Surprise! I've got another Fan Interview with an amazing person that I've had the pleasure of getting to know online through our mutual love of cosplay, video games, how much we love Jessica Nigri etc. Her name is Marianna but you might know her by the online handle of "DemonsWolf" or perhaps by the Instagram fanpage "NigriNation" which is comprised of pictures of Jessica throughout. Hell, I've said to her multiple times that there are some pictures I've never even seen before of Jess and when I ask where she found it, "I just Google her" is pretty much her response. Never realized it was that simple! This interview is going to be a little different if you've noticed the "Part 1" in the heading, this is because I wanted to do a video interview with her like the last one I did with Hanne a few weeks ago!
Marianna has such a busy schedule that it would have been a few weeks until we did one so for now I'm giving you guys several answers that would be ideal for a written interview. There are some that I thought would be best done in person with her (mainly about what cosplay means to her and how Jessica impacted her life) so another interview will happen very soon with the rest of the questions I came up with! With that being said, let's get this underway!
Marianna lives up in Canada and has been familiar with the Cosplay world for several years in fact. It was only a matter of time for her to discover what it was having been brought up on all things geeky by her Mother! She's still surprised she's been going to cons and meeting those who not only know her through her fan page but also inspire her with making cosplays. Speaking of which, just recently Marianna attended Fan Expo Canada this past weekend in a Steampunk Gender-Bend of The Joker from Batman and let me tell you she looks so amazing in it!
With help from her aunt she was able to get it finished in time and the silly faces she makes definitely brings a smile to my face. She can't stay serious even when she's meeting those who mean so much to her, at least that's what Marianna said. With her Aunt constantly teaching her new skills in sewing, Marianna hopes to improve her cosplay skills and definitely doesn't see it going away for a long time.
She's also one hell of a gamer and that having a job at an EB Games store pretty much lets her geek out and get excited for new game releases. Marianna says she's got the longest pre-order list out of any employee at the moment so that's definitely saying something! You'll also get to see what her favorite convention is (or do you?) so I hope you enjoy the questions I came up with for now!
How did you discover cosplay?
Well since
I’ve always followed “geeky” stuff, it was bound to happen one day that I
discovered what cosplay was. When I was a kid I thought people dressing up at
cons were just well… Dressing up! It’s been about 5-6 years that I’ve known
what cosplay went and was and started being a fan of it.
You’ve also started traveling to cons meeting cosplayers that you look up
to and are a big fan of. How is that experience for you?
It’s crazy.
These ladies that I look up to that I’ve always seen in pictures and videos,
are right there in front of me! The first time I always meet a cosplayer is the
time my brain just explodes because I don’t realize that they’re real haha
Which cosplay was the first you ever created?
Well
technically it was Alice from the game Alice Madness Returns. But I don’t
really count it as my first cosplay because all I did was make the dress with
my aunt, buy the tights and that’s it. I didn’t go into fully making the
character. So I tend to say that my Steampunk Genderbend Joker is my first
cosplay because it’s the first one I fully committed to.
What got you into
being a geek?
My mama! My sweet mother raised me as a
geek haha. My mom has always been a geek, and just raised me as one too.
Do you have any
other members of your family who are into what you enjoy? Or are you at present
the only “geek” in the family?
My whole family is geeky. Some family
members are more “stronger” geeks than others, but we’re all just a big geeky
family. And my family is one of the most supportive family ever so what I
enjoy, they enjoy. They freaking love all the cosplay things I do and they love
seeing the pictures from the cons. They’re really great!
Do you have any
upcoming cosplays for the future that you want to make?
Well first I wanna finish my Steampunk
Catherine cosplay, then me and my aunt have started having so many ideas for
different Joker cosplays. I don’t know why, but I just adored cosplaying the
Joker and making it! And with the Joker being my favorite villain, it’s
understandable that I like cosplaying him haha.
Do you imagine
cosplaying being a part of your life within the next 5 years and do you hope to
evolve your skill set?
Yes of course! My aunt is teaching me
different things about sewing and stuff so that maybe later on I’ll be able to
make a cosplay all by myself.
What’s a day in
the life Marianna?
Pathetic haha. Well during school year,
it’s basically that I wake up, post on instagram, get dressed, maybe put makeup
on, go to class, come back home, waste some time on social media, then play
whatever game I’m currently playing until supper time, then I eat while
watching something like Doctor Who, then I game again and go to bed. Super
exciting! But if it was during summer of holiday breaks, it’s the same thing
except that you replace going to school by going to work.
Where did the name
DemonsWolf come from?
Honestly, from nowhere. It’s started
when I wanted to change my Xbox Gamertag because I hated the one I had picked
which was TheBballTomboy because at that time I was in a tomboy phase and loved
basketball. So basically, I wanted to change my gamertag to something awesome.
I took a shower and played with different words, found that the words I loved
the most was with “demon” and “wolf” in them so I just thought “DemonsWolf!” I
loved it a lot so I started using it as my username pretty much everywhere.
Any upcoming game
releases you’re looking forward to?
Dude. Yes. I work at a video game store
so I basically pre order all my games and see all the games that are gonna come
out and stuff, and god, you should see my pre-order list. One of my boss told
me that it’s one of the biggest employee pre-order list he has seen haha. The
one’s I’m most excited for would probably Destiny, Just Dance 2015, Dying
Light, The Evil Within, Halo Master Chief Collection, Hyrule Warriors, Super Smash
Bros Wii U, GTA V on the Xbox one, Dead Island 2, Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition,
Assassin’s Creed Unity and Rogue, Far Cry 4 (that comes out on my birthday
yay!), Sunset Overdrive, and there’s a lot more haha.
Do you have a favorite convention?
I would like to say yes, but I don’t think I could. I’ve only done
3 cons and all of those cons had different reasons for me being there and different
things that happened there, and also I’ve only been to one edition of each con
so far. Montreal Comic Con will always have a place in my heart because it was
the first time I met Jessica Nigri and it’s when she realized who I was and
etc. etc. and it was one of the best days of my life. Ottawa Pop Expo is also
close to my heart since it was my first con where I went to all the days it was
open, and was the second time I met Jess and I interviewed her and she was just
a total sweetheart to me. And now there’s Fan Expo, which is one of the biggest
cons in Canada and it was amazing. It did have a lot of drawbacks, but I loved
my experience. Meeting Arthur Darvill, Dave Bautista, and many more, all saying
they loved my cosplay, it’s amazing! Also the whole experience of people
stopping me to either take a picture of me or with me was freaking amazing!
Some people recognized me and that was so awesome and fun! Plus Fan Expo was 4
days! 4 days of pure awesomeness and amazing memories!
I want to thank Marianna so so much for doing this interview with me and there will be a Part 2 to this in video style. To Marianna: You've been nothing but an amazing friend and so sweet to me in the time we've gotten to know each other and I hope we get to meet one day! If you want to follow her fanpage and other accounts, check out these links :D
