Showing us the breathtaking Team Fortress 2 cosplay, PaXingCai accepts our interview today. She loves Cosplay and Vidya. To know more about this American cosplay talent, focus on what’s shared below.
Q1. Please tell us something about yourself.
I’m a 24 year old graduate of the University at Buffalo. I have 2 ferrets named Sly and Terath after other medics I play with in Team Fortress and my favorite color is orange. I’m almost always connected to technology whether it be my phone or tablet and I really love android. In my day to day life you would never guess that I dress up and do geeky things.
Q2. When did you begin to do cosplay? You like it or got into it by some other reasons?
I started going to conventions when I was 11 or 12 at Anime North a local convention in Toronto. My parents had friends who went to Star Trek conventions so they somehow figured it would be ok to take me a few times and then I was hooked. I saw all the cosplayers there and was inspired and my mother helped me make a costume for the next convention!
Q3. What’s your favorite cosplay and why?
I’d have to say my solider costume from Team Fortress 2 is my favorite. While it isn’t the most elaborate or technical thing I’ve ever made its just fun to wear. TF2 has been my favorite game to play the past few years and wearing the costume has allowed me to meet a lot of Team Fortress fans not to mention my friends in ArsClan where I play TF2 get a real kick out of it.
Q4. Have you ever met some difficulties in cosplay? And how did you solve them?
Time is always a huge difficulty because having a real job and responsibilities gets in the way of sewing as do games and reading etc etc….. I solve this by massively procrastinating usually XD.
Q5. I find you have so many stunning pictures displayed in the gallery. So, are you often photographed? Is there any suggestion for people? How can they look great while facing the lens?
Practice in the mirror always and look up reference images of what your character does. Unless you are dressed as a boring character that does nothing but peace signs don’t do that. There are different poses that flatter different body types and knowing your features helps a lot. I for one am not big in the boob department so I try to pick characters that focus on things like legs and pick poses that flatter that.
Q6. Is there any suggestion for which convention cosplay beginners can go?
Going to a place like Goodwill and the Salvation Army and buying cheap clothes to try to modify or take apart is a good place to start. You aren’t wasting money on good fabric and it gives you a lot of the basic shapes to think about.
Q7. We do think your Team Fortress 2 cosplay seems ideal. So, how could you achieve this?
My Soldier is based off the fanart of Agent Scarlet who made the TF2 guys into period pin up girls. I figured this was more suited to me than being a large man. The Jacket is a women’s shirt pattern I modified. The shoes have the flames detailed on with fish tank silicone I painted with glass paint to achieve the rocket jumping effect in the artwork I based it off of. The hat I found at an army surplus story and modified with ribbons and a button to create the honcho’s headgear. My first pot hat while hilarious was a bit difficult to keep on my head.
Q8. Any new plan you can’t wait to do?
Finally finishing my Arch Bishop from Ragnarok Online! It’s been sitting around in pieces for some time now and I’m eager to get it done.
Q9. Are your costumes made by yourself or bought?
I’ve made everything myself aside from Mami and Seung Mina.
Q10. What are the good things of cosplay? And also, what are the bad things?
The best things about cosplay are the friends that I’ve made. The hobby attracts a lot of eccentric people like myself and it’s very cool to find like minds. The worst thing about cosplay is the amount of drama. It seems more and more recently things are more like a beauty pageant and less about the creative side of the hobby and it gets very cut throat. I think it’s inevitable when there are so many women competing for attention but it’s sad to see a lot of really nice work not get the recognition it deserves because the person wearing it weighs more than 110 lbs.
