It’s not uncommon to visit a major cosplay site and find that the vast majority of members are female. That’s not to say that men don’t cosplay, but they are clearly outnumbered. Fortunately, Alltern8.com’s Kelly Rowles recently had the chance to interview a rather incredible male cosplayer by the name of Bryan Rogers (who goes by “Tsuyosa” online), who is bound to inspire a bit of fan-girling.

You see, Bryan doesn’t just cosplay regular old anime characters. No, no. He’s a Spartan, and a damn good one at that.

Below is the interview, where we talk about Bryan’s work out and diet regimen for his 300 Spartan cosplay, his list of essential tools for working with leather, and why he thinks the gender gap in cosplay exists.

Alltern8: Bryan, how did you get involved in cosplay/costumes? How old were you at the time?

Bryan Rogers: I got the first notion to make costumes when I was 17, a senior in high school and just about to graduate. For some reason that year, I had the insatiable urge to be Spiderman for Halloween (probably because Spiderman2 had just released in theaters). Unable to find any already made costumes, and unable to afford a Spiderman suit by commission, I sat down and did research on how to make costumes. I gathered my reference for the costume, started making patterns, got my mom to teach me the basics of sewing, and eventually turned out a finished piece about 3 months later!

Alltern8: Do you have any help making your costumes, or do you make everything yourself?

BR: So far I've been completely self sufficient with my costumes. After my mom taught me how to sew, I kind of went off on my own after that. I guess it's part of the reason why I like costume-making, it's something I can do on my own, and then go out and wear confidently. It's a great feeling to get peoples reactions to your hard work and know you put 100% into it. Of course, with some of the negative criticism I've gotten, I've tried harder in those areas to correct mistakes and increase my skill in those areas. But for the record, sometimes I do find items that would work very well for my costumes. My Jack Sparrow for instance, has a lot of the plastic kids' toys that I've taken and re-painted to look more authentic before adding it into the piece.