Cosplay Arabia - December 2018

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Cosplay Arabia
MARWA
ALARADI
Character: D.Va Back Cat | Overwatch
Text: Zeeshan Asghar
The other half of the
Aradi sisters duo –
Marwa is a 21 year old gamer
& anime fan who stumbled
upon cosplaying when she
attended Animania with her
family back in 2010.
She recalls wondering
what was stopping her from
cosplaying, just like any other
fangirl her age, who admired
other cosplayers at the
event. She began cosplaying
consistently 4 years ago and
hasn’t stopped since. Marwa
is also a senior IT computer
Science student at University
of Bahrain.
Her early cosplays were
simple and appropriate for
a beginner who was new
to styling her own wigs
and props. While she hasn’t
particularly cross played
(gender switched characters),
she finds boy wigs
interesting, they seem “cool
and different” which gives a
nice twist when she feels like
mixing things up.
What’s essential for a
cosplayer to get right ? Well
Marwa feels a cosplayer
should be instantly
recognizable by the audience.
“If you have to explain who
you are then you haven’t
done the job” she says.
Her motivating factor to
continue cosplaying are
recognition, acknowledgment
and appreciation from the
attendees. While some
aspects of your cosplay
cannot be made locally due
to time or material shortage,
Marwa believes the most
attention is gathered when
you put in all the effort by
yourself and as such she tries
preparing everything.
Another aspect of cosplaying
important to her is that the
costume should be Hijabi
Friendly (not tight, not short
and generally decent). She has
played Ahri, Black Cat d.va &
Game Master (original).