Saskatchewan cosplayer earns trip to national competition in Montreal

A handmade costume that spent months waiting to be finished will now take a Saskatchewan cosplayer to the national stage.

Tingle.Tongle.Cosplay, a Regina-based cosplayer, won the Saskatchewan cosplay qualifier held during Saskatchewan Retro Game Con in Moose Jaw.

The win means Tingle Tangle will travel to Montreal next July to represent Saskatchewan at a national cosplay competition.

“It’s amazing and terrifying at the same time,” she said. “I’ve never done a skit cosplay before, so it was a really new experience, but I’m happy to be representing Saskatchewan and all of my cosplay friends in Montreal.”

A costume years in the making

For the competition, Tingle.Tongle.Cosplay portrayed a Yuke from the video game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

The costume was handmade, but it wasn’t completed all at once.

“I started it in 2023, but put it down for a long time and only picked it up a couple months ago,” she said.

The project incorporated several skills, including sewing and detailed craft work.

Finding time to finish it meant taking advantage of breaks during the workday.

“Everyone at work knows exactly what I’m working on because I bring it to work and work on it on my lunch breaks,” she said.

Despite ultimately winning the qualifier, taking first place wasn’t the reason for entering.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Tingle Tangle said when asked whether winning had been the expectation.

Instead, competitions provide something useful for completing large projects: a deadline.

“My main motivator for entering competitions is to make things. I need a hard deadline, and the competition is a very hard deadline,” Tingle.Tongle.Cosplay said.

From crafting to cosplay

An interest in conventions and creating things eventually led Tingle Tangle into cosplay.

“I was always kind of a little nerdy kid, but I had a lot of friends who were going to conventions and stuff, and I wanted to hang out with them,” she said.

Arts and crafts were already an interest, making costumes a natural addition to attending conventions with friends.

The competition also gave participants time together behind the scenes.

“I went in knowing a lot of the other competitors and knowing how amazingly talented they are and loving all of their costumes,” Tingle.Tongle.Cosplay said. “We just got to hang out in the green room.”

For people interested in trying cosplay but concerned about their skill level, Tingle.Tongle.Cosplay’s advice is simple.

“Just do it. The first step to being kind of good at something is being bad at it.”