Hassan AKA Awesome-ology is a vibrant cosplayer, a walking canvas and a role model to thousands, but when not in character – he has a quiet personality and is surprisingly down to earth. His cosplays generally consist of Disney characters, original creations and sometimes crossplay wherein he loves adding his own special touch to set them apart.
Q. You have been in the Cosplay Scene, performing, competing, and bringing to life many attention-grabbing characters, what inspired you to pursue this?
A. It first started when I saw a friend of mine – Farah Sarhan (Fofie) having these cool pictures on Instagram of herself in different wigs, outfits and a lot of things at various venues. I sent her a message, asked what she was up to? And without answering all she said was “there is an event today at BIC come now and I’ll explain” – literally no other explanation. I got there & the event was AICON 2013 – she was wearing a purple wig and I also got to see @Geekyemokun (cosplayer) – basically she introduced me to this world I didn’t know anything about at the time.
Fast forward a few years and we’ve become great friends and attended several conventions together. I’ve learned so much from her and get teary eyed when she compliments my cosplays – I consider Fofie my cosplay mother.
Q. How touching ! Since she is, as you said the one who inspired you to cosplay, tell us about your first convention?
A. Oh god it wasn’t something I prepared for very well. I just wanted to show a character I could relate to so I eventually narrowed it down to Peeta from Hunger Games because I’m a huge fan and read all the books. The cosplay however was very minimal – I just wore a black jacket and covered myself in bruises (Laughs).
Q. Which one do you feel stood out the most?
A. Laughing Jack! I’ve gained so much from this character. There were both kids & adults contacting me on a daily basis who found my video on YouTube, which has over 100,000 views and was taken by a close friend. These people were giving me so much positive feedback on the cosplay and the performance. I’ve made some close friends and even got some fan sketches from that.
Q. What are your interests outside of cosplay?
A. I have an immense amount of love for theatre and acting. My grandparents are actors so maybe its inherited. I love being on stage and bring fictional characters to life through acting ! I remember back when I was a kid I used to play songs from High school musical in my bedroom and film myself performing while putting on different wigs and props pretending to be the characters from the movie! It was hilarious but I enjoyed every second of it.
Q. What Would be your dream Cosplay?
A. I would love to do Effie Trinket or Caesar Flickerman from The Hunger Games. Their style and their look is very vibrant and colorful – so much detail goes into their look and the embroidery in their costumes gives it great charisma which exudes power with a Victorian yet an Avant Gard style of elegance.
The Team
- Cosplayer: Hassan (Awesome_ology)
- Photographer: Ibrahim Ansari
- Creative Assistant: Haneen Al-Farwan