Photo courtesy Elisha Palmer Photography
Rachel Sprinkle may work as a lawyer by day, but by night she doubles as a cosplayer, under the name Gamma Rae Cosplay. Three years ago, she attended her first Mississippi Comic Con and later Dragon Con, where she discovered a newfound passion for cosplay, which is when people create and wear costumes of fictional characters from various media.
"My first attempt at cosplay was when we went to Mississippi Anime Festival, and my husband and I dressed as Rick and Morty (from the adult cartoon of the same name). He let me be Rick. I didn't think anybody was going to get it, but people actually recognized us. I've been addicted ever since," Sprinkle says.
Rick and Morty is a popular animated science-fiction sitcom for adults. Sprinkle started her online presence under the name Trial by Trailer, blogging and reviewing movies, until she found her love of cosplay and—after lots of overthinking—settled on the moniker Gamma Rae Cosplay.
"I knew I wanted to have a personal touch to it, so I was like, 'I definitely want to incorporate my nickname, Rae.' I was playing around with some things, and my husband was like, 'Why don't you try to find something that makes you think of your favorite superhero? I thought that Gamma would be cool. Gamma Rae, like gamma rays, like the Incredible Hulk," Sprinkle says.
Sprinkle has always loved geek culture, she says. She has three older brothers and grew up a tomboy, playing video games and loving things like "Dragon Ball Z" and other sci-fi media.
A native of Delaware, she has lived in Mississippi since she was 2 years old. She received her bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Mississippi in 2009 and her law degree from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, La., in 2013.
Sprinkle earned her LLM in health, law and policy from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2018. Now, she serves as the director of rural health and primary care for the Mississippi State Department of Health.
Since starting her venture into cosplay, Sprinkle has learned how to better create costumes and that thrift stores are a cosplayer's best friend. In the next year, Sprinkle hopes to learn how to sew, so she can fully make all her costumes by hand.
Cosplay takes two to three days a week for Sprinkle. She cohosts a podcast called Geeked Up with DJ Young Venom, owner of Offbeat in Midtown, where they discuss the culture and what it has been like growing up as a geek in Mississippi. Every month Sprinkle and Venom also host an event at Offbeat called Jujutsu that combines music and anime culture together. October's Halloween-themed Jujutsu event with SippTalk is Oct. 31 at 8 p.m. Costumes are required.
Sprinkle recently started a chapter of the international organization Geek Girl Brunch in Jackson with two of her close friends. Each month, the group meets to talk about cosplay, video games, anime and other facets of geek culture over brunch. The group incorporates a theme into every meeting, and in October, the theme will be sci-fi fantasy book club.
"There aren't that many black female animated cartoon or superhero characters. It's a very short list, so I don't box myself into doing just those characters," she says. "Whatever the cosplay, I still try to bring some black girl magic to it. I might change the hair, change the swag about it. The fact that what little unique changes I make to personalize it to myself, and people still recognize it, that's always a great feeling."
For more information on Gamma Rae Cosplay, find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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