PopCon: for cosplay competition judge Sumi, it’s all in the details

Sumi Cosplay, who will be doing double duty as a judge of the Dubai event’s cosplay competition, will also make a trip to the capital to take part in Ani:Me’s World Cosplay Summit.

Sumi as Snow White. Courtesy PopCon

Fans of comic books and Japanese anime are spoilt for choice this weekend, with PopCon bringing stars of both page and screen to Dubai Outlet Mall, while Ani:Me takes over du Forum in the capital.

One fan who won’t be agonising over which event to attend is local cosplay celebrity Sumi Cosplay, who will be doing double duty as a judge of the Dubai event’s cosplay competition, and making the trip to the capital to take part in Ani:Me’s World Cosplay Summit.

Sumi is keeping her cards close to her chest about her costume plans for the Abu Dhabi competition, but she shared some tips for how competitors in Dubai might impress her in her capacity as a judge.

“I’m a little bit picky,” she says. “I want to see the person who will win make their own costume – that’s really important to me. It’s not fair to the other cosplayers who’ve worked hard to make their own costumes if you just buy one.

“I also want to see the costume look as near as possible to the character, and I want to see players put as much effort into their face and hair as they do the costume itself. I want everything 100 per cent perfect – I can’t go with 98 per cent.

“And most important I don’t want to see costumes that aren’t cleanly crafted. I don’t want to see glue. The cleaner the costume, the more you can see how much effort has been made.”

Sumi might sound like a hard taskmaster but she has earned that right as one of the regional scene’s leading figures since it began to take off with the first Middle East Film and Comic Con five years ago.

She acknowledges that the regional cosplay scene is still in its infancy, but is confident it will continue to grow.

“There was nothing in the Middle East till Comic Con came along, and I was amazed to discover there were other cosplayers from Bahrain, Saudi and all around the region,” she says. “Cosplay has only been around here for five years but it’s growing. There are far more events – now two in one weekend – and I’m really proud to have won events at Comic Con and to be getting known all around the region.”