Cosplay!

Ni-ban Neko · Post by **Ni-ban Neko** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 5:19 pm

I checked 5 different forums and was absolutely shocked to find no thread on cosplay, so therefore, I am starting one.

And if there is one somewhere and I missed it, mods, please do that neat mergey trick that you do.

Hi. I'm Jen. I cosplay. (HI Jen!)

I've done a few different costumes - I've only managed to do one for a con (Elektra Ovilo from Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, which can be seen here, thanks to Fan's View.

My favorite costume so far is Marle, from Chrono Trigger. I had a lot of fun making it, and my friend Lisa made the cutest Lucca to go along with my costume.

I wish I had a good picture of us together. I do have a few pictures lying around, but haven't had a chance to scan them.

I have a really long list of costumes I want to do, but before next year's Anime Boston I really want to have Tron Bonne, PGSM-style Sailor Moon, and maybe White Mage Yuna done. If I've got time, I'd like to redo the Quistis Trepe costume I have in my closet.

Other costumes I'd really love to do are Subaru from .hack//SIGN, Princess Peach, either Sophitia or Cassandra from Soul Calibur II, and *maybe* Ballad of Fallen Angels-style Faye Valentine.

My "you must be dreaming, kid" costume is Floral Fallal Yuna - I call it my "you must be dreaming" costume because it would be really, really hard to make and to wear, though I think it'd be fun to try it if I ever find the time and the money. (And figure out how to get through a door wearing it!)

So, what about you?

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 5:34 pm

I want to get into cosplay, but I'm just now getting into the con scene, so I'll have to see. Also, I've got two things working against me--a gut, and a complete ineptness at wearing clothes. A lot of work would have to go into finding and getting me into a proper costume. When the time comes I'll probably go to a professional costume shop.

So if I eventually do get to it, I'm probably going to want to do something simple, like miko-Rei. I think I could pull it off, and I really want a pair of those split-toed slippers . Or I might do Utena, if I could find a good wig. She wears short tights and a boy's jacket, so my femininity deficiency might not be so much of a hindrance. A good roll of duct. . . tape would be necessary, though. ^o^

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 5:48 pm

My friend will be returning to Japan this month and she said that she can send me and my friends Japanese school uniforms! They wont come until July, which means I'll probably won't be able to wear it for Animethon. However, there's always next year, so I can use it then. I'm hoping to go as Ami-chan. I just need to order her henshin bracelet. They sell two versions of it and I'm undecided which to buy so I'm going to buy both once they're restocked. I've wanted to do cosplay for about two years now.

Post by **Tiff** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 7:42 pm

XD

So far, I've cosplayed Digiko from Digi Charat, and Rose Bride-style Utena from Shoujo Kakumei Utena.

This past a-kon, I did Gothic Lolita for the first time, and I will definitely do it again.

I'd love to do a human luna cosplay someday, but sadly, I cannot sew >__> My anime costumes were made by a friend of mine, and the lolita dress was given to me by another friend, who bought it off of a seamstress on E-bay.

I have the perfect school uniform to cosplay Minako...I just need a blonde wig and a red hair ribbon...but I really haven't had the desire to do so.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 8:33 pm

When I read this thread I said to myself that I haven't cosplayed yet, but today I remember that I did a few years ago, but it wasn't for a con. It was at a now ex-friends anime party. I dressed up as Duo from Gundam Wing. If I had bangs, the costume would have looked perfect. Although there are photos of me, sadly I did not get any T_T. I was going to cosplay as Taiki this August at my first con, and had the costume ready, but I realized my trip to Japan is during the con, so no luck this year.

Celexa · Post by **Celexa** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 9:11 pm

I've cosplayed as Makoto in her anime / manga school uniform. (The brownish-grey one, pre highschool.) My mom made EVERYTHING, we found the perfect hair tie, and I had the long brown hair to pull it off. If I had green eyes, it would have been perfect, but blue eyes are close enough. I also had boot-shoes for it, but the boots are black. I did this for halloween one year, so it wasn't for a con. (I've never been to one, I want to though)

Parallax · Post by **Parallax** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 2:35 pm

I would dearly love to cosplay as one of two characters. One is John Stewart AKA The Green Lantern from Justice League and the other is The Green Hornet from the TV series The Green Hornet.

Ni-ban Neko · Post by **Ni-ban Neko** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 5:09 pm

I've changed my cosplay plans just a bit - some friends and I have an Azumanga Daioh group in the works. My friends Jen and Lisa are planning on Yomi and Sasaki respectively, and I'm doing Osaka. We might have a few other people joining us. We're doing the pink uniforms.

This will probably happen at Anime Boston next year, so I'll be subbing it for one of the costumes I've mentioned previously.

Anthy · Post by **Anthy** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 7:27 pm

So far, I've done battle-costume Meilin from CCS and Miho from Megatokyo in the "broken wings" outfit. However, I don't think I will be using either of these costumes again because I had too much help while doing them from my grandmother, and it doesn't feel right to me to wear someone else's work, especially when I'm now capable of doing it myself. ::shrug:: Also, I never plan on dying my hair black ever again, so Meilin wouldn't work very well, and I'm not cutting my hair in Miho's style.

I'd very much like to do a Gothic Lolita costume, a Lena from t.A.T.u. Paragate costume, and a dominatrix Sailormoon fuku, wig and all. I've drawn out the concept for the design, and everyone I've shown it to really likes it. Also, it would give me an excuse to use vinyl/PVC. Every Sailor senshi cosplayer I've seen (except for the really bad ones, who were in t-shirts) used satin or a satin substitute for their fuku. Why satin, I ask? WHY? It's completely the wrong fabric! PVC is just so perfect for sailormoon. The only problems with this costume are the cost (vinyl isn't cheap) and obtaining a decent, affordable wig.

I wish I had a job. Cosplay = crack, I swear.

NameGoesHere · Post by **NameGoesHere** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 10:25 pm

I'd love to be able to cosplay but I have a couple hindrances:
1) I have no money.
2) I live in a hick town, and I can't travel to visit any conventions.

Anywho, if I could cosplay, I'd go as Botan from Yu Yu Hakusho. The Grim Reaper in a pink kimono. Yay for irony! I just need to learn how to sew... ¬_¬;

Anthy · Post by **Anthy** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 12:51 pm

Parallax wrote:I would dearly love to cosplay as one of two characters. One is John Stewart AKA The Green Lantern from Justice League and the other is The Green Hornet from the TV series The Green Hornet.

Ack, I didn't notice this before, but that's not really cosplay. Since those are from Western media and culture, they don't count.

If it comes from Japan, you can cosplay it, but if it comes from the US or Canada, you can makes a costume.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 2:08 pm

Anthy

If it comes from Japan, you can cosplay it, but if it comes from the US or Canada, you can makes a costume.

...

I don't even want to think about the Canadian icons people could dress up as :shudders:

Cosplay/Sailormoon question here. I know that in the anime, Taiki where's a yellow suit, but does he/she wear any other well known suit? I'm getting a costume ready for next year, and want to cosplay as Taiki in one of his/her stage suits, but the yellow one just wouldn't suit me. Is their another suit from the anime or manga that I've over looked that is well known (and not yellow)?

Ni-ban Neko · Post by **Ni-ban Neko** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:31 pm

Anthy wrote:Ack, I didn't notice this before, but that's not really cosplay. Since those are from Western media and culture, they don't count.

If it comes from Japan, you can cosplay it, but if it comes from the US or Canada, you can makes a costume.

Aren't the two things really the same? At the end of the day, you're dressing up as a character from a comic, a video game, or a cartoon regardless of where the character came from.

I'm not saying I'm right, and I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just more flexible with the term personally.

And peachvampiress, isn't Cybersix Canadian? I don't remember now where I saw the pictures, but I did see a picture of someone that did a really nice Cybersix costume the other day. ^^

LadyFlameSniper · Post by **LadyFlameSniper** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 1:55 am

I always thought the same thing as Ni ban Neko. That the character you dressed up just had to be from a comic, cartoon or video game. Whether it be Japanese or American. That reminds me... someone was dressed up as Michelangelo (you know the ninja turtle. lol) at the con I went to last week. XD

As for me and cosplay, never did it and never planned on it. Until last week. I'm considering doing Aya Brea's Parasite Eve 2 look. since her outfit is rather "normal" and I've never seen anyone dress up like her. I also thought of Tifa Lockheart vrom Final Fantasy 7 and one of Julia Chang's outfits from Tekken . And I'd so want to cosplay Christie Monteiro from Tekken (I love her outfit to death) if I could or somebody else could convince me to wear a bikini top somewhere besides the beach.

Post by **Tiff** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:41 am

I think that in Japan (and also in America), the more hardcore cosplayers see cosplay as JUST Japanese characters. But I think cosplay has become a bit more relaxed to where it's acceptable to dress up as, say, a Storm Trooper or a Ninja Turtle, so long as it's something animated or sci-fi, or along that genre. Hell, I've seen Harry Potters at anime cons. I think it's usually just whatever happens to be popular. The idea of cosplay has changed so much, and it's become so much more popular rather than somtehing that just a few good seamstresses did.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 5:15 pm

Ni-ban Neko

And peachvampiress, isn't Cybersix Canadian? I don't remember now where I saw the pictures, but I did see a picture of someone that did a really nice Cybersix costume the other day. ^^

I want to see that pic. I LOVE Cybersix. But that's actually a hard one and I might have to go off topic to answer this (Sorry ^^; )

Cybersix started as a comic in Argentia. In 1999 a Canadian company wanted to turn it into a 13 episode show. They got Voice Actors from Vancouver (who also do a lot of anime) and got a composer from Quebec to make the music. The animation, however, was sent to Japan, that's why it looks animeish. So that's a hard one ^_^; I'd count it as cosplay since the show is anime.

Ni-Ban, if you're interested, I could PM you a link to a good website with detailed summaries of the comics.

Anthy · Post by **Anthy** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:26 pm

Ni-ban Neko wrote:Aren't the two things really the same? At the end of the day, you're dressing up as a character from a comic, a video game, or a cartoon regardless of where the character came from.

I go by the same rule that the cons I've attended do. If it's Japanese or anime-related, it is cosplay and belongs at a convention. This is to prevent completely irrelevant costumes (such as Elmer Fudd or Neo from The Matrix for example) from being entered in masquerades and such. American anime/manga is also accepted, like Megatokyo cosplay. I wasn't specific enough in my original post, sorry.

Hell, I've seen Harry Potters at anime cons.

They don't really belong at an anime con, but since HP dojinshi is so popular in Japan (hell, the character designer of Di Gi Charat does HP dojinshi) it's accepted.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 10:51 pm

At AnimeNext there was a Harry Potter-Draco Malfoy-Albus Dumbledore trio, as well as a Go-Go Yubari with a couple of Crazy 88s. I think that sort of thing fits at anime cons, though I can also understand not allowing it in contests or masquerades. Many of the anime fans are just as likely to be fans of that sort of thing as they are to be fans of some of the more obscure anime. I googled "cosplay" just to see how it seemed to be defined, and all the top sites referred just to anime costumes, so I guess the word doesn't apply to other costumes, but they're still fun.

mizangelamy · Post by **mizangelamy** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 2:22 am

I always wanted to be Princess Serenity or Princess Pluto but money doesn't grow on trees. So I'm planning to use of one those dresses as my prom dress ain't that a neat idea but no wigs. Doesn't still count as a cosplay?

Anthy · Post by **Anthy** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:26 pm

mizangelamy wrote:I always wanted to be Princess Serenity or Princess Pluto but money doesn't grow on trees. So I'm planning to use of one those dresses as my prom dress ain't that a neat idea but no wigs. Doesn't still count as a cosplay?

Yes, the princess outfits still count as cosplay. I've seen a Saturn princess once. Wait, what do you mean? X_X; That you're using a prom dress as a Princess dress or that you're wearing a costume to the prom?