The best part of being in any fandom is seeing how your favorite books, movies, and TV shows spark the creativity of the fans that love them. There are some truly creative souls out there who can take inspiration from anything and put their own unique spin on it to show their appreciation of it. I love seeing cosplayers put their creative skills to use [1] by crafting their own versions of iconic costumes — whether they be a warrior princess [2], your favorite witches and wizards [3], or the legendary Toadette [4]. As a Black nerd, I especially love seeing cosplayers of color who challenge the idea of who participates in cosplay and what they can do.

It's a popular myth that the "nerdier" aspects of fandom — like cosplaying and LARPing — are male-dominated and reserved for nonBlack fans. But that's never been true, and in the age of social media, it's been hugely debunked by the large presence of Black female fans who finally get a chance to show off their love for all things nerd and cosplay to the world wide web. Now, I'm not personally a cosplayer (there is not a creative bone in my body, sorry not sorry), but I am more than happy to share these 25 cosplay queens everyone should be following on Instagram.