Tell me about the outfit you are wearing – who are you cosplaying and how did you decide to pick this particular character ?
Sora from Kingdom Hearts II is actually my first cosplay ever! I decided to cosplay Sora for a handful of reasons. For starters, I’m a huge fan of the Kingdom Hearts games. I also loved Sora’s happy-go-lucky attitude. I felt he would be a character that would be great to cosplay, and having my best friend come along as Kairi, was great! I ended up making some wonderful friends along the way, who I doubt I would have ever met if I hadn’t cosplayed Sora.
Tell me about the process of making your outfit – was it easier or tougher than you imagine it to be ?
I had the opportunity to make the costume at school and get advice and help from my professor, along with a grade at the end of the semester. So, while most of my classmates were making pajama pants or sweaters, I decided to go for something challenging. And, boy, was it a challenge… I altered a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from an old job, but everything else – The vest, and the top layer of the giant shorts, and the gloves were made from scratch. It involved many many trips to Joanne’s Fabric, and roughly thirty hours of work in the costume shop. The pattern-making part of the process was fun. The tough part was getting the design off the paper and into actual fabric. There was more piping involved in that costume than I would like to say there was… (That’s the thin white lines you can see lining the shirt, pockets, and the edges of Sora’s shorts). Having my school’s costume shop available made everything waaaaay easier for me to finish my costume and make it properly. I styled the wig myself, and also made the Keyblade from scratch.
What everyone seemed to like the most about my costume, though, were the shoulder guards. Mine are made out of a thin plastic which I molded with a heat gun, spray painted, and then lined with some piping. The Keyblade I also made in the shop at my school. It’s made out of PVC piping and pink foam covered in foamcoat. Again, I wanted to challenge myself instead of running out and purchasing a tiny Keyblade replica. What can I say? I’m a do-it-yourselfer by nature…
Any interesting stories from people’s reaction to your outfit at the con ? ^^
Heh… There was a lot of fangirl and fanboy squealing I wasn’t prepared for. But it was awesome. Some of my personal favorites include a group of Batman cosplayers who decided to scream, “SORA! HELP!” Everytime I was within earshot. Turns out they had been doing that to every Sora they’d seen at the convention, and I was the only one that had actually run up to see who they needed rescuing from.
On the last day of Anime Boston I was also kidnapped while I was getting a picture taken with a Xigbar, Lexaeus and Demyx. After the picture was taken, before I knew what was going on, they simply lifted me off the ground, turned around, and ran the whole length of the Dealer’s Room without putting me down.
How did you get started cosplaying and what got you interested ?
Like I mentioned before, this was actually my first experience with cosplaying. The first time I saw anything that had to do with cosplaying was actually in 2008 for Anime Boston. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Hynes Convention Center, where the convention takes place, is diagonally across from a small chapel inside the Prudential Center. I work for that church as the pianist. Anime Boston 2008 took place during the ridiculously long Easter service masses. During a ceremony called the blessing of the fire when whole congregation stands facing the glass doors of the chapel. There was no way anyone could focus on the ritual, since we could clearly see behind the priest the occasional giant buster sword, or a Naruto hopping around in the background. I was DYING to get out of church and go join in the shenanigans…. It was the longest 2 hours of my life, right there.
I wouldn’t have ever gotten into cosplay if it wasn’t for my best friend, though. She mentioned she was trying to get a group of people together and asked me to join. I ended up going with her and two of my best friends, and making a ton of other friends along the way.
What are the con did you first attended and what’s your favorite con that you’ve attended so far and why ?
So far, I’ve only attended two conventions. My first was Anime Boston 2009, the second one being Otakon 2009. I had wonderful experiences in both cons. Anime Boston was memorable because it was my first experience with cosplaying of any sorts. Otakon, on the other hand, was epic for me. I drove from Boston to Baltimore and stayed in two shared hotel rooms with the members of AfterLife USEC (Organization XIII cosplay group) It was a mini vacation on its own, and I loved every minute of it.
What does cosplay mean to you ?
Cosplay is like a more highly refined version of dressing up in costume. Usually the term refers to characters from Anime, but I think you can cosplay anything you want! The difference between someone cosplaying and someone dressing up, let’s say, for Halloween, is that a cosplayer will don their costume, and also put some effort into playing the role of the character they’re cosplaying. It’s one of the reasons I love cosplay so much- It gives me a chance to act, and I get to pick which role I want to play!
If you had unlimited funds/technology/time, what is your dream cosplay ?
Hoo boy… I don’t know. There is a massive list of cosplays I want to make, but I don’t know which would trump all of them. I know I’d love to make an accurate version of Princess Zelda’s outfit from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I’d also LOVE to be able to make a Sheik cosplay- Super Smash Bros. Brawl style. Right now, I’m working on making a Zexion cosplay, as seen in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days… We’ll see what else the future brings. Perhaps if I had a bit more experience cosplaying I’d be able to have a better answer to this question… I know as soon as I submit this I’m going to think, “OH MY GOD WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?!? *facedesk*” But, yeah…
