Interview: Kiba the Cosplay Corgi and Nicole

Kiba the Cosplay Corgi very well might be the most adorable cosplayer the world has to offer and is welcoming and kind to all of his fans.  We here at Geek Lyfe are just as huge of fans as most of our peers and have attended his panels where he runs around while his owner, Nicole answers questions about him and his amazing career! We were delighted to know that they allowed us to ask them a few questions to give our readers more information about them and their craft!

Without further ado, here is our cosplay with Kiba and Nicole!

The Geek Lyfe: How did cosplaying with Kiba start?

Nicole & Kiba: Kiba is actually my service dog and we decided to go to Phoenix 2013 on a whim and it was literally a month before the (convention) started and I was like “Well I want to dress up but I don’t have time and I don’t know what the hell I am doing so I was like I’ll throw stuff together and make a cute costume for Kiba because he has to come with me anyways! Literally his first sword and shield was made of a paper machete and cushion foam! Engineering at it’s best! (Haha)

TGL: What has been the response to Kiba (in the cosplay community)?

NK: It has been good for the most part everyone is really positive. I have gotten some backlash on the scary parts of the internet. I’ve actually had somebody say that ‘Kiba is not professionally trained.” I was like, “Oh…what have I spent all those years doing then?!” (Haha) And then I looked to my trainers and said “Well, I guess you are not professional trainers then! Sorry!”

TGL:  What characters have Kiba cosplayed as?

NK: Hm… of course Link, because I love Legend of Zelda. Today we are doing Spiderman for the first time and I wanted to show people that using store-bought costumes are okay and you can always jazz them up to make them nicer. (For example), I just added puffy paint, so it’s kind of like our way to say ‘Hey, you know what? It doesn’t matter if you buy your costume or make your costume, it’s all cool! Besides that, though he does Assassin’s creed, Shippo from Inuyasha, Kiba from Naruto, and then even though it is an easy cosplay, he does Sway to my RWBY. (haha)

TGL: Is it difficult to get Kiba in his outfits?

NK: Sometimes he will put up a fight but for the most part I have been dressing him up since he was a puppy, putting him in cute little dog sweaters and cute little nerdy shirts like that. Ever since he was a puppy he was used to it and because of the training to be a service dog  I realized that I can put things and he was like “Oh that is cool!”.

TGL: What is the most difficult part of working closely with a dog that cosplays?

NK: The hardest part is that a lot of cosplayers can take off their cosplay and go into crowds and no one recognizes them. No matter where I go, even when Kiba is out of costume people will still recognize us and are stopped constantly. Even if Kiba has his service vest on, it still takes us a long time to get around a convention floor.

TGL: What is the most enjoyable part of working with Kiba?

NK: Since Kiba has become ‘Cosplay Famous’ (I hate that word, it’s so stupid) we have met so many people that others would consider ‘idols’ and I am like “No? We are just a bunch of dorks and we know it! So we just do really derpy stuff! (Haha) It’s mainly the people that I have met and the opportunities I have gotten from it. In just this last year I have made such phenomenal, uplifting, positive friends that I have ever made in my entire life.

TGL: When Kiba is not cosplaying, what does he like to do?

NK: Sleeps! Barks! Plays fetch like crazy! Barks some more! Sheds everywhere! Very typical corgi stuff, even though he doesn’t act like it he has the zoomies and sprints back and forth across the house and barks at any little noise that he hears outside and is kind of a dick. (haha)

TGL: What is it like for Kiba to be a Therapy Dog?

NK: I will correct you on that, you said Therapy dog. Therapy Dogs have the right to go into nursing homes and schools as long as they are permitted. Service dogs have to actually be prescribed, so I always have a doctor’s note with me at all times. There is a lot more to it, therapy dogs are only allowed in places that permit them while service dogs are considered medical equipment. So when people judge me for having Kiba cosplay, I tell them what is the difference between people dressing up their wheelchairs or walkers and me dressing up my service dog. They are all medical equipment technically.

TGL: Do you have any plans for future cosplays for Kiba?

NK: Yeeeeeeeeees! (haha) I was supposed to have toothless done but I don’t want to sew! My roommate is in charge of the local Spartan group, so we were talking about making Kiba his own Master Chief armor. He’ll have full armor and everything! We’ll see how he does with that and if he is okay with it, we’ll move on to making him a Mandolarian and Iron Man! (haha)

TGL: Where did the name ‘Kiba’ come from?

NK: A lot of people think it’s from Naruto but it’s actually not. It’s actually from Wolf’s Rain, it’s an older Anime but when fans come up to me and ask if the name comes from Wolf’s Rain I tell them yes and we geek out over it. Kiba in Japanese actually translates to ‘Fang’ and he was really mouthy as a puppy, he used to leave bite marks so I was like ‘Yeah, Kiba works perfectly for you!’. However, it sounded scary if I said ‘Fang! Fang!’ but when I shouted ‘Kiba’ it sounded way better. (haha)

A huge thank you to Nicole and Kiba for taking the time to answer our questions! I can not recommend following them enough! they are both wonderful and you should check out their cosplay page and give them a follow!

All photos are from Kiba’s Facebook page!