Hi Readers!
It’s time for another cosplay interview, this time we meet Maia Rayn an instagram celebrity! Maia has a strong fanbase on instagram and it’s not hard to see why. Not only is she an awesome person but her cosplays are some of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
Let’s find out some more about Maia Rayn!
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1) How did you get into cosplaying?
Most little girls love playing dressing up, I just never grew out of it! I guess you could say it started out with Halloween being my favorite holiday of the year. I often would come up with 3 or more costumes for different Halloween parties and events. This led to finding a nightclub near my area that had “Goth night” every Monday, and a themed event once a month that encouraged dressing the part. I, of course, greatly looked forward to every single dress up opportunity possible, and became a weekly regular at this venue. Eventually, they offered to train me as a bartender there, to which I rose to the challenge and accepted the opportunity. After a few months of working there, my outfits for such themed events were noticed by management and customers alike, as everyone grew excited to see my next outfit. This inspired me to get better at what was already a hobby, and I thrived in the environment.
My first convention was Anime Central in 2015. I went as a sort of business trip with an alternative clothing company, sporting rave clothing that -sort of- resembled Sonic the Hedgehog. We went as a group that wasn’t necessarily into anime or cosplaying, but the owner thought of it as an opportunity for advertisement. As we walked around, I noticed how excited, happy, and open-minded everyone there was. Everyone was complimenting each others’ outfits and taking pictures with complete strangers. There were no judgemental attitudes or negative feelings whatsoever. I fell in love with the atmosphere. I wanted to be a part of such a wonderful community. I needed this positivity in my life.
The second day of the con, we were winding down for the day, headed back to our hotel room for the night, when a group of strangers asked if we wanted to hang out, and they would supply us alcohol! How could we refuse?? Long story short, one of these strangers and I clicked, chatted the night away, and a year later, we are now planning a marriage.
So, I’m not sure if one specific thing led me to cosplay. The journey of life led me to perfect my hobby. Cosplay continues to improve my life every day.
2) Where do you get your inspiration and ideas to cosplay from? Is it from programs you watch now or childhood programs or both?
I am inspired by many things!
Let me preface this answer: Growing up, I was a pretty sheltered child. I only watched TV shows that were available via antenna, and only was allowed a couple shows per day. I was very much encouraged to use my imagination for fun, which is probably why I have such a passion for cosplay! The original Pokemon tv show was the show that I picked to watch after school every single day. It was my soap opera. When I was able to visit Grandma, I had access to cable tv, so I often watched BOOMERANG, where I grew to love older cartoons. As I grew older, I found my love of Batman through “Batman: The Animated Series”, which became very special to me, even now.
I didn’t even know that the anime genre EXISTED until about mid-highschool!! At that point, it was new to me; therefore, it was weird. Yes, I know, POKEMON IS AN ANIME. Growing up, it was just a different kind of cartoon.
Around 2011, I was encouraged to open my mind to watching anime, and I then found a love for it. The same year, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released… A.K.A. the first video game I played. Consider this my birth into nerdom.
The inspiration of my cosplays come from both my childhood, and current pop culture! My passion is creating a costume, and then feeling great about my creation upon wearing it around the con. When looking to make a new cosplay, I always look to learn something new from it. I learn about the character itself, and also new ways of creating things!! My inspirations are in the process and end result… not necessarily the characters themselves. Although, I still pick characters I love, but picking a character I don’t know much about and then learning about them specifically, is also a big plus. I feel like I get more out of it than just picking characters I’ve known about for a long time.
3) How do you put your outfits together are they 100% from scratch and if so what’s been your trickiest part to date?
My outfits from day one have always been created by me. Whether they’re completely from scratch, or pieced together from other articles of clothing and such. I am definitely not a sewing master!! I am still learning and have a lot more to learn! A big part of making an outfit, I think, is figuring out the best route to creating the picture I have in mind. For example, I started on a project using hot glue to attach pieces to shoes. This method worked perfectly and I was so proud of my “cheat”. Then, I moved onto another article of clothing, thinking I could just use the same tactic. I couldn’t be more wrong. I then had to figure out how to attach the same pieces to stretchy fabric. I ended up pulling an all-nighter to figure things out and try to finish before the con, the next morning. The wait-last-minute-to-finish-your-cosplay-struggle is so real. Seriously. I ended up having my boyfriend follow me around the con with super glue for fixups throughout the day. Lesson learned. The real answer to this question is time management. Figuring out how long it’s going to take to create a costume is still something I struggle with.
4) What’s your favourite cosplay to date?
As I am still a new cosplayer, I don’t have a plethora of cosplays to choose from, but I would have to say my favorite would be my most recent: Poison Ivy. I originally felt like cosplaying her was a cop-out, since SO MANY people cosplay her and other Batman characters. My boyfriend has wanted to cosplay DC Comic’s Lobo for a while, and she was the only character I could make a costume for in two weeks’ time that was semi-related to Lobo, just being another DC character. I already had the wig, so I just needed to piece together her outfit. I had anxiety about this cosplay until the moment I walked into the convention, where I was instantly surrounded by people who loved what I had created.
5) If you’ve cosplayed at a convention what was the experience like?
Well, I feel like I’ve blabbered on in other questions, so I’ve given hints to answer this question. To put it bluntly, I’ve now cosplayed at 4 conventions in about a year’s time. The first being Anime Central (or Acen for short), then Youmacon, Shutocon, and then Acen again just a few weeks ago. The first experience was a bit overwhelming. I mean… you are in a convention center/hotel, absolutely packed with people in costume. There’s camera flashes everywhere you look, and people walking in every direction, trying to make it to their cosplay’s photo shoots on time, some stopped in the middle of the hallway, trying to figure out when the next seminar they want to attend is, and others sitting around anywhere they can find because their feet hurt or they’re too drunk (lol). It’s a lot to take in. Eventually, you realize that every single person who is at this convention has a true passion for this, and is open to friendship to everyone. When you see someone who is cosplaying a character from a show or video game that you are also cosplaying, you now have a special connection to that person. Without saying a word, you know something unique about them. You then jump into a fight scene with this person, or break into song as loud as possible in the middle of the convention, and instead of judgement, others join in, applaud, or scramble to find their cameras.
Cons are literally a giant party, where no one feels left out.
6) Can we expect to see you at any conventions this year?
Con plans are not set in stone, as I have a lot going on right now. Moving out of my current house, getting back to my Twitch channel schedule after I move, working part-time at a Japanese sushi steakhouse, working as an alternative model through Chaos Talent, (a talent agency based out of Detroit, MI), and also freelance modeling, and trying to have a life of my own, away from the spotlight, it’s a plate full of WOH. At this moment, I plan on attending Anime Midwest, especially since it lands directly on my birthday, July 8th! I am also currently looking into a hotel room for Dragon Con, as I feel it is a must, since Atlanta is one of my favorite places in the country. Youmacon is around my home base, so that’s probably going to happen as well. All of my up-and-coming dates will be posted on social media, of course, so everyone can stay in touch!
7) If you could cosplay as anyone and budget wasn’t an issue who would it be?
This is a tough question to answer!!! Honestly, I REALLY want to become a cosplayer who specializes in latex costumes… this is really expensive, since I cannot make my own. As an alternative model, who does a lot of fetish, gothic, and other alternative styled photo shoots, I feel like I just belong in latex. I love how every outfit I have ever seen looks. Almost every cosplay I want to do, I always have the same thought of, “if it was latex, it would be way better.”.
To give a definite answer, I have a deep love for the Evangelion. I think my wish would be to do a cosplay including my boyfriend. I have a vision of me being Rei, her outfit being a full latex pilot suit, true to the anime… valves and all. Where the unlimited budget would come in REALLY handy, is my boyfriend cosplaying as her Eva. No, he obviously couldn’t be the same size as an Eva, but he would need to blow everyone’s minds with his height. I want him to look like a real-life Eva. Another expensive cosplay I want to do is Briareos and Deunan from Appleseed. Is it weird that I want to dress my boyfriend up more than myself? Probably.
Smite characters are in store for us for sure when we do have more “fun money”, as Smite is a part of our everyday life. No exaggeration. No budget would be awesome for this though, just saying!
8) Do you have any words of advice for up and coming cosplayers?
My advice would be to never let anyone bring you down about cosplay. There are people out there who nitpick, judge, or just don’t get it. Cosplay is not about your version being exactly the same as the original character. It’s about showing your love for the character, having fun while making it, and making your own, UNIQUE version. If all cosplays were the same, there would literally be no point to it. Cosplay is about expression and bringing your imagination into a pre-existing character. Tattoos, piercings, body type, race, age, are all accepted, and you really can’t say that about many other things.
Also, plan your trip as you would any big event. Start your cosplays early, and reserve your hotel room as early as possible. No one likes to rush. A wise person once said, “I give very good advice, but I very seldom follow it”. Obviously, I am not great at planning that far ahead, so I am learning this pointer, myself. So. Save yourself the stress. One day I’ll have everything ready to go before the day of. One day…
9) Where can we find you online?
I am on many social media sites, including a facebook fan page, Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch!
Fan Page: www.facebook.com/MaiaRaynModel
Twitter: MaiaRayn
Instagram: Maia_Rayn
Twitch: Twitch.tv/RavenRox5
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There you go readers Maia Rayn! Don’t be shy go say hi and say ‘Skatronixxx sent me!’
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