Featured Cosplayer: WickedM6

Dan is a new cosplayer from Sydney, Australia. We were so impressed not only by his amazing Deadpool costume but his ability to (literally!) hang upside down a la Spider-Man! Check out our interview with him as well as his amazing photos!

Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Dan and I am a 26 year old male who lives in Sydney, Australia. I (currently) cosplay as Spider-Man and Deadpool. I’m a big comic book/video game/horror movie and pop culture geek. I also make and collect props

How long have you been cosplaying for?

I have only been cosplaying for about 10 weeks.

What made you choose Spider-Man as a character to portray?

As a kid who was born in the late 80’s and grew up in the 90’s, I was exposed to (in my opinion) some of the best cartoons this world has seen. Things such as the Spider-Man Animated series and X-Men series made up a good chunk of my memories as a child as I found a love in everything to do with MARVEL.

The Spider-Man suit was actually a commissioned piece that I had custom made for me by Brad McDowell of www.spidey4fun.com. The Spidey suit was actually a gift given to me by my lovely girlfriend as a reward for my hard work in changing my lifestyle to become fit and healthy by losing over 83lbs (38kg). Getting to become a real life Spider-Man both drove me to work harder as well as summed up my efforts in weight loss.

Spider-Man is known by everybody and that’s because he is a character that everybody can connect to. Growing up, Spider-Man was simply my favorite superhero and still to this day is the MARVEL character that I enjoy reading about (in comics) the most. It was a natural decision for me to cosplay as Spidey and one that I’ve never regretted.

Do you make all of your own props and costumes?

Only being new to the world of cosplay, I have many things still to learn. The bases of my costumes and basic suits themselves are not pieces that I have made, as I haven’t learnt to sew just yet.

As mentioned above, the Spidey suit is a commissioned piece that I received in November of 2012. Deadpool was actually created by Justin Costello (a very talented cosplaying friend of mine) who no longer wanted the suit and sold it to me. I have since heavily modified it and added extra detail into parts of the suit along with making all the props and weapons for it myself.

When it comes to prop making, I find myself to be quite creative at making ideas come together in a practical sense. It’s something I really enjoy and always strive to improve in. Pictures of things such as captain America shields, daredevil billy clubs and Deadpool’s weaponry can also be seen on my page.

What made you pick up Deadpool as a character to portray?

I think the easiest answer to this question is that Deadpool is so lovable in character. Even simply googling ‘Deadpool cosplay’ will demonstrate just how popular he is in the cosplay world. He is a hero that everybody wants to be.

My personality and character really connects well with the Deadpool character, it gives me an avenue to be that cheeky cosplayer who likes to create havoc and have some fun. He loves Mexican food, has some really awesome weaponry, knows how to get a job done, he speaks his minds and he wishes Spider-Man was his best friend. What’s not to love about Deadpool?

In a battle between Spider-Man and Deadpool, who do you think would walk away victorious?

This ones tough. Let’s break it down.

Spidey – spidey-sense, super strength, spider agility, experience and super strength
Deadpool – no empathy, healing factor, badass weapons and knowledge in fighting techniques

I would have to say that with enough determination, Spidey could take the win as long as he has full knowledge in Deadpool’s healing ability. With the power to punch holes in brick and steel, he would need to act quickly enough to outsmart Wade Wilson before Wade can stick a grenade in Pete’s Spidey suit.

What was your first convention?

I have been involved in The Sydney Royal Easter Show where I teamed up with Kings Comics to promote cosplay and their store as Spider-Man. It was my first major event and was awesome!

I’m actually yet to attend my first convention this year and I’m super excited!

My schedule is as follows:

Supanova Pop Culture Expo Sydney – June 2013
PAX Melbourne – July 2013
SMASH – August 2013
EB games expo – October 2013
Supanova Pop Culture Expo abrisbane – November 2013

If you could go to any convention in the world, which one would it be?

Definitely San Diego Comic Con and New York Comic Con

You mentioned you are a horror fan; are there any characters in that genre that you’d consider cosplaying?

I’m only 5′ 7″, so I wouldn’t be able to cosplay as anyone like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. I do a little work with special effects make up, so zombies are always a favorite of mine. If I had to pick one standout horror villain, it would have to be Freddy Kruger.

The photos you have on your Facebook are incredible! Can you tell us what went into getting that perfect, classic shot hanging upside down?

Lots of practice. I spent a lot of time hanging upside down and just preparing for the strain it has on the body. After my life long spidey addiction, the pose wasn’t hard to achieve, but holding the position was something I needed to practice and prepare for.

Do you have anything in mind yet for your next cosplay that you can tell us about?

I’m currently working on my first cosplay that I have created completely myself. I’m working on the Tim Drake version of Robin so that I can join some of the very awesome DC cosplayers here. It’s about 50% complete. Updates will be coming soon.

If you could give some advice to someone looking to get into cosplaying, what would it be?

Have fun with it and be confident. We are bringing our favourite anime/comicbook/cartoon/pop culture characters to life and everything about that should be fun. In the end, we are simply dressing up as characters who have affected us in some way. We do it because we love it.

You can find Dan on Facebook and follow his progress at: https://www.facebook.com/Wickedm6
Photos courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/ecks.photography