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5 Female Cosplayers On What Cosplaying Means To Them

At a recent pop culture, music, and gaming convention, Metro.Style caught with up head-turning female cosplayers who shared their thoughts about cosplaying’s positi

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Grace C. Diez

<p>There’s an empowering creative freedom of expression that is found in the form of cosplay. And the stage is set and the time is ripe for female cosplayers to get their highly deserved spotlight.</p><div><br/></div><p>Hot on the heels of <strong>ConQuest 2023</strong>, the country’s biggest pop culture, music and gaming convention, a number of creatively dressed up ladies caught the attention of many attendees because they were majestically garbed in fans and followers’ favorite game characters.</p><div><br/></div><p>The <strong>Riot Game</strong><strong>s</strong> booth, in particular, played host to some of the top female cosplayers in the country. After all, as shared by Riot Games Philippines country head <strong>Joel Garcia</strong>, a whopping 50% of the player base of <strong>Valorant</strong>, a free-to-play first-person tactical hero shooter game developed and published by Riot Games, is composed of female gamers.  </p><div><br/></div><p><strong>Metro.Style</strong> scored exclusive interviews with these popular female cosplayers in the pop culture and gaming communities, giving us a glimpse of how they perceive cosplaying as a passion and how pursuing this can be truly empowering.</p><div style="text-align:center"><br/></div><div style="text-align:center"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtS7G6kPHfy/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 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style="padding-top:8px"> <div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"><br/></div> <div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"><br/></div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"><br/></div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"><br/></div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"><br/></div> <div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"><br/></div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"> <div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"><br/></div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"><br/></div> <div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"><br/></div></div></div> <div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"><br/></div> <div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"><br/></div></div></a><div style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtS7G6kPHfy/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by VALORANT Philippines (@valorantph)</a></div></div></blockquote> </div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Myrtle Sarrosa</strong></div><p>From starting as the <em><strong>Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition 4</strong></em> Big Winner, Myrtle continues to make a splash not only as an actress but also as a fan favorite cosplayer in the country. She has always been passionate about cosplaying as a young teen fangirling over animés like <em>Dragon Ball</em> and <em>Cardcaptor Sakura</em>. She remembers saving up and setting aside a portion of her allowance for this hobby and so she could fly to cosplay events in Manila from Iloilo. Dressed up as <em>League of Legends</em>’ Ahri in her coven skin, Myrtle likes how her cosplay is the character’s feistiest version and confesses she loves this game character so much. Myrtle is very supportive of fellow female cosplayers and to those who would like to get into it.</p><div><br/></div><p>“I just want to encourage women out there not to be ashamed of their fandom and to also express their creativity and to really embody <em>ang </em><em>mga gusto nilang</em> characters and to not be afraid to go to events and showcase their talents. I think one of the problems <em>kasi</em> was that we always think of what other people would say. But at the end of the day, if you enjoy something and you want to go somewhere and share to other people that you’re a fan of something and also empower others to be comfortable in your own costume, to be creative in making your own. I really think that we can make other women feel more confident about themselves,” Myrtle says.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/d6d2c945-19e8-4a4f-88fe-9204ae92db58_myrtle sarrosa.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Myrtle Sarrosa as League of Legends’ Ahri in her coven skin"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Myrtle Sarrosa as League of Legends’ Ahri in her coven skin</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Charess</strong></div><p>Top Filipina streamer and cosplayer Charess Kurogane roamed the event as the eye-catching Captain Miss Fortune, one of the champions of <em>League of Legends</em>. She is Charess’ main, a favorite, in the game and admits she loves the character’s “make it rain” (send hundreds of bullets raining down on a target area) skills. She started out as fan of animés and manga when she was younger and did cosplaying for fun with her friends. </p><div><br/></div><p>“I enjoy the creative part of it especially the makeup, that’s the thing I really love in cosplay. I think cosplay, in general, changed my life forever. It became my full-time career and I did not expect that I’ll be going this path,” she happily shares.Asked what she would tell ladies who would like to get into it, she coyly says, “Just have fun. If you love doing it, just keep on doing it.”</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/bf8efc58-b50b-4d1a-87ab-b7b4a1b92760_charess.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Charess as League of Legends’ Captain Miss Fortune"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Charess as League of Legends’ Captain Miss Fortune</span></span></span></div><div></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>MJ Ronquillo</strong></div><p>MJ was an absolute headturner as she cosplayed Kai’Sa of <em>League of Legends</em>, a character who’s also a member of K/DA, a fictional and virtual girl group from Riot Games. MJ was first inspired by a high school senior who got into cosplaying and found it cool.</p><div><br/></div><p>“It’s really gratifying. I like dressing up. Actually, before cosplay, I was very introverted. I still am. I’m kind of like the type of person who doesn’t like dressing up but when I got into cosplay and learned how to dress up properly and really nicely, put on makeup, it really boosted my confidence especially when I try to become the character that I cosplay. I really love it,” MJ smiles.“I find cosplaying really empowering. I like seeing myself in different characters. I can be anyone that I want to be essentially, right?” she adds, saying she also gained not just confidence but it also enabled her to gain friends and expand her circle.</p><div><br/></div><p>She leaves an inspiring message to ladies who would like to get into cosplaying.“Just have fun. Any character will do well, even the male characters. I do a lot of cross-playing, I dress up as a male character sometimes. Honestly, just be who you want to be,” she says.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/358fba7c-1ba6-466d-a4c0-5c187a0afc8e_mj ronquillo.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="MJ Ronquillo as League of Legends’ Kai’Sa "/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">MJ Ronquillo as League of Legends’ Kai’Sa  </span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Aryanna Epperson</strong></div><p>Aryanna got an early start as she’s been cosplaying since she’s 12 years old. She pursued this interest even more for her YouTube content three years ago right before the pandemic so it came at a perfect time. She grew up watching a lot of animés on Animax like <em>Sailor Moon </em>and <em>Doraemon</em> and totally fell in love with the voice acting, outfits, the design and even with video games. </p><div><br/></div><p> “When I cosplay, I try my best to cosplay somebody I feel like can identify with. Maybe it’s a little cheesy but there are times I want to do it because it’s cute but also there’s a lot of characters that I cosplay as that I feel like I have some connection with them. One of them is who I’m cosplaying now—Killjoy of Valorant. She’s a German engineer. When I’m playing Valorant with my friends, they told me I sound a lot like her. So I started creating skits and lots of videos doing voice impressions of Killjoy and my community really resonated with it and they have even called me the ‘Killjoy <em>ng Pinas</em>,’” she smiles, evidently happy with the experience.</p><div><br/></div><p>“It’s been very fun. I love Killjoy’s personality and I really identify with her because she’s kind of a nerd and alway really hyping up her team and I feel like I’m that kind of a person in my group of friends. It’s nice to see that people like that I can bring her to life,” she happily says, adding that since Killjoy is all about technology and doesn’t have superpowers, she’s the brainy techie girl that she is.</p><div><br/></div><p>Encouraging women to pursue cosplaying is something Aryanna is happy to do.“For me, cosplay used to be an escape but at the same time now it has become a form of self-expression. It’s okay to find yourself in others especially others who inspire you to be a better person and those who make you feel more yourself. I think it’s good to find yourself but if you don’t know who you are, which I don’t think we all do, look for it in those who make you feel better. I want girls to feel empowered when they cosplay and feel more confident,” Aryanna urges.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/a1a349f9-a938-436f-9671-0285e63ec12d_aryanna epperson.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Aryanna Epperson"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Aryanna Epperson as Killjoy of Valorant</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Hippochii</strong></div><p>Hippochii showed up at the event as Agent Neon, the first ever Filipina agent in the game Valorant, and so event visitors were drawn to her and took pictures. She chose to dress up as Agent Neon because she likes agents, champions and characters that are fast. </p><div><br/></div><p>“I’m a Filipino. Here’s the thing in the Philippines, back in the day, light skin color was beautiful to Filipinos. Then I saw Neon, she looks like me, her color is like mine and I felt deeply connected. She also loves <em>turon</em> and banana cue. I heard that the inspiration for Neon is the streets of Manila and I grew up playing in the streets actually. That’s why I love Neon so much. She has this vibe of being hardworking, strong and trying her best to impress her fellow Valorant agents,” she laughs. </p><div><br/></div><p>Hippochii started cosplaying at 16 being inspired by well-known cosplayers like the late Saya.“Basically, it was my escape before and now it’s a career and my life. I’m enjoying it,” she begins.The cosplayer also took the time to encourage women who are contemplating on having fun with cosplaying.“Just do it. If you want it, just do it. If there’s an obstacle but if you really want it, there’s always a way,” she meaningfully says.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/b2f46a1e-f662-4cb1-9d5b-c12fd4555bea_hipochii.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Hippochii"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Hippochii as Agent Neon of Valorant</span></span></span></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

At a recent pop culture, music, and gaming convention, Metro.Style caught with up head-turning female cosplayers who shared their thoughts about cosplaying’s positive impact on them