ASTA YOUNG: Who cares what size you are; what gender you are; what race you are.
You can be whatever you want to be in the cosplay world.
ASTA YOUNG: As a kid, I knew that I was different. I was trying too hard to fit in when I should
just focus on, you know what I am here to stand out, I might as well stand out. My name
is Asta Young. Asta, like kind of like Pasta, without the P like hasta la vista, Asta vista, yeah.
ASTA YOUNG: I am 25; I am basically an artist and I cosplay and I am also a gamer and I
am also the mother of pugs.
ASTA YOUNG: Yeah, crazy pug lady over here.
ASTA YOUNG: Growing up, I have never actually been formally diagnosed with dwarfism. My
parents always just said, ‘Hey, you were born small’. I was picked on as a kid, like
I would always get like made fun of because of my little legs. And that affected my confidence
a lot. I remember I used to go home crying. The difference between then and now is just
mostly the fact of my confidence. I am a lot happier.
ASTA YOUNG: I am also married now so kind of like...
TY GOOSSEN: My first impression of Asta was that she was just so positive, so energetic
and just so good to be around.
ASTA YOUNG: He fell in love with me for who I am.
ASTA YOUNG: Remember this? My Phoebe cosplay.
ASTA YOUNG: Cosplay is basically like costume play.
ASTA YOUNG: I got into it, I think like three, four years ago. I have always been a geek at heart.
ASTA YOUNG: I mean I love Pokemon, Marvel movies, like I love Nintendo, Star Wars like,
the list goes on. Then I was like, ‘How cool would it be to dress up as these characters?’
And then I discovered cosplay. I was like, ‘What? People could do this for fun and
it’s so awesome.’ And so I was like, ‘Babe we have to go to these conventions.’
TY GOOSSEN: We are both into video games. We are both into the comic book culture.
TY GOOSSEN: This is something that we would enjoy doing.
ASTA YOUNG: So we went to our very first convention and I fell in love with it ever since.
ASTA YOUNG: Today I am doing a photoshoot. I am doing Kida cosplay from like Atlantis.
So that's going to be awesome.
ASTA YOUNG: When you are in a costume, it’s like, you are in a whole different world.
I definitely want to get like water shots because you know, like Kida actually you don’t
know Kida. I just love how like, accepting the community is. No one would ever judge
you. It’s like there is no discrimination in the cosplay world. It’s all about having
fun and being who you are.
ASTA YOUNG: My favourite part is actually making the costume. You put in all this hard
work, like sometimes it takes months, depending on the, like how intricate it is. Many hours
of burned fingertips from hot glue guns you know, it’s like really, really neat, like seeing it come together.
TY GOOSSEN: I think Asta started out as not being the most confident. Now I think she
is very confident in every little aspect she carries herself.
ASTA YOUNG: I remember when I first started posting my cosplay stuff online. It’s like
there are really good comments, but then there are also the negative - block, delete, ignore it.
ASTA YOUNG: You have to love yourself. No one else can love you if you don’t love yourself first.
ASTA YOUNG: Being in cosplay is an amazing experience.
ASTA YOUNG: When I think about it, it does change my confidence.
ASTA YOUNG: And I think cosplay has made me into an even more confident person.
ASTA YOUNG: Cosplay changed me for the better.