Cosplayer Interview: Bethany Maddock
Bethany has been quickly gaining more notoriety since this interview has been done. Not only that but she has also made an incredible Killer Frost cosplay based off the character's Injustice design. Which makes sense since it stems from her love of NetherRealm Studios the makers of Mortal Kombat. For upcoming, Bethany wishes to create a Fem Shepard cosplay from Mass Effect! Enjoy guys!
Bethany is a beautiful and talented cosplayer who’s just all
sorts of awesome. She’s definitely a full-blown geek having a passion for both
comics and gaming. She is quickly gaining a likable fan base and respect for
the tremendous amount of work she puts into her outfit. Most recently known for
her outstanding Lady Scorpion from Mortal Kombat (which is due to her
obsession--- I mean love for the franchise) Bethany has also tackled other
characters such as a feminized Sheik, Juliet Starling, and Catwoman. Having met
her at a convention this year she is also very nice and friendly!
1.
What is your Name?
Bethany
Maddock
2. Where are you from?
Boston,
Massachusetts
3. How long have you been
Cosplaying?
Three
years.
4. What is your Favorite Cosplay
you’ve made so far?
I
absolutely believe that the more experience you have the better work you
produce. With each costume I make, I know I do a little better, so I have to
say my favorite cosplay I’ve made is my gender-bent Scorpion cosplay from
Mortal Kombat since that is the most recent.
5. Are there any upcoming outfits
that you are able to share/tell?
Right
now I am in the process of making Killer Frost from Injustice: Gods Among Us.
For some reason I really gravitate towards things produced by Netherealm
Studios. I’m about 60% finished with it at this point. It will definitely be
done for Boston Comic Con in August.
6. How did you get into Cosplay?
I’ve
always been obsessed with video games. (Comics, and anime too, but I eat,
sleep, and breathe video games) The problem was I never really had any friends
that were as obsessed as I was, until I graduated college and started my career
as a Graphic Designer. I met a coworker (and now very close friend otherwise
known as C. Wish Cosplay Photography) who taught me all about cosplay, and
conventions. I thought I would give it a try, but I never really committed to
going until an unexpected cancellation of my long awaited trip to Japan.
(Earthquake, nuclear meltdown, tsunami…remember that? Happened a week before I
was supposed to go.) So I decided to go to Anime Boston. My first cosplay was
my own design, a feminized version of Sheik from Zelda: Ocarina of Time. People
treated me so well there and loved my costume so much I quickly became obsessed
and wanted to keep creating costumes and keep going to conventions.
7. Who’s your favorite Video Game
Character?
Sheik
will always be my favorite. I can’t even begin to start talking about how much
I love that character, and how much I love Ocarina of Time because I could
probably write a book about it.
8. Who’s your favorite Comic Book
Character?
Catwoman!
I grew up loving her ever since I started watching Batman: The Animated Series.
Again…I could write a book about how much she means to me.
9. What was a memorable con
moment? Worst con moment?
There
are too many good moments! That’s why I keep going to conventions! I meet so
many talented people bringing what I love about video games and comics into
reality. The friendships I’ve made, the things I’ve learned the places I’ve
been able to go. There’s nothing greater than that.
Worst
moment... It wasn’t so much at a convention, but more after a convention.
Someone from a “magazine” (and I quote it here because It wasn’t a very reputable
magazine) asked to get a picture of my friends and I. After he asked for our
email addresses so that he could send us the picture. A very normal situation
for conventions that I’m normally fine with. However after the convention this
person that was supposed to be a professional representing a magazine sent very
unprofessional emails to me multiple times a day for several days until my
awesome heroes for friends took action and got him to stop. It was a very scary
situation for sure and it has definitely made me be more wary of who I can
trust, but the good truly outweighs the bad in the cosplay community, so I
can’t make situations like this bring me down. So I don’t!
OOOH
YEAH! I loooooove PAX East. It’s in Boston (my hometown) and it’s freaking
video games! SO MANY VIDEO GAMES! And so many amazing people that I look up to
travel to Boston for it. I also love Dragon*Con. I can’t wait to go back this
year and meet some of my lovely friends that I haven’t had the opportunity to
hang out with yet!
11. What advice would you offer to
those that want to get into cosplay?
Don’t
get overwhelmed by other people. Do it for yourself. Take it slow. Find as many
tutorials as possible. Google is your friend. AND HAVE FUN!
12. What is your favorite part of
cosplaying as a character?
I
get to bring a fantasy to life! I love taking something that’s conceptual (a
render, an illustration) and making it real. The challenge of that drives me to
keep growing as an artist.
Picture:
 |
| Photo by C. Wish Cosplay Photography |
How
did you make this outfit?
This
is one of the few outfits that I didn’t really make! I had done the classic
Juliet outfit (With the Nick head I might add! I’m very proud of him) before
the game came out. When Grasshopper Manufacture released pictures of Juliet’s
alternate outfits (A few weeks before PAX East) I decided it would be fun to
ask my friends to vote which one I should do. The pink rider suit got chosen,
and I didn’t have very much free time to create it from scratch, so I bought it
off of eBay. When it got delivered, I looked like I was wearing a pink trash
bag on my body. It was so unflattering I had to completely re-shape it and get
to fit better. But that was just altering a pre-made costume not really creating
it from scratch.
How
long did it take to complete this?
Probably
a week and a half? I have a full time job so all my costume making is dedicated
to weekends that I’m free, and weeknights. However, the original Juliet
Starling costume (outfit, Nick head, and chainsaw) took much longer. I started
it in October 2011 and its debut was at Katsucon in February 2012. It was a lot
of fun cosplaying a character from a game that hadn’t been released yet. I just
fell in love with Juliet’s personality in the trailer and she really does look
a lot like me!
 |
| Photo by Anna Fischer |
 |
| Photo by C. Wish Cosplay Photography |
 |
| Photo by C. Wish Cosplay Photography |
 |
| Photo by C. Wish Cosplay Photography |
 |
| Photo by Ashley Badie |
Conclusion:
Hopefully you guys have an idea as to what Bethany hopes to bring to the cosplay community and just how awesome she really is. I want to thank her for taking the time out of her busy life to do this interview! If you want to follow more of Bethany’s work/amazing adventures:
Hopefully you guys have an idea as to what Bethany hopes to bring to the cosplay community and just how awesome she really is. I want to thank her for taking the time out of her busy life to do this interview! If you want to follow more of Bethany’s work/amazing adventures:
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Blmaddock
https://twitter.com/Blmaddock
