Hellspawned_Cosplay and The Little Hero

Cosplay Moon has a new cosplayer interview you must read. Hellspawned_Cosplay!! Everyone who's ever cosplayed has a story, meet one of ours who is a cosplay dad. Demetrius has some serious knowledge regarding the characters he cosplays and you won't believe the costumes. Hellspawned_Cosplay involves his son Kaua’i in the cosplay process and the videos are fantastic.

I have been excited about this because I found out about you from Claude Xavier and the interview with him was really good. 
Your baby is adorable and I love the photoshoot where you did the smoke and it was the baby and you. Tell me a little about that process and what makes Kaua’i such a good model? Besides being adorable???

Well first off, thank you for having me and the kind words. Those smoke bombs were provided by Smoke Effect, a company that specializes in adding practical smoke aesthetics for photography and video applications. They allowed me to showcase their devices in my own way and that video of me being the Sub-Zero Ranger from a fan series on Youtube called “Kombat In The Grid” was it. Basically, it’s a series where the ninjas from Mortal Kombat are clashing with the Power Rangers. As for the video, I was in Ranger form and I transitioned from myself to my son in his Ranger form the way it was done in the Mortal Kombat games…a Babality; where the character turns into a baby version of themselves. It’s silly but perfect for what is present in my life. That was simple process of me filming myself with the smoke bomb and then replacing myself with Kaua’i to film the rest of it. Kaua’i is super coachable. He listens and interprets the information as best as he can and he’s in that mimic mode of his second year of life. Also, I’m very patient with him and keep expectations low for what I want him to do. He’s a baby still and most of the time, babies give you gold by just being themselves and I’m just hopeful I’m prepared to capture it all when it comes.

I see that you, me and Claude have all been He–Man fans at one point in time. Mine was in the 80’s when I was a kid and it first came out. I thought Skeletor was the bomb then.  Tell me about your love for the show.

I’ll be 38 years old come the 21st of April…so I was around for the 80s Filmation series as well. My love for the show was based on VHS recordings sent to me by my dad who was overseas when they came on. So I was watching that, Silverhawks, Robotech and Transformers episodes before they were on the Sci-Fi channel at 7am on weekdays. The lessons from the PSAs at the end of the episodes always stuck with me in one way or another so that meant the character was with me as I grew up. When the live action movie came out, I was there and watched it every time it was on HBO…I know it was bad but I’m allowed to love garbage. I was always more of a “Swords and sandals/Magic and Might” fan as opposed to the GI Joe side of things. There was just something more appealing about having the inner strength of character to not let absolute power corrupt you the way that Adam never let the Power of Grayskull change who he was.

That is so well put. You are very articulate and I appreciate you for getting into that and sharing. 

I’m not familiar with hell-spawned. Is that the golden winged figure I see on your profile?  I think it is absolutely amazing so tell me about the costume and where you are.

“Hellspawned” is a play off my favorite comic book character: Spawn. He is a hellspawn from Hell charged with duty of leading it’s army to the gates of Heaven and burning them down. He doesn’t do that, of course but, again his strength of character to not let power corrupt him is wholly appealing to me. As far as my name is concerned, “Hellspawned Cosplay” is a phrase that I had in my head when I think about how I want people to see my cosplay. “Cosplay so good, that a deal with the devil had to have been made.” Therefore, the cosplay was hellspawned. The golden winged figure you’re referring to is Hawkman from DC Comics. That was a collaborative project between myself and Woman of Wonders8 on Instagram where we designed and created a cosplay in celebration of Aldis Hodge playing the role of Hawkman in the upcoming Black Adam movie, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the titular character. Other entities were involved to provide funding but they wish to remain anonymous. It was put together within 3 months and debuted at KatsuCon 2022 at the Gaylord Hotel at the National Harbor in Washington, DC. I’m going to do more with it in the future, I just haven’t had the opportunity to break out the wings that make me about 8 ½ ft tall. 

Wow! That's so amazing and Dwayne Johnson has got to be at the top of the list for most people's favorite actor. I know I think he is awesome. All of my kids (but they are grown) LOVE superhero movies so I can't wait to see it with them.

Workouts!!!! I love working out. What is your routine and do you preworkout or no? Do you do protein powders?  I know I like to make vegan gluten free cookies with my powder.

I am a former amatuer bodybuilder and I’ve won competitions on NPC circuit here on the east coast. Now that I’ve got my son, I don’t particularly focus on a routine or a regimen to get a workout in. I do, however, make sure I get at least 30 minutes of cardio on the stairmaster at least 3 times a day…for now. I don’t do any protein powders or pre-workout mixes. They tend to keep you bloated and I use BCAAs, Creatine and Glutamine mixes to abate the soreness and help the recovery after a training session. 

You just gave me a fact about the protein powders that I didn't know. Good tips!!

Where are you with all of the star wars cards?

I’m not sure of what you’re referring to. I have some Tops cards but I was never an active collector of them. 

Your profile says you are an electrician. Is it hard balancing work, daddy time, and cosplaying plus workouts for you?

Well….until something changes, I only get my son for 15% of the time. There’s a real disconnect in the Maryland Court system where Fathers aren’t given the same consideration for time as Mothers are when they are not a couple and it’s maddening. I’ve been fighting for 50/50 custody as the plaintiff since Kaua’i was 6 days old and have spent over $67,000 in legal fees to only end up with 15% of the time with him. So with that being said, when it comes to “Daddy Time”...nothing gets in it’s way. I don’t work. I don’t have any other engagements to attend. I just focus on him and what we could do together during those few hours or that weekend. So the balance is essentially just ripping and running UNTIL I get with him and then things just naturally slow down and become super meaningful. 

Awww. That is literally the sweetest thing. I'm sure your son loves every second he has with you and kids love the fantasy world, which should indicate something to all of us in the rat race. We should be living in the fantasy world and being creative a lot more than any of us are. I believe it is the way were designed to think. 

MCU INstagram at the beginning of this post there are some really cool effects. Tell me about this post.

Back in 2019, Naiquan Midyett/CosplayNay…pulled together 100 cosplayers from all over the country to come to New York for a massive photo/video shoot to celebrate Avengers Endgame. Even though I had only been in cosplay for 2 years at this point, he and the team who helped put this event together had been aware of me and asked me to cosplay as Heimdall. Those 3 minutes in that post essentially details the process of all the cosplayers converging in New York to make that magical moment happen. Oh the times we had before the pandemic. 

Yes, the world has definitely changed drastically and still is, but that is really impressive to be able to participate in a cosplay event like that and to be chosen!!

Check out this link on Hellspawned_Cosplay to see some behind the scenes clips.

Hellspawned This photo is literally scary and I love it. Tell me about creating this one. Also, do you have a photographer that you like to work with?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CT265emlSvv/

That Spawn suit is a durable movie grade latex/rubber suit created by Sinistur on IG. It’s the version from the 1997 movie of the same name. JayLee Photography shot that one and they’re a married couple that specializes in Wrestling Photography. Creating that image was really just being a dark place with the elements of what the character is and who he is. We knew we wanted a freshly “wet” look akin to the movie when he first gained his armor so lowering the lights and making slow, deliberate movements was the best way to achieve that goal. If you’re a fan of a certain Netflix Director/Youtuber, you’ll be seeing this suit again soon but in action.

It's time for Hollywood to give you a call. Your cosplays are so impressive and I think you have what it takes to be a superhero.

I have worked with a bevy of photographers but I like the ones who want to stay involved with me and what I may come up with. Last year’s Juneteeth Cosplay.

Thank you so much for doing this interview with me. I really appreciate your time and I enjoyed going through all of your photos and hearing what you have to say about all of the characters and cosplays.