We’re so excited to be running the Cosplay Masquerades at MegaCon Live Birmingham in just a few short weeks! Now our entrants have submitted their applications, it’s time to announce our judges for the weekend. We’ll be introducing one judge a day and you can meet all of them right here.
Announcing our second judge for the Saturday Cosplay Masquerade: Cryptid Casplay.
Cas won the Artificer class award for Best Craftsmanship at MegaCon Live London in January 2024, and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the other side of the judging table in Birmingham!
After getting hooked on YouTube cosplay music videos, Cas started cosplaying in 2019, and continued on TikTok when lockdown hit. “I’ve sewn so much since then that I could probably make a pair of Tudor breeches in my sleep,” they joke. “It feels so magical and rewarding to sew together pattern pieces and watch the form of a cosplay take place. Sewing is definitely my favourite part of creating cosplays, especially getting to use interestingly textured fabrics. I’m looking forward to incorporating more embroidery work and beading into my cosplays.”
Their first competition was in 2023. “I only entered the performance category at UKCFG Taunton to get used to the idea of being on stage,” they say. “It was an experience I really needed, as I felt so sick both before and after performing. The anxiety and the nerves really got to me! I don’t think the nerves will ever really go away, but they’re absolutely worth it for the fun of competing.”
Competing has made them a more meticulous crafter, spending far more time planning builds and pressing seams now than they used to, but they explained how their award-winning cosplay of Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon, originally came about by accident: “I studied Animation and VFX at university, and at the end of my third year we had a screening and awards event with a theme of ‘animals and creatures in animation’. My love for HTTYD runs strong, and I made the wings and tail in two weeks! I made the rest of the cosplay for MegaCon London, which included hand sewing leatherette.”
Toothless has had two different sets of wings, the first constructed with wire and the second with PVC piping. They are very proud of them, but they do have their downsides: “The first time I wore them I couldn’t go inside at the event because my wingspan was larger than the allowed size!”
Cas loves how helpful the entire cosplay community is, always giving advice and suggestions wherever needed; the community can help anyone build up their skills. With two different experience classes to enter at each Masquerade, cosplayers can pick the class that best suits their skillset: Adventurer or Artificer. Cas reminds us that you don’t have to create an astounding cosplay from scratch to consider yourself a cosplayer. “I was a closet cosplayer for years before I started making cosplayers, and I still pull them together when I find a character that my brain needs to cosplay immediately. You only need to have made or heavily modified 50% of your costume to enter the Adventurer class.”
MegaCon Live Birmingham will be Cas’ first time judging, and they’re looking forward to bonding over craftsmanship with the entrants. “I became friends with the judges from my very first cosplay competition, and since then they’ve been such incredible sources of support and advice in growing my talents as a cosplayer. 17-year-old me would never have dreamed I’d work up the courage to enter cosplay competitions myself – now here I am judging one! To know that I might one day inspire people to create their own incredible cosplays would be a dream within itself.”
