Tauranga's Rozanne and Paul de Wild are at the top of their game in their chosen hobby of cosplay.

They won best technical as Hawkeye and Black Widow at their first cosplay contest at Armageddon Auckland in 2013.

In 2014 their Tauriel and Legolas collected best group at Armageddon Wellington, and in 2015 deWildCosplay – which includes their kids Stephen, 25, and Kali, 20 – took out best in show at Armageddon Wellington, and the New Zealand Cosplay Cup at Armageddon Auckland for their ‘Game of Thrones' cosplay.

Those outfits also won the best group and supreme winner categories at the Wellington Sevens, earning the family $10,000.

Where to from there? 'After winning the Armageddon title, I was approached to be national judge for the 2016 competitions, so we've stopped competing, at least within New Zealand, and are now focusing on ways to encourage the talent which is out there,” says Rozanne. 'We'd won; now it's time to give back to the community.”

You get the feeling if they had continued, it would be a little like the All Blacks competing in the national first xv rugby championship.

'That's an excellent analogy. If we kept competing, others may have given up. And we don't want that, we want them to improve and grow. We made the decision to step back. But we still wanted to be involved and show our support.”

Rozanne is now one of two judges travelling the country to Armageddon Expos, and helping sculpt the next generation of cosplayers. This rapidly growing past-time, where top international cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao has more than five million followers on social media, is growing in popularity.

Rozanne explains why. 'From the point of view of these young people, I think it's great for them. There are so many opportunities to learn new and varied skills, its healthy, cosplay people are nice people, and it's a good unwind.”

A lot are university students, and many of them say cosplay is getting them through their years at uni.

Photo: Cyren James from Pixiscene Cosmedia.

'It allows them to step out from reality and be free of whatever their pressures are.”

Rozanne is keen to point out, it's not just some geek thing.

'There are so many skills they learn which they can apply into their own lives in other ways. They learn researching skills, they learn to study and work out the best way to get to a finished product, and they learn perseverance.”

'I've seen those struggling with disabilities such as Asperger's or illness, and they put on a costume and become somebody else.

'They let go their mask of ‘endlessly trying to fit into our world', and you see them come out of their shell. It's really amazing. They're not ‘trying' anymore, they're just who they want to be. It's great for their self-confidence.”

To see more examples of deWildCosplay's stunning work, visit: www.facebook.com/dewildcosplay