Blah blah or history for the interested

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.

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.

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.

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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.

 

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!