Cosplayer Shinku enjoys life balancing her passion and career

Malaysian cosplayer Lynn who is also known by her cosplay name Shinku (真紅), found her passion for cosplay at a very young age.

“I started cosplaying circa 2008-2009 after I saw a cosplay competition ad in a comic magazine bought by my sister and decided to try it.

“I felt it was quite fun, made some friends along the way and continued to cosplay ever since,” she revealed.

According to Lynn who is from Selangor, joining cosplay competitions takes a lot of effort, time and money but it can also be an incredibly rewarding experience.

“The feeling of going on stage to be your favourite character is really so satisfying. I guess this really comes when you are doing things out of passion.”

The cosplayer has over a decade of experience in judging, performance and craftsmanship. She represented Malaysia at Clara Cow’s Cosplay Cup 2017 in Netherlands and World Cosplay Summit 2018 in Japan as Team Valkyrie.

As an application engineer who is currently based in Singapore, she strikes a work-life balance to enjoy her career while finding time and energy for her geeky pastime.

She uses her engineering skills to design amazing costumes which attracts many cosplay fans to her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/shinku.zh/

Shinku_真紅 will be serving as a judge for the Low Budget Cosplay Competition at the Animangaki Online 2021 which starts August 6 – 22.

What is your favourite cosplay you’ve done?
Actually, I love most of my cosplays, though if I have to choose, perhaps 2B from Nier Automata, Houseki no Kuni, Hrist from Valkyrie Profile and Saria from Arknights.

In cosplay, all kinds of funny things happen, which one is the most memorable?
Gosh haha, every single costume has its story though really. Perhaps, one of the most memorable ones was Phosphophyllite from Houseki no Kuni for the WCS tournament.

So, I was using this special fabric spray to create the costume details on my legs and I could not spray the back part of the costume because it has to be done while I’m wearing it since it was a stretchable material. So, I asked my mom to help me spray the back haha.

And we did it in the toilet thinking it could easily be washed off after that but guess what? We were left horrified when the whole toilet turned black with a lot of black fumes flying around.

We had to cover our faces with towels but even after that when we were coughing, there were black powders breathed out from our throats. MAN I FELT SO BAD. So please wear a proper mask before spraying no joke. And I had to wash the toilet after that.

What was your most embarrassing cosplay moment?
Hmm.. I’m not sure if this counts as embarrassing or horrifying, but since we are at it now, I’m finally comfortable to tell the story and have some closure to myself after keeping it for few years.

So basically we were sent to C4 as the first Malaysia team and we touched down in The Netherlands after a long flight. We had multiple props and luggage to manage and finally we got ourselves back in the hotel and rested.

When it was my turn to shower, I realized that one of my luggage was missing, and it was the one with my competition armour. Like 70% of my cosplay was inside the bag. I can’t go on stage without it.

I was so frantic and called the airline multiple times, but it was already late at night. I could not sleep and waited for sunrise. I prayed and made a promise, hoping that somehow I could find it back. I will fulfil what I promised.

With the unexpected hiccups, did lady luck favour you in the end?
I was hoping that lady luck will be on my side when I went on this one last try. Once morning arrived I called again and the airlines claimed that there was no lost luggage, all bags arrived and they can’t really do anything at that point and I was just so devastated.

So in the end I didn’t care about it and just went to the airport with my competition partner Dova to find the luggage. I still remember it was a one way 60 EUR trip haha.

So we went to the counter and asked around, just to be redirected to a few places with no solid answers. Was feeling really defeated and not sure what to do, we went to the original luggage unloading bay just for one last try.

And guess what? The luggage was there, standing beside the conveyor belt, like a single isolated luggage. Hahaha it was such a strange and seemed a bit surreal moment.

So Dova and I ran and hugged my luggage. Haha. Man, it was really a touching and memorable thing that happened that we looked really funny.

Ya and I definitely want to thank Dova for providing the emotional support. And the greatest lesson learned is to mark your luggage with a phone number please.

What important lessons have you learned through your years of cosplay?
Don’t ever be afraid to go for it and do your best. Remember that people come and go. Communication is very very important and don’t assume things without clarification.

Mark your luggage. And I’m really thankful for all the people whom I have met along this journey. Most of them became my real friends, as in out of cosplay, and I won’t be the person I am if it’s not because of them. And a lot of photo editing skills as these are all super handy to get a better result.

As a cosplay competition judge, what do you look for?
This actually depends on the judging criteria and the competition format. As a cosplay judge, my priority is always to check what the organizer is looking for, the format of the competition and also fairness.

Personally, judging format aside, I would focus on few main criteria such as flow and execution, expression, costume detailing and finishing in terms of accuracy, stability and creativity.

You’ll never know what to expect with contestants. So it’s always a fun experience for me. I hope you’ll tune in to watch AniManGaki Online’s Low Budget Cosplay Competition segment where I judge alongside Rilkka Blurhound and Vivid Vision.

Can you share some useful advice that can help first time cosplayers bring their characters to life?
This is a good one. I would say, perhaps ask yourself why do you love cosplay in the first place? Don’t forget about the original intention and follow your passion accordingly. Starting off is definitely hard, especially to muster the courage to do so, but don’t overthink it, really.

Just try it first and if you are very shy or afraid of judgements, perhaps just do a costest in your room first and be happy that you took the first step! A costest in cosplay is testing out a cosplay.

Now it’s very convenient to get cosplay costumes, you can get it from Taobao or secondhand market. Usually they come in complete set.

If you are interested to make costumes or armour, do follow some veteran cosplayers who shared tutorials posted on their social medias. Sometimes you would never think that certain things could be done in a different way.

Also, you may join some cosplay prop making community groups. They are really helpful and you can ask questions whenever you are stuck. Or you can just ask your friends around you.

Cosplay is actually a complex hobby, you need to have multiple skills in order to pull off a look that you’re really good at, such as wig styling, makeup, prop making, tailoring, concept planning and photo editing. You need all these skills in order to execute well, so don’t be sad, or frustrated during your first few tries if things didn’t go well. Take things slowly and enjoy along the way.

What are your future plans?
I’m asking myself this question every day. To be honest I don’t know too haha. But for now, I wasn’t super sure but maybe I will focus on my main job for now and perhaps some side hustle too! Or maybe make another epic cosplay jk, only when the inspiration comes cause I’m old and tired now.

Finally, besides cosplay, what are your other interests?
Hmm.. cosplay has honestly been a huge part of my life. Another interest that I’m currently doing is more casual shoots with different concepts. The good thing about it is you have fewer restrictions and it is really fun to work with people that have the same interest.

I used to love travelling but now since Covid is here for the long haul, I’m cooking more at home haha. I have always wondered if I should do mukbang and food reviews since I’m such a picky eater. Also, I take dancing classes. Hopefully I will be a decent dancer after a few years.