Healing stream engaged. Maintaining connection. Did someone call a doctor? You should be at peak performance levels. After all, 2018 XBIZ Best Cosplay Cam Model winner Felicia Vox certainly is, when she shines beams of camming light from her Caduceus Staff as Mercy from Overwatch.
Do not fear the darkness, but welcome it’s embrace. Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. Because when Vox casts off her angelic Mercy costume, she can just as easily slip into her genderbending Assassin’s Creed 2 regalia, inspired by Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
Don’t cosplay because it’s popular or because you think it will make you a lot of money. Take it from me — cosplay is a very expensive hobby.
A gamer first and foremost, especially when it comes to cosplay inspiration, Vox has channeled the sorcery of Yennefer from The Witcher III, tapped into her “horny” princess-stealing persona for Bowsette, turned on her pulsing red Sith lightsaber as a female Kylo Ren and climbed up the League of Legends of camming ladder as Ahri the Nine-Tailed Fox.
From her Twitch plays to her ManyVids clips, Vox is as multifaceted as they come … and come they do. Thus, to illustrate her cosplay grandeur in all its epic glory, XBIZ fired up the PlayStation and kicked back with the colorfully-threaded cam-eleon for this exclusive interview.
XBIZ: What inspired you to become a cam model?
Vox: Originally, I had started cam modeling out of necessity. When I was 18, I moved away from home to a state 2,000-plus miles away to start college and a new life for myself. Unfortunately, I had a hard time financially and while job searching, I decided to start camming. I didn’t do much research at the time and I thought it was the best way to make money fast, as I became homeless.
An acquaintance took me in for a brief period so that I could get back on my feet, and I ended up living on a bare mattress in a hallway, which is where I did my camming for awhile. I had found a vanilla job working at a Walgreens about six months after I had started camming, and did my best to work full-time and overtime as much as I could at Walgreens whilst camming, just so I could make enough money for rent (for the hallway I was living in), food, transportation and utilities.
I eventually realized that the lifestyle I had wasn’t healthy and was extremely detrimental to my mental health, so I decided to move back home. I continued camming for a while and was actually able to start enjoying it rather than feeling like I had to do it. Long story short, I wasn’t necessarily “inspired” to become a cam model in the beginning per se, but I eventually came to enjoy it.
XBIZ: How did you get into cosplaying?
Vox: I have always been a lover of cosplaying. I’ve been cosplaying even before I knew cosplay was a thing. I started cosplaying in high school, where my first cosplay was Dug from the movie “Up.” I even had made a collar with LEDs that would light up when I spoke with the simple touch of a button, just like in the movie.
I loved getting into character, and I loved finding characters that had personality traits that I desired or already had. When I realized that cosplay was a real hobby, I decided to do it professionally and incorporate it into my work. I loved the costuming and crafting aspect the most. There is no better feeling than making something where there was nothing before, wearing it, and having people enjoy your hard work.
That’s what cosplay means to me, and that feeling of accomplishment is the best drug there is. Elevating my plain old self into a character that people love was a way for me to combat my depression and suicidal thoughts too. Rather than taking my own life, I was able to become someone else — someone I believed was immensely better than the person that I was in real life. The traits I admired in fictional characters became traits that I owned when I would cosplay that character. Cosplay is my life, and I wouldn’t know where I would be without it.
XBIZ: Talk about your favorite sources for cosplay ideas.
Vox: My favorite places to draw inspiration from for cosplay are mostly video games. I’m a huge gamer and I’m mostly obsessed with open world RPGs (role-playing games). I’ve played video games ever since I was a toddler and with every game I played, I immersed myself into that fantasy world entirely.
One of the first games I ever played was Super Smash Bros., and my favorite character in that game was, coincidentally, Kirby. Kirby could eat anyone and then spit them out and become the character they ate. I suppose you could consider that my introduction to cosplay in a sense, haha! I primarily choose characters from video games that I feel a bond with, whether they have a trait I wish I had or they have traits I already have and can therefore relate to them and their struggles well.
Those traits are ones I often try to bring into translation through my photos and videos. Video game characters are also far easier for me to be accurate with, as their proportions and styles tend to be more on the realistic side. I’m a huge sucker for accuracy, so anime and cartoony cosplays aren’t really my style (although I have dabbled a little in those for cosplay as well).
XBIZ: Which of your cosplay outfits/personas have proven to be most popular among your fans and which one is your absolute favorite?
Vox: One of my most popular cosplays has been Mercy from Overwatch. It had been by far my most requested since she was my main since the beta of Overwatch had been released, and many of my followers know my love for her runs deep. I knew it was an important character for me to cosplay and I’ve cosplayed her several times in several different looks.
However, I’m a perfectionist, so I decided that I wanted my cosplay for her to be as perfect as possible. It took me about six months to get her full cosplay together how I wanted it, and a year to tailor little things to perfect the cosplay. I even commissioned her wings from a prop maker overseas which cost upwards of $500 alone. It was the most time, effort and money I had ever invested in a cosplay and my supporters could tell and repaid me with their appreciation and love.
As for my personal favorite, it’s a hard decision. I put so much love into every costume I create, and it’s difficult for me to choose one. My costumes are my babies, and asking me for my favorite cosplay is like asking me to pick my favorite child. I’ll always have a huge sentimental love for my first cosplay I made, a genderbend Ezio Auditore from Assassin’s Creed 2, and it’s a different kind of love that I have for many of my other costumes because it was my first.
I love my Mercy cosplay to death because I put so much into it and it gave me many of the supporters I have today, and because it was a different concept than her original skin. I even love my closet cosplays (ones that are quick to create and simpler versions of characters made from items you already own) and my most recent one I received a lot of love on is of Ashe from Overwatch, since my followers kept telling me I should cosplay her because she looks so much like me in real life. I don’t have one favorite — they’re all my favorites!
XBIZ: Discuss your marketing strategies for promoting your brand.
Vox: I do a lot of promotion on various social media platforms. Over the years, however, I have found the best way to market and promote your brand is to consistently be creating content for it. For me, creating fully accurate and complete cosplays can be very time consuming, and leaves your audience impatient and wanting more.
That’s why I really have to exercise my creative thinking to see what has/hasn’t been done and how I can make a cosplay truly individualized without losing accuracy. Boudoir and sexy cosplays are one way to do so. You still have to be creative and show off the character and make them recognizable to the general public without working yourself to death.
I often have a main cosplay that I’m working on to be as accurate as possible, but also a couple other smaller projects, whether it’s a simpler cosplay, or a boudoir cosplay, or not a cosplay at all, but still entails me dressing up. This way, I’m still promoting new content and doing my best to remain relevant while I work on bigger projects.
XBIZ: Tell us how you balance your time between camming, clips and streaming activities like Twitch.
Vox: It’s really tough to balance streaming on Twitch, MFC and creating pay-per-view content. I do my best to stick to a schedule, mostly by reserving entire days for streams. I typically stream on Twitch, Friday through Tuesday in the afternoon, and do my best to squeeze in MFC time afterwards. I don’t get most of my income from MFC, but frankly, I’m okay with that. I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to perform when I would be on MFC, and it was very detrimental for my health.
Now that I have revenue coming from several different places, I can relax when I come on MFC and stream some costuming or crafting progress and show my fans what I’m working on. I feel like that’s not typical compared to what most MFC girls do, but my mental health is a priority especially because of what I do. I can’t afford to have a day where I’m not crafting and feeling down. Plus, a lot of my fans actually seem to enjoy my process, and it gives me a chance to tell them how I’m putting things together and all the steps that are needed to bring a costume to life.
When I create a photo set or video, a shoot is a whole-day ordeal. Before cosplay clips and photo sets, I used to be able to pump out several videos in a day. Not anymore! I place quality over quantity, so I make sure to take an entire day to shoot something exactly how I want it to be done and how I envisioned it. Those usually happen on one of my stream days, and I’ll take the day off stream to shoot instead. The day after a shoot tends to be more low-key, as I am usually physically sore and exhausted from the day prior.
XBIZ: How do you approach the creation of costumes? Take us through your process.
Vox: The first thing I do when I approach a new costume is I do extensive research on the character. Typically, I’ll pick a character I’m already familiar with, but I’ll always rewatch the movie or show the character is from, or watch lots of videos on YouTube about the character, look up voice lines, lore and more. Once I settle on an outfit for the character (usually the ones I end up cosplaying have multiple outfits to choose from or I create my own version of an outfit for the character), I write down a list of supplies I’ll need to bring them to life.
I don’t leave my house much, but getting crafting supplies is one of the times I do, haha! I’ll visit a fabric store like Jo-Anns, find as much as I can there if it’s cheaper than buying supplies online, and then get the rest of the supplies I need from Amazon or other sites. After I have all/most of the things I need, I start with sewing. The part I start with tends to be random; it’s usually whatever I feel I can finish easily and quickly so I can see what I envision in my head come to life.
It gives me a good gauge as to how long the entire costume will take. I typically save wig styling for last, as I hate doing that part the most out of costume making. When working on a costume from scratch, I usually work on several different aspects of an outfit at once since I can get frustrated or bored from tedious work and it’s a good way for me to make sure I’m constantly working.
While making the whole costume, I’m always watching source media to absorb knowledge of personality traits, voice lines and more. Often times during the course of a project, I’ll be talking to myself around the house in an accent or saying things the character would say. In a way, it’s method acting. Once a costume is finished, I apply that “method acting” to my photo sets and videos so the character’s personality can come across.
XBIZ: What was it like attending XBIZ Miami this year and winning Best Cosplay Cam Model?
Vox: Going to XBIZ Miami was a crazy experience for me! I had never been to any adult events before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was more nervous than anything! After meeting other people in the industry though, especially people I had admired on Twitter and other social media, I became so much more comfortable.
Everyone was so kind and sweet, and I would always be surprised when someone already knew who I was! I’m very bad with names and faces, but after seeing these people online for so long, it was like meeting old friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. It was so heartwarming to finally get to meet everyone I looked up to so much.
Topping off such a great event with a win for Best Cosplay Cam Model was just more than I could ever ask for. I had never received validation from anyone other than myself, my boyfriend and followers online for my work, so finally receiving an award for all my hard work was proof to me that I’m doing what I should be doing. I was shaking from the moment my name was announced to the end of the show! I had found my passion and other people enjoyed my work enough to help me win my first award for cosplay.
XBIZ: Any advice for aspiring cosplay cam models?
Vox: If cosplay is your niche, put everything you’ve got into it. Validation from others feels great, but always make sure validation from yourself is a priority. Don’t cosplay because it’s popular or because you think it will make you a lot of money. Take it from me — cosplay is a very expensive hobby. Cosplay because you love the character you’re dressing up as.
Cosplay because becoming someone else, even for a short while, makes you feel like a better person than you already are. Cosplay because you have a passion for it. Don’t ever give up, and don’t let a character’s body shape or skin color stop you. Make a character your own! That’s the best part about cosplay.
Cosplay is a huge spectrum and anyone can do it. Don’t ever let anyone discourage you from it. Creating something new and beautiful where there was nothing there before is something we need more of in this world.
XBIZ: What's next for your career?
Vox: At the moment, I’m still making costumes! I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I have considered leaving sex work so that I can focus on my costuming and cosplaying more, but I haven’t quite made a final decision yet. The industry has been so kind to me, especially at events, which is why I’m so hesitant to leave.
I love everyone that I’ve met and I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. The next big step I plan on taking is guest appearances at cosplay conventions in 2019. I’ve already been asked a few times, but decided to wait until next year so that I can focus more on my work. I’ve done a lot of traveling this year for work and other obligations, and I feel like my cosplay work has taken a backseat because of it. I’m doing my best to finish out this year strong.