
and grew, simply becoming a part of
who I was and am today. Along with
cosplay, I run my own blog and two
Youtube channels while also working
full-time here in South Korea where I
currently reside.
Looking at what you do, you must be
so busy. You’re a member of Honey
Toast Cosplay - what does that entail?
Honey Toast Cosplay consists of my
good friends and I, and what it entails
is simply the opportunity to be closer
in the things we love: video games,
anime, manga, cosplay, and more.
We excitedly fangirl over things together,
or plan out future cosplays
and cons. We haven’t had much cosplay
activity as a group recently because
each member is busy saving
animals as a vet tech, going to pharmacy
school, or teaching English to
school children in Japan and South
Korea. Since Honey Toast Cosplay is
something that is completely for fun,
we freely and happily try to live our
own lives and also come together to
work on cosplays or attend cons together
whenever we can. It’s always
good to know we’ll have that special
group of friends we can turn to and
still talk to on the daily, and I love and
appreciate my girls Ash, Moni, and
Amelia so much for that. Hopefully
we can show the world more of Honey
Toast Cosplay in the future!
Also, you’re a cosplay ambassador
for Kpop College - tell us about that
too and also Andong in South Korea.
I am that Honey Toast Cosplay
member I mentioned in the previous
answer who is currently teaching
English in South Korea! With this
job and living in another country, I’ve
fortunately had quite a bit of free
time to be able to continue pursuing
my own passions and more. This
includes starting a vlog channel on
Youtube to share my experiences.
And somehow, I also became the
cosplay ambassador for Kpop College
and an honorary ambassador
for Andong, the city I’m living in here
in South Korea. As a cosplay ambassador,
I work closely with Kpop
College thinking of ideas and carrying
those out in order to create more
interest and participation in cosplay,
as well as share about the cosplay
and con scene here in South Korea.
And living here in Andong has been
great because it’s a very comfortable
city where I’ve made lots of
memories. Andong is known as the
capital city of Korean spiritual culture!
If you ever visit South Korea,
be sure to let me know and I’ll gladly
share more about my city!
Now if that isn’t enough, you’re also
into Parkour which stems from your
interest in Mirror’s Edge right?
Yes, haha! I got really into parkour
a number of years back which did
stem from Mirror’s Edge. That game
is still one of my favorites for its
sleek aesthetic and gameplay, and I
love Faith’s character so much.
With parkour, besides the obvious
fact that it just looks so bloody cool,
it feels amazing when you’re finally
able to perfectly land a move you’ve
been working so long on. It’s also a
great physical workout and you gain
stamina and skills that are definitely
useful for something like a zombie
apocalypse, duh. But first and
foremost, parkour has always been
a freeing discipline for both body
and mind. It’s scary to try something
we’ve never done before - jumping
over a huge gap or clearing a high
wall. But as we train, practice, and
build confidence, we can eventually
make it over to the other side. That
same philosophy can be used in
life. Sadly though, my knees haven’t
been in the best shape as the years
have gone by, so I haven’t trained in
forever!
You’re living in South Korea but are
from the U.S. - how did you and why
did you move? (As in, how does a
person get resident status in South
Korea?)
I have a work visa! It was a really
long process, and there was so
much paperwork and documents
involved, but all was made possible
through the teaching program I
came through. As for why - I’ve always
wanted to try living and working
in another country (South Korea,
especially!) as a challenge and new
adventure, and being able to do so
by teaching kids has been so fulfilling.
Ok so on to cosplay, tell us how you
got into cosplay and what your first
cosplays were...
I think I was in high school - I came
across cosplay photos online and
just thought it was the coolest thing.
I think it also stemmed from me just
loving the characters in a game I
played or an anime I watched SO
much that I wanted to literally be
that character myself. So I knew I
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