Interview with Cosplayer Extraordinaire, Fatima Camiloza!

Last we saw of Fatima Camiloza here on Comicology, she was in her Chun-li costume over at Tagcom 2. We all instantly knew that bringing her around these parts again would boost readership and give us serious bragging rights. So, through my great detective work (online stalking), I was able to get an interview with her. So, read on, people, and hear what she’s got to say about cosplaying, which comic book character she thinks she could pull off, and if she’s got any stalkers!

Comicology: Cosplaying is rapidly gaining popularity and has already quickly developed its own niche in pop culture, hasn’t it? Where do you see cosplaying going in the Philippines?

Fatima: Cosplaying, in terms of popularity, seems to exponentiate with the the number of opportunities people have to participate. The way I see it, conventions and gatherings are the deciding factors in it growth. Cosplay.ph plays a definitive role in uniting the local cosplay scene and their efforts are quite commendable. With the influx of both local and foreign media, cosplay is slowly losing its training wheels as a hobby and emerging as a competitive sport of sorts. In time, media heads will smell marketability and television’s Godly influence will do the rest.
 
Comicology: How did you get started with cosplaying? I mean, I imagine you’d just gone "hey, that looks cool and I’ve got an extra fifty hours to waste, why not trying to look like that?"

Fatima: Well, "Nintendo" and "Sega" were the resident terms of my generation if you get my drift. And anything with a fan-following has its share of cosplayers.

 
Comicology: Yeah I’m older than you. Now I sort of feel too old for comics and toys.
 
How do you pick the characters you’d wanna go as? Do you pick one out of a particular fandom? I assume difficulty in pulling it off plays a factor. It’d be pretty damn difficult for a girl to cosplay Sasquatch. Who have you gone as? 

Fatima: It’s safe to say out of fandom, I wouldn’t cosplay someone I despise. Suitability is crucial and painfully overlooked as a criterion in choosing a character. Some characters have characteristics that simply mustn’t be compromised. If I can’t find the right wig or feel that a costume is too difficult, I wouldn’t dare. Better to nail a simple look than to look horrible in a complicated one.

I was Goten from DBZ at UP AME ‘07, Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon at H3 ‘07, Trinity from the Matrix at POGS ‘08 and Chun-Li at the latest TAGCOM. I also participated in the SM MoA Christmas Parade ‘07 as a variation of Snow White. Outside of cons, I’m guilty of joining the huge ever growing roster of L cosplayers.

Comicology: Yep, I gotta say, your Chun-Li, your friend’s Hard Gay and that Iron Man were my favorites of that last TagCom. This is very rare for my choices to be dominated by male characters.
 
Have you ever thought of cosplaying a comic book character? Hey, I think you’d make an awesome Jubilee or Dona Troy! 

Fatima: Surely, but I’m leaning towards Psylocke or X-23.
 
Comicology: Yes! X-23 would be awesome! With the claws and all! We’re all looking forward to that.

Who do you plan to go as in the future? Do you take suggestions or requests? For, like, birthday parties or debuts or events or something? 

Fatima: I’ve actually thought of going as one of the characters in the McFarlane Twisted Series. I entertain suggestions to a reasonable extent, yes.
 
Comicology: X-23 time!

The costumes are getting fancier and shinier and a lot more accurate. How much effort and money goes into one of those costumes? Where do you get your stuff?
 
Fatima: It’s more a matter of time and effort. Time is the enemy and you’re bound to spend more when you have less. I used to sew by hand and it’s the equivalent of driving 5 miles per hour. Tailors help but they sometimes don’t understand certain aspects of the costume. I’ve experienced tailors making unnecessary alterations, inaccurately drafting key parts or even leaving them out altogether. You must understand that tailors follow specific guidelines and pattern prototypes i.e. wedding dresses and suits. Unless you’re at their back 24/7, I suggest making costumes yourself to avoid disappointment.

I usually post my costume progress on my website http://taho.deviantart.com.

Comicology: Do you look up to certain famous cosplayers, especially locally? *cough Alodia cough*

Fatima: Alodia Gosiengfiao and Jin Joson go an extra mile by taking the time and effort to orchestrate these amazing photoshoots that perfectly convey their characters. When cosplaying at conventions, unless on the catwalk, there are a lot of times when you feel you aren’t exuding the type of "aura" you wish you could. More so if it happens to be inside a mall- walking past Jollibee or Bench does create a certain level of awkwardness.

But my deepest admiration would have to be for Jan Illenberger http://www.cosplay.ph/profile.php?lookup=3603 a.k.a. Hikaru-Jan. I met her at POGS ‘08 and didn’t know that she was just visiting from California. She drafts and creates all her outfits from scratch- something I’m working hard to do myself. Plus, she’s got both the guts and skills to tastefully cosplay characters from what anime fans know all too well as hentai- in this case, Bible Black.
 
Comicology: I’m totally gonna pretend I don’t know what Bible Black is.

Is there money to be made in cosplaying?  I mean, I’m pretty sure the guy who walk around as Ronald McDonald get paid some money. Can’t you cash in on something like that?

Fatima: Most cosplay competitions have cash prizes in store for the winners. If you manage to attract a following, you may benefit from magazine interviews, tv guestings and other media-related ventures. But I discourage joining in the hopes of achieving such things. If you’re not content just cosplaying for fun then you’re in it for the wrong reasons.

Comicology: And then, you just keep the costumes in storage? Or do you walk around your costumes in the house until someone notices? C’mon, you can tell Comicology. No judgement here.

Fatima: I’ve cosplayed on regular days and it merited a good amount of stares. People thought I was crazy. But it’s okay, maybe I am.

 
Comicology: You’re just the right amount of crazy. Unless, of course, you’ve actually tried shooting a hadouken at someone, you should be fine.

Fatima: Whoops, too late!
 
Comicology: Have you ever had a super fanboy that it bordered on stalkership? And if so, how many restraining orders do you have in efect?

Fatima: I’d be lying if I said no. When you put yourself out there, be it cosplaying or anything public in general, you’re viable for both positive and negative attention. It’s something that most females should be aware of and prepared for.

Comicology: I’ve always been fascinated with cosplayers, and not just because some of them are INCREDIBLY HOT, but because someday, I hope to go to a halloween party dressed as a super hero. Do you think an Iron Fist or Cyclops or Daredevil costume would be doable for a beginner with absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever?
 
Fatima: Definitely not. Unless you’re a sleeping prodigy and have yet to discover this, it’d be best to steer clear of any costume that requires any serious crafting i.e. headgear, etc. You might, however, be able to pull off Hitman, Lupin, or other characters that allow you to utilize what may already be in your closet.

Comicology: You do realize you’ve crushed my dreams, don’t you?

Fatima: Hey, if those don’t make the cut for you, then there’s always plan B- buy a high-end camera(or one that looks it) and play photographer for the day. You’ll have babes posing for you every second.

Comicology: Duly noted. Babes posing for me sounds suspiciously like the start of the movies the TMB guys love watching. 

And maybe you can shed a little light on something I’ve always wondered- how come when girls cosplay, it’s wet-dream-inducingly hot, but when guys do it, especially when they go as girls, the world collectively moans of epic fail? That is, with the sole exception of your friend, Hard Gay.

Fatima: There’s a whole Pandora’s box of explanations for this. Most answers will point to the psychology of same-gender admiration and how it’s more rampant among females than males.

Girls cross-play far more than guys do, so it isn’t much of an oddity. People tend to overreact when they see something unusual. If a guy can crossplay and fool people into thinking he’s a girl, and perhaps even have guys take photos with him- then he’s earned some serious bragging rights.

Comicology: Well, that’s about all the time your lawyers allowed me to have with you. Again, we’d like to thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to shed some light on these important matters.

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And there you have it, folks! We hope we’ll be hearing from her again, especially whe she’s in that X-23 outfit. Check back here at Comicology for more interviews and features!