Tina Rybakova, an extreme cosplayer from Moscow, teamed up with a grizzly bear for her latest photo shoot.
The word dedication is often overused when discussing cosplay. Creating the perfect costume definitely takes time and an intense kind of single-mindedness, but not many cosplayers actually risk their lives for the craft. However, Tina Rybakova is not your average cosplayer.
Dasha Kond is the Moscow-based photographer who was behind the lens. Kond often utilizes animals, but they’re typically harmless creatures like llamas, camels, and chihuahuas. For his latest shoot, though, Mr. Kond recruited a Ussuri brown bear, also known as a black grizzly.
Obviously, the bear had undergone some kind of training/brainwashing (otherwise this article would have labeled “NSFW/GORE”), but letting a thousand pound bear lick your face in the name of cosplay takes nerves of steel.
Rybakova is allegedly portraying Princess Merida, the tomboy protagonist from Disney’s Brave. But I don’t remember Merida owning many leather bikinis, and she definitely preferred the bow to the broadsword. So, it feels like this shoot may have just been an excuse to put an attractive redhead next to a dangerous animal.
Either way, despite the bikini, she’s far more manly than I will ever be.
Source: Kotaku
