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| Photo by Ken AD Photography |
You guys up for another Interview for today? I've been anticipating what my wonderful friend Ashley (aka Smash Cosplay) was gonna send me for a little while when I had a plethora of interviews to wait on and gather! So now that I have them, I'm pretty much gonna all knowledge spewing on you guys! Ashley got into cosplay after attending her first anime convention in 2004 and was so interested after seeing people there dressed up! Since that moment, she's been cosplaying for a total of 11 years! It makes sense that with her first con being an anime one, that she cosplayed an anime character first. That honor goes to Sailor V, the alter ego to Sailor Venus before the actual magical girl joined Sailor Moon and the rest of the girls! Among Smash's portfolio include gender-bends like Cyclops and mashups such as Zero Suit Rosalina!
Ashley's geeky beginnings go back to meeting a new friend with a mutual liking to Sailor Moon. Said friend also introduced her to both more anime and Final Fantasy! The rest I guess is pretty much history for her sake! She also goes into detail of her last convention she was at (ColossalCon) in terms of cosplays worn, along with a favorite outfit she's made so far! As custom to my interviews on here, you'll also see info about specific cosplays she's made that I picked out, and getting her opinion on how cosplay as a whole is nowadays!
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| Photo by Photosnxs |
When Ashley is not cosplaying and traveling to conventions, she's a graphic designer by day! This allows her to keep a creative mind active pretty much most of the day. She also goes into detail comparing herself to Sailor V, noting the similarities such as their tendency to get old sayings mixed up in terms of wording! You'll also learn the video games that are on her MUST PLAY list and a lot more! Seems like she's an RPG kind of girl which is already bonus points in my book! Enjoy this interview everyone :).
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What got
you into cosplay and how long have you been doing it?
I went to my first anime convention in
2004 and was SO excited to see people in costumes of their favorite characters.
I just knew I had to try it, so now I’ve been cosplaying for 11 years!
Which
cosplay was the first you ever created?
Sailor Venus J Since Sailor
Moon was the first anime I ever watched, I really wanted to pay tribute to the
beginning.
Thinking back to the last convention
you were at, did you enjoy it?
I was at Colossalcon in June and it was a blast! Every convention should
be at a water park :P
What
cosplay(s) did you bring to this convention?
On Friday I was InuYasha (female swimsuit) and
Tifa (swimsuit). And then on Saturday I was part of the Overwatch group as
Mercy (swimsuit). I made quick, mini wings to go with my Mercy bathing suit,
which I made from scratch.
What
is your favorite cosplay you’ve made so far?
So difficult to choose! It would be between Sailor V because it’s so much
fun to wear or gender-bend Cyclops.
What got you into being a geek?
I met a new friend in Middle School who also
liked Sailor Moon and showed me a bunch of other great anime and introduced me
to the Final Fantasy series.
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| Photo by Photosnxs |
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?
I have a brother who plays Call of Duty religiously (lol), but I would
consider myself the only geek :P
Do you have a favorite media to cosplay
from? Most of your cosplays pretty much cover all the areas!
You’re right! I have so many different interests. I suppose my very
favorite would be to cosplay from video games because I enjoy playing them so
much :P
I really loved your Rosalina/Zero Suit
Samus mash-up! What made you do that specific combination? How was it creating
her bodysuit?
Awww, thank you! I honestly couldn’t decide which character to cosplay
for our Smash Bros group for MagFest and so I googled Rosalina zero suit and
found a mash-up design by ‘lucaspol.deviantart.com’ and knew I wanted to do a
mash-up J
By also looking at your photos, I’m
willing to make a guess that Sailor Venus is one of your favorite characters
from Sailor Moon? What about the character attracts you to her? I imagine
you’re watching Sailor Moon Crystal right?
Sailor Venus is definitely my favorite J I’ve always related to her the most,
especially when I was younger, boy crazy and ambitious. We are both outgoing
and love to play video games, but one of the funniest similarities is that we
both get old sayings/proverbs incorrect all the time, haha. Some of my friends
never let me forget the time I said peanut factory instead of peanut gallery :P
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| Photo by Hannah Alexander Photography |
The Shiny Bunny Vaporeon suit you made
to be a part of Stella’s group was pretty adorable! Was it difficult making
that type of outfit? I’ve heard from other cosplayers that it can be quite
difficult!
Thank you! I felt very fortunate to be a member of such a talented
group. The bunny suit was surprisingly very difficult to make! I can’t tell you how many times I tried it on
while we still had the pins in the panels to make sure the pattern fit right,
haha.
What do you think about cosplay as it
is now hitting the mainstream?
I feel like for the most part, cosplaying being more mainstream has been
really great! I love that you can google anything you don’t know how to
do/create and someone has made a tutorial or video about it. Also, the wig
choices were terrible when I first started and now there are so many great
places to get quality wigs!
Do you have any upcoming cosplays for
this year that you’re able to share?
I’m actually putting together a Viper (from Wolverine, 2013) costume for
Halloween last minute! Haha. I have 2 conventions in November and I plan to
finish my Stargirl (bombshell ver) and Wonder Woman costume.
Do you imagine cosplaying being a part
of your life within the next 5 years and do you hope to evolve your skill set?
I hope so! I still have so many costume ideas that I want to do and I
would love to make an armor cosplay one day. I think those cosplayers are SO
talented J
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| Photo by Photosnxs |
What’s a day in the life of Smash
Cosplay? What made you decide on that name?
My muggle job is a senior graphic designer, so most of my day revolves
around coming up with new ideas and designing user-centered projects. Which I
absolutely love, though I wish I had more time to work on cosplay! #adulting
Smash is actually a nickname I was given while cocktailing in a bar 8 years ago
and it stuck! I actually respond to Smash more than Ashley! haha
Any upcoming game releases you’re
looking forward to?
Omgosh, there are too many! I still need to play “I am Setsuna” but I’m
excited for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake (someday haha), FF15, new Zelda game on
the Nintendo Switch, Lost Ember (an adventure game from the perspective of a
wolf by the Indie company Mooneye Studios), okay I’ll stop cause I could go on
forever haha.
Do you
have a favorite convention?
MagFest and Colossalcon! I love playing games
all day/night at Magfest and Colossalcon has a waterpark and is so laid back
that you spend the whole time hanging out with friends J
What’s
your all time favorite video game?
If I had to pick just one, Final Fantasy
7 J I still
need to cosplay classic-Tifa!
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| Photo by Ken AD Photography |
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