Cosplayer Spotlight SlightlyVillainous
We sat down with the talented SlightlyVillainous to discuss their amazing cosplay journey from their cosplay beginnings right down to their rise to Tik Tok fame.
With a love for dance and a knack for theatrical makeup, Slightly Villainous started their cosplay journey around 5 years ago with a Joker cosplay from The Dark Knight.
After many years of studying dance, drama, and film as well as a fascination with makeup it is no surprise when Ash discovered cosplay they were hooked!
For Ash cosplay became a creative outlet and a way to not only improve on their skills but was a way to boost their confidence and bring beloved characters to life.
"Cosplay is a creative outlet for me as well as a huge confidence booster. It is a way for me to bring the characters I love to life, improve on my makeup skills, painting, designing, and acting skills"
As with many of us, cosplay became not only an incredible hobby for Ash but also provided a way to escape the chaos of ongoing citywide lockdowns and connect with the many like-minded friends and fans who helped them stay connected even while apart.
Greatly inspired by fellow Tik Toker Mythicalitycosplay and their Jacksepticeye cosplay, Tik Tok became a huge part of Ash's cosplay adventures and enabled the talented cosplayer to meet and connect with millions of friends and fans globally!
"One cosplayer who inspired me to cosplay Markiplier and a few of his egos includes Mythicalitycosplay. I saw their Jacksepticeye cosplay on my for you page on Tiktok a while back and thought it was flawless. I duetted a few videos as Mark and we have become good friends since!"
Tik Tok enabled Ash to combine their two passions, cosplay, and dance.
"Combining dance and cosplay is combining two of my passions. One of my best friends and I did a lot of dancing in cosplay before the pandemic hit and I thoroughly enjoyed it."
Since joining the Tik Tok platform Ash has skyrocketed to success. So much so the now verified cosplayer amassed over 3.4 Million followers on the popular social media app.
Most popular for their cosplays in the Five Night at Freddy's, their incredible attention to detail and engaging tik toks, Slightly Villainous became a staple name in many fandom communities all while cosplaying characters they love such as William Afton, Aizawa and many more.
"William Afton from Five Nights At Freddy’s is definitely the core of my account now and I have had so much fun designing him and making my own version of the character. He is a horrible person but a very fascinating villain. His cannon design is a bunch of purple pixels so I have designed my own version of him, his personality and his backstory. So I have had a lot of creative freedom with that character. I also thoroughly enjoy cosplaying Loki as I love releasing some inner chaotic energy!"
Throughout their cosplay journey on Tik Tok Ash noted many pivotal moments in their career but has attributed most of the success to the incredible love and support of the Five Night At Freddy's fandom.
"My cosplay experiences really changed when I started cosplaying from FNAF which was around the time lockdowns started. I had just reached 1million on Tiktok and was feeling a bit unsure of where I should take my cosplay direction even after that amazing milestone. So I brought back a cosplay I had done once previously which was William Afton/ Purple Guy and it was very successful. The FNAF community was amazingly supportive of my content and helped me reach an amazing 3 Million recently. This community knows the franchise very well so I strive to be as accurate as I can while bringing as many characters from it to life for my followers to enjoy, like the entire Afton Family which was a new but important edition to my cosplay journey."
Through incredible passion and a love for their craft Slightly Villainous has become a Tik Tok sensation that brings not only an attention to detail and a sense of joy to the community but has become an inspiration for the next generation of cosplayers. It is to these cosplayers they noted.
"Don’t be afraid to fail! So many people are so concerned about failing it stops them from taking a chance here and there. The more you fail the more meaningful your successes will be! Every misstep means more valuable knowledge so it’s never a waste of time. I am proud to say I’m self taught with my makeup skills and wig styling even though I have a lot of improving to do."