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THE JUDGES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COSPLAY LEAGUE PRELIMINARIES AT COMIC CON FINLAND

DUO JUDGES:

FARONI

Cosplay has been Faroni’s interest since 2014 and by now he has judged and competed in
several countries. His brightest achievement yet came just last year in the 2023 Nordic
Cosplay Championship where he won the whole competition and is the reigning Nordic
cosplay champion. In competition cosplay he admires meticulous craftsmanship and creative
choices in materials. He looks for colours and textures that compliment the design of the
costume. Performance wise he wants to see the competitors be clear and show their
creativity with their storytelling and to really give their all on the stage.
Faroni wants to see you all at the competition!

JATEK

Jatek has been cosplaying since 2009. Most notably she’s the 2017 Finnish Cosplay
Championship winner in the pair category and more recently she won the 2013 World
Cosplay Summit Finnish qualifiers, both occasions with Lunatar Cosplay. In cosplay, Jatek
strives for the most uniform proportions, functional solutions, suitable material choices and
precise, uncompromising craftsmanship. However the creative spark has to always come
from an interesting character that makes a lasting impression on her.
Jatek is looking forward to seeing the contestants’ costumes and performances, and she
wishes everyone best of luck in the competition!

LUNATAR

Lunatar has been cosplaying for almost 15 years and is representing Finland in the World
Cosplay Summit in Japan this upcoming summer. In addition to winning the WCS qualifiers
last autumn, she’s a previous winner in the pair category of the 2017 Finnish Cosplay
Championship. For both of these achievements she worked together with Jatek Cosplay. In
costuming, Lunatar pays special attention to material choices, proportions, perfecting small
details and working on wigs. When planning cosplay performances she pays particular
attention to storytelling and really polishing the backing track and video.
Lunatar wishes all contestants a bunch of luck for finishing their costumes and hopes
everyone has a fun competition day!

MAIJA

Maija started cosplaying during her Bachelor’s degree studies in fashion and clothing in
2006. She won her first preliminaries for an international cosplay competition in 2013, a trip
which gained her a EuroCosplay Championships’ honorable mention for craftsmanship and
patterning. It’s no wonder since Maija feels that both of these are exactly what she’s most
proficient in. To date Maija’s highest and brightest achievement is winning the solo category
at the 2017 European Cosplay Gathering.
Maija wishes the contestants have an in

SOLO JUDGES:

HELLU COSPLAY

Hellu has been cosplaying for almost 16 years so far and over time she has gained
experience in different level competitions as a contestant as well as a judge. With a
professional degree in upholstery, her strengths in cosplay lie in working with worblas, foams
and heavier fabrics, and in 2019 she decided to utilize those strengths even more and began
making cosplay props as a light entrepreneur.
Despite cosplaying since late 2008 her cosplay hobby only really started to take off seven
years later after winning the first ever Finnish Cosplay Championship title in 2015. From
there she got to represent her country in The Nordic Cosplay Championships in Sweden
where she won TV audience favourite, and in Cosplay World Masters in Portugal where she
placed 3rd.
Hellu wishes all of the contestants to have a great experience, and remember that from each
contest, be it small and local or big and international, there’s always something new to learn

MerryAllNighter

MerryAllNighter is a cosplayer from Helsinki who’s frequently both competed and judged in
Finland and abroad. She’s represented Finland in World Cosplay Summit and in
EuroCosplay Championship where she actually won the whole competition! She’s also the
reigning Finnish Cosplay Champion, so this summer you can catch her competing in the
Nordic Cosplay Championship in Sweden with the rest of our Finnish team.
She has been active since 2008. Alongside the hobby she has studied design, pattern
design and fashion design in a university and is currently working part time as a graphic
designer. In addition to all this she somehow finds time for photography amongst other
creative hobbies.
The preferred way of crafting for MerryAllNighter is diligently and with plenty of time allowed.
Props and costume parts that require lots of different types of crafting skills are a particular
interest to her. So you could say she’s more than familiar with some sanding and hand
sewing. It’s not all traditional though, she frequently uses techniques like 3D printing and
casting in resin.
MerryAllNighter wants to express how amazing it is that our competitors have so readily
taken on this thrilling new competition format. Let’s make it a huge success together!

Siiricosplay

Siiricosplay has been cosplaying for 12 years. She is a self-taught maker and her expertise
is focused on costumes made predominantly of fabric and a wide range of fabric
manipulation. In costumes, Siiricosplay appreciates neat sewing, good material choices and
generally intentional and well thought out costumes. Her biggest cosplay dream already
came true when she went to represent Finland internationally at EuroCosplay in London!
Siiricosplay thinks it’s awesome to be a judge at Finland’s first ICL -preliminaries and is keen
to see all that the competitors have created.