We were lucky to catch up with Crystal Hurt recently and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

1,000 times YES. I REALLY WISH I would have started the cosplay career sooner but I am pretty content with where I am right now (I’m still growing). When I started cosplaying, I was at a job that I HATED. I wasn’t happy with it, I was burn out, I felt stuck, and I literally thought I would be at that job FOREVER. I feel that if I would have started this sooner, my content would be ALOT more consistent. Not that numbers matter BUT, I would have a bigger following, and I would have more opportunities to grow my brand a bit quicker. Granted, I am happy with a slow pace, but an earlier start would have helped with the push.

Crystal, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is MutantGlue, and I’ve been cosplaying since 2017. My first cosplay was Gambit; from there, I did Team Rocket and Storm. My cosplays (those mentioned and others) led me to be sponsored by a comic book company named SoveReign Comics LLC after the owner saw my cosplayers and reached out to work with me. From it, I created my brand, The Chameleon Coalition, a cosplay organization that looks out for our fellow cosplayers, at cons, around the world. My cosplays range from Marvel to Anime, with gaming and Disney sprinkled about here and there. I provide merchandise (shirts, stickers, etc.) with my logo on them OR prints (pictures) of the different cosplays that I do. I am most proud of the fact that through my career, I have met some pretty amazing people that have continue to influence what I do such as Rosario Dawson and Keith David… just to name a few. Like everything else, with the good comes the ugly. The main problem in the cosplay community is racism. I cosplay a lot of characters that do not look like me (Black Widow, Gambit and Rogue from X-Men, Deadpool, etc.). There are a lot of people out there, die hard fans even, that take offence to POC (People of Color) cosplaying their beloved characters. Its becoming a bigger problem than it used to be. The more we say COSPLAY IS FOR EVERYONE, the more someone SOMEWHERE will find a way to counter it. I will continue to do what I do because I love it and I truly believe it is for everyone.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am still unlearning this. I had to unlearn that everybody that you care about is on your team. What I mean by that is, everyone, including your family, is not always on your side when it comes to a person’s career choices. Also, your friends aren’t always you’re friends, some of them are the first ones that will be there when you fall, and keep you down. I had to learn this the hard way and there is not one pinpoint moment when the idea stuck, it was a course of many MANY people in my life dropping like flies when it came to my passion. Their true colors started to show which hurt the most, but in the long run it made me stronger than I was back then.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a cosplayer is seeing the spark of nostalgia in someone’s eyes or face. For example, I was did a photo shoot as Carmen Sandiego at the Parthenon in Nashville. The number of smiles that appeared on peoples faces and the one guy that yelled out “I found Carmen, She’s right there!!” just put a HUGE smile on my face and filled me with so much serotonin. Its such a joy to make someone smile just by dressing up as one of their favorite characters. Not only does it make their day but it makes mine too.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mutantglue.wixsite.com/mutantglueportfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mutantglue

Image Credits
Photojonin