Sexy Halloween is not a job for normal people. But professional cosplay is an actual thing for a small subset of good looking nerds who love to dress up and sew. And since there’s a correlation between the popularity of cosplay and eSports, and eSports are exploding in popularity, an awful lot of us could be getting paid to cosplay in the very near future. Even average looking people who sew like shit.

I used to think cosplay was just for super heroes dress-up. But even in an era when a Marvel movie is released every four hours[1], video game cosplay is the cos that gets played the hardest.

eSports revenues are up—way up—and are projected to reach a billion dollars in 2018.  And those projections don’t take into account legalized sports gambling, which was recently made possible by the Supreme Court and which is expected to turbo-boost interest in every sport.[2] The cash infusion means more money for eSports advertising, especially that most effective form, promotional costume modeling.

I stumbled onto this possible new career path by accident. I was looking for info on the highest earning female gamer of all-time. I learned that Kat Gunn aka Mystik, has earned over $100,000 playing video games. What threw me was that she was described as a professional gamer and cosplayer.

I knew cosplay was something you could do. I just had no idea cosplayer was something you could be.[3]

Kat Gunn’s childhood laid the foundation. She grew up in a gaming household to parents who owned a comic book shop. They also pulled off a string of daring bank robberies while disguised as beloved Looney Tunes characters Speedy Gonzalez and Peppy Le Pew.[4] 

On top of the nurture, there’s some nature at work here too—Kat’s parent’s also blessed her with quick twitch finger fibers and pro-cosplay worthy hotness.  And judging by the couple of Katt Gunn interviews I watched, they also seem to have raised her to stay humble and down-to-earth, a remarkable achievement for a cosplaying Bonnie and Clyde.[5]  

But while Kat is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest earning female gamer of all-time, she’s not in the top tier of cosplayers. Models like Amie Lynn (whose Instagram seems pretty S for W)  and Jessica Nigri (whose Instagram does not) make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. There are even some guys who make that type of bank. Like Tom DePetrillo who won last year’s New York Comicon Eastern Championships of Cosplay for a Hulkbuster (Mega Iron Man) suit.  

Dude must have one of hell of a sewing machine.

Actually, DePetrillo invested $60,000 and 1,600 man-hours engineering the suit that basically nukes the adult costume curve for everyone else for the remainder of time. Thanks a lot! Way to ruin it for the rest of us, show-off!!

I don’t care though. Next Halloween I’m still investing my usual 5 man-minutes and $9.99 at the Goodwill.  

DePetrillo’s overachieving could be discouraging for all you aspiring male cosplay models out there. Don’t let it be. I mean, sure, you’re gonna need to be one special slab of beefcake. But you don’t have to be outfitting your cos with lasers like some people who’ve taken this shit way too far. Take Danquish for example. He's known for laser-free costumes of Mortal Kombat characters like Scorpion and Sub-Zero and purportedly makes in the range of $170,000 a year.

Becoming the next Danquish will require you to pull off a tricky balancing act. On one hand you’re gonna need to be into arts and crafts, but on the other hand, not so much that you ever miss arms day at the gym.  And since this is a network driven industry, you’re going to need to be nice—the kind of guy who’d give someone the shirt off his back[6]—while at the same time projecting just enough menace that people really believe you’d actually rip a guy’s spinal column out of his body just for fun.

So good luck. And if you’re having trouble breaking in the industry, don’t give it up. Just remember, the world is changing fast. Video games and eSports are taking over. And pretty soon, there'’ll be enough money pouring in that we’ll all be highly paid cosplay models. Whether we like it or not.   

[1] Not complaining. I see all the Marvel movies. Howard the Duck and Red Hulk Go Bowling wasn’t essential but it was better than people say.

[2] Even bass fishing. I’m assuming.

[3] Can high school guidance counselors be sued for malpractice?  

[4]  Just to be clear. I made the up the part about the bank robbing.

[5] I really wish the cos-robberies part was true though..  

[6] just don't expect sleeves.