London Games Festival: Everything you need to know about Cosplay

Interested in cosplay but not sure where to start? We spoke to two stars in the cosplay community 
The Games Character Parade at last year's festival
London Games Festival
Amelia Heathman13 April 2018

One of the truly majestic events at the annual London Games Festival has to be the Games Character Parade.

Taking place this Saturday (April 14), the parade sees hundreds of cosplay and costumed characters showcasing their creativity and glamour throughout the City of London.

There may even be a world-record attempt taking place at this year’s event.

Cosplay, from costume play, is when people dress up as a character from a book, film or video game.

It’s a wonderful part of the gaming industry, bringing people together from different backgrounds, in a chance to celebrate their shared love of gaming.

We caught up with two cosplayers, Damian Hammond and Ziggy Newman, to find out what is great about cosplaying and, the all-important question: how long does it take to get ready?

How to get involved with cosplay

Cosplay is pretty big in the US and Japan at events like ComicCon, but the UK is starting to grow in terms of cosplay events and conferences.

Newman is a big part of this. She began cosplaying eight years ago, at the MCM London Comic Con in 2010. “I’ve always loved dressing up from a young age,” explains Newman. “And I have a huge catalogue of interests including sci-fi, comics, anime and, of course, video games.”

As well, Newman has made cosplay part of her career. She now runs her own cosplay event business, Zonic Productions.

She launched CamCon, a cosplay convention in Cambridge which ran for three years, and also runs the annual EGX Cosplay competition.

Hammond, on the other hand, was introduced to cosplay through his wife, Cathy. After attending a London Comic Con event in 2014, he felt inspired to try it out himself.

“I’ve always enjoyed entertaining people,” he says. “And I thought cosplay looked like a great way of expressing yourself and a chance to meet like-minded people.”

What is crucial to cosplay is having your own cosplay name. Newman’s is Zonic and Hammond goes by Devil’s Garden Cosplay, so, if you’re interested in trying it out, that seems like a good place to start.

Ziggy Newman in fully cosplay ()
Rebecca Moriarty

Choosing a character and getting ready

The beauty of cosplay is the creativity it allows people. One day, Hammond might be Killer Croc from Batman, or Logan from X-Men or Negan from The Walking Dead Series.

“I like cosplaying Croc because he is a big character like me, and he has an amazing, deep, loud voice,” he says.

Getting ready changes for Hammond depending on if he is wearing a suit or face paint, so it can take anything from 15 minutes, up to an hour and a half.

As Newman often organises the cosplay events she attends, she can’t dedicate as much time to getting ready. Her favourite characters involve strong, female characters, such as Chell from the video games series, Portal and Lara Croft.

“As a feminist, I’m fully aware about the importance of strong female roles in what can seem to be a very male centric geek culture,” she explains.

One stand-out character? “Last year, I did a female C3PO [the gold android in Star Wars] which involved a bit of body painting!”

Damian Hammond in cosplay action as Logan from X-Men (Damian Hammond)
Colin Eastaugh Photography

A community through gaming

What’s clear from Hammond and Newman’s experiences in cosplay, is the wonderful community that it encapsulates.

“It’s great to be among people who have the same interests as you and it’s always fun to swap and share ideas,” says Newman.

In order to maintain this community aspect, Hammond set up an anti-bullying Facebook group and campaign to promote a friendly, inclusive atmosphere among cosplayers in 2016. “I wanted to sure that there are cosplay Facebook groups where you won’t get trolled or bullied. You can be who you are and no one will say a nasty thing.”

As well, the fantasy aspect is an important one when it comes to cosplaying.

“For a day, or a weekend every few months, I can step out of my normal world and escape into a world of fantasy. For those moments when I am wearing a mask, wig, face paint or costume, I can believe that I am that character,” says Hammond.

Join in the London Games Festival cosplay parade – find all the details here

The Evening Standard is the official media partner of the London Games Festival

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in