There’s Nothing Tricksy About This Gollum Cosplay: The Precious, The Precious!
It takes a particularly creepy mindset to pull off a Gollum Cosplay, and CreeepyIMPasta Cosplay is JUST the guy for the task!
The Lord of the Rings series is having a resurgence thanks to the Rings of Power series on Amazon. We aren’t seeing our usual suspects of recognizable villains… But this week we have a Gollum cosplay that will set your Tolkien-loving hearts at ease. This week’s cosplay interview features an artist known for his love of the creepy and unusual. We’re here with an interview with cosplayer CreeepyIMPasta Cosplay!
Gollum is one of the strangest, most iconic pseudo-villains of fantasy lore. Once known as Smeagol, his on-screen depiction by the talented Andy Serkis is something that nobody in our generation will likely forget. His love of character acting resonates with this week’s cosplay interview subject.
The creative mad scientist behind IMCreeepyPasta Cosplay has a deep-rooted love of iconic horror characters. From The Mummy’s Imhotep to Orlok from Nosferatu… From Star Trek’s Grand Moff Tarkin And Snoke… We have seen Gollum cosplay and so many more delightfully dark characters portrayed. We’re here to dive into the man behind the madness with this month’s creature feature cosplay interview! We hope you enjoy the best of these horror cosplays.
Why Do You Cosplay?
I see cosplaying as a form of honoring the artistic abilities of those who created/portrayed/brought to life a certain character. When I decide to dress up and recreate a character that someone has created, I am thanking them for sharing their talents to the world in giving us all that character.
Cosplay also makes me a better person: I have taken skills that I have learned from building costumes and props and applied them to my career and life activities. Just the work ethos alone-the setting goals, pursuits of accuracy-are mindsets that I have applied to my professional life. Cosplay also allows me to set new heights and levels for myself. With an almost infinite number of possibilities for a costume, one can experience whole new events, and places; it challenges me to move beyond my usual realms and comfort levels of my normal, spartan lifestyle, and seek new ways.
Why Do You Choose the Characters You Cosplay?
Most often when selecting cosplay characters, I choose them because there is a physical resemblance. Every morning, I look in the mirror and am reminded why I do cosplays that are creepy lol! Other times, it is because the character is interesting, or because the process of making/creating the costume is appealing. One of my cosplays, Supreme Leader Snoke, is rare in the sense that I love the cosplay but despise the character. Often, the cosplay has never been done before, and lurks somewhere in the Forgotten Shadows of cosplay-which is perfect for my little niche of cosplay characters!
How Did You Get Your Start in Cosplay?
When I first started out, it was because I was interested in the building of outfits. Later on, I became aware of how horrific my sewing skills were, which resulted in all my outfits looking ragged and decrepit and ended up being a positive boon. Then, as I acclimated myself to stage makeup and prosthetics, a friend compared my makeup work to the late, great Lon Chaney and I was reminded of how even though many of his characters were deformed, and hideous, they have many positive qualities.
Now, what with the abilities of 3-D printers, and professional prop makers/molders and so on, the idea of returning to the roots of character creation-where actors did their own makeup back in Poverty Row, lest they starve-intrigued me. Indeed, some of the best and most iconic characters were born out of this time. And of course, with a face like mine, any opportunity to change it even into something creepy is an improvement! Lol!
What Do You Like About Doing Creepy, Cool Cosplays?
In addition to the reasons touched upon above, there is a certain appeal to people that some characters have, even though they might be villainous, monstrous, or malformed. Gollum is a hideous but tragic character. Imhotep gets down to some spooky shenanigans, but really he just wants to live happily ever after with the woman he loves-something I think many could relate to. And still, his malevolence is mostly derived from dictates of the ancient Egyptians’ extremely robust (if seriously lacking in foresight) idea of capital punishment.
Moff Tarkin, as described by Peter Cushing, is “ruthless,” and “monstrous,” and exhibits a charming sophistication and polite gentility due to Princess Leia’s regal status-even if he simultaneously is about to annihilate her home world and order her execution for treason. There definitely is a certain appealing nature to some of these qualities — positive in different circumstances- which makes them compelling and interesting villains, and also fascinating and fun to cosplay.
Also, I have definitely found that there is a niche of cosplay characters that don’t fit in the usual trends, and people will gravitate to my creepy cosplays as a result. Many times, the characters I choose are, if not esoteric, at least overlooked. So many cosplays out there that fall into the major groups: superheroes, anime cosplay, sexy cosplay, whatever is popular on streaming at the time, and even mainline horror (Halloween, or Friday the 13 for example) are so prolific at cons and events that they are more pop culture icons than characters.
What Do You Enjoy About In-Person Cosplay Interactions?
I have found that cosplay patrons like to gravitate to the unusual and bizarre, and if I can make them feel just a bit creeped out and uncomfortable (in a good way), I have done my duty to my cosplay character because that also engages the spectator; because those are the events people remember. The “creeepy” in the name is for the extra “eee!” I hope the cosplay fan has when they see my cosplay. I always like to tell people: creepy cosplay isn’t just cosplay, it’s an experience you have.
~Join us next week for more Cosplay Coverage~
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