Nope. There is nothing wrong with this little guy! He doesn't have a rare disease. He isn't from a disadvantaged family or a crumbling neighborhood. He is not unreasonably challenged, any more than any other child of 5-years-old.Michael is a normal, healthy, happy 5-year-old boy with big dreams, high hopes and a passion for creativity. He is a cosplayer. In short, he enjoys creating, enhancing and dressing up in costumes emulating his favorite comic book and film characters. He takes it quite seriously, and he's good at it.
Michael began dressing up, like most kids, as soon as he was old enough to dress himself. He saved Halloween costumes and played in them around the house. He borrowed mom and dad's clothes and accessories to create original adaptations of any character or imaginary person of which he dreamt. Michael loved everything about pretending, and then something really wonderful happened. He went to a convention.
Michael's mom, a business major and I, a published author of 5 books, own and operate a small business producing a web talk series called the Hangin With Web Show. We travel to conventions and conferences and interview writers, artists, filmmakers and creators of all kinds and share new artists as well as celebrity entertainers with the world wide web. In 2015, we attended our first pop culture convention: Necronomicon in Tampa Florida. To help occupy our 4-year-old while we worked, we let him bring some of his costumes and dress up, "like the grown-ups." He was hooked!
He found a sense of community in the immediate acceptance of adult cosplayers and convention attendees wanting photos and stopping to encourage him. He met an adult dressed as Marvel Comic's "Loki," and himself dressed at Thor (complete with a home-made hammer), they "played." They two battled center floor in the hotel lobby and the cosplayer, a man easily in his late 20's or even early 30's, had no trouble channeling his own inner child to play and pose and have fun with 4-year-old Michael. We never did learn the man's real name, but we are so grateful for the time he took to make a small child's weekend so very special.Following that weekend, our show became more popular and we found ourselves at more conventions and conferences where Michael could play and dress and be a part of this new community that both he and we had discovered.
Michael made so many friends and fellow creative cosplayers at conventions, that we decided to set up a facebook page for his endeavors. Of course, his mom and I monitor it and share posts with him. While he does read some, he needs a bit of help and we like to know who is posting.
In the spring of 2016, just a few short months ago, while reading his news feed to him, we were surprised to see a message from a fellow cosplayer. Most just posted on his wall, but this one sent him a "private" message. The message was an invitation to Cosplay Michael (his Facebook name) to participate (with his parents) in a panel at world famous San Diego Comic-Con International. The panel now set for Friday, July 22, 2016, at 2 p.m. and to talk about his love of cosplay and the cosplay and convention culture in which he now finds himself making friends and feeling comradeship.We were surprised. We were a little jealous. We were a lot intimidated. But his host was pleasant and cordial and his excitement was anything but muted.
"I'm a cosplay rock star," he exclaimed. "Alright, let's go to comic con!"
Well, that's where our journey began. Now with just days until our trip begins, we are still hoping to be able to offset the expenses of the trip with the help of this amazing community and those artists, authors, filmmakers, and creators we have tried to help for the past year. While we have had some success with our own show, we have yet to travel out of state or such a great distance as San Diego, CA. We live and work in Melbourne, Florida.
We have even applied for, and been approved for press access to the highly touted Nerd HQ, where many celebrities and pop culture icons gather to raise funds for Operation Smile. We don't mind "singing for our supper," as it were, and we intend to do just that. We don't mind at all working for our blessings, and teaching Michael how to do the same.
We do need help, though, still. The trip is long across America. It will take gas. We'll need to eat. We'll need to sleep. We'll need time off from "day-jobs." But it is al worth it to us to help Michael realize a dream and to demonstrate to him that he can accomplish anything if he is willing to work hard for it. We want him to learn from the trip. We want him to appreciate being a part of this global and vast community, to appreciate the art and creativity that is expended in this endeavor, to appreciate the fellowship of other with like ambitions and powerful dreams. We want Michael to continue to learn to express himself and to encourage others to do that same.
You can help, and I hope you will. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. It means everything to us. Please share it with as many as you can. We ask that if you are able you take a few more moments to click: http://www.gofundme.com/CosplayMichael and DONATE. Just $10 will add to the donations of family and friends and help to make this seemingly simple wish come true. It does add up. You can make a difference to us! Donate TODAY+Gofundme +Cosplay Michael Pomichter +Sage Ia +Deanna Pomichter +Hangin With Web Show
