Cosplay Linkspam, Halloween 2011

If you’re like me and haven’t glanced at a calendar in a while, you may be stunned to discover that today Halloween.

It’s okay. Just take a moment to let that sink in.

For many of us, Halloween is that strange annual event on which it is not only normal to dress in costumes, it’s expected. If you can’t attend conventions, Halloween is a great chance to let your cosplay skills shine and to impress all your non-geeky friends. If you’re a regular con-goer, however, this isn’t really the time to pull out the big guns.

It’s also a great time to tool around the internets looking for costume tips, inspiration, and other resources for your next con, since this is the one time of year that the average person gives a flying fuck about costumes. Just replace the word “Halloween” with “con” and you’ve got a cosplay guide.

The Daily Candy has a flipbook of super easy and fairly clever DIY costumes, an inordinate number of which involve flannel.

Just as lazy and exponentially more geeky are io9's “20 Zero Effort High Concept Costumes Guaranteed to Alienate your friends”. Personally, I’d love to see someone dressed as the monolith from 2001.

For those who are both lazy and demure, Jezebel has “Eight Alternatives to the ‘Sexy’ Halloween Costume”, as well as “The Last Minute Half-Assed Guide to Halloween Costumes”.

Unfortunately, Halloween is also the time when evil, cheap, tacky costumes come scuttling out of the dark, wretched sweat houses in which they were created to lurk on supermarket shelves, waiting to spring out upon unsuspecting shoppers. We must know this evil, fellow cosplayers, that we may wage war against it.

Another horror to watch out for is tacky pet costumes. As with human costumes, there are fine lines between adorable, clever, and just plain dumb. Exhibit A: The Tompkins Square Dog Parade. Occupy Wall St. Dog, FTW.

Exhibit B: Pure awesome.

Sometimes, the best costumes are born out of fusing things that have absolutely nothing to do with each other, as with this example from Chris Hardwick.

For further costume inspiration (or just an excuse to waste half an hour), The Mary Sue has links to galleries from NYCC, with some beyond cool costumes, and Adult Swim has video from the NYCC Venture Bros. costume contest, which is always entertaining.

If you’re still trying to decide what cons to hit next year, LA Weekly has a point-by-point comparision between San Diego Comic-Con and Dragon*Con, which hits some points that we didn’t address and also declares D*C the best place for cosplay.

Finally, whether you’re scrambling to prepare for Halloween or planning your wardrobe for the con, it’s important to remember that some costumes are just not okay. Now, I’m not talking about the follies of spandex and skimpy outfits; feel free to display as much of your physique as your personal confidence and region-specific weather will allow. I’m talking about costumes that, consciously or not, reveal your “inner racism”. Remember, fellow cosplayers: don’t be a dick.

-shadowen

Cosplay Linkspam, 19 October 2011

I’ve got a math problem for you, fellow cosplayers. Let’s see if you can work this one out:

Full time job + 2 (part-time theatre work) + occasional need to sleep = ?

If your answer was “No time to blog”, congratulations, you officially understand my life. But never fear, friends! For I have not abandoned you, and, today, I bring you many shiny links from across the interwebs.

First of all we have two very different but equally epic costume contests happening:

For you nerdcore fans (and really, who doesn’t love nerdcore?) Sabine thinks you should know that, “mc chris is running a cosplay contest on his latest tour, picking a winner from every show. The winners so far have been pretty epic. Updates can be had at his facebook:”. Geek rap and costuming, all in one place. Sounds like a party to me.

I may be showing my age, here, by I used to LOVE watching the old Tintin cartoons on... was it PBS? Anyway, I’m super excited about the new film, and so is star Jamie Bell. He’s so excited, in fact, he’s inviting fans to send in pictures of their Tintin cosplay and offering the winner free tickets to the London premiere of the movie. Unfortunately, the deadline is 19 October, so I kind of dropped the ball on that one. Still, it’s a cool thing to know, and hopefully we’ll get to see pics from the contest, later. Fingers crossed that this will inspire a new wave of Tintin love at next year’s cons.

Speaking of which, if you’re a parent, you probably strive daily to fill your children’s lives with the kind of quality geekery that will help them grow into tasteful, well-adjusted adult nerds. Tintin cartoons are that kind of geekery, this Catwoman costume is not. Weep for that child, my friends. Weep.

Another good example of doing right by your geeky family, is dressing them all up as post-apocalyptic zombie hunters for family portraits.

And, as The Venture Bros. Blog shows us, cosplay can also be a way to bond with that special someone.

If, by the way, you’re planning for a Venture-tastic con, The Venture Bros. Blog (Gods bless Marc Ilagan, for serious.) has
a brand new cosplay guide, to which they are steadily adding tutorials and pictures. Especially useful to those who are relatively new to cosplay.

Some folks are more devoted than others. Like
this guy, who is undergoing several cosmetic surgery procedures in order to look more like Superman.*

Finally, I’d like to give two shout-outs to some of the most bad ass cosplayers at this week’s New York Comic Con.

First, let’s give it up for this fantastic Spider Jerusalem cosplayer, who perfectly exhibits all the hallmarks of great cosplay:
A character who’s distinctive and recognizable (to comics fans) without being done to death.
A costume adapted to to the wearer that still hits those iconic points. (Painting the tattoos onto a flesh-colored shirt? Genius.)
Attitude.

Last, but not least, you’ve got to love the two guys who dressed as Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick. Because, when cosplaying characters just isn’t hardcore enough, you cosplay creators. (The best part of that image is the “mind=blown” look on Jackson’s face.)

That’s all I have for you, today, fellow cosplayers. Stay tuned for more sporadic and incoherent updates on the wide world of cons, cosplay, and costuming.

-shadowen


*I want to make it clear that I’m linking this article as a point of interest, not to snark. Body image and the personal appropriation of media images are serious-face subjects, and we at Frenemy Cosplay maintain a 100% judgment-free zone. (Although, to be fair, I’m still judging that kids’ Catwoman costume so hard.) So, if that guy wants to be Superman, then, godsdamnit, he can be Superman.
That being said... And this is random and still non-snarky... There was an episode of some sit-com, I wanna say in the late 90s, that took place at a Star Trek/SF-F convention, wherein George Takei briefly played a Trekker who had gotten cheek implants in order to look more like George Takei. The phrase “iconic cheekbones” was used. Does anyone know what I’m talking about, or did I dream this?

Spotlight on Instructables

Hello, internet. It is I, Sabine! Did you miss me? I certainly missed you.

Today, I want to showcase a website that is near and dear to my heart: Instructables. Within its many pages, you can find so many well designed, well photographed tutorials for, well, everything that it's just absurd. Here are a dozen or so choices for really neat costume and prop tutorials, ranging from super simple to super involved. Ready? Let's begin!

For a really slick looking costume piece, how about Amber's jacket from Suckerpunch?

On the prop side, there are dozens of versions of Iron Man's arc reactor, but this one, featuring a cool infinity effect, is my favorite.

This was a triumph: an amazing replica of Chell's portal gun.

Another epic (literally) prop: Thor's hammer, made from a dying star (sort of).

Weapons geeks of all kinds, here's a whole category for you: Nerf gun mods. A little something for everyone, including vampire hunters and steampunkers.

Captain America fans: trying to replicate that goddamn shield on a budget? Here's one made of duct tape and cardboard that still looks great.

If you've got a lot of time on your hands and love Doctor Who more than life itself, you can make your very own K-9.

Here's a utility sort of tutorial that has limitless applications: DIY scales with spray paint.

If you're into steampunk or innovative original costuming in general, one to watch is ModMischief.

Speaking of steampunk, if you want costume pieces, look no further. For example, here's a neat little wristwatch, so you can check the time in your airship.

Another Doctor Who note: looking for a sonic screwdriver that's all your own? Here's one you can make for about five bucks.

If we have taught you anything, may it be that you don't have to start from scratch to make a cool costume piece. Here's a mod for a glowing Green Lantern ring out of one you can pick up at Toys-R-Us.

Video game costume tutorials run rampant on Instructables, and here's a really cool one: a costume from Dead Space 1.

And, last but not least, knit your way to Doctor Zoidberg. Whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop!

I hope you enjoy/are inspired by these few little examples, and that you'll go exploring on your own. Geronimo!

-Sabine

Cosplay Linkspam, 27 September 2011

Greetings, fellow cosplayers! Shadowen, here. Remember me? Possibly not, seeing as I’ve been MIA for so long. The good news, though, is that I have ALL THE LINKS for you today, including more stuff from Dragon*Con, some cosplaying resources, and a blast from the costuming past.

First up, we have Cosplay.com and The Superhero Costuming Forum, for those of us who like a little social networking with out cosplay. Cosplay.com looks to be heavy on the anime, and the SCF does pretty much what it says on the tin. these are probably old news, but I wasn’t aware of them, so I’m passing on the info to you, my loyal readers. Check them out!

If you’re hardcore DIY, or you just like seeing how stuff is made, go here to learn how to make your very own Daft Punk helmet, then wear it to the club and see if anyone asks for your autograph.

Also in the realm of rock’n’roll costuming - and reminding us that cosplay isn’t just about our beloved SF/F - check out this stunning Velvet Goldmine/David Bowie cosplayer. One costume, twice the glam!

To thrill my little vintage geek heart, The Azarian Collection has a big photo gallery of costumes from our favorite campy 60s superhero shows, including pieces from Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman costume, plus links to other geek retro sites.

Shadowen =/= gamer, but I salute my otherly nerdy brethren and respectfully point you to this detailed and entertaining primer for PAX in Seattle.

For my fellow fans of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman - and for anyone else who likes pretty things - check out these lovely masks inspired by the Endless.

Are you now or have you ever been a Hench(person) of the Mighty Monarch? If so, The Venture Home News is asking you to send in photos and video of your adventures in villainy, presumably for a promotional spot on the glamorous life of henching.

AND NOW: more Dragon*Con

The winners of the Hallway Costume Contest were posted, sadly without pictures.

Comics Alliance has their pick of the best costumes from the con, including the truly amazing Grand Galactic Inquisitor as photographed by friend of the blog arymabeth.

And here’s a Flickr set of photos from D*C.

For extra entertainment, we have Chad Vader’s 75 more costumes at Dragon*Con 2011.

And finally, The Really Really Long Video from Dragon*Con 2011.

Time to start working on costumes for next year! ....after I pay rent.
-shadowen

Cosplay Linkspam, 12 September 2011

As part of my illness recovery process, I’ve been catching up on The Guild, and HalloweenCostumes.com is enabling us to express our love for everyone’s favorite dysfunctional gamer with the official Codex costume. Although, to tell you the truth, I’ve seen homemade ones that looked a hell of a lot better.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: A metric shit ton of stuff from Dragon*Con.

@merrypranxster is sharing three sets of pics on Facebook and is asking people to tag themselves in the photos. So check them out and see if you can spot yourselves or your friends.
Set One. Set Two. Set Three.

Our beloved arymabeth also has a ton of pictures on Flickr, including many of yours truly and the beautiful Sabine. See them here.

There’s a bit of overlap, but you can also see my pics from the con under the “Dragon*Con 2011” tag on my Tumblr. View here.

Finally, because we are all about some Venture, The Venture Bros. Blog has pics and video from the party and costume contest. You can see arymabeth and I right in the middle, next to the naked Monarch.

I’ll be honest with you, fellow cosplayers, the bog is a little up in the air right now. No idea what’s coming next. So if our devoted readers have any ideas, suggestions, or questions, drop us a line in the comments or at frenemycosplay@gmail.com. In the meantime, back to the sewing machines! Only 359 more days til Dragon*Con returns!

-shadowen

Dragon*Con 2011

Greetings, fellow cosplayers! I have risen from the depths of con recovery to bring you some brief costume postmortems and a few notes from the trenches.

First of all, on the subject of con recovery, yours truly forgot to pack her much-needed allergy medicine. This fact, combined with several other factors, led to a sudden case of the dreaded Con Crud. So, when I say I’m recovering, I mean actually recovering from illness. Bear this in mind, fellow cosplayers: don’t forget your medications and remember to take care of yourself.

But you don’t care about my myriad health problems. You care about costumes. So let’s talk about costumes.

Dr. Girlfriend
See the final costume here, courtesy of the lovely arymabeth.

Dress
-I did a stupid thing and packed the dress next to my steampunk goggles, which had been spray painted. The result being a swipe of gold paint near the back hem. Those goggles will be packed in plastic, in the future.
-The zipper puckers, but I already knew that. What I didn’t know was that the seams on the sleeves had started to come loose and need to be reinforced.
-I lost some weight between making the dress and wearing it, so it looked fantastic. With the little problems and screw-ups, though, I’ll need to remake the dress if I ever want to do this costume again.

Hat
-It looks like crap, up close, but it stayed in place. I pinned up a section of hair and used a hat pin (read: really long needle) to secure it. The needle stuck out both sides and was a pain to get in, but it worked and looked fine. I’ll have to remake this, too, but that’s partly because it’s now signed by Doc Hammer and James Urbaniak. I felt a little better about it when Doc said he’d signed a lot of butter tubs.

Gloves
-Wearing gloves make doing everything twice as difficult. It does, in fact, make using a touch screen phone impossible. Between coming off and on all day, handling things, and digging through my purse, the gloves were totally worn out. Glad I bought cheap ones.

Boots
-Squishy in-soles saved my life. My feet were killing me by the end of the day, but the boots were generally tolerable. I just had to make sure to sit down and take them off every once in a while.

Undergarments
-I wore Spanx to help smooth the silhouette, and, though they worked great, they were horrendously uncomfortable by the end of the day. Still, the price we pay for beauty.


Black Canary
Final costume here, also from arymabeth.

Black bathing suit, black fishnets, black combat boots, black mask. A decent success, for something thrown together at the last minute. And when I say last minute, I mean I made the mask Wednesday night and spent part of Friday looking for spirit gum in the dealers’ room. The boots were a hell of a lot more comfortable than the heels I wore the rest of the weekend. The bathing suit, which was several years old, was completely shot and didn’t fit all that well. I may invest in a proper leotard to future super hero costuming. The mask, I think, turned out to be the best part of the costume, though the whole thing would have been better with a blonde wig.


Lady au Pair

Dress
-Would have been fine, but the same weight loss that made Dr. Girlfriend look great made this dress baggy and ill-fitting. Also, I cut the bust too small, so the neckline kept gapping. I had to secure it to my bra with a safety pin.

Hat
-Got banged up in the suitcase, but looked great.

Gloves
-See above.

Stockings
-In the absence of sock glue, I tried securing the tops of my thigh-highs with spirit gum, which did absolutely nothing. The rubber on the stockings, however, held great. The moral of the story: buy good stockings.

Apron
-Was made at the last minute and did not match. It looked okay and kept the costume from being a total loss, but I’m less than proud of it.

I apologize that there are no pictures of the final Lady au Pair costume, but... there’s a reason for that.

Costume planning has already begun for next year, so stayed tuned for more tips and tutorials. Later, we’ll return with your regularly scheduled linkspam, including many MANY pics from Dragon*Con.

For a more detailed, less costume-oriented run down of the weekend's events, check out my LiveJournal.

Now excuse me while I go start a serious round of antibiotics.

-shadowen

Dragon*Con Survival Guide, 2011

These are the basics of making it through the con intact. For a more Dragon*Con-specific guide, see this Tumblr post from a seasoned veteran. Oh yeah, and there’s an app for that.

The con experience is a wonderful thing, full of grand adventure and glorious comraderie. However, like any adventure worth having, something somehow somewhere is going to go wrong at some point, and we stalwart explorers of geekdom must be prepared. To that end, the all-important Place to put your Shit should  be packed with carefully chosen supplies for every eventuality. Ultimately, your con survival kit should look an awful lot like your apocalypse survival kit. Don't make that face, you know you have one. For all intents and purposes, the convention floor is a wasteland, and you should prepare for your con weekend as you would a trek across the sands of Arakis.

 First Aid
Though it's highly unlikely that you'll get stabbed in the eye with a pencil, minor cuts, scrapes, and blisters are a real risk when you're tottering around in your costume, surrounded by thousands of people. There are paramedics and first aid stations scattered around, but it's a good idea to carry a few basic first aid supplies for quick fixes.

-Band-aids. Duh. Con-induced injury can come in many shapes and sizes, however, so bring a few different types with one or two of each.
-Cleansing wipes. Because sometimes things get gross.
-Hand sanitizer. See above.
-Antiseptic cream. For the especially nasty cuts.
-Nail clippers and small nail file. Partly for vanity, yes, but also to deal with broken or jagged nails, which hurt like all hell and can do some harm if not taken care of. Nail clippers are also useful for trimming stray bits of thread or opening tricky packages.
-Aspirin and/or Ibuprofen. You can get both of these in travel-size bottles or in individual packets. I'm prone to migraines, so I tend to carry knock-it-on-its-ass aspirin, anyway. If you have to choose one or the other, though, go for the Ibuprofen, as that will also help you with muscle pain.
-Tampons/panty liners. Seriously. You just never know.

Most pharmacy departments carry small, portable first aid kits, which I would definitely recommend picking up. The whole kit is a little overkill for con, though, so pick out the things you need and find a safe, secure place to keep it in your bag.


Food and Water
Any con survival guide worth reading will tell you to carry snacks and stay hydrated. Some small cons have  food suites, and it's worth paying a little extra overhead on your badge price for access to quick, easy food and water. At the big cons, though, you're out of luck. There are usually food and drink kiosks scattered around, but you don't want to learn the hard way what eating from a cart for three days will do to your wallet and your stomach. Here are a few suggestions for keeping yourself fed and watered.

-Bottle of water. I cannot stress enough how important this is. And, to all you soda drinkers out there, I have  some bad news: Your precious sugary beverages will not hydrate you. In fact, drinking lots of soda throughout the day is worse than drinking nothing at all. You'll also find yourself needing frequent trips to the bathroom, which cuts into your fun time and makes those long panels super uncomfortable. If you're driving, I reccommend picking up a BPA-free water bottle and filling it from water fountains throughout the weekend. If you're flying, pick up some bottled water at a convenience/grocery store and do the same.
-Trail mix, granola, or nuts. You want snacks that are tasty, filling, and easy to pack, and all of these fit the bill. Nuts have lots of protein, which will help keep you nourished and fill you up. If you're getting/making trail mix or granola, try something with dried or fresh fruit, since the sugar will give you an extra boost.
-Fresh fruit. A little more substantial than snack mixes, with a different set of vitamins, and generally easy to pack. If you want things that need to peeled, like oranges or bananas, you might want to do that in advance, just so you're not stuck holding the remains and looking for a trash can. If you've got juicy fruits, like peaches or pears, keep a napkin handy.
-Candy/cookies. Yes, we all need our processed sugar fix. Avoid things with wrappers, though, (see above) and go for candy pieces you can stick in a ziplock, like M&Ms, Skittles, etc. For cookies, stick a few in a ziplock rather than lug the whole package around.
-Sandwiches and such. If you're driving, go ahead and pack some sandwich fixings and utensils, or anything else to make a quick, portable meal. If you're flying, unfortunately, this isn't really an option.

These are mostly tips to keep yourself fed during the actual con events. For dinner, once all the hoopla has died down for the night, ask around for local restaurants, especially if you're in new city and your bank account can handle it. It's an adventure, remember. Try something new!


Sewing Supplies and Sundries
Like I said, something, at some point, is going to go wrong, and when it does, it's likely to be with your costume. Still, you don't want to be carrying your entire sewing kit around all weekend. You want to have a few small, essential tools on hand to deal with the inevitable rips, gaps, and general falling apart of things.

-Safety pins, the cosplayer's best friend.
-Thread to match your costume. You can use a bobbin spool or just wind a length of thread around a piece of cardboard. Either way, you want to carry some thread with you for quick fixes.
-A needle. Just the one. and you'll want to stick it through a piece of card stock or paper so you don't just have a sharp object floating around in your bag.
-Small scissors. You can find these in many travel-sized sewing kits, or you could just grab some kiddie scissors.
-Seam ripper. Because sometimes you need to get out of things in a hurry.
-Bobby pins. For hair emergencies, obviously, but they can be handy for securing wayward costume pieces, as well. Again, you may want to slide them onto some cardstock to avoid fishing around, and bring different sizes, if you have them.


Miscellaneous
Because you really just never know.

-Ink pen and sharpie. In case you run into that guy from that show and need something signed STAT.
-Business cards and/or small notebook. If you're doing it right, you'll meet tons of awesome people and hear lots of awesome things. You'll want to exchange information and take notes. The ink pen will also help with this.
-Comb/brush and compact mirror. For emergencies.
-Stain remover pen. These things are a life saver and can rescue your costume from food-smeared doom.
-Lighter. Okay, I'm a smoker, so I have, like, two or three on hand at all times, but lighters are good for a lot more than giving you cancer. You can use them it to seal the ends of frayed ribbon or string, sterilize a needle for pulling out splinters, or get a gummed pen working again. And, y'know, fire is cool.
-Camera. As much as it pains me to be leaving my lovely DSR at home, you don’t want to be lugging a giant camera around. Go for something small with lots of memory, decent megapixels, and a wrist strap.

This is what my basic survival kit looks like, and, remarkably, most of the items pictured fit neatly into that tiny zippered bag.

It's always a good idea to bring whatever other Just In Case items you might think of, but bring the things that, if you need them, you're going to REALLY need them. Extra pair of underwear for unforseen... circumstances? Definitely. Those super sexy boots that you might want if you decide to go out? Not so much.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, remember to share. If you're lucky enough to be going with a group and sticking together, consolidate your survival kits. Even if you're not with a group, if the person behind you in line has a sudden wardrobe malfunction, offer them a safety pin. If the person selling you comics gets a papercut from your purchase, give them a bandaid. If somebody's kid is crying because they're tired and hungry, don't grumble about annoying children, share your damn candy. This shit is cheap, y'all. There's no
reason to be stingy. As the wise man said: Don't be a dick.

You can follow the official Dragon*Con Twitter @daily_dragon and Facebook page for info and updates. For less informative but possibly more entertaining Twittering, follow me @joxwest, and, if you see Sabine or I, feel free to come up and tell us how great we look. Yes, I’m giving you permission to stalk us.

To the con, fellow cosplayers! It’s time for adventuring.

-shadowen