Over the weekend, the Cosplay Club gathered in the Rhatigan Student Center for a celebration of all things Minion and “Despicable Me” related. Their Steal the Moon event, which is now in its second year, served as student outreach for the group.
Participants (many of whom were dressed like Minions) ate Minion-themed foods, played Minion games and even sang along to songs from the franchise. The night ended with a moon piñata, which was made and destroyed as a reference to the plot of the first movie.
“Because it’s Minions, it’s something really easy to do,” sophomore and club president Robert Hammond said. “I think it’s a really low entry-level thing, which is what we try to do most times.”
The group prepared costumes in advance, but additional supplies were also available for participants at the event.
“This is kind of like one of the first big events that we’ve done this year,” senior and club secretary Riley Strandberg said. “A lot of the other events are kind of smaller things, making these hats, making the goggles, kit bashing.”
Club member Vivian Trower enjoyed seeing the executives let loose at the event.
“I just think it’s, honestly, I find it amazing to watch them, the executives mess around a bit, but I kind of came …because I thought it would be fun,” Trower said.
Trower said that being involved in events like this one gave her the confidence to get into cosplay and join the club.
“I like getting to know other people in it, and it’s something that I have an interest in, but I just never had the confidence to take it on by myself,” Trower said. “And so being in a cosplay club means that I just am not taking it on alone, so it just gives some confidence to me to actually do it.”
Maintaining this supportive environment is one of Hammond’s favorite aspects of the club.
“Coming in and learning something that you’ve never learned before and being able to, like, for the teacher standpoint, to be able to teach someone and someone to be able to like take that in, I really love that about the Cosplay Club because that’s what we try to make sure we do,” Hammond said.
More information on Cosplay Club events can be found on their Instagram or on posters around campus.
