I’m a bit of a nerd, and I have no problem admitting the fact. If I’m walking through a crowd and I hear Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, or K-pop mentioned, I’m gonna stop and try to find my fellow nerd for a good minute or two of fangirling. That said, I was super excited for the fourth Regent Con held today at Regent University. However, I spent a lot of time, up until the day before even, trying and failing to think of good cosplays I could do. Now, some of my main constraints were time and money, but another big one was my race. There aren’t a ton of black characters in most fan-favorite works, so it can be hard for black nerds (or blerds) to think of characters to cosplay as. Of course, we can just dress up as whatever character we like regardless of our or their skin color, and that is perfectly fine! But sometimes it’s fun to have black characters to emulate as well! So, here are a few ideas of characters that every blerd girl can try cosplaying!
1. Uhura -Star Trek: The Original Series
Uhura is the godmother of every black woman on television, and you won’t change my mind about that! Played by Nichelle Nichols, Nyota Uhura was one of the first black women that young black girls got to see on television. And I’m not talking about a slave girl or someone in the background, but a prominent, respected, and authoritative woman! Even if you’re not really a Trekkie, Uhura is a great character to cosplay as simply for the history and progress she represents!
2. Garnet -Steven Universe
For those more into modern TV, Garnet is a great choice. Sure, some people may claim that she’s a gem, not a person, and therefore not a black person. But if you’ve got skin color like mine, hair texture like mine, and lips like mine, I hate to break it to ya, but you’re definitely black! So blerds everywhere can and should claim Garnet. And they should cosplay her too if they can!
3. Michonne -The Walking Dead
Bringing it back to live action, we have Michonne! She is fierce, beautiful, and determined, so why not pay her a little homage and cosplay her some time? Especially if you’re a blerd with dreads, then this is a great character to cosplay! Plus, her outfit is super easy to make, unlike a few others on this list.
4.Okoye -Black Panther
And here’s the other! Okoye’s outfit may be hard to come by, but trust me, it’s worth it! Okoye is the badass that everyone woman aspires to be. She is proof that you can have it all and you can be a hard worker, a loving wife, and a devoted citizen of not just your country, but of the world. (Well, unless your husband betrays you and almost helps a mass murderer destroy the planet but that’s on him really.)
5. Penny Proud -The Proud Family
Let’s wrap this up with some good ole nostalgia, shall we! It’s always a good time to pay homage to the Proud Family as one of the few cartoons about a black family! Penny Proud is great choice for cosplay beginners since you can just about everything you’d need for this look either in your closet, at the closest mall, or in your local thrift store. Even those sunglasses are making a comeback!