Germany 🇩🇪
Tunaj (solo): Hello! I’m Cindy, also known as Tunaj. I am 35 years old and I have been cosplaying since 2017. This is my first time participating in an international cosplay competition, so I am very excited about this new experience.
Klavier & Yumée (duo): Hi there! We are Klavier and Yumée, two Cosplayers from Germany, cosplaying since 2006 and cosplaying together for over 10 years. We have been the German group representative and runner-up at ECG finals 2022. After becoming runner up in 2019 at the German Cosplay Championships finals (DCM- Deutsche Cosplaymeisterschaft) we are by now also part of the team as judges and photographer. At conventions we love to host workshops and share our experience. We are very excited to join the ICL in Spain!
How did you discover cosplay and what made you start in this hobby? How long ago?
Tunaj (solo): I first got in contact with cosplay back in 2005, when a friend of mine took me to a convention and we also improvised some closet cosplays together. Over 10 years later I started cosplay as my active hobby because my now husband and I visited a convention near our hometown. We saw many cosplayers there and I just wanted to do that myself (again).
Klavier (duo): I discovered cosplay through a magazine I read as a teenager, and probably even before that “cosplayed” as Sailor Moon in first grade for carnival (My grandma even sewed the right gloves for me). That all was ages ago, in November my cosplay career is officially an adult in Germany.
Yumée (duo): In the early ‘00 years Gundam Wing aired on German free TV and soon I fell in love with it. I discovered the most up to date Gundam show of that time and soon after found such pretty costumes (also for the time!) on eBay. So after spending all my allowance on bootleg DVDs of Gundam SEED, the next dream was to own such a pretty costume. But it was way too expensive, so I sewed my very first costume completely by hand as a school project. For Christmas I asked my parents for a sewing machine and the rest is history.
What does cosplay mean for you? And what is your favorite part of the hobby?
Tunaj (solo): Cosplay has become a really important part of my life. I use this hobby and especially the creation process as a counterpart to my everyday job where I’m in front of the computer all day. I love the variety of techniques that I have learned over the years and that I am still learning new things with almost every project. My favourite part of the hobby is also the process, the magic of creating 3D costumes out of 2D references and bringing a character to life. The feeling of wearing a finished cosplay for the first time is the best and I can’t really describe it.
Klavier & Yumée (duo): To us cosplay means portraying a character we love to the best we can, in costume as in play. We also just love to hang out as our favorite characters that nobody at the whole convention might recognize, but if somebody does, the following conversations are awesome! We love to be creative with materials and techniques and always find new ways to challenge ourselves.
Klavier’s favorite part is making wigs, and looking at the pictures when everything is finished, while Yumée’s favorite part is the sewing and pattern construction part.
What changes do you see in the cosplay community in your country compared to when you started?
Tunaj (solo): I have the feeling that the hobby becomes more and more accessible for everyone. I think it’s easier to get started today which brings a lot of new faces to the community. This also makes the community more colourful with a lot of different approaches and interpretations of cosplay.
Klavier & Yumée (duo): The community grew in size and diversity; people start cosplaying way earlier nowadays, since store bought costumes of a decent quality are easily available nowadays. It is now also a hobby that is still present for community members of the age of 30, 40 and far beyond. After the German cosplay championship “DCM” was established in 2007, the competition and craftsmanship culture flourished in our country.
While it was a no-go to purchase a costume when we started out, it is widely accepted today, even in a dedicated contest context, that only focuses on stage play.
It saddens us that the online plattform “Animexx”, a anime/manga online club, that was the go-to place for all things cosplay when we started to attend conventions and dress up as fictional characters, lost its position as the center of the german cosplay community since social media took over. But the association is still very active and hosts some of the biggest Cosplay conventions in our country. It was always great to read what people had to tell about their costumes and the crafting process, but also have all pictures of one costume together in one place. This is something social media could never do, also likes and views were not such a big factor that could break one’s passion to just do a silly little cosplay.
Why did you choose that project for the ICL national selection? Is this your first time joining an international cosplay competition?
Tunaj (solo): Yes, this my first time entering an international cosplay competition and it feels kind of crazy that I am now representing Germany in Spain. I chose Wriothesley because this cosplay shows off my best craftsmanship and combines many different techniques that I have learned since starting the hobby. Plus, this character means so much to me. I have put my everything into making this cosplay, paying attention to every little detail that I could find.
Klavier & Yumée (duo): Choosing Suletta and Miorine from “Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury” was a no-brainer for us. We prefer source material and characters we are passionate about for contests and the Gundam franchise has always been very dear to us. The newest iteration of it took our hearts by storm and we enjoyed every second of it (multiple times). The show didn’t even finish airing its first cour when we decided to cosplay the deuteragonists. Soon after we created a skit to share your love for that story with the world.
What do you expect from your visit to Spain? Is this your first time visiting the country?
Tunaj (solo): This will be my second time in Spain, I have been to Barcelona before. I am really curious to test my knowledge of the Spanish language. I have been learning Spanish for three years back in school, but that was many years ago. In addition, I am looking forward to meeting the other international contestants, experiencing the Spanish cosplay community and just having a great time together.
Klavier & Yumée (duo): We both have been to Spain before for vacation and Yumée will be there this summer for work and is definitely not looking forward to the summer heat. For the hopefully cooler time during JWM, we especially want to enjoy the food, seeing the city of Madrid we haven’t visited before and meeting our Spanish friends in their home country. We can’t wait to hang out with the other contestants and helpers, meet old friends and make new ones!
Have you decided your project for the finals in Madrid? May you give us a clue?
Tunaj (solo): Well, that’s easy. I will bring Wriothesley with me. This cosplay is my absolute favourite. And although the solo category does focus on craftsmanship, I also enjoy acting like him while wearing the costume. Putting on this costume is a true confidence boost for me, and I want to show this on the big stage.
Klavier & Yumée (duo): When we finished our skit for the selection, we both were very sad it was already over. Since we enjoyed it so much and want to improve a few things, we are still not ready to let that concept go. In Madrid we plan to show a more polished version of the skit and hope it will be entertaining and maybe even something to remember for everyone in the audience, even those who don’t know the source material. Maybe even especially those people 😉
Describe the cosplay community in your country using five words.
Tunaj (solo): Friends, creative, versatile, too serious, connected.
Klavier & Yumée (duo): “Wait, you also know >person’s name< ?!”
Link to your Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter (add other social media if relevant):
Tunaj (solo):
https://www.instagram.com/tunajcosplay/
https://www.tiktok.com/@tunajcosplay
Klavier & Yumée (duo):
You can find all our social media (together and separate) in our link tree 🙂
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Tunaj, Klavier and Yumée were selected at aniMUC.
