Tell me about the outfit you are wearing – who are you cosplaying and how did you decide to pick this particular character ?
This character and costume is Blood Seras Victoria from the manga “Hellsing.” A few years back when attending my first AnimeExpo event I was privileged to see a young cosplay couple preform an amazing skit at the masquerade costume contest. The young women in the group was cosplaying as Blood Seras. Later I began to run into pictures of her Seras costume all over the cosplay net and being a Hellsing fan myself the idea of making the costume as well made as the young lady had was a grate challenge.
In my mind she set the standard for any Seras coslayers to come. And after finding out that the couple had just retired from cosplaying I felt making the costume more in honer of the inspiration and introduction into a higher level of cosplay that the couple had given me.
Tell me about the process of making your outfit – was it easier or tougher than you imagine it to be ?
Blood Seras was easy as far as fabric goes. Simple for the fact that I had made a yellow OVA Seras costume before. That pattern for Blood Seras was the same as the OVA yellow outfit just in a different color. If anything the hardest part about the fabric was the skirt. The skirt has no zipper what so ever on it, just two seam lines down the front with two other small slit openings at the bottom that don’t line but with the front seams. The OVA Yellow outfit skirt had been a true pain in the rear and this time around I wanted to perfect it. So I sat and stewed over it for a day drawing mini patterns out till I finally got it. The pattern looks more like an abstract cut out, but hey it worked down to the smallest detail!
By far the hardest task was the dark arm. The arm was designed to be a replica within reasonable scale from a PVC figure of Blood Seras. Heck the whole costume to detail is based off the PVC figure, the belt the seems everything! The arm is made up of thick foam, fiber glass, aluminum, a heap of epoxy and about three cans of spray paint.
Needless to say the arm took a lot of time and I had started a half year before even going out to choose my fabric for the actual costume. The next step to the arm was to make a seemingly invisible support holster to help with the weight. That I must say came out well, for how much weight it held. But I feel the arm was not completed as I had envisioned. Yet had I tweaked it any more the arm may have gotten to heavy, so in the end it all worked out. Overall it was quite an ordeal complete with bruises and cuts but I learned a lot.
After making the large arm I really felt the costume need an arm that I could easily take round con and go through doors with out needing help. The smaller dark arm was an original concept and was made up entirely of craft foam, glue, and a glove. It was easy, you could move in it and take it off in a flash, yet best of all the arm still got a positive reaction out of con goers and Hellsing fans alike.
Any interesting stories from people’s reaction to your outfit at the con ? ^^
Oddly enough i don’t believe anyone has really reacted in any unusual manner then “WOW,” “Best Seras ever,” or “You did a grate job.” If anything the most comments the costume gets is on the wig styling.
How did you get started cosplaying and what got you interested ?
I always thought that it would be cool to have an anime characters outfit, and what better way to get it then to make it. Until I went to my first anime convention, KawaiiKon I never thought anything like “cosplay” even existed. But now glad I was so very wrong about that.
What are the con did you first attended and what’s your favorite con that you’ve attended so far and why ?
My First con ever was KawaiiKon. Never before had i been to a con and hardly knew what an anime convention even was except for the picture found on the web on such events. Kawaiikon was the closest con around and so KawaiiKon it was! But since then i have been to and SakuraCon, AnimeExpo, about every year. AnimeVegas is one new con i have attended and plan on attending ALA, AnimeEvolution, ComicCon for the year 2010. Really trying to branch out and explore new cons.
What does cosplay mean to you ?
Cosplay mean EPIC, it mean new friends, artful expression, confidences the list goes on and one. Cosplay is just one of those things that can yet can’t be described, there are simple so many different ways describe it. But one things for sure, Cosplay is an amazing thing and I’m very glad it exist!
If you had unlimited funds/technology/time, what is your dream cosplay ?
The one quest that so many cosplayer love to answer and yet don’t, the infamous “dream cosplays.” The dream cosplay that i have in mind would be Unknown from TekkenTAG. I’m talking about a fully animatronic spirit Wolf held up in the back, so that when I moved one way it could mimic my moves. Yet when you lest expect it to, it could turn the other way as if of its own will. All that with somehow keeping the oil sleek shine of the body costume to a T and not bumpy or bulky. Alas unless I meet a crazy tech savvy friend willing to help me out it may never happen. So to all you readers, cosplayers if you can complete the task go for it! I must say it be an amazing costume.
