Arts
Getting real serious with cosplay
When Lanka Comic Con organised by the Geek Club of Sri Lanka took place this August at Trace Expert City, Geeks of all genres flooded the venue, took part in panel discussions, played tabletop games and visited the stalls selling merchandise. Cosplayers dressed up as their favourite characters were the cynosure of all eyes and among the crowds, Hasara Romel, Ushan Gunasekera, Ryan Perera, Seshani Coorey and Oshitha Narangoda caught the eye.
Ushan, Legolas - Lord of the Rings
Seshani has always been a favourite of the cosplay community, especially for Naruto fans for whom she is the literal embodiment of Haruno Sakura, with many of them simply calling her Sakura. Having watched Naruto as a young girl and identified deeply with the character, she cosplayed different versions of Sakura in 2016 /17 at various cosplay events. After watching the Wonder Woman movie in 2017, Seshani decided that she wanted to cosplay her.
Seshani and her friend Amaya Suriyapperuma, who also cosplayed Wonder Woman found themselves facing a social media backlash after pictures of them were memed on Sinhala meme pages, the controversy reaching Wonder Woman actress herself Gal Gadot. Seshani was not sure if she would ever cosplay again, but that Gal Gadot had complimented her cosplay motivated her.
Her Hawkgirl cosplay she made on her own, borrowing the wings from her friend Suhani de Alvis, and adding to them, standing before a mirror at home and using a glue gun.
Appearing in 2015 at the first Sri Lanka Comic Con as the Joker, it became his signature cosplay, and earned Oshitha recognition for his exceptional cosplay makeup skills. He continues to hone his skills with a variety of costumes across many genres, his most recent being a terrifyingly convincing take on Valak from the horror film The Nun.
For this year’s Comic Con, he cosplayed Hela, the villain from Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and Eleven from the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. The response to both was enthusiastic, including recognition on Twitter for his Hela cosplay from director of Thor, Ragnarok Taika Waititi and Marvel’s Director of Visual Development and concept artist for the costume Andy Parks.
The construction process for the two costumes were almost polar opposites – Hela’s headdress alone took four to five months of collaboration with renowned cosplayer and crafter Sahan Perera, whereas Eleven took just two weeks and a trip to Pettah.
Being happy with your own cosplay is what matters ultimately, regardless of criticism, Oshitha believes.
Ryan and Hasara become good friends through cosplaying, both of them taking part in group cosplays together at Comic Expo. They won in 2016 and 2017 with their Overwatch group cosplay.
Hasara. Kitana (Mortal Kombat)
Their method though is vastly different. Hasara begins by looking at reference images of the character. “I break the cosplay into different groupings, for example the handle of a sword would fall under one group. Then I try to figure out what kind of materials I need for each part. After that I go to Pettah to get the materials. Then I cover my entire body in paper and sketch out each aspect of the cosplay and cut parts out and then paste them onto EVA foam. If the fit is correct, I proceed to painting and adding details,” Hasara explains.
She has freedom to add details this way, she says.
Ryan uses a method called “pepakura”, where a software is used to download blueprints. “I scale each part of the cosplay on to an A4 sheet and then print them, after which they are pasted onto EVA foam and each shape cut out.” The only drawback is that the templates have to be available online.
Hasara’s favourite is Kitana from Mortal Kombat, a character she has wanted to cosplay for a long time. But she knew that she needed to develop the skill and technique to be able to do so. Last year at Comic Expo, Hasara cosplayed Saber from Fate/stay night. Using EVA foam for the first time she realised she could now attempt to do a Kitana cosplay.
Not everything goes smoothly though: At this year’s Comic Con while cosplaying Genos from One Punch Man, Ryan used lights which went under his shirt to give his cosplay an incredible look. On the second day, the light bulbs malfunctioned and so it was painted by Rakith Senevirathne to look like Genos had gone through a fight instead.
Ushan’s bond with pop culture, and ultimately with cosplay, grew from his childhood days of collecting comic books and action figures and role-playing scenes from movies and cartoons with his cousins.
With the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, Ushan and some friends decided to stage a skit of a lightsabre duel, practising for 4-5 weeks with a real martial arts expert. They staged it in front of Dutch Hospital and the video went viral, garnering huge support from the fledgling geek community.
Since then, he has cosplayed many characters including Legolas, Han Solo, and Doctor Strange, with plans to cosplay a character from Call of Duty.
Seshani - Hawkgirl
The fun of getting into the skin of characters extends to mannerisms and mentality as well.
“All the characters I cosplay, I either want to relate to them or be immersed in them,” Ushan says. “I make sure it’s somewhat relatable to me so it’s easier for me to assume the character than just putting on an outfit.”
His titular cosplay is Doctor Strange, who he reprised at Comic Con this year. The character intrigued him after watching the movie in 2016 and subsequently reading the comics
He got the chance to cosplay the character in January, when local cosplayers got together to recreate the trailer for The Avengers: Infinity War. The video screened at the EAP premiere had an overwhelming response and the poster he put together gained recognition from the Russo brothers themselves.
Like many cosplayers, Ushan has collaborated with others in the cosplay and geek communities. From tailors or armour makers, the tightly knit cosplay community of Sri Lanka is always willing to help one another to make their cosplay dreams come true.
Genos, One Punch Man (Ryan)
Oshitha, Hela - Thor Ragnarok
Ositha- Valak the Defiler