For the Love of Cosplay: Heather Waters of Diablo Sound

We like to think we have a fun and inclusive company culture here at Diablo Sound, which includes a lot of board games and “nerd culture.” We’re very proud of our employees and take a genuine interest in their interests. One employee in particular - Heather Waters - had great success in this year’s San Diego Comic-Con Masquerade, so we had to share her passion for cosplay with you. Enjoy.

How long have you been cosplaying?

For about 3 years officially. I had worn costumes to Cons before ever realizing it was a thing. I think the first costume I ever wore was a bunch of clothes I threw on - with a cloak and lightsabers from Target - and called myself a Sith.

If we count when I first decided to cosplay - after officially finding out it was a thing - then my first costume was a Poison Ivy-inspired 1950s dress that I co-designed with a friend who also made it for me. I didn’t yet know how to sew so I was relying on others to help at first. The first costume I sewed for myself was Kitty Pryde or “ShadowCat” from X-Men.
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Why do you cosplay? That is, what got you into it, and do you do it for yourself, or for others?
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It’s literally socially-approved year round dress up for adults, what’s not to love? But no, really, I have always thought the idea of being able to re-create and dress up as my favorite characters was awesome. I love the craftiness of it. It has helped me build so many new skills sets. I do this as a hobby; I’m not setting out to become a famous Cosplayer or anything. I do it because I enjoy creating something.

Honestly, there have been so many times that I have almost quit due to seeing someone’s (better) version of my costume or hitting a stumbling block on how to make something work. I don’t even know how many unfinished costumes I have at this point. But I keep going, because when I do finish that costume there’s a great feeling of knowing I have accomplished something. Also, it’s pretty awesome walking around a Con and showing off my work.

​Tell me about your cosplay character, Sylvanas Windrunner.

She is a character from World of Warcraft. She is the Queen of Banshees, Leader of the Undead and Warchief to the Horde. She has been one of my favorite characters since I started playing the game years ago.

She has such a great back story and she’s truly a kick ass character. She was killed while protecting her city and then raised from the dead and forced to serve the guy who killed her. She eventually won back her freedom and took all the others that were forced to serve under her wing, created a kingdom for them, and protected them.

I have been wanting to cosplay her for years but up until recently she had a very skimpy costume, because “video game logic.” But they finally updated her costume into a pretty rad concept that I was willing to wear in public.

How did you make your costume? And how on earth did you make that bow?

I used EVA Foam and a product called Worbla. It’s a thermoplastic that was originally created for prop and costume makers in the film industry. It’s a material that can be heated and shaped and when cooled hold its shape. It has become such a widely used product now that there are so many different types of it. I made the bow by 3D printing it. I found the file online and then printed the bow on a friends printer.

Mind telling us the time and cost?

The bow took about 2 weeks and 12 separate parts to print. The costume itself I started back in January of this year. Overall, I put over 100 hours into the costume.

As for cost, I’ll just say: not every costume has to be expensive to be good. A good costume is relative. I have made costumes ranging from $100 to $1000, it really just depends on what you want. There is no cosplay guide book that says if you don’t spend X amount of dollars you can’t make a great costume.

Tell us about the Comic-Con contest. How does it go down?

San Diego Comic-Con’s Masquerade is not only a costume contest but also a show. Each of the contestants basically puts on a skit for the audience instead of just walking out and showing the costume. It helps keep the audience interested and really gives the cosplayers a chance to act/become their character. There are a handful of judges awards, and then there are the “Industry” awards. All the contestants get a chance to meet the judges before the show for “pre-judging” where the judges get to see your costume up close and ask you questions regarding how you built it and such. You’re then given your packet of info and a photo is taken. The industry judges don’t get to see you until the actual show.

Did you win? And if you did, which award?

When I first signed up for the contest, I did so just for the sake of having a deadline for this costume. I knew that this costume was going to be an undertaking and I knew that I needed more of a reason - than just wearing it to the convention - to get it finished. So I never went into this content with the intention of winning. It was more about getting the experience. So to have won one of the judge’s awards for Best Workmanship in the category of Recreation was just a complete surprise. Like, I was legit sitting backstage getting ready to take my costume off when they called my name to come back to the stage.

Do you stay in character while at a convention?

Sort of. Just walking around with friends and other cosplayers, so not really. But the moment someone wants a picture or starts to interact with me as my character…? Definitely. One of my favorite parts about being in costume is when the little kids get really excited and want to take pictures with me.

One of my favorite memories is when I was dressed up in my Warrior Jedi costume and had a little girl come up and ask to take my picture and then tell me that Star Wars was her favorite movie. So I let her hold one of my lightsabers (my character was a duel wielder so I had two) and we had a little mock battle. Afterwards, her parents came up to me and told me I was the first person she wasn’t afraid to walk up to and ask for a photo.

What do your friends and coworkers at Diablo Sound think of your cosplay?

They think it’s pretty “rad,” as one of my coworkers tends to say. They are all really supportive of it. I have had some friends reach out to me asking for halloween costume help since I started doing it.

What’s next? If you could cosplay any character, what would you choose?

Honestly I don’t even know anymore. Sylvanas was kind of high goal. I mean I have a bunch of “I want to do” but I can’t really pick out my next high goal right now. Now on that note, I do already have my next costume for either WonderCon or San Diego decided. And I am in the design phase of it.

Can we ask what it is?

No. (laughs)