The VRSUS Cosplay Feature, which has been in the works for the past month, represents a labor of love that celebrates our enduring fascination with all things pop culture. This project is a heartfelt tribute to the incredibly talented individuals within the community who skillfully embody beloved characters through their creativity and passion for cosplay, as well as our treat to you, our amazing readers, as thanks for your continued support!
In our June Cosplay Feature, we’ve decided to celebrate the triumphant return of the X-Men through Marvel Studios’s amazing nostalgia trip, X-Men ’97. What better way to do it than showcasing one of its most iconic characters – Rogue! In fact, we’ll do you one better – how about the Savage Land version?
This popular and alluring iteration of Rogue occurred after she had undergone a complete purge of Carol Danvers’ (Ms. Marvel) personality and powers and was given a new lease on life. She’s then transported back to the X-Men’s Outback base, only to find it under the control of the Reavers. Then, in a face-off with a Danvers persona, she escapes by absorbing the powers of the mutant Gateway. This leads her to the Savage Land, a harsh, ancient, tropical haven hidden in Antarctica. Here, she’s determined to adapt and thrive in this primal environment.
Our Savage Land Rogue was brought to life by the multitalented streamer, gamer, host, shoutcaster, and experienced cosplayer Valerie “Rebyczko” Byczko! Reby has portrayed other iconic characters before, such as Lili from Tekken 8 and Keqing from Genshin Impact, and is well-known for her lifelike portrayal of Vi from Arcane. She is also a passionate Marvel enthusiast, and she was thrilled to embody the legendary X-Men character. During last week’s ToyCon 2024, she even showcased her portrayal of the X-Men ’97 version!
The Savage Land Rogue costume was masterfully made by Solibeau, while the photography and editing were done by the talented Dar San Agustin.
We also got to talk to Reby a bit about cosplay in general and her experiences as a cosplayer.
VRSUS: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, Reby! Let’s start with helping our readers get to know you better!
Rebyczko: Hi, my name is Rebyczko – I’m a cosplayer, streamer, and host!
V: How was the experience of cosplaying Savage Land Rogue?
R: It’s an entirely new experience! At first I’m a little worried if I can pull it off, but I had a great time! Rogue is a very interesting character – she’s very strong, very gorgeous, her powers are unique, and at times she can be like very vulnerable, and she’s definitely hot!
V: Have you watched X-Men ’97?
R: I haven’t yet! But I plan to do it soon when I find the time – I’ve heard so many great things about it. Most of what I know about Rogue comes from other media like games, some comics, and a little bit of research about the character. Though I didn’t know about Savage Land Rogue at all before this!
V: When did you start cosplaying?
R: I started cosplaying because of a game called Grand Chase, and I saw this really hot lady, and I just saw her as Elisis from the game, and I was like OMG SHE’S SO HOT AND COOL… I wanna be so hot and cool too, so it’s kinda just like that until this day.
V: Have you cosplayed her (Elisis) yet?
R: I haven’t cosplayed her yet, but I think I probably should!
V: What’s your favorite part about the cosplay hobby?
R: My favorite part about cosplaying is definitely the process. Cosplayers are generally like… they find something and are like “Yeah I can totally do that!” and then learn how to sew, use superglue, learn to style wigs stuff like that. There are people who specialize in those things now, but I think that it’s what got me into it – learning so many different hobbies and skills to make a cosplay.
V: What’s Your Favorite Cosplay so far?
R: My definitely favorite cosplay so far is Vi from Arcane – I plan to do her new version as well because Season 2 of Arcane is coming out later this year, and she’s got this new getup, and I’m planning to upgrade my gloves as well!
V: Who would you love to cosplay as?
R: I should probably say Elisis, but I wanna say something a little bit hard… I do wanna cosplay the githyanki Lae’zel from Baldur’s Gate – she’s got a lot going on and will definitely be a big achievement to pull off.
V: Who would you never try to cosplay?
R: I don’t think I’ve been asked that before! Because I think that even if I cannot pull it off, I’d still do it just for the memes you know! But, I don’t think I’ve seen something, and I’m gonna be like, “NO”… maybe something that only literally has stickers or something.
V: Stickers?
R: You know, for this Rogue cosplay, sure, we got some booba, but what if it’s just like…
V: Oh, OH! Alright alright.
V: What’s the craziest thing you’ve done FOR cosplay or IN cosplay?
R: Ok, I wanna answer both – the craziest thing I’ve done for cosplay was during my first cosplay competition. I was cosplaying Caitlyn from League of Legends. I was 14 years old back then, and I didn’t know how to sew… okay, I know how to hand-sew, but I needed to fix something on the spot, so I SUPERGLUED my costume… to myself.
V: To yourself?
R: To myself! It was very hot, and it hurt a lot to take off, but I was happy because I made it to the Top 50 that got presented on stage, and I made like Top 25. I think the audience liked the skit – I don’t think that they can even tell that the costume was superglued to me, so I think I pulled it off.
(Author’s note: She totally looked proud as she said that.)
V: How about the craziest thing you’ve done IN cosplay?
R: I feel like stepping on people is done so much. I think the craziest thing I’ve done in cosplay is… someone asked me to ride on his shoulders, and he toured me around the convention, and I didn’t know he was gonna do that! He just told me to get on his shoulders, and I was just like, you know, feeling the convention hype and was like, “OK I’LL DO IT!” and got on, then all of a sudden he sprinted around the whole convention and brought me back on my spot – that was quite an experience! It was really interesting to see what the convention looked like from high up, I felt like I was 9 feet tall.
V: Who were you cosplaying then?
R: I was cosplaying Lili from Tekken 8.
V: Thank you again for being our Feature Cosplay for June! Before we wrap up, where can people find you, and do you have any messages to our readers or shoutouts?
R: I hope you enjoyed my answers! I do wanna thank the people who helped me make this Savage Land Rogue cosplay, I wanna thank Hippochii, and Solibeau for the Savage Land Rogue costume thank you so much, I wanna thank Cosplay Chest for making the accessories of my cosplay today, to Dar for the wonderful photos, and of course to your team.
If you guys wanna follow me and anything I do, you can follow me @rebyczko on anything social media – just be sure to check the spelling!
How was that for our first-ever Cosplay Feature? What do you think about Reby’s Savage Land Rogue? Which character would you like to see in our next one? Let us know!
Check out our article about what shows to watch now that X-Men ’97’s finished!
