More and more people want to slip into the role of your comic, video game or movie heroes as cosplayers. The cosplay movement is currently a real hit and accordingly, there are now also really well-known cosplayers who romp around in social media.
What is cosplay about?
The term cosplay is a combination of the two English words costume and play, meaning costume game. As the name already suggests, it is not only about dressing up, like at carnival or Halloween, but the chosen character should be played as realistically as possible. You actually slip into a completely different identity for a few hours.
The whole thing started in Japan and it was all about creating from anime and manga. The well spilled over to other countries and continents quite quickly and expanded to include motifs. So today you can meet cosplayers at comic cons, book fairs, film premieres and other events, who dress up as heroes from comics – especially popular Marvel and DC – film and television – especially fantasy and sci-fi – but also from novels and especially characters video games.
So if you want to become a real cosplayer, you have to know the chosen character very well and study it properly in order to personalize it appropriately.
And then of course there is the thing with the costume. Because this should look as real as possible and is either made by real cosplayers themselves in laborious, detail-loving and time-consuming work or at least commissioned by them. Rarely solutions are bought off the shelf. However, this has changed a bit in the meantime, as there are special cosplay stores, especially online, where you can buy costumes and especially special accessories like artificial body parts (elf ears, noses, horns, wings, etc.), wigs, weapons, jewelry, etc. and then create a really good costume yourself.
Cosplay is now considered by experts to be a true art form of pop culture. Accordingly, there are now famous german cosplayers who do the whole thing professionally and in some cases can even make a living from it. In any case it is possible to earn some extra money. This is especially attractive for cosplayers because the elaborate costumes are usually quite expensive and can quickly cost several hundred euros. And the travel expenses to the national and international events cost quite a bit of money.
These cosplayers and influencers are known on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, etc. and have many followers. Let’s have a look at a few examples from the german cosplay scene!
Kristian
Cosplayer Kristian is 20 years old and lives in Cologne. Despite his young age, he is still an old hand in cosplay, because he already started six years ago. So he brings a lot of experience with him and that is certainly one of the reasons why he was already a member of the jury at a competition in 2019.
Kristian loves video games and typically chooses a character from his current favorite game as a cosplay motif. According to Kristian, the genre of video games is especially popular in Germany when it comes to cosplay. But of course you can always find characters from anime, manga, film, television etc. at the relevant events.
Kristian thinks that you should make sure that the character really suits you – not only in terms of looks, but also in terms of personality, because after all you really want to follow the hero as true to the original as possible.
This of course applies all the more if you also want to participate in competitions.
Kristian’s favorite hero, by the way, is Rakan, from League of Legends.
According to Kristian, it is also great fun to perform together with good friends as a coherent group.
Cosplayers often start as early as Kristian with cosplay. However, Kristian states that he was dependent on the help of more experienced cosplayers among his friends for the first costumes.
In the last years Kristian has designed no less than ten costumes. Logically, the youngest costumes are the best, because with each costume you get more experience, you dare more and can tackle more difficult things.
He worked on his favorite costume from the video game League of Legends for an incredible 500 hours, not alone, but with two friends – a proud 21 working days!
Of course there are also simpler costumes that only require 20-30 hours of work.
Kristian is happy that he can already earn some extra money with the cosplay, because the Rakan costume – to name just one example – cost him about 500 Euros in total.
His earnings come mainly from bookings for events and prize money, which he won in competitions.
Christina’s Famous German Cosplayers
Also Christina Kaiser, a cosplayer from Hamburg, is especially impressed by the creativity in creating the wonderful cosplay costumes. Her ambition is to create really sophisticated costumes that seem almost impossible at first sight. She loves a challenge and then goes into action with verve.
Christina also found out that she likes the whole cosplay scene so much for exactly this reason, because everyone is very creative, helpful and it’s a really conspiratorial community. They meet in the run-up to the event, discuss costumes, help each other on the egg side and get into a great mood in advance. This then reaches its climax at the event itself, which is then enjoyed to the full by everyone. Even strangers quickly get into conversation.
Also important for Christina are the photos that are offered at the events by professional photographers. After all, one has put a lot of work and money into the costumes and a professional photo is a wonderful memory that can be shared on social media, on her own website or with fans and friends.
By the way, her favorite costume is Howl from the movie “The Changing Castle”.
Kamui’s Famous German Cosplayers
Kamui Cosplay is a Cosplay Duo, which consists of Svetlana and Benni. The duo is quite well known and also has their own website, where you can find lots of pictures, information, blog posts, tutorials etc.
The two have been in cosplay fever since 2003 and have even written books on the subject.
Like many cosplayers, they play video games enthusiastically and love the relevant films of cosplay fans.
The very first costume of Svetlana was the Great Saiyaman of Dragon Ball Z.
After Svetlana became really addicted to the game World of Warcraft, she had the great idea to play her self-created avatar in the game as a cosplay. More precisely, it’s about a night elf druid named Kamui. And now you know where the duo’s stage name comes from!
Nicole’s Famous German Cosplayers
Nicole Mertsch is known in the cosplay scene like a colorful dog, because after all she was already Famous German Cosplayers Champion. Her favorite motive is clearly Sailor Moon and she is especially known for this cosplay – pink hair, heavily made-up eyes, a pink costume with golden accessories.
Interestingly, Nicole is a social worker in real life and looks completely different. Even if you put both of them next to each other, you would hardly notice that they are the same person. Needless to say that this incredible transformation requires a lot of time and money – perfection has its price!
Nicole also states that a good costume can quickly run into hundreds of euros. And after all, she now has more than 40 hanging in her special craft and sewing room! Some of the most elaborate costumes take months of work. According to Nicole, the most difficult part is the pattern. After all, she is not a trained seamstress!
For Nicole wigs play an important role and they have to be of high quality and feel real. So the synthetic hair can be additionally styled. So you shouldn’t save money in the wrong place, because often a wig with a little bit of skill is also suitable for different costumes.
Nicole typically has quite a few gigs and often changes her outfit several times during the weekend. So it is not uncommon for her to perform on a single weekend, e.g. “Jeanne” from the series “The Kamikaze Thief”, “Roxas” from the series “Kingdome Hearts” and “Gustin” from the series “Grandia”.
Nicole prefers to depict unusual figures, because one rarely runs into them.
German champion Mertsch has even participated in an international competition in Japan. In the competitions there are usually several different categories in which, for example, the authenticity of the costume, the complexity of the costume and the material are evaluated. Also important is the acting presentation and the overall impression.
With all the experience Nicole has gained in the course of the numerous competitions, it is of course no wonder that she has already sat on juries herself.
We hope that the stories of the other cosplayers have inspired you and that you too will try your luck to get a foothold in the Famous German Cosplayers scene!