PoP! Fangirl of the Month – March 2011

The PoP! Stars scour all of teh internetz in search of the most Fabulous Females of Fandom. Please keep it in your pants.

For PoP!’s second anniversary, we wanted to choose a fangirl who had gone above and beyond the call of duty for ye olde Panels on Pages. Turning herself into our very own booth babe and becoming one of the co-hosts of the PoP!Cast Network‘s PrincessCast certainly fit the bill! So what if she makes me watch anime, she’s worth it. You may already know her as Ska, but get ready to meet Kristin!

Name: Kristin Ellena-Marie Moutrey
AKA: Ska
Birthdate: February 2, 1989
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Marital Status: Taken (editor’s note: good answer)

Favorite Movies: Spirited Away, Constantine, Stardust, Mystery Men, Howl’s Moving Castle, Coraline, Wayne’s World, UHF, Interstella 5555, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Castle of Cagliostro, Billy Madison, Grandma’s Boy, Xmen, Cinnamoroll the Movie

Favorite TV Shows: Doctor Who, Powerpuff Girls, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Dexter’s Laboratory, Adventure Time, Soul Eater, Eden of the East, Lupin III, Blood +, Hellsing, Gankutsuou, Shiki, Azumanga Daioh, Ergo Proxy

Favorite Video Games: Any of the Dance Dance Revolution games, Cartoon Network Fusion Fall, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Smash Brothers Melee/Brawl, Yoshi’s Island, Devil May Cry, MarioKart, Bust A Groove, I tend to like Nintendo more than anything

Favorite Music: Reel Big Fish, mc chris, Aural Vampire, Suburban Legends, Less Than Jake, No Doubt, Daft Punk, Super Junior, Creature Feature, Ke$ha, Martin Solveig, Michael Jackson

Favorite Comics: Runaways, Sandman, Catwoman, Vampire Knight, Rosario+Vampire, Death Note, Stuff of Legend, Love Hina, I Otaku, Chronicles of the Grim Peddler, March Story

Favorite Books: Harry Potter, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Cirque Du Freak

Favorite Writers: Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling, Kiyohiko Azuma

Favorite Artists: Alodia Gosiengfiao, Christopher Uminga, and the artists of the PoPulation!

Turn-Ons: Time Lords, side burns, good sense of humor, brains

Turn-Offs: bad teeth, overly tan, stupidity, poor grammar

PoP!: It’s time to get down to business and find out what really makes you tick! Kristin, how and when did you become a fangirl?

Ska: I think I always had that mentality. Whatever I liked growing up, I LOVED. I remember my walls being plastered with pictures of the Spice Girls, and I watched Powerpuff Girls religiously. I also blame my brothers. They played video games all the time and I wanted to be cool like them and play video games too. My love of manga came from one of my brothers giving me Love Hina to read when I was around 14. I really liked it and wanted to find more books like that. My dad would also bring me to Wizard World Chicago. He got to check out the booth babes while I got to buy my swag, so he didn’t mind going, lol.

PoP!: The man’s had me take pictures of cosplayers for him. I believe it. So what are your current fangirl obsessions?

Ska: I’m loving Neon Genesis Evangelion right now. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever watched before. The character development is the best I’ve ever seen; you really feel sympathy for what they have to go through. I know this is a series I will want to watch over and over again.

PoP!: Now, you went to school for animation, but recently changed your major. What brought that on?

Ska: Yes, I traded in Adobe Flash for a sewing machine. I’m going for a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design at the Art Institute of Indianapolis. Animation was completely new to me, and I was a decent student, but I didn’t enjoy it. I used to walk by the fashion design labs and drool over the machines and things they got to use. That’s when it hit me—I’m in the wrong major! My passion definitely lies with making costumes.

PoP!: As I’m sure we’ll see later this month at C2E2. What suggestions do you have for other costumers or cosplayers out there?

Ska: Don’t attempt to do something too far beyond your skill level. If you’re starting out and don’t know how to sew very well, try finding a character that you can just buy basic garments for and modify them if you have to. That’s how I started out cosplaying. Also, networking is important. There are tons of people out there that are happy to help you (myself included) if you’re stuck on something. Don’t get discouraged either if you have to rip out your seams and start over. It happens. With every costume you complete, you’ll learn from it and have more experience for the next costume you work on.

PoP!: I seem to remember a story along those lines involving you and our inaugural fangirl, Darth_Frodo, and I saw how well that came out in the end.

Switching gears a little, what is the most fangirlish thing you’ve ever done?

Ska: I’d say switching my major to fashion design so I can make costumes for a living IS the most fangirlish thing I’ve ever done.

PoP!: Fair enough, fair enough. So then… what’s been your biggest geek out moment?

Ska: Meeting Aural Vampire at Anime Central 2010. They held a contest to dance with them onstage. I didn’t win, but the runner-ups got to meet them backstage anyways, and we got to be front row for the concert. I was actually glad I didn’t win because the winners had to stay backstage for half the show, then come out on stage and dance for 1 song only. When I met the band backstage, Exo-Chika, the singer, pointed to my vampire fangs I had in and asked “are they you?” She didn’t speak very much English, so that was funny and cute that she tried. It was so awesome meeting one of my favorite bands, especially since they’re from Japan. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

PoP!: Plus five points to anyone reading this who already knew who Exo-Chika was! Okay, seriously though, before we go… FMK: Neil Gaiman, David Tennant, Aaron Barrett (lead singer of Reel Big Fish)?

Maybe MC's mean-mugging because he wasn't even one of the choices...

Ska: HAH! F- Aaron Barrett, he has dreamy sideburns, plus he’s in the greatest ska band ever. M- David Tennant so I can stop staring at my posters of him wistfully. K- Neil Gaiman, he seems like a nice, quirky man, but he’s not what I’d call attractive.

PoP!: Take THAT Neil Gaiman’s smug sense of self-worth! Oh, and, note to self… shave chinstrap into sideburns.

Alright, enough silliness. Before we go, where can our readers find you for anime recommendations, cosplay advice, and stories of crazy-epic dreams and shit?

Ska: We record the PrincessCast live every Sunday at 9pm EST. Come join us in the chat. And of course there’s all the usual social networking sites: Facebook, Tumblr, A Cosplay Paradise. Okay… that last one’s not so usual.

Paige meets her creator, August 2009 FanGirl Kristin "Foxy" Allen

PoP!: HA! And there you have it! Thanks for helping to ring in the PoP! 2.0 relaunch, Kristin!

Filed Under: Fangirl of the Month • Features

Tags: anime, cosplay, dr. who, featured