You're listening to Imaginary Worlds.

I show how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief.

American Melinsky.

So the beginning of my last episode we heard from Sam Lines, his friend, Mamatha Chala,

and both a challenge of dressing up for Halloween when you're not white.

Here's Mamatha.

Like, I literally cannot imagine myself as a character in Lar the Rings.

Like, even if I tried, which is hilarious because there's so many ridiculous characters in

Lar the Rings, but I can't imagine a person of color.

And that got me thinking about cosplay.

Now, in case you're not familiar with cosplay, it's the term for when fans dress up as their

favorite characters at conventions.

And cosplay has gotten huge in the age of social media.

Every year during San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con, all these websites will post

slideshows at their favorite costumes.

And one thing that I've noticed that those slideshows rarely reflect the actual diversity

of people that I see in the convention floor, certainly in New York Comic Con.

In fact, what I see all the time, and almost never in slideshows, are black cosplayers dress

as characters that are not traditionally black.

So a few years ago, I was really intrigued to discover this hashtag on social media, 28

days of black cosplay.

The movement was started by a cosplayer who calls herself Princess mentality.

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