Lightning Palace Podcasts

What was going to be a crowded show ended up being a really lovely conversation with Midge Scully and HyperChai! Particularly, this is the second part of my PAX East 2022 coverage (apologies for the wait!). I got to spend time with the two of them at the con and we talked about all the things we each did during that weekend. From all the game previ…

Today I'm excited to have the opportunity to have Maru on again as we dived into her time going to both Fanime and Anime Expo which took place in May and July respectively. Throughout our chat, we dive more into Maru's gaming obsessions which extend through her outfits she wore such as the Dancer class from FF14, Jessie in booty shorts from FF7 Rem…

I had the unique and exciting opportunity to interview Andrew Liptak about his new book, Cosplay: A History. We hit the ground running with Andrew giving us his full blown origin story and how Star Wars pretty much kick-started his love of pop culture and all things nerdy. From learning Star Wars themed music pieces in high school band, to even joi…

For today's episode, Kayjora Cosplay joins me once again as we talk about her time at MegaCon in Florida a few weeks ago! Through working with Misty Mountain Gaming, Kayjora was able to work at their booth to help sell merch from both the company in addition to her own cosplay prints. Throughout our chat, we talk about Kay's cosplays that she wore.…

My PAX East coverage continues with a chat alongside Mink the Satyr! It really was a treat getting to spend each day with her as she was rocking Pokemon cosplays for each day. We took a look at how the overall convention was coming back after the pandemic shut everything down. It was sort of surreal as this was my last convention in 2020 so to see …

My Interview with Midge Scully & Hyperchai at PAX East 2022! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cosplaybytes/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cosplaybytes/support

My Interview with Legend of Larcy & Mink the Satyr at PAX East 2022! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cosplaybytes/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cosplaybytes/support

In this episode, I got to sit down with one of my favorite creators/body-painters Intraventus for a chat about Creative Burnout. Specifically when it came to Intra's struggles throughout 2021 as a body painter. I always marveled at her ability to do so many of her body paint streams for 4+ hours in the evening but as evident by the title, this soon…

I am overly excited to be joined by best girl/cosplay waifu Jaycee Cosplay as we talk about her time at Katsucon back in February. It was interesting to hear how the con has changed as we sort of enter a return to normalcy in the events circuit. Jaycee talks about the cosplays she brought along for the trip, adventures in rooming with some close fr…

I was lucky enough to get Mink and Larcy again for another duo episode. The last time all three of us were together, madness ensued as we talked about RI Comic Con one year. This time around I wanted to get some insight into what Larcy and Mink were up to during the back end of 2021. I haven't talked with Larcy in a long time so it felt really nice…

This lengthy episode was another wonderful talk and Emris Coscept is just a delightful individual. After finding out she's as big of a Nightwing fan as I am (subsequently gushing over the character for 30 min) we go into many of her cosplays that I personally enjoyed from her Trevor Belmont, to Bombshell Killer Frost. Plus, Emris also talks about h…

This has been honestly one of my more anticipated episodes simply due to the history I've had with Casey. Otherwise known as VanityFOX, she's a cosplayer and VTuber on Twitch that I've known from pretty much my own start in cosplay. Throughout our talk, we reminisce about the cons we've been to together, all the cosplays she's worn at ColossalCon, …

I got to talk with another new and wonderful creator for this episode. Kayjora Cosplay has been creating some stellar cosplays since her start into the hobby only a few years back. From her Boka Tan to an amazing Black Cat 2099, we discuss her origins in discovering the hobby. The bulk of this episode really hammers in the point of how cosplay has …

Happy New Year! For this start of Season 5, I'm pleased to have a beefy chat with cosplayer and illustrator ACDramon. In this installment, I got to chat with Avery about a myriad of things as you learn more about his work. In addition to his origins as a cosplayer, you'll also learn how he got his start in illustrating PLUS his jump into voice acti…

For this potential Season 4 Finale of CosplayBytes, I am joined by the wonderful SkylineStars in a hefty interview covering a multitude of topics. From Sky's cosplay and nerdy origin stories to a conversation about bought vs. handmade cosplays. In addition, I ask Sky about some of her cosplays from Kayna to Lenore and a few more as well. We also re…

I am incredibly happy to have Luck of the Lion Cosplay return for another episode! She's certainly been busy as of late heading to conventions locally to her area in Texas. Our main topic of discussion is around Leon's experience at both Ecchi Expo and ColossalCon. Starting with the former, Leon details the con's efforts in its first year. Noting t…

Have a nice solo outing as I talk about my experience watching the DC FanDome event this past weekend. The multi hour stream turned out to be a slew of announcement for many DC related properties outside of its comic section. Mostly looks at current and upcoming TV shows, video games and the giant slate of movies over the next three years. I talk a…

In another addition of What's New With, I'm joined by the ever so wonderful Phalafel Cosplay. Since our last recording in 2019, stuff has changed a lot for her in terms of her creativity with both cosplays as well as her venture into makeup looks with her Animal Crossing series. So much so that it has led her to opportunities with ColourPop! She re…

For the pivotal 69th (nice!) episode, Mink the Satyr joins me in a completely different way. Emulating/acting through her V-Tuber persona, Mink takes the floor in describing the process of illustrating and rigging an original character model to entertain. Mostly in the streaming capacity, she stresses how cost effective the whole venture can be. Al…

Hello all! I'm back from the small hiatus I took from the show. I apologize for the wait as I've suffered through a bout of burn out which I do talk about in this episode. Conventions have been opening back up in a moderate rate with several cons happening the weekend this was recorded. I briefly talk about how these cons have handled masks and soc…

I got to chat with the incredible Alice Pika about a multitude of topics in this latest episode! From her early days of gaming and watching anime, to the content creating that she's been up to today. We reflect on what it's been like being somewhat involved with Etika's community, alongside her convention and cosplay history. Alice mentions several…

Here's my full look/coverage of my time attending PAX East Online 2021! Keeping the same structure as last year, PAX Online mostly had a Discord up and running in addition to multiple panels streaming across 3 PAX centered channels on Twitch. I myself watched two that aired late at night PLUS interviewing a variety of devs and corresponding with ot…

I'm happy to announce the start of my PAX East Online coverage! I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Dr. Anthony Bean and discuss his offerings over at Geek Therapeutics! A site that allows people to come and make their lives better through therapy alongside the connections we can make utilizing pop culture. Here, Anthony gives a full rundo…

For this super long episode, I got the chance to talk with and meet Luck of the Lion Cosplay! From her immediate love of the Zelda franchise to the pin-up side of things, Leon has been killing it with doing full cosplay work as well as the boudoir side of the hobby. We talk about her beginnings with falling in love with cosplay, why Zelda means so …

For today's episode, I got to chat with the amazingly talented Jessilyn Cupcake and I have a sneaking suspicion that she's obsessed with Borderlands. Throughout our chat, you'll learn of Jess' start in cosplay and traveling to cons, as well as an in-depth look as to why she loves the looter-shooter franchise so much. Did you know she came into the …

I got the wonderful chance to talk with the sensational Intraventus again! Things have definitely changed for her in a wonderful way since then thanks largely to body painting! Since tackling that hobby on Twitch she's found a brand new passion alongside getting major confidence boosts in her own looks and work. The detailing and effort that goes i…

Note that whenever Zach Fischer comes on my show, we bounce all over the place. Even to topics that don't necessarily pertain to the basis of cosplay. I got to catch up with Zach and get a look on how the past year has been for him as an artist/content creator. Other area of interests include his feelings on burnout during the start of the pandemic…

In this new episode, I got to catch up with Krissy and see how the pandemic has affected her as it has pretty much every other cosplayer in the community. She talks about her return to creating cosplays, upcoming cons she's excited to attend and so much more! Plus, you can get some insight into Krissy's latest foray into pole work and how much fun …

I was very excited to chat with Holly Wolf again on my show since previously she was phenomenal to talk to and have a conversation with her. This time, I talk to her about how she's dealt with online anonymous hate throughout her various social media channels. From YouTube, Twitter and even Twitch, she notices how that while she's certainly grown t…

You wouldn't believe the urge I've had to record a new episode for you guys. It's short but I wanted to give an update both in my content creating life in addition to how the state of the cosplay community is. Truthfully not much has changed though there is a light at the end of this lockdown tunnel. With vaccines being rolled out, it's a possibili…

For this episode, I'm joined by my downstairs neighbor Munkey as I picked his brain a bit and described what it's like traveling to conventions and dressing up for various weekends. Having never been to a con, Munkey is certainly interested in breaking that barrier and seeing what makes conventions so much fun. I chat about my trips to cons like PA…

Welcome to the Season 4 debut of CosplayBytes! Today I'm joined by my wonderful friend Midge Scully as we go through her cosplay origin story so to speak, what it's been like dealing with the sudden disappearance of conventions due to COVID. You'll also get a look at some tidbits about Midge such as her favorite parts about cosplay, her dream outfi…

I had the privilege of chatting with Kim of InPlainSight who just recently published a book all geared towards new cosplayers looking into starting their own cosplay journey. We chat about her beginnings with watching Star Wars when she was younger, cosplaying with her son at various cons as well as her thoughts on the current zeitgeist of superher…

COVID and Quarantine have effectively halted the convention season for many attendees and content creators. Many of the latter type have either changed or haven't when it comes to creating outfits and staying active creatively. Mink the Satyr is one such gal so we talk about what she's been up to! Doing some on location shoots as well as shoots in …

Thank you for your patience in my brief unexpected hiatus! I'm hoping to be back with posting episodes in full force, starting with a wonderful conversation I had with Kia Sangria. After she reached out to being on my show I was ecstatic to have her on since that's never happened before. Learn more about her cosplay beginnings, love of anime alongs…

This past weekend, NYCC had it's full blown outing virtually with this second run of what's called the Metaverse. Similar to a previous episode, this consisted of multiple panels being streamed through YouTube in addition to a beautifully crafted website that mimicked the convention look and feel. Of course as much as it did, the feeling of being a…

In this exciting and lengthy episode, I got to talk with Maru about a variety of things on top of learning her history with cosplay. Having just recently made the jump to being a full time content creator, she goes a bit into detailing her various streams of income and what her day is mostly like. Plus like always, we go on various tangents mostly …

For this special 50th episode of CosplayBytes, I talk about my experience in viewing PAX Online from the comfort of my home thanks to the ongoing pandemic. Combining West and Aus, PAX had a variety of panels streaming across Twitch and I checked a few of them out when I was able to. In addition, I had the opportunity to interview several indie game…

With the continued pandemic raging through the cosplay community, I wanted to take a look at how content creators have been handling themselves during this crazy time. My waifu for laifu Jaycee Cosplay joins me again with her perspective on this situation. Jess gives us a look as to how she's been able to produce content and do photoshoots during t…

With the current state of the world through COVID, conventions have been cancelled/postponed throughout 2020. However, cons have been doing their best to adapt and initiate online offerings so that the spirit of conventions don't go away for this year. I discuss the most recent offerings with ReedPop's Metaverse as well as DC FanDome. Here I go int…

I had the absolute pleasure to chat with Laika in this long episode all about her career as a content creator. From being a sex worker to utilizing it in helping her music career! She gives her opinion on the shift towards OnlyFans with multiple cosplayers flocking over to it and comparing the platform to Patreon. Not only that, Laika gushes over h…

CosplayBytes has returned from hiatus! Sorry for the delay, I wanted to take time to discuss how potentially conventions will change their operations once the pandemic has ended. Virtual con alternatives? Panels being done online? This and more are told in this episode. You also get an update sort of things for the immediate future of the show <3. …

Mink joins me in a discussion about cosplaying on a budget alongside cosplaying for cheap. If you're just starting out as a cosplayer, this is a fantastic opportunity to learn how many cosplayers go about gathering materials for their outfits. Learn tips in regards to saving money alongside alternative methods to creating things that would otherwis…

Happy May! While we're all stuck in quarantine, I was more than eager to record new episodes for you guys! Today, I'm joined by cosplayer and photographer Kadu=Out who I managed to work with last year at NYCC! Get to know Kadu even more as we talk about his history with cosplay and photography. We also discuss content creation and touch on the topi…

In this installment of Why We Cosplay, I got to talk with Mink the Satyr about the one franchise that won't stop growing, Pokemon! From cosplaying as the Gym Leaders, Professors and other NPC's, to the massive amount of Pokemon itself! The concept of gijinkas really runs wild when it comes to cosplayers selecting which creature to create an outfit …

In a brand new episode, I'm joined by cosplayer and lewd model Krissy Victory for a lengthy discussion about OnlyFans and its rise as a platform for cosplayers and models alike! Learn about the pros and cons, cosplayers utilizing both this and Patreon as their source of income, and what the future holds for both websites! I also ask Krissy about he…

In this episode, I do my best in presenting the topic of Content Creation in cosplay and just in general for the digital age we live in today! Originally a panel idea for a 1-day digital con, this was something I wanted to present as I have a huge amount of experience being a content creator myself. I talk about the variety of platforms you can use…

I wanted to quickly get an episode/update of sorts regarding how the Coronavirus has been affecting the cosplay and convention industry. This was a little difficult to do solo so I hope you guys don't mind! Due to the length of the episode I decided to implement the ".5" notation. This will only be used on episodes that don't hit the usual length t…

For my last PAX East episode, I got to chat with my wonderful friends Chris and Shaylin! I spent most of my Thursday with them at the con! We talked about Animal Crossing, the craziness of the lines, Riot's past history with PAX East and how cosplay was overall. They both mention their previous cosplay adventures at ColossalCon, all the shopping, a…

Continuing my PAX East coverage, I'm joined by my wonderful friend Dillon aka Bunwitch/Princess Gigglesnort! We got to hang out multiple times and it was an incredible time. Check out the stuff she did with working for Atomic Hype, promoting the Acer afterparty alongside her thoughts on FF7 Remake and Kingdom Hearts 3. Dillon is very much into KH w…