One of the unique pleasures of being a cosplayer is being able to bring a character to life regardless if they are well known or even unknown. As long as you have a love, passion and desire to create something that brings you happiness, that's all that should matter.
Sirius is a very underrated and sometimes non-recognizable character from 'My Hero Academia' with barely 1 episode to show off her personality, goals, dreams and ambition. LarpLikeRae took it upon themselves to bring this character to life due to the shared likeness and similarities they both share.
Ever wondered what it's like to cosplay a very unpopular character or even get mistaken for another character?
Sirius Cosplay
"One of my moto's that I love to remind myself while I make a cosplay, portray the character or even judge a cosplay competition is:
Show a love for your cosplay, yourself, and the audience.
There is a reason why you choose the cosplays you do. Whether it's shared personality traits, hatred, comfort, or even a way to escape reality. There are so many different reasons why people create, make and do cosplays."
"When I have the chance to sit down and really ponder what cosplay I want to make or have a connection with, I tend to think of everything behind it. From the personality to the costume, even the fan base, and have to question if it is worth the time and energy to do it. Sirius wasn't even an option to think it over, I loved her the instant I watched the episode she aired."
"When I first watched the episode with Sirius, my heart was torn by her personality. I had resonated with her on so many levels, especially because I was a tattoo apprentice for 4 years, and that during that apprenticeship, I felt like I was going no where. I was stuck in a timeline of never becoming full time, I was doing tasks that had no relation into tattooing, (like going grocery shopping for the owner) and felt like I didn't know what the true meaning of being a 'Tattooer' was. In the Episode, Sirius explained how during her internship she had no idea why she even wanted to become a hero, she was doing tasks that weren't relevant to becoming a hero and she felt stuck. This was a character that I so badly wanted to hug, and tell her that it was okay because I too was in that position."
"Once I watched that episode about 5 times on repeat, I wanted nothing more than to cosplay as her. At the same time, I had the opportunity to visit my lovely 'Sugar Family' (as I call them) to see my good friend JJ for 'Kumoricon' in Portland Oregon 2022! JJ (she/her) was unsure what cosplay she was wanting to do for one of the days and I had offered to do Sirius and Froppy with her."
"I had spent so much time perfecting my Sirius cosplay since it meant so much to me. Finally I took a trip up to Porland Oregon to visit Family. It was so nice to be back since 2021 and it honestly, was such a fresh breath of air to be able to see them again."
"Kumoricon was amazing, other than the fact that a lot of men were over sexualizing me in my skirt and one guy even took a photo up my skirt without permission to violate my privacy (he also walked away before I could really say anything). The next weekend, I went to another convention called Connichiwa in Tucson, Arizona in the same cosplay (yet again I also got sexualized by countless of men at our hotel). Congoers constantly commented on how they loved my Vaporeon cosplay which in reality was not who I was cosplaying."
"It was a tad bit disheartening to know that everyone was thinking I was a completely different character than who I was. I loved Sirius and did my hardest to look just like her, but was mistaken at 2 separate conventions for a different character from another series. At one point, I felt like I didn't do a good enough job at making her outfit since no one knew who I was truly cosplaying as. I felt left out and kind of avoided in 'My Hero Academia' meetups even though I was a character from it, just not a well known one. I will admit, it sucked feeling that way, but because JJ and her family were there to support me during and after the con, none of that mattered. I am so thankful for them to help me realize that I do have a love for cosplays, even if the cosplay isn't recognizable. My hard work is still worth every minute, tear and passion. Not just my own hard work, but every cosplayers hard work. There's a reason why cosplayers choose a certain character, why we do what we do. Every cosplayer puts in time, materials, passion, tears and love into their craft and its beautiful. I do recommend however, if you do not know or unsure of what cosplay someone is doing, please ask instead of assume! I can understand if people do not know who you are cosplaying since they have not seen that character or series, but assuming who they are when they aren't cosplaying that character can be hurtful at times."
"In all, I love this cosplay and even though at one point I felt discouraged for not being recognized and even mistaken for another character, I still appreciate my own hard work and love in all I did for that cosplay and wouldn't change it for the world. I don't plan on ever retiring her cosplay because to me, it shows that I didn't do it for anyone other than myself, and that's how cosplay should be."
"Do it for yourself."