{"227711":{"#nid":"227711","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Student Makes National Television Debut on Syfy","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMonika Lee is one of about 20,000 students who attend Georgia Tech, but she has an online fan base twice the size of the student population.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELee is somewhat of a celebrity in the world of costume play, or cosplay, where participants dress as characters from books, films, video games or other media, sometimes adding an element of interactivity or role play with one another.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCosplay, for me, is like getting pretty and dressing up at prom,\u201d Lee said. \u201cExcept it\u2019s nerdy, awesome and badass.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn all likelihood, Lee\u2019s following, which numbers more than 40,000 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/London2191Cosplay\u0022\u003Eon Facebook\u003C\/a\u003E, is about to grow even greater. That\u2019s because she is featured in \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.syfy.com\/heroesofcosplay\u0022\u003EHeroes of Cosplay\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d a new show from the Syfy network that follows nine cosplay enthusiasts around the country as they craft their costumes and travel to conventions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe show is just the most recent accomplishment in a career that began when Lee was 13. After discovering online cosplay communities from her home in Alpharetta, she found cosplay was a way to combine her creativity with an existing love of anime, manga and video games. While in high school, she worked with a business that creates costume accessories, which eventually connected her to the Syfy opportunity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer time filming took her to Seattle, Houston, Kansas City and beyond for various comic and anime conventions. \u201cIt was extremely difficult to juggle my demanding class schedule with filming, making cosplays and attending conventions, and I definitely learned a lot from it,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut coming home to Atlanta, and specifically Georgia Tech, would be comfortable for any cosplayer. Atlanta is home to the world\u2019s largest fantasy and sci-fi convention, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.dragoncon.org\/\u0022\u003EDragon*Con\u003C\/a\u003E, which takes place downtown annually, and \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.momocon.com\/about\/\u0022\u003EMomoCon\u003C\/a\u003E, a convention that was started in 2005 by Georgia Tech\u2019s anime club. In 2008,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty\/bio\/pearce\u0022\u003ECelia Pearce\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of Literature, Media and Communication made a short documentary on cosplaying,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/vimeo.com\/channels\/64217\u0022\u003EConventional Dress\u003C\/a\u003E. Lee easily found kindred spirits at Tech from the moment she arrived on campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was most surprised during FASET when I met people who actually knew what cosplay was,\u201d she said. \u201cI spend most of my time explaining to strangers what I do and why it is that I do it, but it\u2019s amazing to be on campus with a community of students who mostly understand cosplay, conventions and the source material.\u201d Drawing many of her ideas from video games gives Lee a connection to fellow students with a passion for gaming. \u201cI love Tech for its community and nerdiness.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe relationship between Lee\u2019s work as an industrial design major and designing costumes has been symbiotic thus far. Lee even believes her experience cosplaying in middle and high school gave her an edge as an applicant to Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy awareness of materials and processes for creating costumes has aided me in the creation of models and prototypes for studio,\u201d she said, \u201cbut, for the most part, being an industrial design student has taught me more to aid the cosplay creation process.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELee\u2019s creations are mostly a solo effort, with the help of a Husqvarna Viking sewing machine and a Brother serger. However, having an electrical engineer for a father, with power tools and circuit knowledge, has come in handy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf any part of my costume lights up, it\u2019s because I made my dad hook up the LED circuit,\u201d Lee said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELong-term, Lee hopes to work in the video game industry and continue to merge her cosplay and industrial design skills working in licensing. She spent this summer gaining experience at Blizzard Entertainment, a video game developer in California.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELee makes her \u201cHeroes of Cosplay\u201d debut on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 10:30 p.m. on Syfy. She posts ongoing updates about her cosplaying endeavors on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/mnikalee\u0022\u003ETwitter\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/London2191Cosplay\u0022\u003EFacebook\u003C\/a\u003E. Local fans can also look for her at Dragon*Con in Atlanta during Labor Day weekend.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMonika Lee, an industrial design major, will be featured in a new Syfy show about cosplay.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Monika Lee, an industrial design major, will be featured in a new Syfy show about cosplay."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2013-08-08 10:55:34","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:42","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-08-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-08-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"227021":{"id":"227021","type":"image","title":"Monika Lee as Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite","body":null,"created":"1449243566","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:39:26","changed":"1475894899","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:19","alt":"Monika Lee as Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite","file":{"fid":"197440","name":"uk_kkjwgdu7dpsurdfhlpj6o7xh2fevzgghjzsg6doa.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/uk_kkjwgdu7dpsurdfhlpj6o7xh2fevzgghjzsg6doa_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/uk_kkjwgdu7dpsurdfhlpj6o7xh2fevzgghjzsg6doa_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":292153,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/uk_kkjwgdu7dpsurdfhlpj6o7xh2fevzgghjzsg6doa_0.jpeg?itok=XHyBtAxT"}},"227171":{"id":"227171","type":"image","title":"Monika Lee cosplays as Chell from Portal 2","body":null,"created":"1449243566","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:39:26","changed":"1475894899","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:19","alt":"Monika Lee cosplays as Chell from Portal 2","file":{"fid":"197453","name":"lz4updhqrl3a4uswt7asiuk8kwp1do7cffl-678byro.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lz4updhqrl3a4uswt7asiuk8kwp1do7cffl-678byro_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lz4updhqrl3a4uswt7asiuk8kwp1do7cffl-678byro_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":119973,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/lz4updhqrl3a4uswt7asiuk8kwp1do7cffl-678byro_0.jpeg?itok=-otSYlrL"}},"227961":{"id":"227961","type":"image","title":"Rogue from X-Men","body":null,"created":"1449243566","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:39:26","changed":"1475894899","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:19","alt":"Rogue from X-Men","file":{"fid":"197459","name":"gpt_ebsuzudqud6en61mnbgwoilgttkofmzwgq7y_fq.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gpt_ebsuzudqud6en61mnbgwoilgttkofmzwgq7y_fq_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gpt_ebsuzudqud6en61mnbgwoilgttkofmzwgq7y_fq_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":71354,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/gpt_ebsuzudqud6en61mnbgwoilgttkofmzwgq7y_fq_0.jpeg?itok=NXzQstY1"}}},"media_ids":["227021","227171","227961"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mnikalee","title":"Monika Lee on Twitter"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/London2191Cosplay","title":"Monika Lee on Facebook"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.syfy.com\/heroesofcosplay","title":"Heroes of Cosplay on Syfy"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"5011","name":"cosplay"},{"id":"70871","name":"Monika Lee"},{"id":"2449","name":"video games"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}