Cosplay Interview with Emma Rubini

Cosplay interview with Emma Rubini Cosplay Character: Gaige (Borderlands 2) Facebook page: facebook.com/emmarubiniart Other Social media links: Instagram: @emmajiqrubini Photographer name and/or link: Bert Rubini and Alex Taranoff

Interview Questions:

1. How long have you been Cosplaying and why do you do it? I’ve been cosplaying since 2009. It’s one of my favorite creative outlets. I think of it as creative problem solving. My first cosplay was American McGee’s Alice.

2. Do your family and friends support you as a cosplayer? Yes! In fact, my dad and I often cosplay together (for instance, he has a cosplay from Borderlands as well).

3. What was your FIRST convention you cosplayed at? I made my first cosplay in 2009, but I didn’t wear it to a con until MegaCon 2010.

4. Are there any charities you work with locally? I haven’t done any cosplay charity work yet – a lot of my cosplays are kind of scary and from video games which aren’t very charity-friendly. But, I have a few Disney cosplays planned, so we’ll see!

5. Do you follow other cosplayers? Who inspires you the most? I follow a ton of cosplayers! Honestly, too many to even pick favorites. But, the skills I really look up to in other cosplayers are detailed sets of armor and intricately sewn costumes, because those are things that I can’t do.

6. Are you an avid comic book reader? Which is your all time favorite? I think my favorite comic series is probably Neil Gaiman’s Sandman (although I’ve fallen behind on the Overture series!)

7. Other than Cosplay, what else are your hobbies or interests? I’m in school for illustration, so most of my hobbies are still art-related. Also, I play a lot of video games.

8. Why did you choose Gaige? As soon as I played Borderlands I knew I wanted to cosplay from it. I really like Gaige’s personality and character design, and it seemed like the right about of challenge for my first Borderlands cosplay. Also, the fact that she can summon a giant robot is pretty neat.

9. Have you done other versions of this character? I haven’t, although I have cosplayed another character from the same game, Tiny Tina. However, all of the playable characters in the game have alternate skins and outfits, so I may do another version of Gaige in the future.

10. Are there any other characters you cosplay as? Yes! I think by now I have created over thirty costumes. Some of my favorites that I’ve made are Little Sister from BioShock, Toothiana from Rise of the Guardians, Emily from Corpse Bride and steampunk Tinkerbell, which was an original design.

11. Have you ever “CrossPlayed”? I’ve done a few male characters, the most recent being Newt from Pacific Rim (my father cosplayed Hannibal Chau from the same movie). It’s interesting to experiment with gender-changing makeup, but I prefer to do “genderbent” cosplays, where I reimagine a male character as a female one. Most recently I did this with Cecil from Welcome to Night Vale.

12. Do you have any upcoming appearances? My remaining cons for 2015 are Hyper Japan (in London!), Fanboy Expo, Tampa Bay Comic Con, DragonCon, and Baltimore Comic Con. In 2016 I’m hoping to make it to at least Katsucon, MegaCon, Metrocon and Dragoncon again, but it’s too early to tell for sure!

13. Can you give us a detailed description of how you made your cosplay and props? My Gaige cosplay is probably the one I’ve put the most work into. I originally started it in April 2014, and made the costume as well as Claptrap (the smaller, yellow robot) for Metrocon that year. I probably spent about three months on it. Sometime in the last year I decided that I was insane enough to make Deathtrap, which is about seven feet tall and also a robot, and I figured I might as well improve on the costume itself as well, because I’ve learned a lot in the past year. I’ve spent the last month or so not only altering most of the costume, but also creating a life-size Deathtrap, which I brought to Metrocon with me this year. My favorite part of the two Borderlands cosplays I’ve made (and the ones I’ve seen) is the cel shading, which is the comic book-y lines that I’ve applied to all of the costume as well as my makeup. My favorite part of the costume is probably my wig, which I made out of Model Magic on top of a plaster cast of my head!