Hello, we’re back to our Cosplayer Interview Series. Today would be special you want to know why? We’ll get to know one of the biggest cosplayer stars in the Czech Republic. I’m very honored to present to your her cosplay creations/works. Featuring primarily her Overwatch, Diablo3 and Star Wars Cosplay.

Our featured cosplayer has indeed a different level of presentation. I don’t say that others aren’t, however, this particular cosplayer has that huge flare of talent when it comes to her passion which is Cosplay.

Overwatch and Diablo3 Cosplay

Her name is Germia, she has a pile of various cosplay creations. Some of which are characters from Smite, League of Legends, Van Helsing (Movie) and many more. The latest one is Xena The Warrior Princess.

Since my partner and I eventually became a fan/supporter of her. It’s an immense feeling to have her here on the blog.

Thank you again Ms. Germia for letting us know more about you, for sharing your humble beginnings, and your story! We’ll surely continue to support you and looking forward to meeting you one day.

Let’s welcome her! Buckle up and we’ll plunge into Germia’s world!

Star Wars Cosplay

Hi, My name is Germia and I am from the Czech Republic in Central Europe. I am a passionate gamer, crafting and gaming streamer, mainly a cosplayer known for bringing strong female characters to live and European cosplay champion for 2016.

In my short career as a cosplayer, I had a chance to travel around Europe to either compete or judge and host at Cons and events such as Magic Monaco, Dutch Comic Con, MCM London Comic Con, Anniverture Comic Con Bulgaria, Unicon Latvia and many more.

I started making cosplays for about three years now and I made my first cosplay of Vayne from League of Legends as an idea how to promote my gaming team ESuba (I was also a semi-professional CS: GO Player).

It was for me the way how can I repay to my team who took good care of me and it was mainly a big challenge to do a high-quality costume – I like challenges. Even though posting some WIP of unfinished cosplay I had already such a positive feedback from people around and I had so much fun doing it, that I decided to continue making more costumes.

First Convention

I actually went to a convention with my fellow gamer. I was wearing Vayne from Leagues of Legends (LoL) and she was dressed in cosplay of Engineer from TF2 she made. We both were really scared to go since it was kinda weird to dress in costumes like that, but we both met a group of people dressed as characters from the game and had a lot of fun.

I accidentally entered a competition, that I won, so that was kinda surprising for me too. After that convention I was very warmly accepted by other League of Legends (LoL) cosplayers like Ketrin Cosplay (she is one of the best people I know and she is my friend till now )

I can’t tell you that we plan a group costume together right now and since that time I got to know more and more people from community.

Costume/Gear/Props/Armor

I don’t have a costume that is simply just sewn stuff without any armor or props and I do not have any costume that is simply an armor without the sewn stuff. I always try to use as many techniques I can, so I can tell, that all my costumes are sewed in a way (I have about 9-12 now if you want to count original ideas).

I’ve learned a lot since I didn’t have a sewing machine for a long time and for example my biggest sewing project Ravenborn Leblanc was sewn in hand. I make my life harder every time I see some kind of a pattern on a fabric because I’m always trying to do high-quality stuff.

So I make embroidery such as my Paladin cape, Anna Valerious jacket, & Auriel fabric details. But I like to make armor the most, so my costumes are mainly armored. I have so many techniques I use – foam smiting, thermoplastics, and 3D printing.

And I do not have any favorite costume, I like all of them from different reasons. I love my Demon Hunter, cause it is one of the more comfortable costumes, I like my Pharah, cause people love her and I love her character, I love my Paladin for fantasy-medieval style.

Worst Experience

Oh, it is really hard, I had some negative experiences, but nothing major. Maybe I share the experience from Gamescom – it is just about letting a resting cosplayer be for a while and not take pictures of him/her.

It is really hard to be a cosplayer at Gamescom. Just to get inside you have to undertake several kilometers long waiting line. Let your props be explored and taken away from you. Then go to overcrowded space where you can’t even dress up, there are no places to rest or sit down, no benches or chairs.

So you sit down on a floor totally exhausted, take down half of your constricting costume, sweat all over your body and send your helper (if you’re so lucky to have one) to buy you an overpriced drink while you try to gather some will and power to go on. And people come and in that state take pics of you. How ridiculous is that!

Admiration

I actually have some cosplayers I was inspired by, but I do not have any cosplay idol or how it is called. I like going my way and not trying to imitate others. So I have to mention two cosplayers, that inspired me when I was starting and getting more knowledge about cosplay itself.

First one was Chrix Design, she is always making high quality work, she doesn’t hesitate to go over the top (she did Marv from Home Alone, how awesome is that?) but the thing I admire the most is how she can use everyday stuff in her costumes she proves, that you can do quality work even with basic materials and things and I love that concept!

The second cosplayer is Kamui cosplay, I like how she is trying to give back to the community and I think she is one of the few “cosplay stars”, that got famous not because of her body, but because of the work of her and her husband. She proves, that it could be done even without showing a lot of naked bodies.

Definition of Cosplayer

Defining that word is really hard. I have to admit I am not a typical cosplayer. I’m more of a costume maker with love for the characters and a gamer next to it.

I think people cannot tell apart prop/costume maker, cosplayer, costume model and erotic model when speaking about cosplayers. For me, a cosplayer is someone in a costume with a love for the character.

Achievements

The highlight of my “cosplay career” would be the win of Eurocosplay where I represented my country. It was really important not only for me but for the Czech Cosplay Community as a whole because it kinda is (was) the most watched and most important contest for us.

Everyone in the country rooted for me and were very happy for me and I felt, that for one time, out community was really unified. I actually don’t have one clear goal. Till my Eurocosplay success.

It was for me getting to represent my country there. After I achieved it, it was to place until the 10th place.

Now I would love to visit Blizzcon for one time, I would love to compete on ECG and try to visit so many places and conventions around the world.

Piece of Advice

I have to admit it is really hard to give advice to people, who are getting into cosplay because each cosplayer has different motivation why he/she cosplays. I wrote a lot of articles about how to make costumes, what materials to use or how to manage the social site, how to dress properly or how not to lose motivation.

Check out the article that Germia wrote

Maybe what could be a little unexpected for someone who starts is the amount of money put into making costumes. You really have to count on a lot of spending and no or only a little money flowing back.

Open Message

I will be so happy if you join me on my social channels to speak about cosplay and especially about cosplay making or visit me in any event with your work!

Thank you so much for this interview.

I’m sure about a lot of events this year, but so far only a few I can share with you (because of it’s a secret). I will be totally on our biggest Con in CZ Animefest and maybe I will have a panel or compete there. I want to visit Gamescom again, this time better prepared (be prepared too!)

There will be a lot of gaming related local events in Autumn like ForGames in Prague or MČR in Brno.

All my social media have actually the same name just type DATgermia and I will pop up.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, and YouTube.

You can also become one of Germia’s Patrons, visit her Patron Account and admire her exclusive creations!

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Through my costumes, I am trying to portray strong female characters mainly from games. I always concentrated on an honest and good craftsmanship and creative approach to cosplay. I love to work with a lot of different materials and I’m always trying to find a way, how to work more efficiently, be more creative and work with the best/cheap material alternatives or how to use everyday stuff in the costumes. —Germia

Germia

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