Not so long ago, in a children’s museum not so far away, mass communication freshman Kaylee Walleser needed to bring something creative on Halloween. She brought a thrifted “Star Wars” Rey costume, and she was hooked.
Walleser is a cosplayer and a beater on the University’s quidditch team. Walleser said her interest into all things nerdy sparked when she was reading the “Harry Potter” series while on a trip in Iowa as a preteen. She hasn’t turned back since.
“I’m one of those people where I take things to the extreme,” Walleser said. “If I love a character — that’s what got me into cosplay, too — I wanted to not only read the story, but live it. I thought the closest way I could do that was through quidditch.”
Walleser said quidditch is an intense game that requires focus. She said though she is not athletic, her team supports her and pushes her to be a better player.
“It’s a lot more technique than one would think, especially as a beater, but it’s a lot of fun and the people make it amazing,” Walleser said.
Since her first cosplay as Rey, she has cosplayed many characters from different media, such as “Game of Thrones” and “Overwatch.” She has also dressed as Elsa and Anna from “Frozen” for her former job as a character performer for parties.  
Walleser is active in online cosplay communities that meet up at conventions and hold contests she participates in. She is most active with the group Cosplayers de Louisiane and has gained close friends through her hobbies.
“If we were back in 1999 or early 2000s, and you were like ‘I cosplay,’ people would look at you crazy, but now there’s thousands of people internationally that do it,” Walleser said. “I think that [quidditch] is a little smaller than cosplay is. I think cosplay’s a little bit bigger, but there’s still people from all over that play quidditch. And a lot of people love ‘Harry Potter.’ It’s one of the biggest book series of all time. It’s definitely becoming more open than it was.”
Walleser said her favorite cosplay is her live action version of Belle from “Beauty and the Beast,” which she received as a Christmas gift. She said cosplaying as Belle was special to her because of what “Beauty and the Beast” meant to her as a child.
Walleser said she plans to participate in cosplay contests in the future. She will compete as Tracer from “Overwatch” at Baton Rouge’s LouisiANIME and Padme Amidala from “Star Wars” at Mechacon. She previously won a novice cosplay contest at Fifo Con as Daenerys from “Game of Thrones.”
“That was the first big contest I ever did at a convention,” Walleser said. “I’ve done online contests on Instagram, and I’ve won some of those. But I don’t really count those.”
Walleser emphasized the interpersonal aspect of cosplay. As it becomes more socially acceptable, more people feel free to engage with one another in a manner that would have once been considered strange.
“It sounds stupid and not many people would get it, but once you’re in that environment, there’s a whole community of people who love the same characters as you or who love different characters,” Walleser said. “It’s just a way to bring that nerd culture alive.”

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Isabella Allen

Mass communication freshman Kaylee Walleser showcases her cosplay costumes on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, on LSU campus.