Welcome to Straywind.com!

Welcome to my Cosplay home on the net. My name is Rebecca (aka Stray Wind online). I've been Cosplaying since late 2001. I love the fellowship, challenges and creativity involved in making costumes. My forte is Cosplaying from survival horror video games as well as characters from Anime and games that I grew up enjoying. Since I began Cosplaying, I have worn over 100 costumes and I've attended over 120 conventions and major events. In 2018, I was lucky enough to work with Henchmen Studios on behalf of Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm and I was the official Cosplay model for Orphea when she was announced at BlizzCon 2018. Cosplaying is an exciting journey and I look forward to future projects and events as my journey in the world of Cosplay continues.

-+- Updates -+-

August 30th, 2026
I've returned from Fan Expo Canada. I only attended the con for 2 of the 4 days (Thursday and Friday). I really thought I had a good strategy for attending the con by going the first two days. Going on Thursday got you a chance to explore the vendor areas before things get too crazy busy and then on Friday you could circle back for anything you wanted to think about or check out any part of the con you missed. It's been a pretty solid strategy the last couple of years, but this year, the con seemed way busier in the areas I wanted to check out on Thursday evening. The routine I have with my friends Kira and Tyler is that we go through Artist Alley and check out any interesting activations in the south building. Artist Alley felt like it was mid-day Friday when we tried to go through most aisles. It was disappointing. We did end up walking through every aisle, but we took a break halfway through to try to go somewhere less crowded, and mentally, I couldn't take in most of what I saw. If you stopped at a table, you jammed up the whole aisle. It was ridiculous.

The brand activations this year were a bit mid. Usually there are big booths by brands like Disney, Netflix, Amazon and Paramount. Paramount had been doing the Lodge activation for a few years with various franchise prop displays and interactive exhibits, but this year they didn't return. Disney did have a consumer booth, but not any cool exhibits like the year they did the small walkthrough for Agatha All Along. I know they did have the Doom costume on display. There were no booths for Netflix or Amazon. It all felt pretty lackluster. Cineplex did have a really cool Godzilla statue on display as a photo op and the Sentinel head statue for the Wolverine game was pretty awesome too. The only activation I did was the LEGO booth where I built a little Pokeball since the wait was only a few minutes. The freebies were a bit underwhelming this year too. I got a can of Redbull, a small pack of candy, a simple Michaels tote bag, and eyedrops. I did end up getting a free t-shirt (size L, so a sleep shirt I guess) but I went out of my way to get that by going to a panel. You really had to work to get freebies.

I did end up getting some neat stuff at Artist Alley. A booth had cute handmade keychains, witch hats and other fabric goods. I bought a little fabric pumpkin keychain from them. I also got a neat lilac original art carousel t-shirt from another booth and some really pretty Sailor Moon (Wicked Lady) and Dark Chi from Chobits fanart keychains. I know I need to swear off buying keychains, but another table was selling some cute room themed keychains on clearance and they had one that was a witch's bedroom, so I had to grab that. I ended up with 4 keychains from the con. My other non-AA purchases were a pair of black super sparkly platform sneakers from the Anthony Wang table. They were a pretty good price. I saw his table at AN and wanted to find shoes there, but they didn't have anything in my size. The only annoying thing is that he was selling I guess factory seconds or maybe they just don't hold together very well because one of the shoes was missing two pearl charms. I had some old pearl beads from a bracelet that snapped, so I repaired the shoes with my own beads and the fix isn't crazy noticeable, but that's a bit frustrating for something that should have been new condition. Finally, I gambled on one of the few booths selling Tokidoki figures. They had the new Hello Kitty Pumpkin Spice blind box series and I really just wanted the Hello Kitty figure since she's coming out of a pumpkin and it's too cute. I wouldn't mind a couple of the other ones in the series, but at $20 a piece, you have to pick your battles. Tokidoki blind boxes have become much harder to find in Canada and so expensive. Since I spotted a table with a fresh case right at show open at 4pm, I took a look at box placement photos on the Tokidoki subreddit and I gambled on the case placement. It turned out to be correct and I got the Hello Kitty one. It felt like a real victory. That was the extent of my purchases for the weekend. Once we gave up on trying to shop on Thursday evening, I went over to Wvrst with Kira and Tyler for a nice dinner after 8pm. Wvrst is one of my favourite restaurants in the city. The currywurst and pretzels are so good. I got home fairly late, but it was nice way to end the con for the night.

Friday was my attempt to get involved in actual con activities. I decided to Cosplay and I think that's the first time I've Cosplayed at Fan Expo Canada since before the pandemic. Looking back, I've skipped it the last three years as I'm usually in a rush to attend a panel on Friday morning. I was considering wearing the Maria (Silent Hill 2 Remake) costume that I finally fixed up and wore to YetiCon earlier in the summer, but then I heard about the big 30th Anniversary Resident Evil Reunion panel on Friday afternoon. I thought it would be a great chance to wear my Ashley RE4 Remake costume to Fan Expo for the first time. I think it's just about the only RE costume I have right now that's still in good condition and I still fit into. I did most of my Resident Evil Cosplaying between 2008 to 2013. Man, that was a long time ago. Anyway, since I didn't rush down the con for an early panel, I was able to get my costume on and leave my home a little after 10am. It was a very early morning, though, but thank goodness Ashley is a pretty comfy costume and easy to walk around in. I got to the con a little after 11am and immediately started running into RE Cosplayers. It was fun to say hi to folks. That really seems to be the interaction level for Cosplayers. With how crowded and congested things were, most people would do a quick wave and a passing compliment. You didn't really get stopped for photos. It just seemed to be hard to find a place to exist without being in the way.

I started the day in the north building, but man, the north building vendor room always feels like such an afterthought. So many of the booths have 2nd locations over in south, so there isn't much that's unique. It didn't take me long to walk through it. My main goal was the RE panel, so after meeting my friends Kira and Tyler in the south building, I ended up lining up an hour before the RE panel was meant to start so I could get a decent seat. We were sitting in the 2nd row on the left most set of chairs. Not a bad angle, but the panel was kind of a mess. We were warned it would start a few minutes late and the panels were already only 45 minutes long. About 12 minutes in, the RE4 Remake VAs for Luis and Ashley arrived and started the panel. Little did we know that the rest of the panelists wouldn't show up until nearly 2:30. The RE4 Remake VAs were already in the south building as they were signing in Artist Alley and were sharing a table with an RE fanartist. The other RE VAs were all sharing a booth in the north building. I don't know if they got behind waiting for an escort to the panel room, or got caught up in booth signings, but it's crazy how late they were. It was cool to see everyone when they finally showed up. The cast was stacked. I love the original RE4 game, so seeing the VAs for Ada and Leon was super cool. As a Rebecca Cosplayer, it was pretty cool to see the RE0 Rebecca VA. I was a bit sad when Rebecca's VA said she really wanted Rebecca Cosplayers to show up at the booth so she could get photos with them. It sucks that my Rebecca costume is too old and small to wear. Cosplaying Rebecca around 2009 was so much fun. It was also cool to see Wesker's VA from the versions of the games that I played in the early 2000s. It was just all over such a neat group and it's a shame the already short panel was so truncated. I really wanted to hear more from Leon's VA. I'm not really an autograph person or I would have visited them at the booth for a more direct interaction. Sucks that this was the only chance to see the VAs in a panel for the whole weekend. I also wish I could have heard more stories from Alyson Court. I had no idea she was such a prolific behind the scenes figure in early RE voice casting and production (on top of being Claire's OG voice actress). She did a lot of production work for the Outbreak games. She organized the whole reunion and that alone feels like a story. Several of the guests had never even been to a fan con before. I just wish the panel could have started on time, but it was nice to hear from the Ashley and Luis VAs before everyone else showed up. It was a tough panel for everyone to really get a chance to talk as it was just such a big group. It sounds like at least some of the actors are local so maybe Alyson will organize another con panel for future Fan Expos or Toronto ComiCons.

After the panel, I debated about going to the RE Cosplay meet up at 4:15, but instead I decided to wait for The Stunt Driver movie panel with Jay Baruchel at 4pm. I figured it was a more unique experience. That was how I got a free shirt. I ended up meeting my friend Zee in line and we chatted and sat together as my other friends were late to line up since they were in another panel. It was interesting to hear about a Canadian production and Jay's passion for Canadian content and showcasing Canadian stories. The movie comes out next month and I hope it does well.

That was kind of it for my con experiences. I walked around a bit more after the panel and walked by the booth where all the RE VAs were, but they were pretty busy and it was crowded, so I didn't stick around. My friends and I left the con around 6pm and had dinner at Kelly's Landing. It was much needed as prior to that, all I had to eat after breakfast was a Nutella bar and I drank water and the freebie Red Bull drink. The carbonara was really good. I ended up not getting home until after 9:30 and I was pretty exhausted from two very long and busy days.

In the end, my Fan Expo Canada 2026 experience was pretty mixed. I feel like I give the con a free pass for a lot because I am so nostalgic about Fan Expo. I've been attending the con off and on for a good chunk of my life. It's in the heart of downtown, which is always an exciting trip, and the mix of artists that sell at the event and unique guests the con can draw always impresses me. Even this year with a lack of cool brand activations, I still did find some cool items in AA and there were some neat displays to take in. The RE panel was a really incredible experience even if it was a mess. Maybe they should have broken it down into smaller groups and run two panels, but I'm glad the panel was Friday so I could attend it. I will say, having Cosplayed for the first time at Fan Expo since 2019, I think this will be my last year doing it. The con is just so chaotic and crowded. You really can't find a place to stop and just exist. It's a bit awkward as well for me since I need to travel for an hour on transit to get to the con in costume, so it's a lot of effort just to feel claustrophobic. I wish I had interacted with more RE Cosplayers, but it was hard to really do much besides wave like passing ships in the night. Maybe I'm just old and tired, but I don't think it's worth the effort and it doesn't significantly improve my con experience. It almost hinders it since I have to get up early to get ready and the con is already so exhausting. So I suppose this is kind of me semi-retiring from Cosplay at cons, or at least Fan Expo. I would wear a costume again if I was invited to be in a group or something, but otherwise, I'll let the more enthusiastic folks enjoy it and applaud them for the effort. I don't know, I almost don't know if I want to go to Fan Expo Canada again even just doing two days of it. Thursdays are now getting to be crazy busy too and you never know the guest list until a few weeks before the con. By then, the already expensive tickets are even pricier. I usually grab tickets during the early bird phase. I'll have to think about it next year before I commit. I just wish the con could expand and give everyone a little more room to walk and actually see the cool things on display or for sale. I did still enjoy my time and like the CNE is a summer-end tradition for a lot of Torontonians, Fan Expo is a tradition I don't know if I can quite give up on. I'll see if I attend again in 2027.

Next up is the Great Canadian Halloween Market in September. It's also a very crowded event, but it has such fun horror and Halloween craft vendors that it's always a neat experience. I won't be Cosplaying there, though. I do still hope to do a M3gan costume shoot before fall sets in. Since I'm not sure when I would wear it again, I would also like to get photos of Maria. Hopefully before the end of the year. Then I'll have to see about next year. I probably won't make or buy anything new, but you never know.

-+- Past Updates -+-

August 26th, 2026
It's almost time for Fan Expo Canada 2026. I can't believe it's going to be my 21st time attending the convention. I'm only going on Thursday and Friday. My current plan is to wear casual clothes on Thursday and possibly Cosplay on Friday. Originally I was thinking of wearing my Maria from the Silent Hill 2 Remake costume on Friday, but now I'm thinking about wearing my RE4 Remake Ashley costume again as there is going to be a big 30th Anniversary Resident Evil panel on Friday afternoon of the con. It's kind of crazy just how many VAs are going to be part of the panel. I think it's over a dozen including the RE4 Remake Ashley, RE0 Rebecca, OG RE4 Leon, Ada and Wesker, and OG Claire from RE2. It only really got announced like a week ago as it seems to be a bit organized independently of the actual con, so it was not expected. I think that's the only panel that's really catching my attention. The rest of the con will just be spent shopping and exploring as I usually do. Hopefully it'll be a fun convention. I'll report back after the event.

July 10th, 2026
Stillvisions sent me some preview photos of my Mio (Fatal Frame II Remake) costume that I wore to Anime Fiesta Summer Con a couple of weeks ago. We got some great spooky shots in areas like in the basement of the mill from Black Creek Pioneer Village. I created a costume page for the costume and I've added my favourite photos. You can find them here. I was thinking about wearing the costume again for more photos, but honestly, I'm pretty happy with how these photos are looking. Not sure I'll wear Mio again as the costume had some fit issues, but I'm so glad that I took a chance and checked out Anime Fiesta in the costume. It really yielded some great photos and was a fun experience.

June 29th, 2026
I did end up attending Anime Fiesta Summer Con at Black Creek Pioneer Village for a few hours on Saturday. Another friend of mine had a ticket they couldn't use that they passed along to my friend Stillvisions, so we split the cost of a second badge for a fairly cheap con experience. The con itself was kind of fun. I definitely think the demographic of the con were people under 25. Maybe even mostly under 20. I don't know much about the history of the event. I think I've heard it was founded and run by a Chinese language school? That would make sense as I definitely was feeling old and out of the loop on what was popular for Cosplay and activities at the event. It did seem to have a heavy Chinese focus. They had a tent with various Asian food options, which was cool. They had some con vendors inside the welcome centre for the village and some outdoor vendors in a field by some of the Pioneer Village buildings. I've never been to an event at Pioneer Village and I don't think I've been to Black Creek since probably the 90s. It was cool to see the village again and it does make for a neat con venue. It's just a shame it was very hot on the weekend, so you were baking after being out of the shade for more than a minute.

I did wear my new Mio (Fatal Frame II Remake) costume. It was just a simple bought costume, so nothing exciting. I was struggling with my wig as I only had one bob wig that could work for the character and it's not the best quality. Stillvisions was kind enough to get some photos of me around the village wherever we could find a spooky vibe. He even lent me an antique camera that was similar to the one from the game. Hopefully some of the photos turned out. I may wear the costume again for another shoot. It was not a very heavy costume for a day like Saturday, but it was all polyester, so it didn't breathe very well. I didn't really spot anyone I knew or talk to many folks at the event. Again, I do think this con is aimed at very young people, but A+ on venue. They had a maid cafe, a Lolita tea party, a stage for idol performances and they were offering spots for the village's escape game (for an additional cost). Overall, I had a good time exploring Pioneer Village and seeing the con offerings. They don't offer panels, a masquerade or anything like that, but it was a nice day out and a good chance to get some Cosplay photos at the outdoor museum. If it hadn't been so hot, I would have loved to explore more of the museum, but by 4pm, I was happy to leave and go find bubble tea to cool down. I don't know if I would attend another Anime Fiesta event anytime soon, but it definitely seems to be rapidly growing and doing well, and it's great to have more events in Ontario.

Next up is a break for a while. I may try to get photos of Mio at Kariya Park at some point this summer for an evening shoot. I also would like to get photos of M3gan some time while it still fits. Otherwise, I'm going to relax and enjoy the summer. I don't think I'm going to attend Pretty Heroes again this year, but we'll see. My next event is Fan Expo Canada. I have tickets for Thursday and Friday again. I may Cosplay on the Friday. I was thinking of wearing my Maria (Silent Hill 2 Remake) costume, but we'll see how I'm feeling by August. In the meantime, I'm definitely going to soak in and enjoy Ontario's all too brief summer weather.

June 24th, 2026
I'm back from YetiCon and the weekend had its ups and downs, but overall I had a good time. To be honest, I hardly attended the con. I did get a weekend badge and I checked out the vendor hall each day of the event, but otherwise, I didn't view any of the panels or attend any of the special ticketed events. I had been tempted by the tea party, but it sold out before I bought a ticket. Apparently they forgot to have anyone run the tea party, so everything was thrown together at the last minute and they were late to serve tea. I guess I dodged a bullet there. I did attend the Glow Parade as Stillvisions was still running it. Boy, that event was crazy popular. I brought out a light up pumpkin and my Universal Halloween Horror Nights Lil Boo necklace, but was just wearing regular clothes. It was a bit chilly by the start of the parade so being comfy was nice.

I did Cosplay on Friday afternoon for a few hours as Madoka in the school uniform that I bought from DokiDoki Cosplay. As stated before, I did make a Madoka Magica school uniform back in 2017, but my costume no longer fits me. I still have the amazing wig that TechnoRanma made and I bought from her, so I wanted to wear it again. I bought the costume in size M and it barely fit me so wearing Madoka was basically a final hurrah to the costume. Stillvisions took a few photos of me, so hopefully there were a few highlights. If I ever did want to Cosplay her again, I can always buy the costume in size L. But the wig was a bit painful to wear after an hour, so I might just retire Cosplaying as Madoka. I've Cosplayed her a few times so it was a good run.

My other costume for the weekend was Maria from the Silent Hill 2 Remake. I wore it for a couple of hours in the evening on Saturday night of the con. I wanted photos at dusk and in the dark. Stillvisions was kind enough to shoot with me and we got some great photos from around the village. I already have a few initial photos including a cool shot by a fire pit the Westin hotel had outside. I put together the costume page and you can find the initial photos here. More will follow in the coming weeks.

That covers most of the actual con. I can't speak on the quality of many of the offerings. I got to swim a couple of times. I was staying at Seasons and on Sunday morning I had to walk over to the Grand Georgian to use their pool and hot tub because the Seasons' hot tub was drained. The Seasons was a really lousy hotel as they put us on the 4th floor for checking in early in the evening on Thursday and right from the start, only one of the two elevators at the hotel was working. I believe it was by Saturday afternoon that the second elevator stopped working too, so there were no elevators at all for half the trip. It wasn't so terrible for me, but one of my roommates had trouble using the stairs and it was a nightmare. It wasn't even fixed by checkout on Monday. Awful hotel. I definitely will not be staying at the Seasons again. We ended up there because the Weider Lodge pool was closed for the weekend and I was hoping to get a view of the village from the balcony, but it was totally not worth it.

I had Mile High Poutine once and my hotel roommates and I concluded the con by having dinner at the Northwinds Pub. Good food as usual. I went up the mountain on Sunday using the gondola and walked around for a bit. Otherwise, I mostly hung out in my hotel room and watched movies. There were Star Trek movie marathons happening on several tv channels, so I got to see the 2009 movie again and parts of Undiscovered Country, Generations and First Contact. We also watched most of the Lost World: Jurassic Park. Kevin brought a Blu-ray player and we watched a few episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. I did bring a third costume (Mio from the Fatal Frame Remake) but I just wasn't feeling too enthused about taking several hours to get into costume to walk around. I really wanted a chill weekend. That mostly happened. Before we drove to the con and on the way back to Toronto, my friend Kevin and I stopped at an Arby's in Burlington for lunch and it was a nice bookend to the event. This definitely wasn't the most exciting or memorable YetiCon, but I ran into friends here and there and had a good time Cosplaying. I'm definitely looking forward to next year and hopefully things will go a bit more smoothly and I'll have more energy and excitement for Cosplay and con events.

I didn't have a lot on my radar after YetiCon until maybe July, but I just heard about Anime Fiesta's summer con at Black Creek Pioneer Village this weekend and I'm intrigued. It could be a neat spot for photos of a costume like Ashley. I already have tons of photos of that costume, so I was thinking about wearing the Fatal Frame costume that I didn't end up wearing at YetiCon this year. Unfortunately, the con only runs during the day so no spooky photos at night, but another friend of mine bought a weekend pass but can't go, so a badge for the event might already be available to me. I'll have to see how I feel this weekend, but if the weather is nice, it seems like it could be fun for a few hours one day. If I go, I'll post about my experience here afterward.

June 15th, 2026
It's almost time for YetiCon. I leave for the con on Thursday. The weather is definitely looking a bit better for YetiCon versus AN, but it's still not the kind of weather that I had hoped for. Right now, Thursday is looking like a wash out for getting down to the event and checking out the venue before things kick off. The rest of the weekend is a bit on the cold side, which sucks for swimming in the pool. Hopefully the weather improves a bit. I believe my finalized plans are to bring my Madoka Magica school uniform and get some photos of Madoka, Maria from the Silent Hill 2 Remake, and a few weeks ago, I ordered a Mio costume from the Fatal Frame II Remake for fun. I'm planning to bring it as well. With the not so warm weather, I might not wear Mio. I'll have to see if I can find a time to squeeze it into my schedule since wearing it in the evening would be best. I'm thinking of wearing Madoka on Friday of the con, Maria on Saturday and maybe just relaxing on Sunday and not Cosplaying. Friday is the Glow Walk and my current plan is to have a Halloween theme with Halloween glowy bits. Otherwise, I'm just hoping for a fun weekend with good food, a nice chance to catch up with friends and hopefully some swimming. Of course, also see what the con is all about now that it has new owners and the new owners seem pretty ambitious with lots of activities and events.

In terms of this website, I've added a couple of new photos to my Dorothy costume page. Stillvisions sent me a few photos from the shoot we did right before Anime North, but a lot of them were blurry, so I'll have to wait for them to be re-sent. There were some great photos so I can't wait to post more. I looked at the photo previews on his computer along with photo previews of past shoots like M3gan and Mimikyuu from YetiCon a couple of years ago, so eventually there will be quite a few more photos coming of older costumes. I do intend to wear M3gan and Mimikyuu again for a proper shoot, but we'll see. Stillvisions also recently posted a costume highlight video of my Super Sailor Chibi Moon costume from YetiCon 2023. It's really cool to see the costume in action. I sold that fuku last year because I no longer fit into it, so it's great to have this video to look back on. You can find the video here.

Finally, last week was my birthday and my amazing friend Pan organized a Halloween themed birthday party for me on Saturday since it was a milestone birthday. We decorated a condo party room with lots of Halloween decorations from not just my collection, Pan and my friend Stillvisions contributed as well. It was really cool to hang out with my friends, share in food and enjoy the ambience. I've always dreamed of hosting a big Halloween party, so this was like a dream come true. I used to have a tradition of going to Swiss Chalet for dinner with my friends around my birthday, but with the pandemic and my local Swiss Chalet closing a few years ago, I haven't continued that tradition for quite a few years. One of my friends and her husband created a Swiss Chalet sandwich board costume board of the dipping sauce and it was an amazing gag costume to call back our outings to what we dubbed "the chicken palace". I'm really lucky to have such thoughtful and wonderful friends. I was so touched by folks coming out and I'm happy that quite a few of the people who came will be at YetiCon. It was a nice lead in to hopefully a really fun con weekend.

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