Well, start by telling me who you are cosplaying and what led you to pick this particular character ?
I’m cosplaying the RED Medic from Team Fortress 2. I picked him because he’s the character I most often main and I have the most in common with him out of all the playable team members (and thought he had the neatest weapons!) Some friends have also joked that I have a big bent German schnozz, I don’t deny it.
Can you tell me what you went through in making your outfit ?
Scavenging for all the pieces to put it together was about a yearlong process – I had decided to dress as the Medic for Halloween of ‘08 and spent until July of ‘09 finding new things for it and trying to improve on it in any way I could. Some things I had to go to Wal*Mart for, other things warranted a trip to the nearest army/navy surplus store. The gloves I had to order online, I stumbled upon my glasses at an antique shop…
I had a BUNCH of help getting everything to fall together from outside sources – my father (who is better at woodworking than I) made the frame for my medipack, the ubersaw was commissioned (by another Medic cosplayer who also happens to have a very helpful medigun tutorial on his Cosplay.com page) and my coat was done by a friend far more talented at sewing than I am. The patches were probably the only thing I made myself, and evidently, I can’t sew very well, hahaha. For my next con I plan to get them professionally done.
I take it this isn’t your first time cosplaying so I wanted to find out about what you’ve done before and how you got involved in cosplaying ?
Actually this is my first time cosplaying! I got into it because I have many friends who are regular cosplayers and I’d heard good things from them on the subject so I wanted a piece of the action myself. Up until now all I’ve done are Halloween and theme costumes – I was so enthusiastic about getting my costume JUST right, which was slowly starting to become too much effort for such little payoff.
Really ? So you’re a first-timer ^^ And you had to go to the biggest con on the East Coast ! Tell me about how that whole experience was !
I’m from Indiana so we had to travel by car, bus, and train to get here (it was also my first time on a train – very enjoyable!). The hotel gave us plenty of trouble and rushing to make last minute accommodations on our costumes was quite stressful but when we finally got suited up and stepped into the convention center all of it was suddenly behind us – in about five seconds flat we were pointing and marveling and recognizing characters. I was expecting to feel overwhelmed because this was my first con but I felt right at home! Got to meet some online friends, see some excellent art, and…got my picture taken by a professional photographer, fancy that !
Y’all had to come from Indiana ? Okay, I have to ask, why Otakon ? Why this one out of all the other cons around ? And how long did it actually take to travel to Baltimore ?
Otakon was the convention the greatest number of my online friends frequented and I was very excited to meet them all in person. That aside, having seen the caliber of some of the costumes from last year I couldn’t pass it up! Combine these with the fact I haven’t been on a vacation in a very long time…
The trip in its entirety took roughly 30 hours (from the moment we left my boyfriend’s house to the moment we arrived at the hotel). Lots of layovers – we ended up having the opportunity to tour Chicago and Washington DC on both the way there and back.
Sounds like y’all definitely got a vacation out of this one ! I’ve take it you’ve been bitten by the cosplay bug so do you have any future outfits plan out ?
Next year I hope to make it to Gencon with some local friends. I plan on cosplaying the Medic again, however…since Gencon is only a few hours away that may facilitate the possibility of a second costume.
No plans for what it will be yet, still playing with some ideas…
Finally, you have unlimited time, money and technology, who would you cosplay ?
The Rocketeer! Complete with a working jetpack.
Thanks Christy !
