Maria: I
find it always super interesting to know how people know each other and
how they have ended up doing cosplay together. So we took a look in to
our cosplay history together!
Heidi: I
think it was the latter half of year 2009 when a new cosplay blog
landed into the Finnish blogosphere. The blog owner was someone called
Ilona and I remembered having watched her Quistis costume in a certain
convention. Behind the pillars of course, being a shy person myself.
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| Perrine and Mio from Strike Witches. Pic by Matias Tukiainen |
Heidi: Hopping to 2010, Ilona had been
cosplaying major Mio Sakamoto from ever so great Gonzo (second season by
AIC) series Strike Witches where 13 to 20 year old girls fight against
an unknown enemy called Neuroi in a setting that resembles second World
War. I too had been cosplaying from the series as the French
ojousama-tsundere Perrine-H. Clostermann and finding Mio was a some sort
of a dream come true (for a character). Braving myself I asked whether
she'd like to cosplay Mio and Perrine together and was accepted. Not
very soon after that she joined into Finnish cosplay-IRC channel where
we exchanged few words. Ilona's blog continued to evolve and I realized
her ideas about cosplay were similar to mine, while we made completely
different kinds of cosplays.
Maria: I
had no idea Heidi had had her eyes on me for so long. I had known about
her ever since I first started to read about cosplay in Finland,
because she had already been a part of the cosplay community for so long
(not trying to make it sound like she's super old! I'm the older one!
:D). I knew she made really nice costumes and was really interested in
anime, but at first I wasn't sure if we'd really have that much in
common. Other than we seemed to both like anime with flying girls
without pants.
BUT
getting to know her better (all thanks to modern ways of communication,
the fact that we live 350km apart has never been any problem) made me
realize that many of our ideas and visions (on about what we want to do with cosplay, how we want to evolve Finnish cosplay scene and how we take cosplay same time very seriously and ourselves not too seriously) were really close.
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| Random SeeD dancer from Final Fantasy VIII and Feyris from Steins;Gate. Pic by Miika Ojamo |
Heidi: I
think it was year 2011 when I first asked whether Ilona would like to
participate WCS with me. As told on the first post, this idea blew
through as we were both too busy: Ilona with certain poisonous plant and
me with my lecture about the anime franchise Macross. The idea was
there though and rapidly increased its volume.
Maria: I
was a bit sceptical about how I could work with someone as closely as a
pair cosplay would demand, but I did feel bad we didn't have time to
participate that year. Next year I was really busy first with the
Eurocosplay preliminary in the beginning of summer 2012 but the idea
about doing something together for the WCS that year was always in the
back of both of our minds. And we did together a few pair cosplays that didn't take that much effort.
 |
| Rirka and (part of) Marika and some ducks from Moretsu Pirates. Pic by Matias Tukiainen. We are always really serious when taking pictures. |
Heidi: I
too am not a very good a team worker in way that I want to make things
by myself. A cosplay process where I'd have to do something with someone
all the time wouldn't be nice or succesful by any means. It would be
nerve-wracking and would end up in tears. This why an ideal cosplay pair
would be a person who has certain level healthy self criticism and can
make things happen by theirselves. In Ilona I trust her ability to
create without me (or anyone, for that matter) breathing down her neck.
Same goes for me. This why Ilona is the best WCS pair anyone can have. I
will do my best with any task that is given to me. We can do our own
stuff and then show it to each other and both can then be pleased or
suggest how to make improvements.
 |
| Junko and Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Pic by Santtu Pajukanta |
Maria:
And
we are honest to one another! We can really say what we think quite
directly because we have the same goal and we are both really well aware
of our weaknesses and strong points. I've said it many times that we
are different enough and at the same time our ideas and principles are
alike so that we help one another without the need to do it like all the
time. I might be the crazy and creative one, but I need Heidi's more
organized and practical way of thinking to get the best results.
. |
| Millhi and Leon from Dog Days. Pic by Matias Tukiainen |
Heidi: So yeah, in 2012 we did take part in the WCS-preliminary with our costumes from Dog Days. Working together was even better than we had ever hoped.
We both concentrated on our own costumes, shared our process pictures
on the net (on this subject we will write about later on, so stay tuned)
and had an awesome practice weekend. The preliminals were awesome too.
The audience was so energetic it gave us the shrills, other contestants
were great people (don't give up, go and win the next prelims!) and our
performance was all-around very pleasant experience. The prelims left us
wanting more and so we decided to participate again!
Maria: And so we did! We did other pair or group cosplays during the year as well.
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| Touka and Rikka from Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Pic by Santtu Pajukanta |
Maria: When
I tried to predict what the judges would ask in the judging for
WCS-preliminary this year I thought what I would answer to the cliché
question ”What was the best part about doing this costume”. Luckily I
didn't have to answer to that on stage, because knowing how emotional I
always get, I would have cried. Because honestly the best thing about this whole process has been the opportunity
to work with Heidi. A year ago it was magical, this year it was so
amazing to find that the same magic was still there. I did say during
the preliminary day that no matter what happens today in the
competition, I do have WCS to thank for for giving me one of my best
friends, because without these experiences, we would not be as close as
we are today. ;_______;
Heidi: For
the next two blog entries we shall still reminiscence the past with how
we made the preliminary costumes and then about practice weekend this
year (and the performance). After that, we shall head for the new
challenges and talk about the costuming plans (oh, how I wish to sew for
a certain well-endowed English lady from certain awesome series)
 |
| Until next time! |
