First of all, tell me who you are cosplaying and how you decided to go with that particular character ?
And away we go. I am cosplaying one of 9 classes in Valve’s video game Team Fortress 2, The Pyro. I chose to play this character because I am a gamer and TF2 has been a big part of my latest gaming infatuation. The Pyro is my most played and most perfected class in the game and I relate to the fire element extremely well. It just seemed like the natural choice to cosplay.
Tell me how you put it together. Was it pretty simple to get all the elements together or was it tough than you first imagined it to be ?
The suit pictured is in the final phse of multiple revisions. The first time I cosplayed it, it was a low grade version of what we see now. The sweatpants and turtleneck were easy to find. The stitching was professionally done. The mask was found on the internet and I used spray tint to darken the lenses. The gloves came from a friend’s father who worked on electrical lines and fit the cosplay perfectly. The flamethrower was the real challenge. I work at Lowe’s home centers and all the parts were bought from there and through creative designing we were able to put it together. The hard part was the propane tank. We knew if we were going to do this character right we had to use a real propane tank. There was the concern of bringing a propane tank into a public place so we solved that by drilling a hole into it. The first version had one of those traditional 20lb tanks and after I realized that my arms were ready to fall off, I needed an alternative. It cost a lot but finding the 10lb tank is better for the costume and better for the arms. The backpack (not pictured) was taken from an online source who provided a detailed description on how he made his pyro costume. The other pieces came together naturally. I still have a few adjustments to be made for accuracy sakes.
You know, I noticed that propane tank and it seriously added to making that cosplay look legit ! How long did it take from deciding to go from that character to that final phase ?
I would have to say I decided to do the character in december 2007 and had its first iteration ready by june 2008 for animenext 08. The close-to-final phase we see here has been patchwork since then and was ready by animenext 09 which was held last june. That includes the upgrades to the shirt, mask lenses, and flamethrower. The black extension attached to the propane tank was my last addition. As well, not pictured was the Pyro’s additional axe, the Axtinguisher. That took about a good week and a half from conception to final product. So overall this project is a year and a half from conception to what we see here, with modifications being done in my off-season.
So how many cons have you taken the outfit to and what’s the reaction from the folks there ?
Otakon 09 was the third con I’ve been to as The Pyro. The reaction has been all over the board. There are those who do not know where it is from but at enthusiastic about it. Others ask, “Is that a real propane tank!?” While others simple ask , “Aren’t you hot in there?”. The mask muffles my sarcastic remarks’ I get people very excited and are impressed at my carting around a real propane tank. Nonetheless there is never a shortage of people asking me to pose for a photo. Evidently people love seeing the pyro in action, but I was one of four Pyros at otakon this year. Its a cool costume to pull off but evidently the amount of heat the costume generates makes people second guess themselves in doing the costume.
How did you get into cosplay ? My last interview, it turned out to be her first experience cosplaying and she did it Otakon ! Other folks I’ve talked to have cosplay for years so curious of your story ?
This is my first cosplay costume, third time cosplaying. I used to be one of “those” guys looking at other people dressing up as harry potter and thought it was weird. Then I started going to cons and realized it ended up being an expression of what we love. So my buddy and I, who are big TF2 buffs thought it would be awesome to cosplay and he said I should do The Pyro. So with his help we just went ahead and did it.
lol ! Would you continue down the path and cosplay other characters in the future ? And if you had unlimited money, time and technology was not an issue, who would you cosplay ?
Good question. I’ve actually been thinking of cosplaying something else just for the sake of being in a cooler costume and not having to carry around the flamethrower. I’m actually thinking of cosplaying as Richard from the webcomic Looking For Group. As far as if I had unlimited resources, tough to say. I’ve seen some decent gundams I would like to do. But I think in the end I would still do something video game related. Perhaps a cyberdemon from doom 2. I’ve only recently thought of cosplaying something different though. Mainly it would be something mech related.
Thanks !
