On this page we will introduce our honoured judges who will offer their insight during the cosplay competition judging.

Bigby Wolf photographed by Ali Jehad.

LUPIN

Facebook / Instagram

Greetings! I am Lupin, I am a 32-year-old female cosplayer from the Nordic country of Denmark.

Daily I study as a film and television technician, which means I have all my work hours rooted with creating documentaries and short films, where I do work as either photographer or editor. In addition to crafting my cosplays in my free time I love losing myself in various PlayStation games or drawing, editing video and pictures. I always have a creative mind going and I love to sing and dance while cleaning or doing the dishes.

For me the greatest thing about cosplay is the transformation. The whole thrill of transforming myself into fictional characters – and most of all to honor the people who created said characters. There are so many emotions twirling around when committing to a cosplay and especially when devoting to creating a cosplay performance and indulging so much in characters, learning what makes them come alive, to show an audience why YOU love this character, show, movie, comic and so on. I am therefore very much a performance cosplayer rather than a crafter; I live for the acting and attention to detail when constructing an act and how people chose to play with their costume on stage.

I have been so lucky to represent my country in Japan and more than once to the French and Spanish audience, so I am very thrilled to see a whole different part of the cosplay community. My last words until we meet will be: learn from your experiences, make plenty of mistakes – and embrace whatever you learn and see as much as you can. And mainly just remember to enjoy what you put your mind to, and never give up dreaming.

Lupin will be hosting a presentation about the art of cosplay performance on Saturday, September 28 at 13:45 in Parrot, followed by a workshop putting everything heard into practice on Saturday at 16:15 in Struve I.


Xenomorph photographed by Anna Vikmanis.

PILERUD’S COSPLAY

Facebook / website

My ticket into the wonderful cosplay world was when I, back in 2011, fulfilled my childhood dream of becoming a stormtrooper from Star Wars. I got a kit, assembled the costume and joined the worldwide charity and cosplay organization the 501st Legion. That has been my base since then and through it I have met people from all over the world.

After that the number of costumes grew quickly with about two new each year. Some built from scratch, some bought and many somewhere in between. I have just as fun wearing them, either way. Among my most noticeable costumes are my Space Marine (Warhammer 40,000), Xenomorph (Alien) and Benny (The LEGO Movie). These are costumes I have made completely myself, and I love wearing them at conventions. However, they are not very easy to travel with due to their size.

I have competed in a number of competitions like the Swedish Cosplay Championships, Nordic Cosplay Championships and EuroCosplay. I have also judged the Swedish and Nordic Championships as well as some other contests, local and abroad.

Lately I have been combining my cosplay hobby with my professional film making in producing my first feature length film, with several imaginative creatures in, involving talented people I met through the years to create something exciting together. The film is called ‘Call of the Unseen’ and will hopefully be finished during 2020.

Pilerud will be giving a presentation about making big armor for cosplay on Saturday, September 28 at 16:15 in Parrot.


Loki photographed by MLC Foto.

ASGARDIAN FRAUD

Facebook / Instagram

I am a costume designer and a cosplayer from Poland. I started cosplaying around 2010 and from then on it has not only become my passion but also my future – where now I work on commission creating costumes for theatre and film productions. I’ve been the Polish representative for EuroCosplay Championships twice, although for the past few years I’ve been present in the community more as judge for the competitions, which allowed me to meet many amazing artists and travel to various countries – it’s amazing how different each community is!

My passion and my career revolve around sewing but cosplay-wise I specialize in creature costumes and masks – I love to try out new techniques and materials every chance I get and with the creature costumes I don’t think I will ever run out of new ideas to try out! I strongly believe that cosplay is an amazing creative outlet that revolutionizes the costume industry with the new inventions of techniques, pattern making and creative solutions to problems such difficult models bring so I’m very excited to see all the amazing costumes at AniMatsuri! This will be my first time in Estonia and I’m thrilled to meet everyone as I’ve heard so many great things about the event!

Encouraging words for those thinking about trying cosplay:
“Don’t be afraid to start and don’t be afraid to get things wrong – and not just at the beginning, all the time – it’s a part of the learning curve. The most important thing is to finish – so that you’re not stuck with unfinished projects only because you are afraid to move forward with them. Cosplay is amazing mainly because it gives you so many creative outlets to experiment with and find which one fits you. Get things wrong, make mistakes – people may see loose seams on the costume but so will they see your passion for it! Try everything the community provides! And who knows? Maybe in the future you’ll be the designer of the costumes that the next generation will be excited to cosplay!”

Asgardian Fraud will be giving a presentation about planning, making and wearing a large creature costume on Saturday, September 28 at 17:30 in Parrot.