I recall seeing U Go & Cosplay a fair few times at various conventions and always marvelled at his excellent quality of work, and it’s always nice when great cosplayers turn out to be awesome people too! Get your Marvel caps on and prepare yourself for a rollercoaster of excellence.
Age: 34
Location: Croydon
Favourite food: it’s practically impossible to pick, but I’m going to put lasagna up there as my favourite post con food!
Who or what first inspired you to start cosplay?
I always wanted to try it one day, based on what I’d heard of about San Diego Comic Con, but it was seeing other cosplays during my first MCM Comic Con that made me think “next time I’m wearing a costume”.
Do you have any dream cosplays you’d like to work towards one day?
So I recently attempted my dream cosplay, the Iron Man Model Prime armour. It’s the first time I’ve done a full body foam armour. My dream for it is to combine it with my tech skills and have a fully functioning Jarvis or Friday onboard. I have already created a Jarvis before, but I need to upgrade it.
Your Iron Man armour sounds rather complex, how does that compare to your simpler cosplays? Do you have a preference?
To be honest, I’ve usually just found the most basic creative solution for cosplays. Reusing common items. The Iron Man one is special to me because it marries the geek side and career side asking with my favourite superhero character. I like doing both casual, semi involved and complex cosplays depending on the occasion and how much time I have (I have a bad habit of packing in too much).
Do you have any tips for people either new to the world of cosplay or contemplating getting into it?
It’s been said, and needs to always be repeated. Cosplay whoever you want! Don’t be forced to do a particular cosplay, don’t be forced out of a particular cosplay. I love cosplaying characters I connect with or who I find intriguing, but someone else may want to do a character they don’t know that well because they love the intricacies of their costume. Who am I to tell them different? Same thing applies to cross race and cross gender cosplays. It’s supposed to be fun. I would also add, for new comers, to develop a relatively thick skin and not take things too personally. Unfortunately, there are bullies out there, and there are those not meaning to put you down but don’t know how to critique or WHEN to. It’s important to be aware of this so that potentially hurtful comments don’t put you off.
You do a lot of awesome photoshoots as your characters, do you have any tips for cosplayers when going for shoots?
As you already know, the photographers and videographers are the real MVPs! In terms of tips I’d say be helpful to the photographer when waiting your turn. Hold the flash, hold a cape, take behind the scenes shots on a phone. Also in cosplay it tends to be free so do something nice like buy them a drink or something. For the shoot itself I like to come with a set of ideas, so it’s helpful to research your character – mannerisms, poses and such. Even if the photographer had their own ideas, I think it fuels them and encourages them in a shoot.