Awesome costumes: Sherlyn’s Riven from the League of Legends Pool Party shoot

A couple of weeks ago, the League of Legends community had a concerted nosebleed at the appearance of one Pool Party Riven in a League of Legends pool party cosplay shoot held in Singapore.

We catch up with Riven, whose real name is Sherlyn Koh, to learn more about her.

A 21 year old Sociology student at a local university, Koh has been cosplaying since 2005. “I’ve always been interested in anime and gaming, but didn’t know about any events or communities in Singapore,” she says. Her first foray into cosplay was when she heard about a cosplay event from a school senior.

(Want more cosplay? Check out some Diablo III cosplay from the Reaper of Souls launch in Singapore.)

“I got really excited, whipped up a costume in three days, and decided to go for it myself.” Koh’s first cosplay was that of Makimachi Misao from Rurouni Kenshin, and for her newfound fans, she did say she’s hoping to redo it when the series’ next live-action movie comes out. Her previous cosplays include a Stalker and High Priestess from Ragnarok Online, Sice from Final Fantasy Type-0, and Rilakkuma.

Pool Party Riven was Koh’s first League of Legends cosplay, though she whipped up a casual Cottontail Teemo once, out of stuff from her closet.

“I like Riven a lot as a character because of her design and personality,” Koh says. She mains support in League of Legends, and counts LoL and Ragnarok Online as games she has played the longest. However, she was originally “very reluctant” to cosplay Riven, especially for a pool shoot.

“I wasn’t confident of my body,” she recalls. “But I figured I didn’t want to miss out on this shoot, so I just threw caution to the winds and went for it.”

(See: Awesome costumes: Sabrina’s League of Legends Silent Night Sona)

The Pool Party Riven she cosplayed isn’t an original design; Riven can be seen in the background of the splash art of pool party Ziggs. However Koh decided to add an arm float to her costume to make her arms “look less scrawny”, and she felt that that addition made things look “more Riven-ish.”

“It was really simple to make,” Koh says. “I already had the wig styled from a previous cosplay, so all I did was paint the arm float. I also had lots of interesting pool-themed props like the Challenger boat, you might be able to catch them in the other photos.” She adds that she also tried to gain weight before the shoot, but failed to do so.