WCS Melbourne April Preliminary Finalist Profiles

Kraftwerk Ninjas:

TEAM MEMBER 1

Name: Aly Nicole
Name of character: Sephiroth
Name of Anime/Manga/Game: Kingdom Hearts

Personal experience:

Is this your first Cosplay?

I have only seriously been cosplaying from about 2006. My first costumes were Amano designed Aerith and Leeloo from the Fifth Element. I then followed up with an Advent Children Aerith costume I wore to cosplay meets. The first time I won an award was when a friend and I collaborated to make my Ashe Dalmasca costume from Final Fantasy XII. I won Best Female at Wai-con 2006 and an Honourable Mention for my partner and my Dead or Alive costumes which were made by us. After that I made I-no which won Best Female at the GO3 Entertainment Expo and came 2nd for our Advent Children FF7 skit, by which I had made a Sephiroth costume for my boyfriend. After that I cosplayed with my two friends to Manifest in which we put together a skit and won best group for our Kingdom Hearts 2 cosplay. I also made and cosplayed Lacus Clyne and Simca from AirGear. Later in the year I made and cosplayed Marluxia from the Organization 13 and Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII. Skits were co-choreographed by me and Lightning was in the group for Best Performance.

Recently at the Swancon convention, my Jareth cosplay made by both a friend and I won Best Group effort. I also cosplayed the Doctor from Doctor Who that got a great response from everyone including the BBC team guest of honour there. For all my costumes I have gone to the best lengths I have been able to in order to portray the character as accurately as I possibly can. For some such as Lightning I have even studied Leatherworking with an artisan in order to create the correct look and to experiment with Leather armour. In all cases I have always endeavoured to excel in accurate representation of character. After all, it adds that something extra to merely just playing dress-ups. Furthermore, the word ‘cosplay’ itself as all cosplayers are aware, is a portmanteau, combining the dual meaning of costume and playacting. I don’t believe cosplay should be regarded and taken for merely costume and props alone, though at the same time, I shun any forms of cosplay elitism and drama.

Cosplay can mean different things to people with full right. I have endeavoured to express through my cosplays what it means to me.

What got you into cosplay?

I come from an interesting, but not very craft savvy family. I’ve been into fandom from when I can first remember and I grew up in Singapore, being exposed to anime and video game culture and all it’s extras from childhood. I only got back into it when I realized Australia was aware and accepting (mostly) of this phenomenon. Cosplay for me encompasses not just the elements of costume construction, hair and make up artistry, but also the whole photography and acting true to character aspects. It may sound like I am thinking of cosplay as ‘serious business’ but actually, as someone who has been in the modeling industry and had lots of exposure to theatre studies, it’s all just fun really. Definitely an interesting, challenging, and painstaking hobby. The worth of walking away from a completed piece knowing with full pride that you have made the intangible, angible is something I take pride in. It’s a way of forming a connection with a world of fantasy which I think every creative-minded individual can find truth in I believe.

TEAM MEMBER 2

Name: Christine Busby, “K”
Name of character: Cloud
Name of Anime/Manga/Game: Kingdom Hearts

Personal experience:

Is this your first Cosplay?

Since I started doing cosplay, I have completed many costumes conventions and for photo shoots, all of varying skill level, complexity and gender. As the list of my costumes and awards is quite extensive and lengthy, I have written my cosplays, my awards and involvement in the presentation/skits as a list below in chronological order. (Some costumes may repeat)

• Kikyou – Inuyasha

• Kagome – Inuysaha

• Tohru Honda – Fruits Basket: I wrote the skit, and edited the music for it.

• Krad – D.N.Angel: I wrote the skit in Japanese
and co-choreographed the fight. My partner won best role-play of character from this performance

• Izumi Curtis– Full Metal Alchemist – I wrote and did the stage blocking for the skit. It won best skit for Waicon 2004 Saturday.

• Meer Campbell (1) – Gundam Seed Destiny – I wrote and choreographed the skit. This won best skit for Waicon 2004, Sunday

• Sora, default costume – Kingdom Hearts II. I edited the music for our group walk on. We won best Group at Waicon 2006, Saturday.

• Rinali Lee – D.Grayman – I edited the music for our group walk on. We won Best Group for Waicon 2006, Sunday.

• Baiken – Guilty Gear XX

• Sora default – Kingdom Hearts II – Edited Music, and co-choreographed the walk on. We won best group for GO3 2007, Sunday

• Meer Campbell (2) – Won the most Fun Attendee at the Amaranth Ball 2007 wearing this costume.

• Luna-Maria Hwake – Gundam Seed Destiny

• Sora – Kingdom Hearts II – I wrote the skit, edited music and came up with the stage movements from the co-concept which our group put together for the Manifest 2007 Festival, Saturday cosplay competition. We won best Group. I also won the best overall Cosplayer for the Saturday competition.

• Ringo – Air gear • Sora, Defult – Kingdom Hearts II – I wore this costume at Tokyo Game Show 2007, and was selected to be published in the November issue of Layers! – one of the two big Cosplay magazines currently serializing in Japan.

• Card Protagonist – FF~Agito~XIII – I cochoreographed the skit and edited the music. This performance won Best skit for Waicon 2007, Saturday.

• Sora, Final Form – Kingdom Hearts II, I wrote the skit-script and edited the voice recordings & music to the co-concept, co- horeographed performance together with Aly (Marluxia) at Waicon 2007, Sunday.

Amongst all of my costumes I’ve made thus far, I am most proud of making completely myself were my Sora costumes, being both the Default and the Final Form versions. The design process of this costume took a month alone for each version. I also feel that the skills I have learnt thanks to making the Sora Costumes have made me a more independent Cosplayer– skills such as advance sewing techniques, working with various materials, arts, crafts, extreme hair styles, and make-up for different characters & genders. And for prop construction. The areas which I had previously lacked experience had been overcome, with the most influential one being sewing for me, having only touched my first sewing machine in 2004. Now I am more confident in creating costumes and the associated props, and I also want to learn even more craft and sewing techniques to make my costumes more accurate and am constantly challenging myself to be as perfect as realistically possible to the characters costumes.

As a performance Cosplayer, I also believe in behaving/moving and writing skits to create the mannerisms of the character, with this coming from my acting and drama passion from age 5. This has continued to grow strong as I have been involved in acting groups in my teenage years, and also in my university years, when I was a film/documentary & soap-opera producer in the university media department. I would be in change of the whole unit productions from concept to completion in every aspect., including the accounting, leadership side, script-writing, hair, make-up, costumes acting positions, right through to the technical lighting, editing and music aspects. As for the body-performance aspect, since November 2007, I have expanded my movement ability range, having taken up ballroom and also hip/hop dance classes together with Aly. I also gymnastics, so as to make entertaining skit content and to imitate characters (for example Sora) who do quite physical, flexible and action movements.

What got you into cosplay?

Well, the first reason why I become interested in cosplay is because I had a background of acting, music, and art - completely different compared to my military and medical background family. So, put together with my interest in anime and Japan, as well as the timely beginning of my Japanese language studies, it created the perfect foundation to start cosplaying! Today, I find that it is an outlet for me to express the fandom & creative side of myself, what with working in a professional office environment. It also allows me to continue my passion of acting, and enjoying entertaining those around me.