Name: Zack – Zack Attack Cosplay

Location: Orlando, FL

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zackattackcosplay/

Photographer(s): Your Mojo by Jojo, PhotosNxs, Papanotzzi, Patrick Sun, Templar Digital, among many others.

What was your first Cosplay experience?

It’s been a while to recall my actual first experience, but I used to just cosplay random around town before I would start attending cons a little more seriously. It was when I worked for GameStop I’d say I had my first actual experience interacting with other cosplayers who came to the shop when we had special events I’d work/attend in costumes I’d throw together for each midnight release. My first experiences weren’t anything really extravagant or crazy lol, just a bunch small events all in my home town at the time. Over time I’d just be pretty humble and fun memories with friends.

How long have you been Cosplaying?

It’s getting at around 11 years now, the past 6 have been more geared towards Cons and Events.

Who or what inspired you to take up Cosplaying?

Too many things honestly lol. When I was a kid, me and my brother would always pretend we were our favorite characters. Comics, Anime, Video Games, Sci-Fi and all things nerdy really have been big parts of my life growing up. They were just filled with amazing characters and stories with beautiful worlds and it just left that imprint in me, where I always thought it’d be fun to one day grow up and be Batman, a Power Rangers, Peter Pan or even a Ninja Turtle. Later on in life when I learned people attended cons in costumes, I saw it as a joke because it was all new and strange to me but I wouldn’t deny my level of curiosity though. So after countless hours, days and years of just watching the community start to grow from the computer screen via forums and the power of Google, lol.

I noticed cosplayers like Yaya Han and BelleChere popping up on searches for cosplays and cons. Their works were just some of many I came across, but to see the level of detail, dedication, and work they put into their pieces blew my mind. It was like seeing some of my favorite characters brought to life through these amazing and talented people. It sparked that fire in me to want to try and do the same myself, granted i’m no where near as amazing some of my friends today lol though I still try. The other half of it also was a learned people who used their costuming hobby as a way to give back to the local communities by attending charity events and arranging hospital visits as these larger than life characters. I just kept on finding more reasons to just wanna always be cosplaying and using it to give back somehow also. I knew at that point this was going to be a thing I would find myself just loving and wanting to keep running with.

If you had to pick a favorite Cosplay you have worn, or have seen someone else wear, what would it be?

That’s a tough question to answer. My newsfeed on Facebook is a daily list of mind blowing costumes friends are always working on and putting together. It’d be tough to say which is really one I could pick as my favorite xP. S’far as my own collection goes, it’s tough. Each suit is like my child. But I could say based what I’ve worn most it comes down to 3: Spider-Man, Peter Pan and Robin (classic Grayson).

If you had unlimited funds and resources, what Cosplay would you create?

I wouldn’t choose one costume lol. If I truly had unlimited funds and resources, I’d find a way to somehow exhaust them creating and having built all the costumes from my childhood dreams and then some lol from things like all the Ninja Turtles through and not limited to a G Gundam Mech suit, lol.

What advice would you offer to those who are aspiring Cosplayers?

BE Yourself, Have fun, make friends, give back, don’t be afraid to push your own limits. It’s literally about all those things too me personally. I don’t let cosplay rule my life either. Real life also has things that require attention. Don’t be afraid to step away when its needed to take care of the important things. Cosplay and Costuming is all about having fun, making new friends and memories. Letting go of the norm and embracing the excitement of becoming a character, building, learning and just really embracing that inner child deep inside all of us and letting them out. We live in tough time with so many things going on out there in the world that aren’t always easy to digest so to say. It’s nice to enjoy the short breaks from it all and embrace each other as a family and put aside all the things that make each passing day tougher than the last.

So, my last piece to that first part of this statement is love one another as best as we can. Get over the drama and silliness of labels. Hate has been finding its way into the community more often these days with this cosplayer having done something better than another or so and so said this about that persons’ costume. End of the day we’re all humans, we make mistakes and let ourselves get caught up in things we tend to forget are meant to be fun and a temp escape from the norm already.

To learn more about Zack Attack Cosplay, check out his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zackattackcosplay/

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