BATU GAJAH, June 17 — Food delivery rider Muhammad Fakhri Asyraf Mohd Fauzi used to be underweight.
Doctors voiced their concerns, prompting Asyraf’s mother to feed him supplements to improve his appetite and his weight started to increase.
The last time the 28-year-old, who hails from Seputeh, Tronoh, weighed himself three years ago, saw him tipping the scale at 128 kilogramme.
“Now I am too scared to step onto the scale,” he jokingly told Malay Mail when met at his home.
Asyraf did not let his weight stop him from indulging in cosplay, sometimes dressing up as characters half his size.
He said his interest in cosplay began in 2017 when he first participated in an event held at a shopping mall in Falim, Ipoh, before entering his first competitions last year in an event held at Kellie’s Castle.
At a recent cosplay competition held at a shopping complex in Ipoh on June 12, Asyraf donned his favourite childhood character Ultraman.
A clip of him at the event went viral, including being shared on Chinese platforms.
While some social media users chose to comment on his weight, Asyraf refuses to let any remarks affect him.
“I did not expect the clip to go viral. I only found out the clip has gone viral after receiving countless notifications on my social media,” he said, adding that he has been taunted about his weight since he was in school.
Thanks to the video going viral, Asyraf has been invited to appear in a cosplay event at Johor Baru next month where he will be wearing his Ultraman costume.
Now he is busy preparing for another cosplay competition scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur at the end of next month.
The preparation includes making the costume by himself.
“I am joining the competition in a new character,” he said, hoping to get into a cosplay summit after the competition.
While Asyraf is comfortable in his own skin, he said he was also working hard to reduce his weight, including jogging.
