The interview with Twisted Sisters Cosplay was conducted at MCM London Comic Con, in the Excel Centre, on 27 October 2017. Along with the interview with Ju Tsukino, this was one of the longest interviews I had done, lasting over an hour. It was a pleasure to work on and Twisted Sisters Cosplay have since become good friends. It was originally published on MyM Buzz on 12 December 2017.

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“Larissa is the sort of person that can’t go out the house now without perfect eyebrows,” says Natasha Payton of her younger sister, Larissa, who is doing a make-up course.

“I went out the other day without my eyebrows done, thank you very much,” responds Larissa, adding how studying make-up has become useful when cosplaying. “When I come to cosplay I’m like, ‘YES!’ I get to do something creative.”

Natasha and Larissa make up the cosplay duo Twisted Sisters Cosplay. From Worcestershire, they both attended MCM London Comic Con in October 2013 and were “blown away.” So much so that they decided to cosplay at MCM Birmingham Comic Con the following month. “It was just fun,” said Natasha of the experience and cosplaying for the first time. “Talking to all the other people, we were like, ‘No we’re going to do this properly, we’re going to learn the skills.’ It worked out quite well.”

After some persuasion, they took part in the Cosplay Masquerade at MCM Birmingham Comic Con in November 2014, cosplaying from Alice: Madness Returns, and won a judge’s award. They have since cosplayed from League of Legends, The Walking Dead and Fable Legends, the latter seeing them win a judge’s award at MCM Birmingham’s Cosplay Masquerade in November 2015.

2017 saw them take part and win in the Cosplay Masquerade at Insomnia61, both cosplaying Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite; and the Cosplay Showcase at EGX, Natasha cosplaying Link and Larissa cosplaying Queen Rutela from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. “It’s one that I look at and I can see how much I’ve grown with it,” said Natasha of cosplaying Link. “I learnt so many new skills with it.”

Our interview was conducted on the Friday of MCM London Comic Con, with Natasha cosplaying as Morticia Addams from The Addams Family and Larissa cosplaying as Lily Munster from The Munsters. During the weekend they also cosplayed Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley (in their Quidditch uniform), and Tina and Queenie Goldstein from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, participating in photoshoots with photographer Papercube. “I do like the interaction between them,” said Papercube of the duo. “When I was shooting one of them, the other would often come over and adjust something on the costume, give advice on the character’s pose or just generally taunt the other.”

The interview lasted longer than expected, as questions on one topic often diverged onto something else entirely. We discussed cosplay competitions, working on each other’s cosplays, budgeting and how they became closer playing Fable. In the time spent with them, Natasha and Larissa were both courteous, funny, humble and definitely twisted.

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Who are you cosplaying this weekend?
Natasha: So today we are Morticia Addams and Lily Munster. Then we’re doing Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley in their Quidditch outfits for Saturday. Then Sunday we’re doing Tina and Queenie Goldstein from Fantastic Beasts. Yeah… massive Harry Potter fans (laughs).

How did you get into cosplay?
Natasha: I accidentally discovered that conventions were over here because I worked for a company that had a stall here one year. They said, “We’re going down to Comic Con.”
I was like, “Can I come?”
They said, “Yeah, we got free tickets.” So they gave me tickets. Then they said, “If you’ve got any friends that want the other ones…”
So I brought Larissa and my best friend Antony. This was October 2013, the first one that we attended for just one day, and we were blown away. I nearly cried when I saw a No-Face cosplayer and he gave me a gold coin.
Larissa: She was working, but I was able to go around. I kept walking past her and saying, “I’ve seen this, this and this.”
And she’d be like, “Just go away.”
Natasha: [At the end of] the day, all three of us were like, “We’re coming back next year, but we’re doing this properly.” So we decided to do a bit of research and we discovered there was going to be one in Birmingham.
Our friend Antony decided, “Oh, I know, we’ll go in costume.”
We were like, “What?” So we made really rushed costumes with help from our mum, in like a week.

So this would be your first cosplay?
Natasha: I did the original Alice outfit in the game [Alice: Madness Returns].
Larissa: I did a full steampunk outfit which we got.
Natasha: We decided we could do this better. So the following year, that was when we decided we would do the different outfits [from the game], the better outfits.
Larissa: I think we just fell in love with making it. When we see other people in costume, we’d ask them, “How did you make this?”
Natasha: That’s it. Every single time we come to a convention we find out a new skill to try. Someone will tell us something, and we’ll be like, “I’m going to try that.” I think that’s why I like it so much. I’m the person in our family that has all the power tools.
Larissa: Mainly because she has more money than me (laughs).
Natasha: I just love making props and things. So every single time that someone tells me they’ve tried this material, or they’ve tried this effect, I’m like, “Okay, our next [cosplay], I’m going to try that.” And Larissa’s sewing is just getting better. I think that is why we’re doing bigger costumes, and more costumes – it’s because her sewing has got incredible.
Larissa: (Surprised) Oh… thank you (laughs). I’ll take that!

The first time I saw you was when you won a judge’s award at the Cosplay Masquerade at MCM Birmingham back in November 2014; Larissa cosplaying The Hattress, and Natasha cosplaying Late But Lucky variations from Alice: Madness Returns.
Natasha: Was it Late But Lucky?
Larissa: Yeah.
Natasha: See, I even forgot that. Seriously, it’s so long ago.

I understand you attended the convention, but it was only after a bit of persuasion from another cosplayer/photographer that you actually decided to take part in the Cosplay Masquerade.
Larissa: (Laughs) Yes.
Natasha: Which funnily enough is how we seem to do every single masquerade. We never plan to do them.

So back in 2014, that’s true?
Larissa: Yeah, it’s true, because we weren’t going to.
Natasha: We got caught by J-Po in the hallway and she was like, “Are you taking this in? No… you need to! Seriously, go up. They’ll tell you how to do it.” Larissa had to talk me into it quite a lot.
Larissa: I said, “Come on then, it’s a bit of fun. You’ve never done one before.”
Natasha: We always go and watch them because we’re always so impressed with them.
Larissa: I’m like, “What’s the worst thing that’ll happen? We fall over and it’s on camera.” (Laughs)
Natasha: (Stares at Larissa) YOU DID NOT SAY THAT TO ME! I would not have gone on stage if you did!
Larissa: That’s what I was thinking.
Natasha: I think it was the fact that they said you don’t have to do a skit. You just have to go up and do a few little poses.
Larissa: If it was a skit straight away, I would be like (shakes head).
Natasha: No, no, no (laughs). That’s too much effort.

That was the first time you took part in a Cosplay Masquerade. How was that experience for you?
Natasha: I… found it very terrifying. But then the fact that we did well, it was like a sense of achievement for me. It was weird. We weren’t expecting it at all because there were such good costumes there.
Larissa: I loved it, because I was so nervous beforehand, but the adrenaline rush you get on stage…
Natasha: She definitely got a high, because then it was, “We should do that again.” And I was like… (shakes head).
Larissa: Now, every time we do another one I get really nervous beforehand… and then adrenaline, and I’m like (raises hands and makes fists), “Let’s do it again!”
Natasha: I think that’s probably why we don’t ever plan to do them, because I’m the sort of person that just has to be told, “We’re doing it. Go on now.”
Larissa: So that’s my job.
Natasha: What I really liked as well was the staff at the cosplay desk, they are so nice to you and they knew how nervous we were because it was our first one. The other cosplayers as well, even though you’re competing against them, everyone has a chat, everyone has a laugh about it, everyone supports everyone.
Larissa: We’ve made so many friends.
Natasha: We’re a little bit concerned, because everyone keeps telling us we should enter this one, [or] we should enter that.
Larissa: We’re thinking of actually planning something and going into one.
Natasha: Which means we’ll do awfully, because we only seem to do well if we [don’t plan] (laughs).

So you’ll end up breaking the streak?
Natasha: Yeah, that’s it. We can’t ever do one properly that’s competitive.

This year you took part and went on to win the Cosplay Masquerade at Insomina61, cosplaying Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite. And you won the Cosplay Showcase at EGX cosplaying Link with Zora Armour and Queen Rutela from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. What are the chances you’ll be taking part in more cosplay contests?
Larissa: (Waves finger at Natasha) We’re going to. There, she’s been told.
Natasha: The people at EGX were like, “Why are you not doing this?”
Larissa: (Laughs) We got told off!
Natasha: They were like, “No, no, no. You need to do it next year.” So because we’ve won tickets to go back that might be a good chance for us to plan something. We’ve come up with a few little ideas, but it’s just having time. The problem is Larissa is currently in her last year of university, so it’s going to be difficult for her next year.
Larissa: I also have a habit of going, “Cosplay is more important than uni, right?”
Natasha: We need her to pass her course.
Larissa: So I have these guys going, “Larissa, have you done your uni work?” Whilst I’m on the sewing machine, I’m like, “Yeah, of course I have!” (Laughs)
Natasha: I’m not sure if we’re ever going to get to the confidence level of doing the massive… (hesitates) I don’t know. She wants to.
Larissa: That’s the dream. I’m hoping my sewing level will get to that stage.
Natasha: It is improving with every single costume. I just feel like I’m relying on her completely (leans into Larissa).
Larissa: But then I’m a perfectionist. If I’m doing something, Natasha will be like, “That’s great.” And I’m like, “No. That hem’s wrong.”
Natasha: Oh my God, yeah. This morning she wanted to take all of her make-up off and start again.
Larissa: Yeah.
Natasha: Four o’clock in the morning.

So you’re very hard on yourself?
Larissa: Yeah, I am really hard on my own work.

And not because someone has pointed out a mistake.
Natasha: No, she’s the same with everything in her life. She wants everything to be absolutely perfect. I’m a bit more like, “That’s my interpretation of the character.”
Whereas she’s like, “No, that’s not [right]. We need it to look exactly spot on.” That’s why her costume right now is completely spot on and mine is just like an amalgamation of all the Morticia’s that I have seen.
Larissa: You wanted black and white from the first Morticia, and then you wanted drag style from the coloured version. So you’re going for-? (Motions hands back and forth).
Natasha: With this costume (points to herself), I’ve wanted to do it for years. But for Larissa, it was learning the skill set.
Larissa: Because I have that thing where I’m like, “It has to be perfect.” I’m not doing it until I’m confident enough to do it to a point where I’ll be happy with it. I don’t want to be looking at it throughout the day going (shakes head).
Natasha: Our mum is always telling us, “These are fictional characters.” If it’s in a game, she’s like, “Those physics do not work. They wouldn’t work in real life, so you need to make it work in the real world.” Our mum does keep us very level-headed. Like she… well, I blame her for us being like this to be honest. She’s a massive sci-fi fan, so she had us watching stuff quite early.
Larissa: She always goes, “How did I get you two?” And we’re like…
Natasha and Larissa: “Mum, you made us!”
Larissa: “Mum, you’re a sci-fi fan yourself. You started it.” (Laughs)
Natasha: So she’s helped us and taught Larissa a lot about sewing. Now Larissa has taken over.
Larissa: Now I’m helping mum! I’m like, “This is weird!”
Natasha: So it’s been a bit of a family affair. I will say that it took a while for our parents to understand it. They still laugh at us. But I think winning the masquerade really helped, because then our mum started to realise that we were good at it and that actually this is a massive thing. Now she can tell people about it and shows pictures to people.

How do you decide which characters you will cosplay as a duo?
Natasha: Lots of discussions. We have a Pinterest board and anything we like the look of we’ll pin it to that.
Larissa: Both of us have access, so we just pin anything we like…
Natasha: …and then if the other person goes, “Yeah that would be interesting, we should do that…”
Larissa: …it moves to either our ‘small ideas’ or our ‘big ideas’ folders. Small ideas, which is, “This is going to be easy to carry,” and our big ideas, which is “This is going to be painful, this is going to be hard to travel in, this is going to take forever.” (Laughs)
Natasha: But normally one of us, we’ll just suddenly go, “This is the character I want to do.”
Larissa: Yeah, one of us has to have the balls to go, “This is what we’re doing, I’ve started it, this is it. So you better do that one.”

And the other sister just has to tag along?
Natasha: Thing is we’ve added it, so we’ve kind of agreed anyway. I will voice my opinion straight away if she puts something stupid up there and say, “NO! That is never happening.”
Larissa: I put Baymax [from Big Hero 6] up and she was like, “No!” (Laughs)
Natasha: She wants me to go around as Baymax for the day, which would be cute.
Larissa: He’s so cute.
Natasha: But I just can’t imagine walking around in one of those big suits all day.
Larissa: (Mouths “fine”)

Most people work on their own cosplays, but I understand you help each other to the point where you work on each other’s cosplays?
Natasha: Oh yeah! Because we’ve got different skill sets.
Larissa: But it’s also time. The ones we’ve done recently, we didn’t have much time. I was like, “You’re quicker with props. You do all the props. Give me your sewing, I’m just going to blast it all out.”
Natasha: I think it’s definitely easier when you’ve got two people. Because if someone’s having a bad day, the other one can kind of pick them up. A lot of people that are pairs are friends and they always seem to fall out. You can’t fall out with somebody who you’re related to.
Larissa: You have to get on (laughs).
Natasha: So, even if we’re annoyed with each other, we still have to carry on doing the costume.
Larissa: It’s like, “Fine, I’ll finish that sewing for you.”
Natasha: Because I’ve recently moved out, it’s easier for me to take the prop items, like the power tools and paints. And it’s easier for Larissa to keep the sewing machine.

If you’re not together, then how does that work?
Natasha: Well I still live in the same town. I’m only a ten-minute drive away. I’m still always over there. Because we got so into this our parents gave us a room that’s called ‘The Cosplay Room’, where we store all of our cosplay stuff.
Larissa: That room’s great.
Natasha: So most of the stuff is still there. We’ll take the stuff we need.
Larissa: We’re always on the phone with each other.
Natasha: We talk every day anyway.
Larissa: The number of times I’d be like, “Natasha, I need you to try this outfit on.” Even though you’ve moved out now, it’s worked pretty well.
Natasha: Social media, having WhatsApp, we can send photos to each other. Even if we’re annoyed with each other, we still have to do it.
Larissa: It makes us talk to each other.

You did mention that your mother often helps you out with your cosplays. Did she help out with the cosplays you’re wearing this weekend?
Larissa: No! She changed from helping us sew to being an emotional support. Making sure that if I’m crying over something that I’ve just ruined, she’s there like (overly sweet voice), “It’s fine. All you’ve got to do is unstitch it and do it again.” She keeps me calm. I can’t remember the last one she helped us with now.
Natasha: It’s been a while now. There will be a few things where if we’re struggling with something she’ll help us figure it out. But now, she doesn’t touch them really.

Does that make you feel better about yourself and your progress?
Natasha: Yeah!
Larissa: I think mum appreciates it.
Natasha: Yeah, she appreciates it a lot, because she’s a very busy woman.
Larissa: It’s kind of like she’s taught us what we need to do, and now she’s gone (extends arms forward), “Go!”
Natasha: “Fly away!” Our dad just laughs at us every so often (laughs). And we have got another sister, but she doesn’t cosplay.
Larissa: She thinks we’re a bit weird.
Natasha: She thinks we’re very weird.
Larissa: (Laughs)
Natasha: But she still does appreciate [what we’re doing] and says we look good.
Larissa: She shows her friends what we do, but she won’t do it herself (laughs).
Natasha: We would love her to do it.
Larissa: She would be good.

So that’s actually crossed your mind, where you’ve thought, “If we could get a third person?”
Natasha: Hocus Pocus.
Larissa: We want to do [the Sanderson Sisters from] Hocus Pocus. We’re like, “We need a third one. Come on Colette! We need you!”
Natasha: But she would make the most ideal Alice as well. We could do three Alices.
Larissa: Maybe one day we can convince her.
Natasha: One day.
Larissa: Maybe we can bribe her with something.

Well, this will go out and she’ll read it.
Natasha: We hope she will read it. Colette, we want you to cosplay with us (laughs)!
Larissa: We need to do Hocus Pocus!

Do you budget with your cosplays?
Larissa: (Nervous laugh) We should (laughs).
Natasha: I’m going to have to start doing it, because now I’m paying bills in my own place and I’ve got a mortgage to pay.
Larissa: (Puts on deep voice) I have a student loan that I shouldn’t spend on cosplay, but I do.
Natasha: Yes.
Larissa: My uni course is so important to me. It is… yeah (looks around).
Natasha: At the moment we are in a very fortunate position. We have parents that support us really well.
Larissa: We’ve been very lucky.
Natasha: I can understand when people do have to budget.

With Larissa describing herself as a perfectionist, does this result in wanting to keep spending till satisfied?
Larissa: I have this problem where I’ll go fabric shopping. And I’m like, “That’s expensive, but it looks amazing compared to this one.” Also when something goes wrong, I’ll redo it.
Natasha: Whereas I will always say, “Can we salvage it? Can we do it another way?” She will be like, “No, I want to redo it completely because I know what I did wrong, so I want to try again.”
Larissa: I think that is it. I work out how I should have done it, but I have started… I… I was good this time around.
Natasha: But that’s because you bought MORE material!
Larissa: The one I’m wearing, I bought calico, which is a much cheaper fabric and did a mock-up first. So I can make the template, do all my mistakes on that and then [work] on the fabric. I saved a lot of time and a lot of money that way. (Proud) So I’ve already started budgeting myself! There we go!
Natasha: I think we’re not very good at understanding how much of something we will need. Well, I’m not. With the props, I always buy too little and then go, “Oh, I’ve made this prop too big now. I need more.” And Worbla is expensive, so I’m trying to avoid [using] Worbla at the moment. Expanding foam is just as expensive if you use ten cans of it.

Because different cosplays have different aspects, and I’ve noticed that you have been working into the early hours of the morning on most of them.
Natasha and Larissa: (Laughs)

You were trying Worbla for the first time when cosplaying from Fable Legends, and making a corset for the first time for Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite. Is there a particular cosplay, or a particular process, that you’ve found the most challenging?
Natasha: (Pauses) Every single time when I make a costume, I wonder why I’m doing this to myself. So at the time, I feel that every one is the most challenging I’ve ever done. Certain things that you think are going to be simple turn out to be ridiculously hard. I thought making the brooms that we’re using tomorrow would be the simplest process ever.

So you didn’t buy brooms, you decided to make brooms?
Natasha: Oh yeah. I’ve made full-scale massive pieces. I never do anything easy.

Biggest challenge?
Larissa: I’m going through them now.
Natasha: It’s mainly being in the right headspace. If you’re not in the right headspace, you can’t concentrate on something. So I think the biggest challenge for me is actually time management. The ones I found the most stressful have been the ones where I’m working late at work, then I’m having to come home and do bits and I haven’t given myself enough time. We never give each other enough time.
Larissa: (Nods head in agreement)
Natasha: This time has been awful because I moved house in the middle of it all. So (pauses) yeah, I think they’re all challenging (laughs). I don’t know why I do this anymore (laughs).
Larissa: I blank it from my memory every time, so that’s why I do it again. I blank the trauma.
Natasha: If I look back on it, I think Soraka [from League of Legends] was our biggest challenge because we had not worked with much of the materials. It was completely new to us on that one. So we were learning as we were making it. The pieces we made at the start were different to the pieces we made at the end. But we weren’t as stressed with Soraka as we’ve been with other ones. We enjoyed the process of that one a bit more. Glory and Winter [from Fable Legends] we had a lot of guidance from our mum.
Larissa: Guidance, yeah. But Soraka, we got none. That’s the first one we did completely on our own.
Natasha: I think Glory and Winter, I had the most pressure on me for that one. Because there were no other cosplayers that had done it before.

Well the game itself wasn’t out at that time.
Natasha: Once we started posting about it, I didn’t realise that [the Fable] community was as big as it was at that point either.
Larissa: A community that wanted to see it.
Natasha: So I think I put a lot of pressure on myself for that one.

You’ve both described how the Fable games were “a huge reason” that you both ended up becoming closer as teenagers. So much so, you decided to cosplay Glory and Winter from Fable Legends as soon as the artwork was revealed. Why was this so important to you?
Larissa: Well I had the Xbox, and Fable was only released on the Xbox. So it always meant my sister would have to be in my room.
Natasha: Because I’m the PlayStation user and she’s the Xbox user. I had to actively go into my sister’s room and go, “I want to play Fable.”
Larissa: I didn’t have the best set-up in my room and there was nothing for Natasha to lean on. So I would have to put my legs up (uses arms to demonstrate legs going up), so she could lean on my legs whilst I’m on my laptop (imitates using a laptop), lying down on my bed (leans back).
Natasha: (Laughs) And I’d be leaning on her legs.
Larissa: This is how we bonded. But yeah, we just love Fable.
Natasha: Fable was one of the earliest ones where you saw different things because of the choices you made. We like playing games where we can talk [to each other]. Even though Fable was only a single-player game, because we were in the same room together we could talk about it as we were going along. It means a lot to us.
Larissa: We just both love games.
Natasha: We watch the same films, we’re practically the same person.
Larissa: Just, you’re taller.
Natasha: Yeah.
Larissa: And older.
Natasha: Oi, don’t bring up the older one!
Larissa: (Laughs)

You got to meet Ross Dearsley at MCM London, who worked on Fable Legends designing some of the heroic characters. What did he make of your cosplay of Glory and Winter?
Larissa: He told me a few things.
Natasha: Yes, we did get to find out some very interesting juicy bits about the game, that never then actually happened.
Larissa: He worked on Winter. He told me all these things about what was going to come and I was like (pretends to cry), “I’m going to be able to play that!” And then I never got to see it.
Natasha: The people from Lionhead, they were so lovely. I still talk to a few of them over social media that are working on new games and supporting them if they’ve got Kickstarter. They were so passionate about the game and what they were producing.

Even I saw that they were passionate that you two were cosplaying characters from the game.
Natasha: A lot of them were just really happy that people liked these characters so early on.
Larissa: I think it would be amazing to design a character, having it in a computer for so long, and then going (uses hands to shape a body), “Oh, it’s here, in 3D.” I think that would be amazing.
Natasha: They were just so supportive. I can’t say enough. They are some of the nicest people ever.
Larissa: They supported us all the way through making it as well. It wasn’t just the final piece, they would see the little bits that we were doing.
Natasha: We were meant to go and meet them.
Larissa: We were going to go down to the studio.
Natasha: It never happened.
Larissa: I’m just gutted that the game didn’t come out.
Natasha: They produced something that was so new and so good.
Larissa: The beta was amazing. Seeing it from where it was when it finally got… cancelled, just seeing it develop as you play…
Natasha: And they were really taking on what people wanted as well.
Larissa: Yeah, they took the feedback, which was great.
Natasha: For me, Fable has always been about the characters. They do produce such amazing female characters as well. And Glory and Winter…
Larissa: They were just so sassy, great and funny.
Natasha: They were so interesting, they had good backstories.
Larissa: Fable is hilarious. I think that’s what makes it. The comedy in it is one of a kind.
Natasha: But as soon as I saw Glory and Winter, that was it. I was like, “Larissa, we need to do these characters.”

I can’t think of any other situation where someone has cosplayed characters from a game that was eventually cancelled.
Larissa: Even though it got cancelled, I’m so glad we did it.
Natasha: Oh yeah. I would still wear it.
Larissa: Yeah, because it keeps it alive.
Natasha: People didn’t know who we were cosplaying, so they’d come and ask us. That was nice as well. Because [we’d say], “Oh, it’s an upcoming game.” I had a lot of people, Disney princesses, asking me if I’d done a medieval version of Snow White. And Larissa had a few people thinking she was from Skyrim.
Larissa: I can see that.
Natasha: We can still wear them.
Larissa: I would happily wear it again. I loved that outfit. It was the first one I put lights in as well.
Natasha: Oh yeah, her and her lights. Everything, it’s, “Can we put lights in it?”

Larissa, I understand that you’re a make-up artist.
Larissa: Yes.

You’ve applied that skill to your cosplays, and even Natasha’s cosplays.
Natasha: (Nods)

What was it that interested you in becoming a make-up artist?
Larissa: Make-up goes back to the first time I watched the behind the scenes features on Lord of the Rings. I actually remember watching them make the orcs. I was like, “Oh my God, I want to be able to do this.” Lord of the Rings is still one of my favourite films. The dream is to be able to work in film. Doing make-up a lot has really helped cosplay-wise.
Natasha: I have said that she should have done a costume and make-up course. Because she could have used the costumes we’ve made.
Larissa: (Laughs) Yeah, I do get told, “Why aren’t you on a costume course?” I’m like, (angry) “Because I’m doing make-up.” It has come in handy. I love it. I enjoy doing make-up. I think about how many times I go to a photoshoot and [I’m told], “I want this person to be pretty.” Or, “I want this person to have a smokey eye.” I’m like, “Give me something more creative.” Cosplay means I get to be a bit more creative.

It allows you to be more experimental?
Larissa: Yes. Actually last year [on my course] we got to do airbrushing, and it was great that I got to get a gun out and go “Heh-heh (imitates spraying with an airbrush gun), I’ve already done this!” Of course, then they furthered my skills, but I was a bit ahead.

Natasha, you’ve mentioned how cosplay meetings with Larissa always end the same. It’s with “too many ideas and not enough time or money.” So, what has been the one cosplay idea that would be the ultimate dream to do as a duo?
Natasha: We do have one that we have wanted to do for a long time, but we didn’t think we had the skill set. We are considering doing it now, and that is Big Sister and Little Sister from BioShock. Also, it would involve me not being able to walk around properly all weekend.
Larissa: Unfortunately, I can’t be Big Sister, unless I’m on stilts.

Yeah, that wouldn’t make sense.
Natasha: She’s the cutesy one.
Larissa: I’m just cuter than you.
Natasha: I might as well do Big Daddy.
Larissa: (Laughs) We’ve been wanting to do it for years.
Natasha: It is on our list to do. We just really struggle with travelling. If we were going to bring it to an event like this, I don’t think you can bring something like that on the train.

I’ve seen it. People have brought Big Sister here at MCM.
Natasha: I don’t know how people do it. I know a few people that have done Big Daddy. They bring their vans with them, and it just comes out the van and… that’s the dream.
Larissa: I’m going to get someone to drive us and you’re just going to sit in the back in your Big Sister outfit.
Natasha: (Laughs)
Larissa: And I’m just going to push you out when we get here.
Natasha: There are a few comedy ones we would like to try.
Larissa: We’re starting to think about doing skits.
Natasha: I don’t know if we’re very funny. I’m hoping that our humour would translate. We might find it absolutely hilarious, but when we take it to a convention people would be like, “That’s not funny.”
Larissa: We find each other funny when other people don’t.
Natasha: That’s when you just throw yourself off the stage and make people laugh that way. A lot of people say that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I hope we don’t anyway. I think that would be when I know we need to stop.
Larissa: The moment when we start taking it seriously…
Natasha: …and we start falling out, I think that would be the stage when we go, “Okay, enough.”
Larissa: As soon as coming here doesn’t become fun, I’d be like, “No.”
Natasha: That’s what we’ve always said. So long as we’re still having fun.
Larissa: We’ll be here.
Natasha: We’ll do it. I absolutely love talking to people at these conventions. I get my social fix for the year at MCM.
Larissa: (Laughs) I just love the community. I love it all. Every single thing.
Natasha: It’s mainly meeting people, becoming friends with them and meeting up with them at every event we go to now. It just makes you feel like you’re a part of something, part of a community. That’s why we cosplay, full stop. Apart from the fact that I always say I hate… her. Every time we do any costume, “I hate you. I hate you for making me do this.”
Larissa: She says that a lot to me.

The phrases I have seen on social media, which I won’t go into here.
Natasha: (Laughs)
Larissa: “I hate you,” kind of just goes over me now.
Natasha: Then we start working out whose fault it is that we do this.
Larissa: It always comes back to, “Natasha, you know you gave me that free ticket when you worked here?” It’s your fault.
Natasha: Yeah, my fault. But then we can go back and say it was Antony’s fault for making us dress up for the first time.
Larissa: Or we can just go all the way back and blame mum.
Natasha: For having us.
Larissa: Yeah.
Natasha: (Laughs)

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Thank you to Natasha and Larissa for taking time out for this interview. You can follow their progress on Instagram and Facebook.

Thank you to Papercube for the photos. You can check out his work on his Facebook page.

Interview by Shalimar Sahota.