Of all the great people we meet at the San Diego Comic Con, David was one of the more interesting people that we ran into. Of course, the meeting wouldn’t have happened without the great cosplay, so after noticing him in some DragonCon pictures we caught up with him for an exclusive 8-Bit Cubist interview.

Mr Benja: Hey, David. I haven’t seen you since your appearance as Ryu and Chun-Li at the San Diego Comic Con this year. What’s been going on?
David: You know the usual. Doing my best to stay awesome.

I respect that. So speaking of awesome, at DragonCon, you and your girlfriend showed up as Killer Instinct characters Jago and Orchid. People don’t see too much KI cosplay, so what made you choose those characters?
Killer Instinct has always been one of my favorite games and it has gotten lost over time. I wanted to bring it back and remind the people the badassness it brings. Hopefully overtime people will remember how great it was and bring it back mainstream. If you can make nine Mortal Kombats and twelve King of Fighters, why not a third KI?

So tell us about your first time…doing cosplay. How’d you get started?
Halloween use to be my favorite time of year. Girls would find excuses to wear little clothes as possible also people gave out candy. But mainly the girls. But back in 2007 me and my buddy dressed up as Turbo and Ozone for a Halloween Party and it was a major hit. After that I made it a point every year to try and dress up as something most people are not. So then I planned to be Rufio from Hook for the next year. I made my bamboo battle suit and was ready for the next halloween. But then I hear about Dragoncon in Atlanta. I took my Rufio armor for a test run and it was a huge hit. No one had seen a Rufio before! I met the most interesting people and had more fun in that single Dragoncon than all Halloweens put together. After that I was hooked into cosplay.

You’ve probably seen some bad cosplay in your time. Any memorable ones?
I try not to remember those. But one I see every year is Slave Leia. But the ones I see are the ones that look like Jabba the Hutt ate Leia and put on her outfit.

So what’s the secret to good cosplay? I mean, you want to be memorable without any wardrobe malfunctions, right?
I try to be unique when it comes to mine. I think about what most people haven’t seen before or if its a common one I make huge alterations. For Instance Mario and Yoshi. Well we added karts to ours. Also we made Mario a Hot Chick. Also when it comes to my cosplay, I do my best to incorporate my girlfriend. Nothing beats having a babe next to you. If anything she is usually the main attraction and I am the side kick.

Was cosplay always a team thing for you?
Its always been team for me. Two is better than one. Also, no one wants to see a dude dressed up. It’s all about the woman : )

Is there anything that you’ve thought about and then said, “Nah…that’s taking it too far.”

Hah. Yea, I have to remember that these pics may come back to bite me in the ass. So no crazy duct tape costumes for us.

What’s one of your crazier experiences you’ve gotten into while doing cosplay. I know cons can get pretty wild.
Lets just say there is a stairwell I will remember forever…

Wow. So are there any cosplay swingers? I saw a Naruto couple talking to a Final Fantasy couple once and it got me thinking.
Swinging is a great idea in general. Add some cosplay into it I dont see why not.

Hmmm…I need to break out my costume. You ever get with a furry? They always seem frisky.
Do Pokemon count?

LOL. Pika! Pika! Okay, so you’re obviously into video games. Which ones really had an impact on you?
Street Fighter 2 and Golden Eye 64 They are both responsible to my passion for fighting games and FPS.

Oh hell yeah. That’s What’s next?
Time to Take over the world.

Any last words of wisdom for the cosplayers and con-goers out there?
“Take me to bed or lose me forever”

Ha. Thanks for your time, David. See you at the next con.
Thank you!

Mr Benja.