The love and unity brought by fandoms is vast and never-ending. I’m happy to introduce a North American cosplayer who puts his fun personality into his cosplays, Jay McDougall.
Please Introduce Yourself to the Readers.
I’m Jay McDougall and my handle is Raging Storm Cosplay. I’m a Canadian cosplayer from the Vancouver, BC area.
What inspired you to start cosplaying? And how long have you been into it?
I first encountered cosplay online about 7 years ago and thought it looked really fun. I got my first thrifted outfit together for my College’s “Nerd Pride Prom” and attended my first convention a few months later with six different characters put together for it. It was such a great experience and I’ve been hooked ever since!
What has been one of the coolest things to come from cosplaying for you?
One of the coolest things has to be travelling internationally to go try and get into the fan pits at Wizarding World (Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts) premieres. I’ve been successful each time so far and have had such a blast meeting and interacting with the cast and creative teams whose work has meant so much to me!
What’s the most important part of cosplay for you?
The whole making process is one of my favourite things about being a cosplayer. Some builds are easier than others, but I really enjoy learning from each one and growing in my craft even though I almost always will make mistakes along the way. There’s always a learning curve with different techniques or new materials, but building up the skills is so rewarding.
The other thing that I’ve got to mention is all the friends I have made through my time as a cosplayer. Without this hobby I probably wouldn’t know many of my close friends today. I’ll always be grateful to cosplay and cons for that.
If you want to see more of Jay’s cosplays and videos, definitely show some love to his Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!
