Borderlands 3 cosplayer phaselocks enemies as Siren Maya

Brent Koepp
borderlands maya cosplay

A Borderlands 3 cosplayer went viral after bringing the game’s cel-shaded graphics to life with a stunning take on Maya. The talented artist’s transformation into the Siren will leave fans stunned.

Borderlands originally made its debut in 2009, and was a surprise hit on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The beloved title kicked off an entire franchise and helped popularize the “looter shooter” genre.

One of the game’s most popular characters is Maya. Celebrating the blue-haired Siren, a skilled cosplayer transformed into her with an insanely accurate costume. She looks so much like the heroine, it’s almost as if she’s warped out of the screen.

maya borderlands
The blue-haired Siren is an NPC in Borderlands 3.

Borderlands cosplayer becomes real life Maya

Maya was first introduced in Borderlands 2 in 2012 as one of the game’s playable characters. The blue-haired warrior uses her Siren abilities to freeze enemies in another dimension. The character also made her return in the third story as well, this time as an important NPC.

Cosplayer Mads ‘madsfive‘ brought the heroine to life with her insanely accurate costume posted to Instagram. The artist faithfully captured the game’s signature cel-shaded graphics by texturing her clothing to look like the FPS title’s artstyle.

What could easily be mistaken for a screenshot from the game, Mads expertly edited the picture of herself with an image of Windshear Waste in the background. Her stunning costume blends in with the winter location, and truly brings the Siren to reality.

In another shot posted to social media, the cosplayer shows just how accurate her costume actually is by posing next to an image of Maya from the game. Mads absolutely nailed the character’s short blue haircut, as well as her yellow bodysuit which runs under her cargo pants.

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[cosplay VS character] . I wanted to write a looooong post about these kind of pictures. But my thoughts are too chaotic to be put into coherent sentences ! I like to be somewhat accurate, to a point. However I do take some liberties when I see fit or when being accurate doesn't bring me joy. Something I don't particularly like ? I don't make it. Something that won't flatter my body ? I change it. Something that would be too expensive to make ? I find something else. Accuracy is a luxury too. I can't afford to make and remake something until it's "perfect". Most of us can't. Now to the talk of actually looking like the character. NO. Just NO. You just can't expect someone to look like a carbon copy of someone else. Especially when that someone is a 3d render with impossible proportions. It was originally an issue for me when I decided to do this project. "The short hair won't hide my face shape" "The bodysuit is too high cut to hide a corset" "The pants are low they will show my hips fat" "I don't look like her". In the end I think I did a pretty good at making myself look like Maya. However I'll never physically look like her, my body isn't made to be like that. What am I gonna do ? Remove my ribs ? Break my legs and stretch them ? Shave my jaw bone ? I feel super confident and beautiful as her and nobody can show me otherwise ! In short : never judge a cosplay on it's accuracy and especially not on the cosplayers body and face shape 💙 . Picture is flipped . #borderlands2 #borderlands #moonmoxxi #borderlands3 #borderlands3cosplay #maya #mayabodysuit #mayaborderlands #mayacosplay #borderlandscosplay #borderlands2cosplay #cosplaygirl #cosplayersofinstagram #celshading #cellshading #cellshaded #2kgames #frenchcosplay #pinupgirl #borderfam #gearbox #cosplayVScharacter #mayamonday

A post shared by Mads (@madsfive) on

As if her cel-shaded costume wasn’t impressive enough, the artist also re-created a weapon from the game, as well as the shield item which characters have strapped to the side of their waist. The cosplayer has actually made several guns and items, which can be seen on her Instagram.

Despite releasing over a decade ago in 2009, Borderlands has gone on to become of the games industry’s most popular properties of all time. Titles like Bungie’s Destiny have largely been influenced by it.

In 2019, fans finally got a third entry in the series after waiting over seven years. The FPS was a massive hit with critics and players, and brought new characters and features to the franchise.

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About The Author

Brent is a former writer at Dexerto based in the United States, who covered topics such as Pokemon, Gaming, and online Entertainment.