Interview with Abi Pop

Abi☆Pop is a Cosplayer, Performer (J-pop/Anime Dancer) and cupcake addict. She is eternally 17 years old and from a little town in the United Kingdom. She is very hyper, friendly and loves to make people smile and have fun by spreading magical moe kawaii-ness to the world! She started out on youtube and NicoNicoDouga (a popular Japanese website) by uploading her own dance covers of popular j-pop/anime dances. She entered the world of cosplay in 2010 and attends cons around the UK where she cosplays and performs with her viewers. After a little while she found out about idols/net idols and maid café’s. This made her little heart skip a beat! from then on she has been working extra hard to make her videos fun to watch and even came up with a catch phrase “KissKiss CHU~”. Her favourite colours are baby pink, baby blue and baby purple. She Loves strawberry cupcakes and cupcakes in general and can’t stop baking and decorating them!

You will never see Abi Pop not wearing somthing super cute like a pair of white cat ears or a sailor fuku! She hopes one day to be able to be a maid in a maid café or even an idol who performs on the stages of Akihabara; Otaku central in Japan. Voice acting is another thing she would love to do due to her love for “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and the amazing “Tara Strong” who has inspired her. She is currently working on lots of new Cosplays for the future one of them being “Rin Kokonoe” from “kodomo No Jikan”. As she loves performing and Cosplaying so much, a dream of her’s is to work at Disneyland Being either Alice in Wonderland, Tinkerbell or Rapunzel!

Drawing is one of her favourite hobbies to do along side with dancing and practicing to sing and she hopes to get some Japanese and singing lessons to be able to apply to perform places.

How did you first become interested in cosplaying and what was the first one you did?

My brother used to go to America a lot when I was very young around 8 or 9 and he went to a Comic Con and showed me all the photos! We then made a KeyBlade (from kingdom hearts 2) out of cardboard and wrapper paper rolls and from then on I had always wanted to cosplay Kairi from KH2~! In the year of 2010 I met a girl called Emily who went to the MCM London expo the year before and asked if I wanted to come along in 2010! ^-^ I was so so excited because I had no idea they had conventions in the UK so I went along cosplaying Kairi from kingdom hearts 2.

What is your favorite part of cosplaying? Is it the process of creating the costume, the dressing up and pretending?

I adore the whole process so much! getting all the parts for a cosplay is really exciting for me because you get so see it all come together and when you finish a cosplay, you just feel so good because you did all of that! when the day of the convention comes around I always get up at a ridiculous time to get ready. Not all Cosplayers get into character but I love to act like my character for the day! So I make sure i pick characters from Anime’s and shows I have watched and can relate to!

Can you tell us a little about where you are located and how you came up with your name, Abi Pop?

I live on the South East coast of the UK in a little town called Eastbourne. There’s really not much to do here~! but there is a DDR machine on the pier where I go every time I go shopping xD Abi pop was a nickname I used to get call when I was in school because my friends said I was like bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls and I was always happy and bubbly xD which then became “pop” which is the sound of bubbles popping!

Do female cosplayers generally cosplay both male and female characters?

I think it really depends on what characters you like! because most cosplayer’s like to cosplay characters they can relate to. for example I really love Honey Senpai from Ouran High School Host Club who has a very similar personality to me! so I would cosplay him if I were the right shape. ^-^

Were you a fan of anime and manga before you started cosplaying? What were some of your favorites?

Yes I was~! I grew up watching anime. My favourite’s have to be Ouran High School Host Club and Kodomo No Jikan and of course studio ghibli movies & Animal crossing movie!

When you make your costumes how long does it take?

If I buy the base of the cosplay then a month or so, or make it from scratch maybe a couple of months because school, college , youtube and dancing takes up a lot of my time. T____T

What events or conventions have you attended?

I have attended Hyper Japan in London, MCM London Expo in London, Brighton asahi anime festival and a few cosplay picnics! I hope to be able to attend lots lots more!

Have you ever competed or have you done a group cosplay?

I plan to enter Kawaii Star of the year at Hyper japan in November and the Masquerade in October MCM Expo London! ^-^ I can’t wait to enter them! i’ve never really entered contests like that before. ^-^ I always go to conventions in a group of friends but never have done a group cosplay! This is something I would love to do!

What has been your most difficult costume to make? What made it so difficult?

Probably my latest one “Cure Melody” because the top half of the cosplay had to hug my body and stay in a V shape. also the shoe’s were a annoying because I couldn’t find any that matched the colours of my cosplay! xD it’s always the starting of the cosplay that takes the longest but after you get that all together everything else falls into place!

How important is photography to the cosplay industry? What tips or advice would you give to new cosplayers who are still learning to pose or perform in front of the camera?

When you complete a cosplay, I think it’s great to have photo’s of it posted either on facebook or a cosplay forum or somthing like that! When I pose for the camera I pose like the character would! Don’t stand there looking like a model from a magazine! xD have fun with it! maybe you want to jump on a box and jump off it for a mid air shot or even have “Nyan” hands going on ^^ photo’s always look the best when you play the character~!

Tell us about your youtube videos and how you pick and choreograph your dances.

I dance on youtube and create vlogs in japanese and tutorials for everyone~! The Dances are pre choreographed, so all I have to do is learn them and add a little magical moe to it! *giggles* The dances I pick are either new one’s that have entered the world on NicoNicoDouga or I do some classics from anime’s like Hare Hare Yukai! I do the dances because I would love to be able to perform in japan maybe as a idol ^^ that’s a dream of mine.

Who are some of the people you admire?

Tara Strong is someone I really look up too because she has come so far! I would love to be a voice actor voicing all the cartoons she does! Kyary Kyary Pamyu is another person I look up to with her amazing sense of fashion and cute voice! also Team Dmp (ちぃむｄｍｐ☆ミ) they’re a super moe idol team! I Love their voices so so much~! <3 I hope I can sing like them one day!

The last person is Jessica Nigri! she is a normal american girl who has lived her dreams! I think what she does is amazing and the opportunities she has had are a once in a life time <3

Do you have any interesting projects planned for the future that you can tell us about?

I hope to get my singing lessons and release a cover of a few songs whilst I dance! I have a few cosplay’s planned~ Kin Kokonoe, Juliet Starling, Rikku ff and a duo cosplay of Princess Zelda and Link! But apart from that I haven’t got much planned! >____<

When you are not cosplaying what things do you like to do?

BAKE CUPCAKES! *giggles* Either playing PC/Video games or drawing , tumblring, sewing, dancing around, singing (badly) xD , working out, send parcels to people, eat cupcakes, make videos, watch anime’s and movies, make stir fry, tidy my room and see my friends & Family!

Where can we go to find out more about you?

You can find me on any of these sites~! I’m always online!

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/xabiipopx

Facebook page (xabiipopx): https://www.facebook.com/xabiipopx

Cosplay page: https://www.facebook.com/Abipopcosplay

Tumblr: http://abi-pop.tumblr.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/crazytabbix

Japanese blog: http://ameblo.jp/xabiipopx/

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