Helly Valentine
Instagram model and erotic cosplayer Helly Valentine was born on 25th May 1994, in St. Petersburg, Russia, and has been active on social media since 2013, when she first began uploading her innovative cosplay creations.
What started off as a hobby turned into a lucrative business for Helly, and although it took a while for her to be able to quit her job and live off social media full-time, her hard work paid off and led to her becoming one of the best-known figures in the cosplay community.
Little is known of Helly’s childhood or family, although she did allow viewers a glimpse into her personal life by uploading a photo with her sister back in 2014. The model is 5ft 9ins (175cm) tall and weighs 129lbs (58kgs).
Career/Dating
Although the glamor model excessively edits her photos and never posts herself without filters and makeup, this is part of her job scope as a professional cosplayer who has to be picture-perfect at all times. Most of Helly’s income comes from her Patreon and Only Fans accounts, and although she’s cosplayed hundreds of characters at this point, most of her designs are based around the BioShock and Death Stranding videogames.
Helly’s work ethic and perseverance is admirable, as in 2018 she underwent a minor surgery but made sure to continue to provide her fans with regular content. The exact procedure the influencer underwent is unknown, but there’s been speculation about Helly having breast augmentation and other surgeries since her rise to fame.
The model’s longest hiatus to date lasted just two weeks, from late February to mid-March 2022. Fans of the cosplayer were concerned by her silence, taking into account that Helly posts several times a week, and the social media creator hinted that she was going through a rough patch when she finally returned to Instagram.
‘Many things happened these days, but I’m trying to stay positive even if it’s kinda hard now,’ Helly wrote. ‘I realized that my creativity help [sic] me to get distracted, and my social medias are my safe space. So I would like to come back with regular posting. I really missed you guys!’
Just pretending to be your cat, ok?🐱 pic.twitter.com/6iz27rqImS
— Helly Valentine💖 (@hellyvalentine_) November 30, 2022
Some of Helly’s fans were confused at first, but the reason behind her hiatus was revealed to be the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although the model is believed to have relocated to the US for work purposes, she was clearly affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and worried about her family members.
As someone who fiercely protects her privacy, Helly has never confirmed her relationship status, or divulged details about any former partners. As such, the cosplayer is presumably single at time of writing.
Famous Cosplayers
Sci-fi fans Forrest J. Ackerman and Myrtle R. Douglas were the first people to attend an anime convention in fan costumes, and since then, cosplaying has taken off and evolved into a multi-million dollar industry.
Some of the most famous cosplayers who are active in the community right now include Jessica Nigri, Yaya Han, and Yuriko Tiger. Jessica was born in August 1989 in Reno, Nevada, and grew up in her mother’s home country of New Zealand. At just 20 years old, the blonde went viral with one of her very first cosplays, a sexy Pikachu costume which she wore to San Diego Comic-Con International.
In 2012, Jessica won a contest held by IGN, who were looking for a model to portray Juliet Starling, the main character in the videogame Lollipop Chainsaw. However, when she appeared in her Juliet costume at the Penny Arcade Expo, she was asked to change or restrict her presence when convention officials received complaints about her revealing outfit. Despite changing into a more ‘regular’ costume, the model was still asked to leave.
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Nevertheless, Jessica had no trouble in landing further job opportunities, as in the same year she signed contracts to promote or represent other video games and comic book series. Other career highlights include being the spokesmodel for Amazing Arizona Comic Con 2011 and being invited to prestigious anime expositions around the globe the following year.
Meanwhile, Yaya Han was born in April 1980 in China and is a regular judge at cosplay competitions in several countries. Her TV appearances include a guest judge gig in “King of the Nerds” and a stint in the Syfy reality show “Heroes of Cosplay”; some of Yaya’s most memorable looks include her Wonder Woman and Ada Wong costumes, which have inspired many newcomers over a decade later.
Last but not least, Yuriko Tiger (birth name Eleonora Aureliana Guglielmi) was born in Imperia, Italy, in July 1993, and began cosplaying after being an avid anime fan throughout her childhood. Due to the bullying and cyberbullying she suffered, Eleonora switched schools several times before relocating to Japan. Where she became something of a celebrity with commercial work, TV gigs, and magazine photoshoots.
Cosplay Community
Overall, the cosplay community advertises itself as a tight-knit family of likeminded individuals who enjoy dressing up and immersing themselves in the world of their favorite characters. However, sexual assault, racism, and other problems are rampant in the cosplay circle – and despite the ‘cosplay is not consent’ mantra going mainstream in 2014, there’s still plenty of progress to be made.
The cosplay scene went through its own #MeToo movement in the mid-2010s, as Tumblr and Facebook groups began posting photos of people – mostly women – being inappropriately touched at conventions. Groups such as the Cosplayer Survivor Support Network (CSSN) were also created to tackle the issue, with most of them offering resources to those who had suffered abuse or harassment at conventions and assessing the safety procedures at events around the globe.
‘There’s this unspoken thing where you just look the other way until you don’t in the cosplay community and at conventions, which sucks,’ cosplayer DeLa Doll told Allure magazine. ‘Most people are fine, but then there’s a certain subgroup of people who don’t understand boundaries, or pretend not to.’
On a more positive note, the number of incidents at anime conventions has gone down dramatically in the last few years and is currently in the single digits.
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