Jessica Nigri

[GregoryPaul1]

not feelin it dawg

Dat hurts me deep down, bro. I puts so much time, effort and money into diz. I spent like 3 hours I coulda bin usin to mac up da honeyz and like all 30 dollas of my nike fund so I culd be as pretty as are gurl JNig here. Luk at me now. No honeyz, no skrilla and no rispect frum my homiez.

no disrezpect

[TrueFae]

Okay, as you can see by my post count, I have not been a part of these forums until now. But I have been keeping an eye on the AR updates, and when I saw that Jessica Nigiri was a guest, I just couldn't stay silent.

"Multiple high quality cosplays" you say? As a cosplayer, I am OFFENDED that you dare call her cosplays high quality. I don't even consider most of her costumes cosplay, for that matter. As it has been mentioned already, she is a glorified booth babe.

THIS is quality cosplay. As is THIS. Oh, and THIS. And guess what, they are all North American cosplayers too. They have high quality work and put a ton of effort into the detail and accuracy of their costumes. There is no need to look overseas for quality cosplayers, but booking a girl who think a short skirt and pikachu ears = cosplay is just ridiculous. There are plenty of amazing (and attractive, if that's what you were trying to go for here) cosplayers in North America. Hell, there are lots if Vancouver, if you had bothered to look. But Jessica Nigiri is nothing but a pretty weeaboo who shows off as much skin as possible for the attention, and I don't think your convention is sending a very good message by booking her as a guest. Considering the amount of upskirt shots I saw on her website, I do not think parents will be wanting their children to attend a convention where she is considered a guest, and praised as a cosplayer. Her outfits send an extremely poor message to people who are new to cosplay, and although she is a very pretty girl and she does look great in her costumes, I do not agree at ALL that she should be praised as a quality cosplayer at a convention open to guests of all ages.
I sincerely hope any parents attending with children are able to look past her butt hanging out of her skirt and see that cosplay is not about dressing like a 21 year old bar star.

[Candolf]

Hi TrueFae,

Thanks for stopping by. I like to keep a generally positive outlook on things. Sorry to see that those comments offend you. That was never our intention. In fact, I think that anyone who can work up the courage to cosplay gets an "A+" in my books!

I can also agree that the cosplayers you suggested are also "high quality". To me, if your're not cosplaying, your're missing out on a lot of fun!

Now, what i dont agree with and equally don't appreciate is you calling our guest a weeaboo (from what i understand, it is a derogatory term). In addition, I think your comments about her cosplays not being somehow "worthy" of praise serves no purpose to helping cosplay in general. I've seen cosplay across the gamut. Some as simple as a kimono, some as complex as those you've provided (some even more complex). If someone who was a little shy about cosplaying saw comments like yours, it would probably send an "extremely poor message to people who are new to cosplay".

There is honesty and there is bluntness.

Her outfits send an extremely poor message to people who are new to cosplay,

Now, if you are indeed a "lurker", why not post about who you want here:

http://www.animerevolution.ca/guests/

or even here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=130

or even here:

http://fb.animerevolution.ca

Seriously, we have practically given the power to the community. I filter through numerous emails, pms, posts, tweets, etc.. to see who to bring in. The guest relations team works tirelessly to contact as many as possible to negotiate schedules, fees, hotels, etc... Just because you don't like a particular guest or what we have to say about them, doesn't necessarily mean you have to insult another human being.

According to the stats, you started viewing us:
Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:16 pm, lurked for a while as a guest and decided to post at 4:37pm today.
Other than today, I have not seen your so called "lurking".
Now, there is definitely the slight chance that your IP revolves but i guess we can keep an eye on your current one and see how often it changes.
I narrowed down the city you're actually in and our web team keeps a tally of potential trolls. Considering we dont have that many from Calgary, if you indeed have been here and lurking for a bit, I'm sure it'll pan out.

I do question why you've ignored the other guests completely and just narrowed in on the one you didn't like right off the bat (considering its your first post). I know our comments might have offended you, but speaking negatively about a person (because she is actually a person), only offends all her fans and potential new coming cosplayers. After all, if we are all going to be judged like that, it would certainly make cosplaying difficult (since this seems like a legitimat concern of yours)

In regards to your comment about the innocent children. I think this post said it best: http://www.animerevolution.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=316&hilit=nsfw&start=10#p3568

Now, some facts about Jessica Nigri

1.) She is a very nice person to speak to over the phone and email
2.) She has a facebook following of over 65k
3.) She makes most (if not all of her cosplays)
4.) She gives back to charities
5.) She has been invited as a guest to other ComicCons and Conventions
6.) She has been asked to cosplay for opening events for Games from EA and Activision (don't quote me on the publishers names though, I'm just drawing from memory)
7.) She actually has some very well done cosplays.

If the idea of cosplay is to mimic the character, I think she does an excellent job. But a picture is worth 1000 words:

[Mune]

So when can I be expecting my guest invite?

You my friend have my respect! It takes guts to do what you did =]

[Candolf]

So when can I be expecting my guest invite?

You my friend have my respect! It takes guts to do what you did =]

hahaha omg, yeah this picture was hilarious! Maybe you should make a calendar! LOLOLOLOL

[TrueFae]

Okay... wow. So I have an opinion on something that you happen to disagree with, so I am considered a troll??? Gee, what a welcoming staff. Really makes me want to stick around. *eyeroll* I haven't bothered joining the forums because I am still only mildly interested in the convention, so I mostly just lurk the website for updates. I have rarely come to the forums, and I certainly had no desire to contribute until now. But it's nice to know that anyone who attempts to give an opinion against your convention is immediately IP stalked and called a troll. You should have a banner on the home page that says, "EVERYONE WELCOME; UNLESS YOU DISAGREE WITH US!" Honestly...
I don't know where you got Calgary from, however... I am from Vancouver.

Anyway, I never said that cosplays HAD to be high quality. The reason I do not think she deserves the praise as a cosplayer is because a large number of her costumes are just mini skirts and bikini tops with a hint of a character thrown in. I do not consider "sexy" versions of characters cosplay, nor am I the only cosplayer with this opinion. It takes no effort or creativity to wear a short skirt and animal ears, and it totally misses the point of bringing the character to life.
And I never said she didn't have ANY cosplays, I said I don't consider MOST of her costumes cosplay. So linking all those pictures was just a waste of your time, since you are trying to convince me of something I am already aware of.

She may be a nice person, but that still doesn't change my opinion. I'm sure she is a lovely girl, but that doesn't change the fact that 90% of the pictures I have seen of her are ones where she is nearly naked and doing up-skirt shots, and that is highly inappropriate at a convention where there are children attending. It sends a bad message because it makes girls think they have to be "sexy" in order to be successful at cosplay, and considering body image is already something that is a huge problem in the cosplay community, I don't think costumes like hers help encourage people who don't have a idealistic body type. My dislike of her has nothing whatsoever to do with her personally. I simply don't agree with the way she portrays herself, and do not think she deserves as much credit as a cosplayer as she seems to have. I'm not asking you to remove her from the guest list, I am simply expressing my opinion, which I am completely entitled to. However, the fact that she will be there, coupled with the ridiculous price you are charging, and now your accusatory reply have definitely deterred me from attending, and if anyone asks me about AR, I will definitely be giving them my honest opinion.

As for why I haven't commented on the other guests; I have no issues with them. I'm not particularly excited about any of them, but they seem like decent guests to have on the list, so why would I comment on something that I am indifferent about? Would you prefer I go through each guests' website thoroughly and post my thoughts on each and every single one of them? Because frankly I don't have time for it.

[Candolf]

Hi again "TrueFae",

Sorry if you thought I called you a "troll". My exact words were "potential troll". If that offended you, you have my formal apology, that was definitely not my intention.

We welcome your opinions. It is just somewhat sad to see someone calling another person a "weeaboo" or "unworthy" of praise.

Maybe we can get some of your suggestions? Who knows, perhaps we'll get someone you really like?

[Sandy]

I am excited to see Jessica at Anime Revolution

She is one of the reasons I bought a ticket.

[TrueFae]

You already have FDP attending, who I think are an excellent choice. They are fantastic local cosplayers who are well respected in the community. I think if you want cosplayers, you should book more people like them. Cosplayers who are dedicated to bringing the characters to life and who work hard to include the fine details of the costumes they create.
Part of my favourite thing about AE was that they tended to reach more locally for their guests, like the Reboot people. That was by far one of my favourite convention experiences; one that I think would be wise to replicate. Vancouverites are proud of our city and our people (as I am sure you are aware) and drawing on local guests would definitely be a good idea.
I also really like that you got Sugar from YTV. I grew up with her, and although a lot of the younger attendees won't know of her, it's great for us older, nostalgic convention attendees. She's a huge part of Canadian television, in my opinion. I don't know anyone my age who doesn't know of Sugar and the other PJs. We have a lot of Canadian talent in anime, games, cosplay, etc etc and I think it would be very nice to see some of our more talented people come out of the woodwork and have guest spots and Canadian conventions. Overseas and American guests are all fine and dandy, but I prefer a good dose of local love.
There are also a ton of video game, animation, 3D, etc studios around Vancouver. I mean, My Little Pony is done right here, and two of the main voice actresses are Vancouverites.
Also, there are lots of well known companies, like Disney, LucasArts, and Capcom that have Vancouver sites; perhaps contacting them would be a good idea? Maybe ask representatives to run a panel and discuss how a video game or anime is made.

That's just what I have off the top of my head, but you get the idea.

[twtmc]

Fae, I'm against this as much as you, believe me, but fact of the matter is that cash rules everything around me. JNigs has lots of the mid-20something nice-guy-gamers that buy her stuff (posters etc) and read blogs that have, at some point, featured her. They will pay full ticket price at the door and thus, more money into the next con. Really I'm just more pissed that all the cosplay groups have drawn less of a crowd than I have to panels and I've still never been invited as a guest because I don't have much outside of conventions that is noteworthy.