Tell me about the outfit you are wearing – who are you cosplaying and how did you decide to pick this particular character ?
Cloud Strife, the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII. Ever since the first time I played FF-VII and saw the opening sequence where Cloud jumps off the top of the train Ive been obsessed. The further I played through the game the more I loved the character. I’m a total cloud fan boy lol
Tell me about the process of making your outfit – was it easier or tougher than you imagine it to be ?
For the most part it was about as hard as I had expected. Ive been making costumes and props for years so I pretty much knew what I was getting into. I think the hardest parts of this costume were the wig and sword. Before this I had made a few swords, but never 6ft tall and a foot wide, that process was pretty interesting for me. You can see some of the process on my deviant art page, Mrmanson86. Im going to I’m break this down into sections so its not as boring lol
Wig- The base wig was a blond “punky” style wig I ordered from www.cosworx.com. First I trimmed the back and then started spiking it. I used Got2b glued spiking gel, Got2b glued freeze spray and a razor to shape the spikes. About 20 hours and a couple tubes and cans of hair product later I was finished ^___^
Clothing- The shirt is a ribbed turtleneck I bought and cut the sleeves off of. The pants I made out of a cotton/polyester blend. The boots are an old pair of combat boots I had laying around, I spray painted those brown and added silver lases to look more like zippers. btw, spray painting treated leather is not fun at all DX
Belt & Armor- The belt and straps are made of craft foam with brown vinyl glued to the outside. The decorative piece on the front of the belt is made from a thick piece of craft foam sprayed silver. The bracer and bracelet are made from craft foam and a thin styrene. The knobs on the bracer are made from a round wooden dowel rod. I had to cut, sand and seal all of them. I think I did 14 of them, that was extremely time consuming. The shoulder armor was my favorite part of this build besides the buster sword. It was made from a PVC elbow(90 degree bend) I cut and shaped it with a dremel(a prop makers best friend XD) The bolts are hollow plastic, I found them in the bathroom sink section of a hardware store. These worked out perfectly because theyre light and they look great. The corroded section was done with a dremel. First a rough sanding wheel and then an etching bit for details.
Since its made of plastic I used a black Krylon fusion paint first because Im not too fond of plastic primers. After 2 coats of that I sanded it to make it smooth for the next coats of paint. Then I gave it 2 coats of regular Krylon chrome spray paint. Then I sprayed it with one coat of a metalizing buffer(gunmetal gray), its usually used for models. When that dried I buffed it, which gave it a nice metallic finish. To make it a little more shiny I dusted it with the chrome paint and then a high gloss clear coat to seal everything.
Sword- I made the sword out of a styrene shell, a spray insulation foam and a PVC skeleton. First I took my Cloud action figure and measured the sword to the figure. Since Im 5′8″(the same height as Cloud according to the FF-VII:Crisis Core booklet) it was easy to scale it up to 1:1. I decided to go with a hollow shell and a foam core because its durable and pretty light. The sword only weighs about 10lbs or so. The skeleton is shaped like a ladder because I needed the foam to expand around the PVC and hold it inside of the shell. This also let me cut the 2 holes into the blade for the materia slots. The hand guard section is just a foam board box glued into place with decorative upholstery nails for the “rivets”. The corroded areas and paint were done exactly like the shoulder armor
Any interesting stories from people’s reaction to your outfit at the con ? ^^
Hmmmm, interesting stories?
First off, FANGIRLS!!! XD they are always interesting lol
After animazement one year my group and I went to IHOP before heading home. Our server asked us why we were dressed up so we explained. After that he took our order and put it in, when he came back he brought 4 other people with him, all holding cameras. They all asked if they could take out picture before we started eating. It was pretty funny, they all looked so nervous when asking if they could get our pictures XD
At AWA we met Rikki Simmons(the voice of Gir) and his wife. we went up to get autographs and they started asking about our costumes. After talking for a while they told me they thought my costume was really impressive and how much they loved my costume ^///^ That might not qualify as interesting but it was extremely flattering
Not too many interesting stories in this costume, Im usually stnding there posing for pics lol
How did you get started cosplaying and what captured?
Ive always loved dressing up, every chance I got. I would run around my house in some kind of costume, either a Halloween costume or one that I threw together from random stuff I had lying around the house just for fun. So when I got older and found out people dressed up like their favorite characters and gathered at convention centers I was instantly hooked. My first anime costume was Nickolas D. Wolfwood from trigun. I used a black suit that I never wore, added a couple crosses to the cuffs, got a white button up shirt with a slightly longer collar and some dark sunglasses lol. I never actually debuted the costume, I just wore it around the house. A few years later I went to my first anime con and fell in love with it. Ive been completely addicted ever since XD
What are the con did you first attended and what’s your favorite con that you’ve attended so far and why ?
My first convention was Animazement 2008 in Raleigh, NC. My favorite convention is definitely Animazement. Every year it gets better and better. Everyone there is awesome, when Im there it feels like Im home ^___^
What does cosplay mean to you ?
To me cosplay means freedom from everyday drama. I get to become my favorite characters and not have to worry about anything for a couple days. If I could get paid to cosplay Id be set lol
If you had unlimited funds/technology/time, what is your dream cosplay ?
Oh wow, that would be amazing! The things I would be able to do would blow my mind lol
I would have to say. . . Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing. I know the costume itself is pretty simple but all the time, technology and money would go to my prop. My prop would be a 1:1 scale, fully functional Gundam Deathscythe Hell XDD It makes me sad because I know that will never happen D:
