“If You Like Something, Why Not?" Cosplayer Max Shustenko on His Craft and Characters

An interview with cosplayer Maksym Shustenko.

Cosplay, short for the English "costume play" ("costumed play"), has become one of the most popular forms of performance. Its essence lies in portraying a particular character through costume and accessories. But the movement stopped being just about appearance a long time ago — now it's also about self-expression, inspiration, and experimentation.

19-year-old artist Maksym Shustenko has been cosplaying for several years, combining visual art with acting. In an exclusive interview for DeTalks, he talked about his favorite characters, his first cosplay, complex costumes, and the community that's become part of his life.

What drew you into cosplay?

"What interested me about cosplay from the start was how closely tied it is to theater. The chance to recreate not just a character's clothing in real life, but to actually play them, bring them to life."

"That's exactly the aspect of cosplay I've always paid the most attention to," Max shares.

Do you remember your first cosplay?

"Yes! My very first cosplays were 'closet cosplays,' back in 2019. Back then, I'd put together characters from the books The Gray House and Lockwood & Co. using whatever I had at home," he says.

How much time does it take you to put together one cosplay?

"Usually, when I catch inspiration for a cosplay, I try to put the look together as fast as possible, so I don't miss the window when the process still feels most exciting, thanks to that inspiration.

"Ordering certain elements takes the most time — things like wigs or accessories from elsewhere. If it's from China, that's two weeks or more... But if I already have all the materials on hand, cosplays come together pretty quickly.

Fully sewing a costume, styling a wig, and creating any extra elements for one character usually takes anywhere from three days to a week and a half, if I have enough free time.

For example, I made a Viktor cosplay from Arcane — and that look is genuinely impressive for how it combined complexity with the time spent making it. The wig, the crafting, sewing the clothes, and painting what's basically a second skin took 3 days," the cosplayer says.

Which cosplay turned out to be the hardest for you?

"It's actually still in progress — it's Mu Qing from Heaven Official's Blessing. This look combines a lot of things that are new for me in cosplay: a complex wig construction that has to be built using wig-gluing techniques, crafting part of the armor — the shoulder pieces — and trying to make sure those shoulder pieces stay firmly attached to the costume...

Honestly, almost everything about this cosplay right now feels like it's about to fall apart. But hopefully it won't, and soon the internet and festivals will get to see a beautiful new cosplay."

How do you choose characters for your cosplays?

"Characters get chosen a few different ways: either it's simply my favorite character, one I want to 'live through' in cosplay, or I get the urge to prove something to someone, like: 'Why does everyone make this character like this, when he's completely different! I'm going to make him the way I actually feel and see him, and show everyone,'" Max explains. "Once a thought like that hits me, everything after that is a blur."

"That's roughly how my Hua Cheng cosplay happened, the one I wore at Book Country."

Have you ever taken part in FANCON before?

"I was at last year's festival, but as a visitor, not a participant, unfortunately — I'd submitted an application with a not-very-good Len cosplay from Vocaloid, which wasn't accepted. But that event actually turned out to be fateful, because it was exactly the fact that my original plan fell through that pushed me to quickly sew my first danmei cosplay before FANCON — Xie Lian. At that point, I was just starting to read Heaven Official's Blessing and dive into the world of Chinese novels, but it was at FANCON that I met a lot of people I ended up creating cosplay projects with over the following year. So I'm grateful for that rejected application, and I hope I'll be performing this year."

DeTalks is the official information partner of the FANCON 2025 festival — Ukraine's largest festival of contemporary pop culture, taking place at Kyiv's International Exhibition Centre on June 7 and 8. See you there!

How would you rate the cosplay community in Ukraine?

"I'm glad cosplay in Ukraine is actually pretty advanced. A lot of people are into it, creating large-scale projects and even cosplay-making studios. I've only heard of one so far, but I'm sure there are others," he says.

"In the future, I'd love to see more self-made cosplays at festivals, rather than store-bought ones. Because that's what's interesting — it's each person's individual vision."

"As for the community itself — sure, there are scandals and conflicts, but there are also a lot of supportive people. That's really great, and it's motivating to keep doing this."

Have you ever run into judgment or stereotypes about cosplay?

"I haven't had much of that kind of experience, since I generally try to just keep to myself, focus on my creative work, and stay out of conflicts. The only complaints I've gotten have been about contested fandoms..."

A fandom is an informal subcultural community whose members are united by a shared interest in a particular film, book, show, and so on.

"Take The Gray House, for instance, whose characters I still sometimes make content about. The author is Armenian, but the original is in Russian, so for some people right now, this book falls into the 'forbidden' category. There's a similar situation with what's called 'Chinese stuff' — some people think supporting Chinese fandoms right now isn't appropriate, again because of some supposed connection to the aggressor country. So those are the only kinds of ambiguous situations I've run into."

Is there a cosplay that's become personally important to you?

"Yes, and it's still Xie Lian. He's not just one of my favorite characters — he's also the exact cosplay that brought me a lot of new friends and acquaintances, particularly through the whole FANCON story.

I feel really comfortable in this cosplay, and I already have two versions of the look — the regular one and Xie Lian the prince. By the way, I don't plan on stopping there — I hope to make some of his other looks in the future too."

What advice would you give people who are thinking about cosplay, or just starting out?

"My advice is going to sound cliche: don't be afraid."

"I think you just have to try, if you want to. Try sewing something, making wigs or crafts. Sure, it might turn out badly at first, but that's experience, that's creativity. Don't be afraid to cosplay characters just because 'what if it doesn't suit me.'"

"If you like something, if you want to try making it — then why not?"