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Next release: APRIL 12 | 4 PM EDT

The FHQ

AVERA COSPLAY

What city are you based in? 

Fort Myers, Florida 

Tell us a bit about yourself!  

I am a fulltime cosplayer, artist, and maker. I recently left the tech industry to dabble in my workshop full time. I am most well-known for large, detailed armor builds and my wigs. I do a lot of Original Characters and Mashups and tend to gravitate towards video game characters and nostalgic themes. I am married with two kids, 16 and 2, and yes, we cosplay as a family! However, I am really the only one that gets super serious with competing and creating crazy builds.  

What fandoms are you into?

Star Wars, my husband and I met in SWTOR, we were in the same guild… lol. I love WoW and Overwatch, Marvel, the new Suicide Squad, I am a huge Disney freak and I love nostalgic cartoons like She-Ra. 

Can you tell us about your first cosplay?

It was something. I was a store-bought Lolita Cinderella, no wig, hardly any makeup. It was special lol. 

Do you have a cosplay piece that you are most proud of?  

Warhammer Mercy is my most ambitious costume to date. I am proud of all the new things I attacked with it. Tooling leather, sewing, LED’s, vacuum forming, casting molds, in addition to a lot of foam smithing and sculpting. Even the wig took 26 hours. Best part is I am not done, I am upgrading her for the Crown Championships of cosplay US finals in August.  

What do you hope to achieve through cosplay?  

What I was looking for when I started, I already achieved. I wanted a hobby that allowed me to be creative but was a challenge. I also love to perform, and cosplay has given me all those outlets. Not to mention a wonderful community. I guess my new goal is to give back, to help others become better at their craft and reach their goals! 

If you could give any piece of advice to new cosplayers, what would it be?  

Talent has nothing to do with it. Never say “I wish I was that talented”. There are some amazing cosplayers out there, and what they have is skill, anyone can acquire skills. Yes, it takes time and effort, but it’s not impossible. No one is where they want to be yet, and we all started somewhere.