Cosplayer Of The Week: Nihhus

Hey friends! Thanks again for joining us for another Cosplayer of the Week! This week we are featuring Nihhus! While I was only able to find one cosplay of them, it is fantastic in so many ways! They chose to do the character Voden from the game Gigantic and they completely ran with it. This was their first cosplay and it already rivals costumes worn by the veterans!

I hope you enjoy!

The Geek Lyfe:  There may be a few Geek Lyfers who have not seen your work before, would you be alright introducing yourself?

Nihhus: Absolutely! I’m Nihhus, also known as Traumlos. ‘Nihhus’ is technically pronounced ‘Nee-hoos’, but part of the reason I chose that name is that I liked almost every pronunciation I could think of (‘Nai-ihs’, ‘Nee-oos’, ‘Nee-iss’…) I’m a Game Designer, proud Slytherin, and fledgling cosplayer.

TGL: How long have you been into cosplay and what led you down this path?

N: I started working on my first cosplay in February of 2016, so I’m still very much a newbie! I’d been interested in cosplay for a really long time- it’s impressive seeing how well makers can portray characters, but for me, it was always one of those ‘I’d like to get into that, but am too intimidated/don’t have time/etc’ things. Once I became familiar with Gigantic and fell in love with Voden, I dreamt about cosplaying him… and realized I’d have the unique opportunity (if I acted quickly) to be the first person to cosplay him! A few months later I started working on my first cosplay, Voden.

TGL: What has been your favorite moment?

N: Definitely the reactions of people at PAX, which was where I got to show off my work! I was really nervous as this was my first cosplay, but… well, the costume is pretty big and eye-catching. Even walking down the street, people were gasping and staring (in a good way… I think). It was really validating to hear offhand comments like ‘Whoa, cool!’ and ‘Did you see her feet?!’ It made me feel like I accomplished something great!

TGL: What was the worst day for you in your cosplay career, what happened, and how did you deal with it?

N: I haven’t been cosplaying long enough to have a completely awful day (thankfully!), but there were definitely a few hitches getting Voden out the door. When we got to a parking garage on our first cosplay day at PAX, the goatee I’d worked so hard to spirit gum to my face started coming apart! It was actually peeling off of the skin top. We had some safety pins on hand, so we managed to carefully pin the hair back to the skin top and mostly hide the pins inside the hair itself. I also almost knocked off one of my ears within like 10 minutes of getting into the convention center, but luckily it stayed pretty firmly affixed after I pressed it back on.

The horns are also too tall to fit in the car right-side up! So we had to twist them down just to get me to fit… and later I found out that this had knotted up a bunch of the wig hair around the base of the horns! I felt really embarrassed when I realized people had been photographing me like that all day, but it was too late to do anything about it by that point, so I just tried not to stress about it too much.

TGL: When you aren’t doing this, what do you do in your spare time?

N: I’m constantly trying to find enough time for all the hobbies I want to do! Most of the time I’m playing video games or trying to find interesting media (movies, graphic novels, TV shows) to consume.

TGL: What geek medium(Video Games, Comic Books, Novels, Movies, etc.) made the biggest impact on your life and why?

N: Definitely video games. In high school, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life… I was playing the ending of God of War 2, and something just kinda… hit me. I’d more or less always wanted to tell stories, I just wasn’t sure what form to use (writing? sequential art? music? animation?), but something about that moment sparked my interest in game development. I was originally looking into animation but heard about “game design” while doing some research. Honestly, I didn’t fully understand what design was back when I applied for my degree, but I’m glad I found it. Design is exactly where I want to be! Video games are definitely the centerpiece of my life.

TGL: If you could take a character from any universe to come to our world and be your best friend forever who would it be and why?

N: That’s a tough question! Honestly, at this moment it’d probably be Dorian Pavus, from Dragon Age: Inquisition. He’s one of my favorite characters I’ve ever interacted within a game, and I definitely wanna be his BFF! If Handsome Jack weren’t such a terrible person, I might’ve picked him instead (and honestly, he’s still tempting…… I love you, Jack.) For non-human characters though, I’d love to have a Jolteon… or, more likely, a griffin. Griffins are my favorite animals. How awesome would it be to have a griffin for a best friend?!

TGL: Do you have any projects in the near future we should be excited to see?

N: Probably not in the near future, as I’m pretty busy this winter. I’m really eager to get started on a new project sometime soon, though. Most likely it’ll be Wirt from Over the Garden Wall for Halloween 2017. I’m trying very hard not to pick another character as complex as Voden for my next project, that was a lot to handle for my first time! (It’s tough though, because like 80% of the characters I want to cosplay have armor… so look forward to some more complex stuff in the future, too.)

TGL: What advice do you have for any aspiring cosplayers out there?

N: The internet is definitely your best friend! There are tons of cosplayers out there who have shared their tricks. Almost everything I tackled for Voden was with the advice of a tutorial or a cosplaying friend! This doesn’t mean that you’ll find a tutorial for the specific character you want to make, but most tutorials can be applied more broadly to get the image you’re going for. Join groups on Facebook, ask friends with relevant experience, and don’t be afraid to just see what you can find! There’s a lot of resources out there, and there’s a pretty good chance someone has struggled with the same kinds of challenges you’re facing.

TGL: Out of the costumes you have done in the past, which one has been the most difficult and why?

N: I’ve only done the one, but Voden was definitely a huge challenge for me. I had no crafting experience, and decided to pick a character who had a lot of complicated parts! I had to figure out how to mount a giant tail, make foam armor, find a method for making really tall horns, and give myself slender digitigrade feet… all without ever having sewn anything, or worked with foam or any other cosplay supplies. It was a gigantic (wink, wink) undertaking, but I’m really glad I did it, and I can’t wait to get started on my next project! I feel like I’ve already learned a lot, so I’m eager to apply what I’ve learned and challenge myself even more.

Thank you so much to Nihhus for taking the time to answer a few of our questions! Be sure to check out more of Nihhus’ work on their Facebook page!

First three photos are from Studio Henshin Photography

Last photo is by Mark’s Cosplay Photography