We know for a fact that cosplay is something people do all around the world, but in reality how much support do we really give to our local cosplayers?
This segment is all about that, so let’s shine some light on these wonderful Puerto Rican cosplayers! First of all, let’s know some of the basics shall we?
Cosplay is the act of someone dressing up and acting as a certain character from any book, anime, movie, comic or TV series of all sort, you name it!
The first cosplayer we’ll interview is known for his amazing prop creations and wonderful talent in the Puerto Rican cosplay community, so we sat down to interview Shawn Feliciano who is known on IG as ‘yourfinalboss’ (go check him out; I suggest it)—I gave him a rundown about the questions and he happily agreed to answer them:
HCUPR: What got you into cosplay?
Shawn Feliciano: I got into cosplay ‘cause I was going through tough times at a point in my life, and I joined some friends at a Con to distract myself and, realizing how much fun a lot of people were having, I decided to try it out.
HCUPR: Since when have you been cosplaying?
SF: Honestly, I don’t remember; I believe four years. Time flies fast”
HCUPR: What are your major inspirations?
SF: My biggest inspirations are the people I make happy by doing what I love. I love inspiring them and making them feel like anything and everything is possible as long as you set your mind down the right path. I’m always trying to set a positive image in this community and be myself at the same time. This is how it should be with everyone.
HCUPR: Did you ever think about doing something else than cosplaying?
SF: Well cosplaying is a hobby, so yeah, I think about other things like other hobbies such as body fitness and video editing.
HCUPR: Did you have a major goal before you got into cosplay?
SF: Well my goal was just to travel the world as much as I could, and I’ve been to a lot of places like California, Nevada, Japan, Philadelphia and others, and I’m not planning on stopping anytime soon cause life’s short and there’s so much to appreciate in it.
HCUPR: Anything special you’d like to say about yourself?
SF: About myself? Well, I’m super positive, and I always respect opinions because it brings peace to one another. It’s something really basic, but it’s obviously something 77% of people don’t put into practice. I don’t give up on things I want to chase and be better at. Every day of my life I reflect on being better than who I was yesterday; it’s all about mind, body, and soul.
HCUPR: How do you deal with the critics?
SF: With critics, I basically take into consideration constructive criticisms. When it comes to bashing and hate towards me, I genuinely don’t care nor put much thought to it, and for a long time, people used to send me hate-filled messages to great extents for no reason—I didn’t know them nor did anything wrong. I saw how pointless it all was to even approach their behavior, so I just humor it.
HCUPR: What’s your favorite cosplay you’ve done so far?
SF: My favorite cosplay so far? That’s a tough one; it’ll have to be between Dante from Devil May Cry 3 or Genos from One punch man. Dante has been a childhood hero for me, always so badass and keeping it full of chill humor which I can relate to as to how I am as a person, and Genos is just a serious teenage cyborg that kicks ass all the time, so why would anyone like that?
HCUPR: Any advice for cosplayers in their journey?
SF: My advice to other cosplayers would be to just be yourself as long as you aren’t hurting others and to respect one another. This is all about fun and meeting others that love the same things you do, and it should always be that way to set good examples for one another since this community is huge.
IG: @yourfinalboss