Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Boundless Perception Podcast. We have our 5th episode of the year and today on the show we have the boundless cosplayer Protege_47. Some of his cosplays include Shikamaru Naru from Naruto along with Overhaul from My Hero Academia. He was featured in Creative Cosplay Magazine and was actually chosen as cosplayer of the month. You have to admit that he has a striking resemblance to Shikamaru! That’s always an added bonus when cosplayers look like their characters.
He is based out of North Philadelphia and actually cosplays out of Delaware now. His cosplay career is funded from his extended career in martial arts. He was a kickboxer from the age of 15 and has won the title of world champion. Although he does not train for tournaments anymore, he still trains other fighters so if martial arts is your thing, stop in. This passion for fighting has actually swayed the characters he cosplays as. It only makes sense that he would naturally be drawn towards characters that enjoy a good fight.
The first convention Protege_47 ever went to was Otakon and he was absolutely blown away by the quality and amount of money people spent on cosplays. Characters such as Commander Shepard and Lucy from Elfen Lied were present and sparked a flame that will never be extinguished. Hopefully, he can make it to some southern conventions this year as I would love to get some pictures of him. Specifically, I really want to get some studio images with his Shikamaru. I’m sure they would look amazing.
While we are on the topic, we both agree that Shikamaru was Naruto’s best friend and was a very underrated character in Naruto. This character’s mentality also greatly resonated with Protege_47 as they both enjoy relaxing and doing things at their own pace. Second, Shikamaru has long hair and Protege_47 has long hair so that was obviously another great reason to cosplay as this character. Shout out to long-haired cosplayers lol! Shockingly enough, this was his relaxed cosplay and turned out to be larger than his main cosplay at the time.
Another awesome cosplay he does that I haven’t seen recreated much is a Redguard from the elder scrolls. If you have seen THIS video then you know just how awesome Redguard cosplays can be. If you haven’t played oblivion or Skyrim than you may not know just how amazing these characters were. Or maybe you just didn’t pay any attention to anything other than doing whatever the hell you wanted and never completed any of the actual story-like me.
Last but not least we discuss a bit of his Blue Spirit cosplay from Avatar. Although he did not construct the mask, he did create all of the armor for this cosplay. There’s an interesting story that goes with how he received the items he needed for this cosplay so give the podcast a listen. The armor was made from EVA foam and sealed with Plasti Dip. He also gave me some encouragement with armor I plan to build this year. Its definitely needed as it will be my first time creating armor!
This was such an awesome interview so definitely give it a listen. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Protege_47 about cosplay and several other points were discussed throughout the episode. I would like to thank him again for taking the time to speak with us as I greatly appreciate it. He has some amazing cosplays coming up including Gearless Joe and Spike Spiegel so stay on the lookout for these cosplays. That’s going to do it for today, to see more Boundless Interviews click HERE! Until next time, stay BOUNDLESS!!!
