Online gaming has been gaining traction from many Filipinos and the passionate gaming community only continues to expansively grow with new video games being introduced in the country.
From simple mobile games like “Among Us” to the complex ones like “League of Legends,” Filipinos can’t help but take an interest in any gaming content found online.
No wonder last January 6, many Filipino gamers can’t help but express their excitement online as Riot Games (an American video games developer and publisher) decided to add a dash of Filipino flavor to their most popular FPS (first-person shooter) game called “Valorant.”
Valorant’s Electric Agent, Neon
The addition of “Neon,” the first Filipina character in “Valorant,” to the game’s roster serves as a great win for Filipino representation in the international gaming scene.
Neon is Valorant’s latest electric agent | Image via: Riot Games
Hailing from Manila, Philippines, “Neon” is the latest electric agent on the “Valorant” team. Her abilities are in the form of electricity-based powers which assist her to focus on mobility and engaging enemies head-on.
Apart from being the first Filipino character, “Neon,” for the most part, is proudly Pinoy as she is designed, voiced and QA’d by Filipinos as well.
Riot Games really involved Filipinos in the inception of “Neon” and if that wasn’t enough, they’ve brought Valorant’s newest agent to life by tapping the Cebuana cosplayer “Charess.”
SURPRISE!!! A FILIPINA COSPLAYER FOR A FILIPINA CHARACTER! ⚡️⚡️⚡️
I am stoked with this opportunity Riot bestowed upon me.
My team only had a week or 2 to prepare the costume and doo the shoot It has been a couple of months of anxiousness to make this cosplay perfect. https://t.co/4LLjRlOAwv— Charess | YGG (@charechii) January 8, 2022
In a quick chat over email with “Charess,” she shared with us her excitement, passion, and experience in transforming into the electrifying agent.
Q: How did it feel when you were first contacted by Riot Games to cosplay Neon?
When I was contacted, I didn’t know I’m gonna cosplay the upcoming Filipina agent. I was only told I am gonna cosplay an agent from “Valorant.” I even told my manager if “Viper” is okay. Then we had an online meeting with people from Riot games and there, I was told I’ll be cosplaying “Neon.” My jaw literally dropped and I can’t hardly speak my mind. It was a mixture of extreme emotions and it took me a while to recover.
Q: What were the most challenging parts of cosplaying Neon?
The most challenging parts of the projects were first – the time constraint. My schedule was pretty tight at that time. I was doing the Arcane Jinx Project and was a part of a huge Axie Tournament. Plus, we only have 2 weeks to put together everything— Costume making, shoot, and post-processing.
Cosplayer Charess as Neon | Contributed Photo
Second were the poses. That time, we only had the character design and description as the reference, so we had to think about what poses will match the character based on the description given and how are we gonna translate “speedster/sprinter” into photographs. Doing the poses in real life was the hardest for me since my body lack flexibility. I had severe body pain the day after the shoot.
Q: How did you approach the challenge of cosplaying Neon?
The first thing I did was call everyone in the team and ask them if they could commit 100%. When they said yes, I was pretty sure everything will be possible.
Q: Can you share the process of how you and your team put together your costume for Neon?
For the fabric part, Ding Parado was the one in charge. She spent a good amount of time looking for the perfect fabric to use. While Shocross Neko did the crafting for the vest and props. The 3 of us have a group chat where we can discuss and exchange ideas for the costume. For the wig, I bought 2 different wigs and Ran Chii magically transformed it to Neon’s wig.
Q: Your Neon cosplay photos and videos have been making the rounds online and are greatly praised by many. How do you feel about this?
I felt relieved. I was very anxious that my cosplay won’t be recognized by many because most people in the community do not know me. Seeing everyone praising the quality of our work made me very very happy and very very proud of my team.
Q: How does your Neon cosplay differ from the other cosplay projects that you’ve done before?
This project is the most special because I’ve always been so curious on how does it feel to be some sort of an “official” cosplayer of a character and it is coming from a company I’ve been dreaming to work with. Well, I have worked with Riot multiple times in the past but this one is HUGE and I never thought they would trust me to do this. Also, Neon is a very relatable character for me and she is a very good Filipino representation in the community.
Q: As a gamer yourself, can you share your thoughts on what people can expect from Neon?
“Neon” is one of the best agents in “Valorant,” and she would be perfect for all the competitive players out there.
Q: What are the other things that you can share with us about this project?
Revision stage was very difficult for us in the post-production team because all of us got hit and are very affected by Typhoon Rai/Odette but I am so happy that everyone was able to pull off this project. I couldn’t thank Riot Games and Rumble Royale enough for believing in us.
READ MORE: Streaming 101 with Cebu’s Charess Kurogane
Charess was once a pre-school teacher but at present, she works as a video game streamer on Facebook. You can see more of her streams and cosplay projects on the following social media pages:
Facebook: fb.com/kittykatchii95
Twitter: @charechii
Instagram: @charechii
YouTube: youtube.com/c/Charechii
TikTok: @charechii