Genki Life Magazine 35 - Spring 2019

Ed: Let me introduce the Chief Executive
Officer and founder of Cosplay
Deviants, Troy Doerner. Would tell
us a little about yourself and your
role in the company?
Troy: Hi Ed, I’m currently the CEO
and one of the original founders of
Cosplay Deviants. I oversee day to
day operations, event planning and
sit on the panel that helps choose
which sets appear on the website, and
which model applications move onto
the next stage. I’ve been personally
attending conventions since 2003
and have been a cosplayer myself,
although my time at conventions
nowadays is spent mostly working.
Ed: : What events, decisions, etc., that
led to starting up Cosplay Deviants?
Basically, how did Cosplay Deviants
come into being?
Troy: Cosplay Deviants started as a
joke while I was in college during
an e-commerce class when one of
my professors argued that the adult
industry was dead due to the emergence
of free content and a rapid
rise in piracy. I said that you could
still profit by simply finding an
untouched niche and so I built the
first iteration of the site, and shot
the initial sets with costumes made
by one of the other founders. We
debuted at Dragon Con in 2007
with a stack of business cards that
we handed out to everyone we met.
By the end of the weekend we had
roughly 35 subscribers and were
officially making a profit. As it continued
to grow it eventually became
my full-time job.
Ed: Was the company name “Cosplay
Deviants” decided on from the
beginning? Or where there other
choices initially before settling on
Cosplay Deviants?
Troy: We’ve been Cosplay Deviants
from the start. We always liked the
idea that our staff were cosplayers
that deviated from the normal idea of
what a cosplayer should be.
Ed: Let’s say someone comes up to your
both at a convention. This person is
curious and slyly, hesitantly comes to
your booth. How would you describe
Cosplay Deviants and services you
provide to this person?
Troy: Cosplay Deviants employs cosplayers
from around the world who
are comfortable with their bodies
and sexuality. We produce and feature
classy nude images and videos
while our cosplayers stay in character,
like a nerdy version of Playboy.
We boast a large community of fans
who interact with our models on our
webcam chatroom, model blogs and
member forum.
This is The Cosplay Deviants
Collection: Volume II hardcover
book I bought and signed by
Shae Underscore at their booth,