diff --git a/src/import/load-costume.js b/src/import/load-costume.js
index 31eac9dbc..648a82a1c 100644
--- a/src/import/load-costume.js
+++ b/src/import/load-costume.js
@@ -152,21 +152,31 @@ const loadCostumeFromAsset = function (costume, costumeAsset, runtime, optVersio
  * @returns {?Promise} - a promise which will resolve after skinId is set, or null on error.
  */
 const loadCostume = function (md5ext, costume, runtime, optVersion) {
-    if (!runtime.storage) {
-        log.error('No storage module present; cannot load costume asset: ', md5ext);
-        return Promise.resolve(costume);
+    let costumePromise;
+    if (costume.asset) {
+        // Costume comes with asset. It could be coming from camera, image upload, drag and drop, or sb file
+        costumePromise = Promise.resolve(costume.asset);
+    } else {
+        // Need to load the costume from storage. The server should have a reference to this md5.
+        if (!runtime.storage) {
+            log.error('No storage module present; cannot load costume asset: ', md5ext);
+            return Promise.resolve(costume);
+        }
+
+        const AssetType = runtime.storage.AssetType;
+        const idParts = StringUtil.splitFirst(md5ext, '.');
+        const md5 = idParts[0];
+        const ext = idParts[1].toLowerCase();
+        const assetType = (ext === 'svg') ? AssetType.ImageVector : AssetType.ImageBitmap;
+        costume.dataFormat = ext;
+        costumePromise = runtime.storage.load(assetType, md5, ext);
+        if (!costumePromise) {
+            log.error(`Couldn't fetch costume asset: ${md5ext}`);
+            return;
+        }
     }
 
-    const AssetType = runtime.storage.AssetType;
-    const idParts = StringUtil.splitFirst(md5ext, '.');
-    const md5 = idParts[0];
-    const ext = idParts[1].toLowerCase();
-    const assetType = (ext === 'svg') ? AssetType.ImageVector : AssetType.ImageBitmap;
-    costume.dataFormat = ext;
-    return (
-        (costume.asset && Promise.resolve(costume.asset)) ||
-        runtime.storage.load(assetType, md5, ext)
-    ).then(costumeAsset => {
+    return costumePromise.then(costumeAsset => {
         costume.asset = costumeAsset;
         return loadCostumeFromAsset(costume, costumeAsset, runtime, optVersion);
     })
diff --git a/src/serialization/deserialize-assets.js b/src/serialization/deserialize-assets.js
index cc787b9c6..603a1b8e2 100644
--- a/src/serialization/deserialize-assets.js
+++ b/src/serialization/deserialize-assets.js
@@ -79,7 +79,10 @@ const deserializeCostume = function (costume, runtime, zip, assetFileName) {
             costume.asset.dataFormat,
             new Uint8Array(Object.keys(costume.asset.data).map(key => costume.asset.data[key])),
             costume.asset.assetId
-        ));
+        ))
+        .then(asset => {
+            costume.asset = asset;
+        });
     }
 
     if (!zip) {
@@ -112,7 +115,10 @@ const deserializeCostume = function (costume, runtime, zip, assetFileName) {
         costumeFormat,
         data,
         assetId
-    ));
+    ))
+    .then(asset => {
+        costume.asset = asset;
+    });
 };
 
 module.exports = {
diff --git a/src/serialization/sb2.js b/src/serialization/sb2.js
index d30ef7bd6..b0c4bae4f 100644
--- a/src/serialization/sb2.js
+++ b/src/serialization/sb2.js
@@ -413,10 +413,7 @@ const parseScratchObject = function (object, runtime, extensions, topLevel, zip)
             // the file name of the costume should be the baseLayerID followed by the file ext
             const assetFileName = `${costumeSource.baseLayerID}.${ext}`;
             costumePromises.push(deserializeCostume(costume, runtime, zip, assetFileName)
-                .then(asset => {
-                    costume.asset = asset;
-                    return loadCostume(costume.md5, costume, runtime, 2 /* optVersion */);
-                })
+                .then(() => loadCostume(costume.md5, costume, runtime, 2 /* optVersion */))
             );
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/serialization/sb3.js b/src/serialization/sb3.js
index e3433258b..98c24be48 100644
--- a/src/serialization/sb3.js
+++ b/src/serialization/sb3.js
@@ -847,10 +847,7 @@ const parseScratchObject = function (object, runtime, extensions, zip) {
         // any translation that needs to happen will happen in the process
         // of building up the costume object into an sb3 format
         return deserializeCostume(costume, runtime, zip)
-            .then(asset => {
-                costume.asset = asset;
-                return loadCostume(costumeMd5Ext, costume, runtime);
-            });
+            .then(() => loadCostume(costumeMd5Ext, costume, runtime));
         // Only attempt to load the costume after the deserialization
         // process has been completed
     });