00:04Cosplay is a journey really and it's not just trying to make whatever you're making look exactly like the character
00:11that it is, it's also coming up with creative ways to fabricate as well, so whether you're using foam or
00:18thermal plastic such as Warbla, the technique that goes into it is substantial.
00:23I've seen people improving, I've seen all the techniques improving, cosplayers have access to 3D printing technology now which blows
00:30my mind, like they're really starting to bridge the gap between you know physical world and digital world in my
00:37opinion.
00:37The Overwatch cosplay battle is unique because we wanted to show the whole process and really celebrate from start to
00:44finish what it takes to make these incredible costumes.
00:51I thought it's a really exciting idea, first of all because it's a team effort, so we have the opportunity
00:58to take advantage of all the different skills that each of us bring.
01:04I've never really been in a group project in which we made a costume between more than one person, so
01:12it's my first time working as a team really.
01:15It was really nice to involve all three of us into the build and not just have one person sort
01:20of go look at me.
01:22Usually in cosplay, cosplayers work alone and it's not as easy because you have to accept how other people will
01:30work, what are their standards and you also have to trust them on materials you don't know.
01:35We have different techniques, we have different ways of crafting, of working and it was very fun to actually see
01:41all these different personalities merging in one project and making this project come alive.
01:45I think, yeah, I'm very happy and I'm very proud of our work. I love my team, I love my
01:52teammates and I'm very happy to represent Russia.
02:01We had the chance to incorporate many, many different techniques in Symmetra, you know, obviously there's some sewing to do
02:08for the pants and the undersuit and the gloves.
02:11Then there's foam work. We did something with thermoplastics. We also tried casting some things, you know, we really learned
02:20something. We had the chance to work on our own skill set.
02:23I think that almost everything in Mecca is absolutely unusual for cosplay because usually cosplayers use plastic, they use EVA
02:35foam. We didn't use anything of this.
02:37We worked with fiberglass, we worked with real metal. It's a huge challenge since the beginning.
02:43I think in this costume everything we did and decided was out of the box of everything we all did
02:50before.
02:51Well, I like the movements of the backpack. It's really funny.
02:56I've been painting with a brush all my life and for this costume I wanted to try something new and
03:03started using the airbrush.
03:06The airbrush gives you a wider range of shading and paint by variation.
03:18Time was our biggest enemy and there's like a vacuum and it sucks it all up and you're like, where
03:23did the days go? And it just vanishes.
03:26Special challenge for the costume has been making it in a way to have a great mobility in order to
03:33have like flexible poses or be able to walk properly and run and have a good looking costume.
03:50For me, I think it is important to win. I'm a competitive player in general, that's who I am.
03:56People being like, oh she's Team Germany and they are Team Germany and we are supporting them because they are
04:03Team Germany and that just gives a little push as well.
04:06I think the full nature of this contest, which is also an exhibition of crafting skills or artistic view, I
04:19think it's been pretty interesting to see all of us coming here and seeing it come to life.
04:25Cosplay is fun and it doesn't matter that we all represent our countries, that everyone wants to win. For me,
04:32it's amazing teamwork and we just share what cosplayers can do. So I think this is the idea, it's not
04:39to compete, it's to share the experience, to share amazing work of everyone.
04:44I'm really excited to see the other team's costumes because they're all great cosplayers and I just hope that I
04:51get to see it in real life one day or we can all go to an event and catch up
04:55and talk about their experiences.
04:57There are so many things going right with these costumes. We've got incredible painters getting all of the details of
05:04the color right. We have wonderful armor makers that are making these not only functional but they look exactly like
05:10the in-game model.
05:12So there's so much fitting to the person that's wearing the costume as well as paying homage to what's happening
05:18in-game. It's one-to-one and it's incredible.
05:26Classic Diva by Team Russia. Absolutely insane. The main thing that I love about that cosplay is the scale. Talk
05:35about a ratio. I think that this is the first time I've seen anything cosplay related that retranslate the relationship
05:42between the pilot and the mech so accurately.
05:48Dragon Symmetra. I think I'm most impressed with this costume because it's one of our more fantasy oriented Overwatch skins
05:57which isn't the norm for us but I love that they took it and made it so iconic. Everything about
06:04this cosplay just is Overwatch all in of itself.
06:11Baihu Genji. That one was actually a challenge even internally. Like I remember us like kind of like looking at
06:18like the chainmail and thinking okay I hope it's gonna work you know but at the same time it's a
06:23video game so hopefully we should be fine and when I saw that that team kind of like picked that
06:27skin I was really interested to see how they would translate that specific component and they did it beautifully.
06:35Baihu Genji. So we have Team UK doing Forest Spirit Orisa. This cosplay is incredible. I like I'm speechless I'm
06:46bumbling over my words just talking about it right now but they're incredible. The detail put into all of the
06:53little sprite guys on the head. Every little leaf is exactly where it should be. It is colored exactly as
07:00it should be.
07:02Team Italy and Blackwatch Genji. Oh my god. The reason of why I find it absolutely mind-blowing is because
07:08you gotta remember that when we pitched that skin and we actually did that skin in-house the pitch was
07:16that the guy was supposed to be half robot and half human and it was never meant to be like
07:21fully human so seeing that like actual cosplayers like decided to run for it and also managed to keep all
07:28the proportions like perfectly aligned with what we had in mind.
07:31When we created that skin for the game is absolutely mind-blowing.
07:38So we have Team France with Magni Torbjorn. It is such an incredible costume. The sheer weight of that beard
07:45has to be just I can't even imagine. It looks so good though.
07:55So as an artist I really like cosplay because it gives me a chance to look at the details of
08:01a character. No matter the character you're doing you're really looking at it under a magnifying glass.
08:06I think that it is being kind of like in the back of our minds each time that we created
08:09new characters like how is the cosplay community gonna take over and like how easy or hard is it gonna
08:17be for them. So we try to keep that in mind.
08:20There is no greater feeling than watching somebody work months weeks hours on a character that you helped create and
08:29then seeing it in person is just such an incredible feeling.
08:32There is no longer confusion where the of my heart and then seeing it.
08:36There is no longer feeling like this.
08:44Well, I also feel that you are lucky as many characters.
08:47There are some more people like that.
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