Mystique of the X-Men universe is a bad ass. I am usually not a villain person but I just love her specifically the Rebecca Romijn version. I identified a lot with her. Leave it to me to identify with a shape shifting murderess
You know, people like you are the reason I was afraid to go to school as a child.
I hated taking the bus as a kid and begged my mom to drive me to school whenever she could. The bus ride was 20 minutes of torture. A bully once put gum in my hair and another punched me but the worst memory I have of that bus was when a group of bullies tried to rip my clothes off. Even now I hate being on school buses. I feel both exposed and unsafe.
I'm not sure what annoyed bullies so much about me. I have always been a smart mouth and a know it all but no matter how adults can justify the behaviour of kids, having a bunch of douchebag teenage boys treat me like I was subhuman goes beyond cruel.
Even now I feel a bit weird in my skin sometimes. I'm a pale urban Native and when I used to go home after the first time I moved away, people would criticize me for "acting white". In the city, my Native-ness makes me an object of curiosity and people treat me like I'm the representative of my culture. I feel like I have a mask for the reserve, a mask for work, a mask for who I am with friends, and a mask for when I'm dealing with racism in the city.
My love of Mystique is because of her shape-shifting. Who wouldn't want to be skinnier, dark skinned, light skinned, blonde, blue-eyed, or whatever society thinks is acceptable. But I feel like I would be pieces of what was acceptable. I'm too pale for a Native, I'm too "foreign-looking" to be white, I'm too tall for a woman, my hair is too short to be pretty.
Despite her being a villain, I think she was sent down that path for the bullying, the criticism and the hatred she faced. Even though I wouldn't follow the same path, I feel like her and I have a similar belief about being proud of who we are despite the criticism.
Nightcrawler: They say you can imitate anybody, even their voice.
Mystique: *in Nightcrawler's voice* Even their voice.
Nightcrawler: Then why not stay in disguise all the time? You know, look like everyone else.
Mystique: Because we shouldn't have to.
I've always wanted to cosplay as Mystique but I wasn't about to put on a body suit to do it. Finally, I decided I was going to go as Mystique turning into me. With my newly bleached hair, I dyed a bit of my hair shocking red and got my face painted blue. I also put a yellow contact into one eye.
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| What I wore to today's events at the C4 Con. |
I really liked the way it worked out and I was glad to do only a small part of my face. I don't think the real Mystique would appreciate hiding who you really are even if you were pretending to be her.
I think I might be brave enough to do a body suit....one day.
