Welcome to Creators on the Rise, where we find and profile breakout creators who are in the midst of extraordinary growth. You can check out previous installments here.
Fearfiction didn’t think cosplay was going to work out for her.
She’d always been a big fan of manga and anime. In fact, anime is “all I watch,” she says. “I barely watch anything else. I connect with it the most.”
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And, when you love anime, it’s only natural that you run into cosplay. You either know cosplayers, have cosplayed yourself, or see every fan convention you go to chock full of people dressed up as their favorite characters. Fearfiction–aka Gabby–knew she liked cosplay, but the idea of getting into it herself was intimidating. The costumes she saw were spectacles of skill. She’d have to learn sewing, wig styling, makeup, and much, much more.
“How do you even start with that? It’s such a big endeavor,” she says.
Turns out, she started right in her own closet. Closet cosplay, where you use clothing you already own + household items to make a lo-fi version of characters’ looks, is a popular hobby and also a gateway into big-commitment cosplay. Gabby had Instagram and TikTok accounts, and was posting some of her work as a model, plus these closet cosplays. But when she hit 50,000 followers, she wanted to do something different.
“I thought, I will actually do cosplay this time,” she says. “I tried out doing a fem Zoro [from One Piece]. Those videos all did super well. Then I realized that maybe I should keep going down this direction. It turned out to be a lot of fun.”
That was 2022. Now, two years later, Gabby has learned all the necessary skills to make her outfits from scratch, and has completed dozens of high-quality cosplays from animated shows and movies like One Piece, Howl’s Moving Castle, Cowboy Bebop, Ouran High School Host Club, Nana, and even Hazbin Hotel. She’s also grown her social following to more than 330,000 followers on TikTok, and nearly 250,000 on Instagram, plus another 165,000 on YouTube, where her lifetime views have gone from 17 million to nearly 50 million since January, according to data from Gospel Stats:
Want to know what she’s getting up to next? Check out our chat with her right here:
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: Very nice to meet you! I’ve been involved in fandom for 20 years now, so it’s cool to get to speak to a cosplayer. Let’s start with an intro about you, for anyone who’s not familiar.
Fearfiction: Sounds good! Hi, I’m Fearfiction. I’m a cosplayer. I’ve been cosplaying since 2022. Almost two years, now. I’m Malaysian, from Vancouver, Canada. Just started doing content more seriously since I started cosplaying.
Tubefilter: How did you originally get in? What is your history with fandom?
Fearfiction: Good question. Prior to doing cosplay, I was doing outfits inspired by anime characters. I was already doing anime-related things. I never really thought about cosplaying. For my celebration, I think it was my 50k celebration, I wanted to try cosplay, because it’s anime, outfits are related, so I thought I will actually do cosplay this time.
I tried out doing a fem Zoro. Those videos all did super well. Then I realized that maybe I should keep going down this direction. It turned out to be a lot of fun. I learned so many new skills from it. I was already in that fandom, but just not doing cosplay stuff until recently.
Tubefilter: Okay, so 2021 is when you started doing content, then 2022, you started doing cosplay?
Fearfiction: Yes. Yes.
Tubefilter: Got it. What was your first platform?
Fearfiction: Technically, I was doing other content stuff on Instagram before, not fandom-related at all. I was doing self-portrait photography and some modeling, but that’s nothing to do with anime or fandoms, anything like that. When I started doing TikTok was probably when I started it, so 2021.
Tubefilter: Okay, got it. What drew you to anime?
Fearfiction: I’ve always really liked it. Anime is all I watch. I barely watch anything else. I connect with it the most. The characters are often more things that I enjoy trying to portray. I can watch anime for research.
Tubefilter: What’s your favorite series?
Fearfiction: My top three favorites…My first one’s Hunter x Hunter. Then One Piece and JoJo’s. That is just my general top three, but my weekly top three change all the time.
Tubefilter: My partner’s been steadily talking me into a JoJo’s watch.
Fearfiction: I’ll just say, make sure you get through the first JoJo. It’s not bad. It’s just the other JoJos get better. I dropped it the first time. Then I took up again, and then realized later how good it is.
Tubefilter: Duly noted! How did you develop your cosplay skills?
Fearfiction: That’s a good question. I try very hard to improve every time. One thing I love about cosplays, there’s so many different skills you learn from it that I didn’t realize. I’m sure a lot of people who, before they start cosplaying, don’t realize either, which is you have to learn wig styling, makeup, sewing, even tailoring.
If you’re making props, you learn a lot about crafting. If you’re doing specifically cosplay for content creation, you learn a lot about camera lighting, editing. There’s so many different skills that you learn. In order to improve those things, I would often, after I post my videos, I usually have a very short turnaround time of how long I like them. I have to post them right away–otherwise, I just never post it.
Whenever I do, I’ll watch my videos back. Then I’ll pick out one thing I want to work on next. The first thing I wanted to work on was my makeup skills. I started reaching out to my friends who I thought had similar face shapes to me, who cosplays I really enjoyed, started getting tips from them and doing a lot of research on that, doing a lot of screenshots.
After that, I started switching to improving my content setup. I started upgrading my gear and my lighting. After that, I started working on my sewing. Now, I’m on my wig styling arc, and also working on prop-making stuff. It’s like each time, I want to focus on improving one skillset. It’s never going to be finished. I’ll always continue to improve upon it. I think focusing on one specific thing you think you can improve at a time helps a lot.
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Tubefilter: I also noticed in your videos, you have very smooth body language, very smooth motion when you’re on camera. You look almost rotoscoped. Is this something you’ve worked on too?
Fearfiction: I guess so. I think that actually comes from when I used to do modeling, I didn’t realize, but one of the photographers I work with said that I do “flow posing,” which I didn’t even realize was a thing. But it’s like, when you’re posing in motion. They have to keep shooting me because I’ll keep moving nonstop. It’s not like I do one pose and then do the other one. I think that’s probably why.
It’s funny that you mentioned that as well, because I’ve been getting a lot of comments about people thinking I’m AI because of my movements.
Tubefilter: I don’t think it looks AI, but it’s definitely an interesting movement style I don’t see very often.
Fearfiction: Oh, cool. I’m glad that it sets me apart. I never really thought about it like that.
Tubefilter: This is a very broad question, but how long does the average cosplay take you to make now?
Fearfiction: That’s a good question. I’ve been trying to do more sewing from scratch these days. When I started I was mostly buying things. Then I started getting into the realm of tailoring things and taking it in. Now, I’m trying to make it. If I really love a cosplay, I’ll do it from scratch. Those ones are such a headache because it takes so long, but I enjoy the process. I’m trying to teach myself how to do these things.
I would say currently, recently, it takes me…Let me think. My last one took me, I think, two weeks to make. That’s two weeks of nonstop. Every day, I’ll do like six hours on a wig, and then like another 12 hours the next day on the same thing. That’s mostly because I’m not good at it yet. [laughs] I’m still learning.
Most of the time of my cosplays, it’s just me staring at it, staring at the wig or staring at my fabrics trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do. It’s hours of looking, but I think that counts as crafting. It’s part of it.
Tubefilter: It does, yes. Did you have to teach yourself to sew from scratch?
Fearfiction: Yes. Actually, no. Sorry. I did learn a little bit in school. We had class or whatever and I learned the basics. Then I’ve been watching mostly YouTube videos, and my friend is also helping me out with a lot of the sewing details. I’ve had cosplayer friends that take me to fabric stores and teach me stuff, which I’m really lucky. Definitely a collaborative effort of people teaching me things.
Tubefilter: Do you have a specific production schedule? Are you aiming to put out a certain number of cosplays and a certain number of videos per month or per week? How does it work for you?
Fearfiction: Yes, I do have a schedule. I don’t really have a quote of how many cosplays. I just know that once I’ve finished a cosplay, I want another one out as soon as possible. Not because of production, but because I’m just too excited. I have so many plans going on at once.
I get into cosplay pretty much almost every day if I can, like at least four times a week, if not all days of the week. That’s mainly because, for one, I do want to be able to post every day or every other day at least. If I do, then I have ideas very spontaneously and I need to film them right away, otherwise I’ll lose motivation or interest in them. I have to do it immediately.
Tubefilter: I would imagine having an audience is also very helpful for motivation.
Fearfiction: Oh, definitely, yes. Actually, that’s one thing. Whenever I’m not feeling motivated, one thing I actually do is I go through my friends, like my other cosplayers and look at their cosplays and ideas, especially if they’ve cosplayed the character I want to do already. It gives me a lot of motivation to be like, “Oh, that’s so cool. I want to do it too.” Just things like that. Also, of course, when people are asking me for specific cosplays and I know people want it, then it makes me more excited to do it as well.
Tubefilter: That was my next question, is how you decide which character you’re going to cosplay next.
Fearfiction: Oh, perfect segue. I’m working on several right now. One that I’m working on is Tsukiyama Shuu from Tokyo Ghoul. There’s so many. I have, like three that are half done. I also, I’m still fixing my Alistair cosplay from Hazbin Hotel. I also want to do Blitzø.
Tubefilter: Is this your full-time job?
Fearfiction: No, I have like another 9:00 to 5:00 full-time job. It’s very much like, after work, I’ll do these things. I would love for it to be, but I live in a very expensive city, and I live alone, and cosplay is expensive.
Tubefilter: It sure is. I wanted to back up a sec, what age were you when you got into modeling?
Fearfiction: I think 19, like right after high school. Very infrequently, but I also do commercial acting, but I don’t like doing them because I’m scared. It’s scary. Auditions are so uncomfortable for me.
Tubefilter: I can imagine it’s very intimidating.
Fearfiction: It’s intimidating to do it. You go into an audition room and everyone looks like you and you’re like, “I’m not unique at all.”
Tubefilter: Yeah, the self-consciousness. Do you want to move away from acting, or what are you thinking for a career trajectory there?
Fearfiction: I am just doing it. I do commercial stuff for fun and for extra money. It’s like a little side hobby, but it’s not my focus at all. I’m not very good at speaking, so when I’m acting, I don’t know how to do things on the fly. I can do posing. Posing is fine because I don’t have to speak, which is why I’m okay with that, the modeling. They don’t want me to speak, so it’s good. [laughs]
Tubefilter: Where do you see things going in terms of social media? Obviously, you’re growing pretty quickly.
Fearfiction: I think I’m lucky that I’ve seen pretty fast growth. There’s a lot of times where I’m still hard on myself. Often I’m like, “Oh, I haven’t grown at all this week, or this month,” or something. Or like, “My posts aren’t doing well.”
There’s always times where I don’t feel– Like, I think it’s all over because my, like, one post didn’t do well. Then I have to remember to put into context that this post isn’t make or break for me. This is a learning opportunity. It’s not that this was bad, but there’s ways it could be better. It could have been improved. I try to look at it that way instead.
In terms of where I want it to go, it would be amazing if I can one day do it full-time. I don’t have the optimism to expect that. It’s not like I don’t want that. I just don’t want to put all my eggs in that basket yet.
Tubefilter: Understandable, yes. In terms of cosplaying, what’s the future of it for you? Do you intend to keep it as a hobby? Which is totally valid. What are you thinking of developing?
Fearfiction: Yes, that’s exactly what I would like to do. If I was going to do it full-time, I would love to do cosplay full-time because I just have so much fun with it. The reason why I can do it after work for six hours every day is because I’m enjoying it so much. I like the payoff of seeing something that turns out well and people enjoying it as well. I think, yes, if I could do it full time, I would. I’m trying to do things that’ll get me onto the path of doing that eventually.
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Tubefilter: What’s been your favorite part of being on social media?
Fearfiction: Definitely the people that I’ve met. I’ve met the most incredible people who have gone to be some of my best friends. I feel like I’ve done so much this year because I’ve been already flying out to meet people. People have been flying out to meet me, like my friends and stuff. We got to collaborate together.
When you’re two content creators who are both really nerdy and into the same things, you’re flying out to meet each other. Then you spend these days at an Airbnb or overnight or something, you get so close. I think that’s a crazy experience not a lot of people would have if you’re not doing cosplays or you’re not meeting friends online. I think that is definitely a huge thing that I didn’t expect. They have become some of my closest friends and my biggest motivators.
Tubefilter: Perfect. Obviously, you’ve gotten into a lot of new things over the past few years. You’ve had to develop on social media and cosplay. Do you have any advice for new people who would want to get into either–doing content, or doing cosplay, or both?
Fearfiction: Yes, I think my advice I would give for new people…Like, part of the reason why I didn’t cosplay for a long time is because I just didn’t know where to start. How do you even start with that? It’s such a big endeavor.
Honestly, this sounds like such bad advice, but you just have to do it. You really do just have to do something about it. If you want to give it a try, you don’t even have to post it. You don’t need to buy anything. You can do a closet cosplay. Find a character that has the same hair color as you. There’s lots of characters, anime and games, where they’re just wearing normal human clothing outfits.
You could start off cosplaying that, doing the makeup and the hair, however it is. Then just see how you feel. You can take pictures if you like it. You don’t have to, though. You don’t have to post anything. You can just do it for yourself. If you enjoy it, then share it, and then let’s see what happens.
Tubefilter: Where did the name Fearfiction come from? I’m so curious.
Fearfiction: That’s funny. I made this name 10 years ago, like way before. It was my gaming alias. It’s actually from a song by La Dispute called “The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit.” There’s a line in it, if you look at the lyrics, it’s right there. It says, “Fear fiction, these visions.” It was one of my favorite bands in high school.
Tubefilter: Is there anything else that you would want people to know about you or about your life and your journey as an artist and a creator?
Fearfiction: This is something I’ve never thought about before.
Tubefilter: You can take a minute.
Fearfiction: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I feel like I’m in flux. I’m just going with the flow. I think for me, I always am trying to improve. I guess I already said this, but like, one thing that I want to do is I always want to do better. If people are going to follow me and expect this new content, I don’t want to give you the same thing over and over again, I want to keep improving it. Hopefully it translates. and you can see that I am improving, because I would like to.
Tubefilter: It’s a very mature thing to do as an artist, to be able to look at yourself that way and improve things without collapsing.
Fearfiction: Yes, I think it’s important to look at yourself objectively. Of course, I’m self-critical sometimes. I want to see it more in a way where “I can improve this,” not, “This sucks.”
