Interview: Krizelle Uychinco - Cosplayer

I have had the honor of getting a couple emails from the wonderful cosplayers that I have showcased here. Krizelle Uychinco aka Kicks was one that did and was a great pleasure trading emails. She even helped me to get in touch with the person who designed her costume (Leandro Jose Polidario). I will have an interview with him coming up soon as well.

Though she has been out of the cosplay arena for a short while, she was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions.

What is your name, where do you reside and what is your age (optional)?

"My name is Krizelle Uychinco. I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines but have moved to Tokyo, Japan last year to settle down with my awesome fiance and to study the Japanese language. I just turned 28 early this year."

When did you first started to cosplay and why?

"I started way back in...crap, I don't even remember anymore---I think 2001...during an AXN event held in Manila. A friend of mine just threw his ideas to me and a bunch of other common friends to form a King of Fighters team. I had decided to go with King from the KOF game 'coz she was the easiest and most practical costume to wear....which I later on used as my business attire, adding an overcoat to make it look un-costume-like hehe. Why? uhhhh....just for kicks? no really."

Did you design your own clothes or were they done by someone?

"Well, to be honest---I'm not a very 'artistic' person. I can appreciate certain art forms like music, painting and fashion but I can't draw nor even make clothes hehe. All of our costumes' concept designs were thought out by our team, consisting of myself and 4 other good friends of mine, some having majored in fine arts. We also had help from some tailors and fashion designers regarding cloth-based material as we were not familiar in that territory and had taken some advice from them. I'd say about 80% us, 20% others."

What characters have you cosplayed and why?

> King from KOF game - just for kicks
> RX78-2 Gundam Girl - we wanted to do something that has never been done
> Battle Angel Alita - we wanted to go for a slim type of character while everyone at that time were into mecha and bulky costumes
> Honey Candy (Fighting Vipers) - we opted for a character which could have a lot of free movement and wanted to experiment still on armored costumes thus we came up with fighting game characters

What conventions or shows have you cosplay at and have you gotten any awards?

"Oh my goodness, a lot and I don't even remember anymore! Uh...I'm thinking maybe about 5-6 awards...maybe even more...Poli would probably know the full details.....sorry T_T;;;" *

* Well I did some digging and here is some of the awards and publications she was in:

• Was interviewed by Sherry Baet of Culture Crash Comics Magazine for issue 13 which posted on Oct.-Nov. 2003
• At Anime Quest 2001 she won the Phiippine Web Awards as Best Costume in female category with the Gundam Girl Cosplay
• Honey Candy from Fighting Vipers won her First placeof the cosplay competition of 2002 C3Con (Culture Crash Convention December 21-22, 2002 Megatrade Hall 2)

What are you doing now since leaving cosplay for the ‘real’ world?

"I'm currently a part-time project manager for a game localization company based in Tokyo, Japan called Nanica Inc. and a full-time student studying the Japanese language. I have worked for Level Up International, an online game publisher back in Manila, since my college days up until 5 years after I graduated before deciding to move to Japan to settle down with my fiance. I loved video games since I was little, and I'm very happy to be a part of the global game industry in my own little way."

For any aspiring cosplayers a little shy, what words of wisdom do you have for them to get started?

"I think the first would be to observe other people on how they do things, do research, choose your friends in the cosplay field carefully and most importantly...keep yourself focused. I believe that everything in life will be feared less once you go actually through with it, at least once. Also, I believe that experience is really the best teacher. Just make sure that you've prudently calculated the risks involved and have accepted the consequences to come rather than just jumping the gun. xD"

Here are some Additional Photos

RX78-2 Gundam Girl



Battle Angel Alita



Honey Candy (Fighting Vipers)

I want to thank Krizelle for taking the time to answer these crazy questions and to Polidread for the additional photos !

Want to be my next interviewed COSPLAY STAR?
Drop me a line a bluedrakon (at) gmail (dot) com!