The finnish cosplay champions 2015

Helena Alajärvi, known in the cosplay scene simply as Hellu, won the first Finnish Cosplay solo Championship in 2015. She won the competition with a Dragonborn (Dragonscale armor) costume which was back then her first large scale armor cosplay. Despite the stiff materials it still allowed her a surprisingly good range of movement and since then she has even ridden a horse while wearing it for a photoshoot.

The day of the competition was eventful, so much so that the judges commended Hellu’s “nerves of steel.” She'd had the costume on all day and when she took the stage she wasn't aware that her wig had come loose. “At the end of my performance I fell to the floor as planned and suddenly my wig fell completely off my head! There was nothing I could do but lay still until the end of my video track.

Standing at the award ceremony she wasn't expecting a win and kept trying to figure out who would, based on the runner-ups and the judges’ comments. After the reveal, the months of work and the long day caught up with her and she was overwhelmed by emotion. The title remains important to her even though nowadays the handcrafts and the problem-solving aspects of cosplay have become the main reason for her to cosplay.

To the future Finnish Cosplay Champions Hellu has some important advice: “Enjoy this achievement and stop to take a moment to breathe! Have a positive attitude towards the opportunities the championship brings but also brace yourself.”

Photo: Timo Virtanen

Päivi and Satu, also known as team UruharaFC, were the very first Finnish Cosplay Champions of the group category in 2015. We asked them to look back and share their thoughts about their victory:

The Finnish Cosplay Championships of 2015 are a piece of Finnish cosplay history. It still feels very special that we got to take part in the first ever championship and especially one that was televised and live broadcasted to the entire nation by Finnish television. All the teams were very good, and we remember standing in front of the cameras on the stage feeling anxious to hear the results.

We competed as Metal Fight Beyblade characters Kyoya Tategami (Päivi) and Nile (Satu). We’ve had many Beyblade costumes over the years because it’s such a dear anime to us. 10 years later, Kyoya and Nile are still our favourite team cosplay. If we had to compete on a short notice, we would still choose them and tell the same story with a new performance. We hope that cosplayers will keep on choosing characters and costumes that they find personally meaningful.

The Finnish Cosplay Championships have developed tremendously over the past 10 years. Including cosplay photography and cosplay music videos was a great improvement, and it shows that there are many ways to approach cosplay ambitiously.

To pair cosplayers, Päivi and Satu suggest that if you find someone who you work well with, keep on going together as a team!

Photo: Nyymix