If you’ve been following me for the past couple months, I’m sure you’ve seen me mention Mystic Messenger. It easily became my biggest new fandom of 2016. Well, last year, I went to my very first non-convention cosplay meetup. It was a gathering for Mystic Messenger fans to come together, cosplay as their favorite characters, buy merch, and hang out.
Keep reading to read about my experience & see some photos I took at the event!
What Is Mystic Messenger?
I’ve had a few people ask me what exactly is the game and why I like it so much. I’ll do my best to try to answer those questions without spoiling too much!
Mystic Messenger is a Korean female-geared mobile game (available for FREE on iOs and Android) where you play as the main character or “MC” that decides to also download an app called Mystic Messenger which leads to her joining a secret charity party planning group called the “RFA”. Through the use of interactive chatrooms, texts, phone calls, etc. you get to know the various members of the group and the game will branch off into different storylines based on your choice of interactions. It’s kind of like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” visual novel. Choosing certain answers can lead to one of multiple abrupt “Bad” ends, or an eventual “Normal” or “Good” ending.
Why Do You Love It?
I love the unique real-time interactive experience and interface of the app. It really allows you to feel like you are part of this world and that these characters are actually your friends. It’s immerse gameplay makes it so easy to get attached to one or more of them and care about their struggles and feelings. Plus, the characters themselves are so unique with such in depth personalities. They feel like real people instead of just bots in a game. And not just the characters, but the individual and overarching storylines are really interesting as well! You’ll be taken on an emotional roller coaster!
I cosplayed as the “MC” from the game in her most recognizable outfit. She has long brown hair with very long bangs that obscure her eyes. This is something common in most otome games the idea being that you can “project” yourself onto the character… However, I just find it distracting as it makes her look like a mannequin! Give the girl some eyes!
Source: Sen-Ten from Tumblr
The meetup took place at a plaza in Little Tokyo, by far my favorite area of LA. Here I am trying to organize a quick group shot with some of the remaining cosplayers.
How great is this pair cosplaying as Jumin and his assistant, Jaehee?
Where are Jumin, Zen, and Seven?
Head of the RFA, V, and his fiance, Rika. You don’t really get to know these characters much in the game but their roles are vital to the storyline.
My Favorite Character
Anyone who knows me, knows that Jumin is my absolute favorite character in the game. Even in other character routes, I still always gravitate towards him. With a love for cats that rivals my own, how could I not? He is also very often misunderstood by the other characters of the game (and by many fans as well) which can really frustrate me. What can I say, I’m a fangirl who will defend Jumin until the end!
This Jumin cosplay is terrific! The horizontal stripes, purple pocket square, there’s even his beloved cat, Elizabeth the 3rd!
When you’re just trying to take a few photos for the blog but people keep passing by and you’re just super awkward…
Why This Meetup Meant A Lot To Me
I shared this on Instagram, but figured I’d share it here as well… This was a brief little meetup but it meant a lot to me. Something else that I’ve often written about on my blog this past year has been my difficult health journey. This event happened in November which was a particularly difficult month for my body. I actually spent my Thanksgiving in bed barely able to eat anything because I felt so nauseous and in pain. I could barely leave my bed much less my apartment most days.
When I heard about the Mystic Messenger cosplay meetup on Facebook, I was ecstatic. I was excited to meet others who were just as passionate about the game as me plus I’d been looking for an opportunity to do a casual cosplay. As the meetup date came closer, I was afraid that like so many other plans and activities I looked forward to, I would also have to miss it due to my health.
Fortunately, the day of the event, I was feeling well enough to not just get out of bed but able to put on makeup, get dressed, and drive down to Little Tokyo with my boyfriend. I was so grateful he came along since this really isn’t his scene. Normally, I probably would have just gone solo but it meant a lot that he wanted to make sure I’d be okay.
I arrived a little late to the event, but was still able to meet a handful of lovely fans and take a couple photos (sorry I didn’t take more, it took Luke some time to find parking so it was just me for a while and I’m super shy about asking to take someone’s photo in this setting aka not at a convention >.<). After a little less than an hour, my pains started to hit me pretty bad and I had trouble standing so we left. However brief a time it was, for that hour of so, I got to be a normal fangirl dressing up as a character from her favorite game :’)
