Alien Xenomorph excited for CAGE Cosplay competition

Standard reactions when Remario Sebastian Thomas crawls into a room are pregnant pauses or squeals and screams. Known as the Jamaican ‘King of Cosplay’, the 29-year-old computer technician will whip his spiky, scary tail and leak ‘acid spit’ while dressed as his latest costume, Alien Xenomorph (Mortal Kombat). Thomas will be one of many participants at tomorrow’s Cosplay Animation Gaming and ESport (CAGE) Exhibition – a collaboration between Anime Nerds of Jamaica and Electronic Sports Jamaica – with the mandate to unify three elements of millennial entertainment: cosplay, animation, and gaming.

Cosplayers dress up to replicate a variety of characters from anime, video games, comic books, and movies and are often determined to make their costumes true to form. Unsurprisingly, pulling off the perfect look isn’t easy.

“A lot of work goes into making these costumes because you have to source all of the materials, and it’s not very easy to get them in Jamaica. It’s not like overseas, where cosplay is a regular thing and you can go into any thrift or costume store to get the material,” Thomas told The Gleaner.

CAGE’s event organiser, Tianna Powell, highlighted the general lack of resources that hinders some cosplayers. “For example, EVA foam is used for accessories like shields, armour, and other props, but it’s not sold in Jamaica. If we have one store that has it, they sell it for an arm and a leg. There are certain types of glue and heat guns that we used to mold the foam – they are hard to find. It’s a big issue for us,” she said. As president of Anime Nerds of Jamaica, Powell is entrenched in the cosplaying community. Being at the helm of an expanding, local subculture requires a strong backbone because another issue cosplayers have to overcome is stigma.

PART OF HERITAGE

Powell recalled that once, while cosplaying, she was called ‘duppy’ and another teammate was called a witch. “People think if something is not of Jamaica, then it’s ‘follow fashion’. But cosplayers don’t really care anymore. Their skin has thickened because they know it’s their passion and a way of expressing their interest.” She further asserted that cosplaying already exists and is celebrated in Jamaica on a regular basis. “They don’t realise that they cosplay, too. At carnival, they dress up like Tainos, Junkanoo. During heritage and Jamaica Day, they dress up like Maroons ... . That’s cosplay.”

Thomas has done well for himself in the small, but growing, ­community. Scorpion, Alien Xenomorph, and Smoke from Mortal Kombat; Dante from Dante’s Inferno; Kylo Ren from Star Wars; and Jinx from League of Legends are just some of his creations. “My first competition was in 2013 when I cosplayed Scorpion (Mortal Kombat). After that, it’s just been cosplay after cosplay – some simple ones, some advanced. I’ve been doing this stuff since I was seven,” he said.

He was one of those kids who used to pull his toys apart. He remembers having a Lego set with a helicopter. He pulled apart his remote-control car, removed the motor and transplanted it to the aerial to make the propeller spin automatically.

Thomas’ Alien costume is quite advanced, with hidden gadgets built from materials like wooden popsicle sticks for the ‘deadly’, retractable spikes and a mechanism built into the helmet to leak water or cornstarch – mimicking the character’s acid spit.

Alien took him about two months to complete. Smoke, complete with a built-in smoke machine, took three months. “Next year, I’m going to try [and] build one of my greatest pieces,” he teased.

Thomas is particularly excited that people call him the king. But his work isn’t just for glory. It’s for fun, for the opportunity to bring a character to life, and sometimes for a little extra cash. Thomas has been commissioned to build entire costumes and props for cosplay events throughout the year. “This is something I would want to do for my career. You have a lot of famous cosplayers overseas, like in the Philippines and the US. It’s been a dream to go overseas and compete with some of the big names,” he said. In the meantime, Thomas and Powell will continue to play their roles in encouraging more interest and growth to the animation community.

“You have some people who are so deep into it they’ll wear their cosplay to work – and they don’t care if anyone thinks it’s weird. Weird is fun, and it’s good to not be boxed in. If anything, I want to be a triangle in a boxed society,” Powell said.

CAGE takes place at the auditorium of the University of Technology, Jamaica, on Saturday, August 31 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Activities include a video game tournament and cosplay competitions for kids and adults. For this weekend’s event, organisers anticipate over 500 patrons.

kimberley.small@gleanerjm.com