Cosplayer of the Week: Variable

Hey there!

We have such a great cosplayer for this week! Her name is Variable Cosplay and she is a massively popular cosplayer from Australia! I was so shy to send her an interview request but I am so grateful that I did because she ended up responding! My heart stopped the moment her email came into our inbox and have been on cloud 9 ever since! If you are unfamiliar with Variable, her cosplays range anywhere from anime to video games to movies and everything in between! I urge you to go and check out her social media pages for all sorts of dope content!

I hope you enjoy the interview!

The Geek Lyfe: Although I have been a fan of yours for quite some time, there may be a few Geek Lyfers who have not seen your work before, would you be alright introducing yourself?

Variable: I’m Variable from Australia. I’m a cosplayer and professional Twitch host, and I’m an accredited special effects make-up artist, and costumer, for film and television. I’m best known for canonically being in Tom Clancy’s The Division, for officially representing Tyrande for Blizzard’s Warcraft and Miss Fortune for League of Legends, Judy Hopps on DisneyXD, Power Girl with DC Comics, and my Sakimi-Chan Lola Bunny from Space Jam, which was made as a joke the night before.

TGL: How long have you been into creating incredible cosplays and what led you down this path?

V: It’s a bit of a grey area for me. When I made my first costume I’d never been to a convention and I’d never heard of cosplay, so I’m not really sure where the turning point is.

My origin story is actually volunteering with the Starlight Express Room in my local children’s hospital, which is an activity space run by The Starlight Children’s Foundation for the children in the hospital, and their families, to find respite from the medical environment and rigmarole.

I was a stage kid, began training in make-up for film and television, eventually started up working in special effects and costuming professionally, and became Vice President of The Costume Society at my university. My first panel was around 2010, and my first “cosplay guest/ambassador” role was in 2013 at Florida SuperCon.

TGL: What has been your favorite moment?

V:  Oh gosh, it’s way too hard to choose. We meet a lot of amazing people, from brave kids to other cosplayers to the creators whose work inspires us, so there’ve been a lot of special moments, for a lot of different reasons.

TGL:  Most frustrating?

V: I’ve been working on Samus Aran’s Varia Suit for about six years, and I’m still not happy with it.

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

V: This is my spare time! I also enjoy video games, tabletop games, TV, and movies. Lo-fi sci-fi and cyberpunk are my favourite genres. At the moment my “to do” list includes Monster Hunter: Generations, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, The Last Guardian, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

TGL:  What is your ultimate OTP(One True Pair)?

V: Morticia and Gomez Addams.

TGL: You can choose one fictional character from any universe to come to our world and be your best friend for life. Who is it and why?

V: I’m a sucker for animal sidekicks, so characters like Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon, Trico from The Last Guardian, palicos from Monster Hunter, Ein from Cowboy Bebop… the list would be huge, we would have a zoo.

TGL:  Often times with anyone who is creative, they hit roadblocks creatively. How do you overcome these times? Do you have a certain technique?

V: I have a habit of putting one project down and working on a different one, which means I have a lot of unfinished projects simultaneously. At the moment I have seventeen “work in progress” costumes.

TGL:  Subbed or dubbed anime? Why?

V: Dubbing has come a long way but I usually prefer subtitles, because I like to hear the original casting and I prefer translated dialogue that isn’t restricted by timeframes or mouth movements. I still watch dubs for nostalgic reasons, and I’m lucky to count a few dub voice actors as friends.

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

V: Focus on what you love, and be the best you that you can be – you’re the only one who can.

If you cosplay things that are important to you, no matter what happens, you’re still celebrating something that has meaning for you. Do it your way, at your own pace, and within your comfort zones. We all started at the beginning, we all make mistakes, and we are all learning every day. This community is a beautiful motley crew made up of us much variety as the things we love, and we’re all in it together.

I want to give a huge shout out to Variable cosplay for taking the time to answer a few of our humble questions! She is so so amazing and fantastic in so many ways that I absolutely guarantee that if you check her out, you’ll fall in love with what you find! I know I did! Be sure to check out her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Photo credit

Vulpix Photography: Magic Missile Studios

Nurse Joy Photography: Magic Missile Studios

Ms Marvel: Original photo: Steamkittens

Cover Photo: George Wong Photography