Photos
Selected photos from selected costumes. Unless otherwise stated, all costume elements are by "...And Sewing Is Half the Battle!"
Enjoy.
Mysteriously Vanishing Star
We were fortunate enough to find some rare manga scans of this little-known gem! MVS (or Fushigiboshi ga Unsanmushou) was a short-lived ill-conceived space opera of the 1970s, but its few -- very few -- fans are frighteningly cult-like in their enthusiasm.
Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is a mashup of most of CLAMP's previous work, as the protagonists leap through a series of worlds and meet characters from fan-favorite universes. While at first it may appear to be just an excuse for CLAMP to trot out their previous successes, be warned that there is serious plot coming.
These costumes were based on artbook images. CLAMP loves to torture costumers.
Awards:
- Best Masters Craftsmanship, Youmacon 2009
Skits:
- A Vampire's Transformation, Youmacon 2009
Slayers (& Slayers Vegas)
Based on a series of novels, the Slayers anime first aired in 1993. We took our character designs from the newest in the series, Slayers Revolution (2008) and Evolution-R (2009).
These costumes were tough! They have tons of detail which isn't visible to the casual glance -- each character has embroidery appropriate to character themes, for example. Gourry's Sword of Light really lights through an etched blade, and Zelgadiss' sword glows red with its enhancing spell. Lina's power amulets all light as well. These were very challenging and much fun!
Awards
- Best Masters, Ohayocon 2009
- Second Place Professional Division, Gen Con 2009
(Looking for Vegas? See below.)
Devil May Cry
Characters from the very popular video game series Devil May Cry.
By the way, two and a half of these three costumes are made almost entirely of trash.
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)
Kuroshitsuji ("Black Butler") is a popular manga following the adventures of a boy (heir and master of a successful toy corporation -- and a secret government law enforcement responsibility) and his decidedly inhuman butler in Victorian England.
Gundam Wing OZ
Treize Kushrenada, Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin, in OZ uniform, from the series Gundam Wing.
Awards
- Best in Show, Youmacon 2008
Skits
- Gundam Wing - The Television Sequel, Youmacon 2008
The NOTW Paperback Adventure
This was our entry for The Name of the Wind paperback release photo contest.
The contest, in April 2008, consisted of these instructions by author Patrick Rothfuss: "Your job will be to go out and take a picture of yourselves with a copy of the paperback. Then you post those pictures up here in the event. Then, at the end of the month, I'll give prizes to the best of these."
We had done some cosplay for Pat's book before, and so I guess we couldn't resist going just a bit crazy for this. Here's the result.
Update: Grand Prize winner!
The Insane Wingéd Project of Doom
Moving, articulated, 12-foot wingspans! What's not to love?
Awards
- Best Masters, Ohayocon 2008
- 2nd Place Skit/Performance, Anime Central 2008
- Best in Professional Division, Gen Con 2008
Skits
- A Moral Dilemma, Anime Central 2008
- Why Faust Never Became a Gamer, Gen Con 2008
Gankutsuou, The Count of Monte Cristo
-- Laura
Awards
- Best Masters Hall Cosplay Craftsmanship, YoumaCon 2006
- Best in Show, Craftsmanship, OhayoCon 2007
- First Place Anime Division, Gen Con 2007
Skits
- When You're Blue (Anime Central 2007)
- Money Can't Buy.... (GenCon 2007)
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist, one of the most successful Japanese franchises of recent years, began as a popular manga (graphic novel), then made platform leaps to television, video game and theatrical film formats. The story is set in the early 20th century in a world similar to ours, except that instead of developing mechanically, technology has advanced in the field of alchemy.
Awards
- Best Advanced Craftsmanship, Animarathon 2006
- Craftsmanship Merit Award, Anime Central 2006
- Best In Show, DaigaCon 2007
- Hall Cosplay Winner, Gen Con 2007 (Edward Elric)
Skits
- Fullmetal, Panicked!, Daigacon 2007
The Name of the Wind
In 2007, a new fantasy novel was released, a debut by Patrick Rothfuss. Not only did it turn out to be immensely successful, it struck a sympathetic chord (pardon the awful double internal pun*) within our own circle. And then an innocent chat between two friends somehow became a plan to cosplay and photograph characters....
Gensômaden Saiyuki
Gensômaden Saiyuki is based very loosely on the traditional eastern Saiyuki (Xiyouji) legend about a Buddhist priest traveling to India to retrieve a sacred text. In Minekura Kazuya's version, however, the Buddhist priest and his party are traveling to quell an uprising of disturbed youkai and face wholly different challenges.
Yes, the characters really do wear jeans beneath their robes. That's canon; I guess they're exceptionally enlightened priests. No, we didn't sew the jeans ourselves; we were lazy on that aspect. But we did dye Alena's black to match.
The "scriptures" on the two priests combine to read the Apostles' Creed. ("I believe in God the Father, Almighty Maker of Heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only begotten son....")
Awards
- Best Advanced Performance, Animarathon 2007
- Best In Show (craftsmanship & performance), Youmacon 2007
Skits
- Anime Characters Only, Youmacon 2007
Gensômaden Saiyuki - Ghetto Ikkou
"Ghetto" is a term to describe a poorly made or thrown together costume of the lowest order. It's not usually this intentional. But Alena and Laura had pulled nearly a week of all-nighters to finish the new Gankutsuou costumes, finishing at about 3 a.m. Friday morning (for judging at 7 p.m. in another state). At about 2 a.m. Friday morning, we realized we didn't have a Sunday hall cosplay and were just brain-fried enough to think that a totally ghetto cosplay would be fun.
The challenge was to create recognizable characters with as little effort as humanly possible -- we spent perhaps half a hour to costume five models -- that looked as if we'd spent as little effort as possible on them. Yes, we're trying to look this bad!
Speed Racer
"The absolute best part of this cosplay was doing the voice of Trixie. All -- night -- long."
Yes, our Speed had red socks!
Speed Racer, Racer (Femme) X, and Trixie for the opening of the new film; this is ghetto cosplay. (Quick, easy, no pretenses.) Some Goodwill store finds, some recycled pieces, some scrap fabric taken from the trash, and some scavenged bits from around the house. See if you can identify all the costume parts!
Harry Potter
For a local release party of the seventh book, we cosplayed as a variety of characters from the book series, including Nearly-Headless Nick, Snape (Good) and Snape (Evil), Professor Trelawny, Dudley Dursley, and of course Harry Potter himself.
Star Wars
We decided at the last moment to attend an Episode IV screening. All our pieces were scavenged from other costumes (Saiyuki, Cowboy Bebop, etc.) or out of our own closets. (The Sandtrooper we found put rather more work into his costume.)
Our church was having a special event before the time of the screening, and we showed up in our Star Wars costumes. Yeah. Our church rocks.