Portugal 🇵🇹

Due to personal reasons, Linny will not be able to attend the ICL finals. Miss Bakemono will be attending instead, but we will keep the original interview in this post.

Sparkle (solo): Hi everyone!! I’m Sparkle, a 24 years old cosmaker and costume designer from Portugal. I’ve been cosplaying for the past 12 years, since I was a child basically. In 2018 I started participating in cosplay competitions, accumulating a total of 5 titles in national contests and representing my country in CWM 2018, ECG 2023 and now in ICL 2024, which I’m very excited about!!! I’m also the co-founder of Cosukai, a team dedicated to organizing events related to pop-culture in Portugal, with the goal of innovating and uniting our cosplay community. I love crime podcasts, writing poetry, solving puzzles, traveling and I’m a bigggg Agatha Christie fan. However my biggest passion is Cosplay for sure, I quite literally grew up in this community, I found who I am today by being every character I ever cosplayed and making sure to leave a little bit of myself in every costume I made

Glin (duo): Hi, I’m Glin! I’m a full time cosmaker passionate about magical and nostalgic cosplays, performing on stage, and everything sewing related! I’ve represented my country before in C4 2022, CWM 2023 and ECG 2022 and 2024.

Linny (duo): And I’m Linny – I’m her friend!

Miss Bakemono (duo): And I’m Bakemono, former helper of Glin and Linny, who now has the amazing opportunity to be involved in this project!

How did you discover cosplay and what made you start in this hobby? How long ago?

Sparkle (solo): I was only 12 years old when I found out, through a friend at the time, that all the animation I used to watch on the TV was actually called Anime and there were people dressing as the characters on events for fun. I got so fascinated and in the same year I tried doing the same with some clothes my mom had at home. I fell in love and the rest is history.

Glin (duo): I discovered cosplay in 2014, through a friend! She basically told me: oh it’s this thing where we make costumes and dress up like our favorite characters; and I immediately fell in love.

Linny (duo): For me it was around the same time, but first I dressed up as a character for a non-cosplay related event – and then I found out what I was doing was cosplay and there were entire conventions full of it.

Miss Bakemono (duo): Curiously, it was also during that time, probably 2013. I started to consume a lot of Japanese Pop Culture and found out about it. One year later, I was entering my first cosplay contest with a genderbend!

What does cosplay mean for you? And what is your favorite part of the hobby?

Sparkle (solo): Cosplay means the world to me… it helped me learn to love myself little by little. I used to be really shy with many body complexes and nowadays I’m probably one of the loudest and more extroverted people out there. Thanks to this community I also found some of the most amazing and supportive friends I could ever ask for and I would be nothing without them. My self-esteem is still a work in progress but by doing cosplay it has improved for sure.

Glin (duo): Cosplay is something that allows me to be creative, motivates me to learn new things and express myself through storytelling… But my favorite part really is the memories I got to create with all my friends!

Linny (duo): Growing up I always liked to experiment with all creative areas and never really stuck with one of them long enough to become really good at it… So I was always just good at many things instead. Cosplay is the epitome of that: it allows me to do a little bit of everything and keep finding more and more creative areas to dip my grubby little hands into.

Miss Bakemono (duo): Besides all the crafting challenges, I like to explore cosplay as a narrative media  using photography, videography, and performance. It’s a way to pay tribute to characters and fictions, and to cross the boundaries between different layers of reality.

What changes do you see in the cosplay community in your country compared to when you started?

Sparkle (solo): A lot has changed throughout the years in the Portuguese community, especially it’s size but a subject that I believe deserves to be mentioned is the increase of opportunities for new cosplayers to get into cosplay. Back in the day it was so difficult to even get your hand on a wig, Aliexpress was still very new and you only had like 1 cosplay store available online, it was almost impossible for a new cosplayer, especially if you were underage, to start cosplaying without other people’s help. Nowadays the variety and easiness of finding what you’re looking for is almost incredible, making cosplay much more accessible and affordable.

Glin (duo): Oh, there’s a lot more of us now, and beginner cosplayers are already SO GOOD! Now there’s all these resources, tutorials, books, and online stores that sell anything you might need for a costume, which is so amazing!

Linny (duo): Yes, for sure the level of the beginners – these kids are incredible already. Being in the cosplay community in the 2010s you had to fight your way through the jungle of ebay to find a terrible shiny wig with half a dozen hairs. It was still incredibly fun though, and I think that’s the one thing that hasn’t changed even with how different the starter experience is – it looks like they are having just as much fun as we did.

Miss Bakemono (duo): More cosplayers, more diversity, more visibility, and much more creativity. Also, recently a few «amateur» platforms/groups focused on helping the community emerged, which speaks a lot about where our heart is.

Why did you choose that project for the ICL national selection? Is this your first time joining an international cosplay competition?

Sparkle (solo): Alice in wonderland has been a big obsession of mine since ever, a lot before I even knew that cosplay existed. I already cosplayed 4 different versions of her and I’m already planning the 5th… definitely not good for my wallet but it’s the price of happiness. When Disney announced the 70th anniversary limited doll edition I knew I needed her. Initially I didn’t plan to use her for ICL but after going two years in a row to Japan Weekend as a visitor I’ve got really interested in participating in the competition and decided to try it out. Not my first international cosplay competition but definitely one I’m very excited to join!!!

Glin & Linny (duo): We chose Lagoona and Draculaura because Glin is very into magical nostalgic cartoons, Linny loves old monster and sci fi horror movies, and we both love the dolls – so it was a perfect recipe! This is Linny’s first time entering an international cosplay competition, which we are so excited about, but Glin already competed a few times and even won 1st place at Cosplay World Masters, the first ever solo win for Portugal.

Miss Bakemono (duo): Not the first time competing in an international contest, but definitely the first time doing it outside of Portugal.

What do you expect from your visit to Spain? Is this your first time visiting the country? 

Sparkle (solo): I’m definitely looking forward to the opportunity of meeting all of the incredible contestants, it’s amazing to create new memories and friendships with people that share the same passion as you. I’ve been traveling to Spain almost once a year since I was a little kid because half of my family is from there, so it’s not my first time, but I’m sure there’s still a lot to see.

Glin (duo): I went to Spain a few times already and I absolutely LOVE the food there, so I’m really excited for that.

Linny (duo): I’ve been to Madrid once to see a show but it was pretty rushed, so my expectations are to meet some nice people and eat the food Glin just mentioned.

Miss Bakemono (duo): I’ve been to Spain quite a few times and it’s always a pleasure to be back! (Food and Estrella included, please)

Have you decided your project for the finals in Madrid? May you give us a clue? 

Sparkle (solo): After 3 months of hesitation and a little bit of panic, I finally decided on my project for the Finals. Funny enough it’s not an Alice but It’s a very nostalgic character for me. The best clue I can give is “White” and I won’t say more.

Glin & Linny (duo): We have, and these are our DREAM characters. We always wanted to cosplay them together since they have a very special meaning for our friendship, so this moment is going to be very important for us. All we can say is that Pink goes good with Green…

Miss Bakemono (duo): Despite the unfortunate circumstances that motivated Linny to step out of this project, I believe she’ll be happy to see its continuity on stage. I’ll do my best to make it worth.

Describe the cosplay community in your country using five words.

Sparkle (solo): I’m awful at summarizing things but if I had to describe the Portuguese cosplay community in five words I would say: Talented, Creative, Approachable, Passionate and Energetic.

Glin & Linny (duo): growing, warm and welcoming.

Miss Bakemono (duo): Talented, temperamental, transforming, nurturing

Link to your Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter (add other social media if relevant):

Sparkle (solo): https://www.instagram.com/pretty.little.sparkle/  https://www.tiktok.com/@pretty.little.sparkle https://twitter.com/PTLittleSparkle

Glin (duo): https://www.instagram.com/glindesignhttps://www.tiktok.com/@glindesignhttps://www.youtube.com/@glindesign

Linny (duo): https://www.instagram.com/linny.px

Miss Bakemono (duo):

https://www.instagram.com/missbakemono 

https://www.youtube.com/@missbakemono

Sparkle, Glin and Linny were selected at Lisboa Games Week.