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The Mike Toole Show - Cosplay Complex




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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:05 pm Reply with quote
There's something wrong with many of the URL links going to

animenewsnetwork.com/the-mike-toole-show/a href=
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jrnemanich



Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 238
Location: Denver
PostPosted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:14 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
There's something wrong with many of the URL links going to

animenewsnetwork.com/the-mike-toole-show/a href=


Getting the same thing.
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Youkai Warrior



Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 505
Location: Sarayashiki
PostPosted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:20 pm Reply with quote
There are several characters I want to cosplay as, but I don't have the time or money to make a costume, let alone several. Plus, I haven't been to any conventions since last year.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:33 pm Reply with quote
URLs are all fixed up now.
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Petrea Mitchell



Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 438
Location: Near Portland, OR
PostPosted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:50 pm Reply with quote
It was actually Forry Ackerman's girlfriend at the time, who is variously remembered as either Myrtle R. Jones or Myrtle R. Douglas, who came up with the idea of dressing up as Man of the Future and Woman of the Future, and who made the costumes. I'm not sure how this got so widely misattributed; Ackerman himself always seems to have been careful to mention in interviews that he was just the model.

To answer your question... I think the first time I started dressing as something specific, rather than a random congoer with a cloak or something, was when I started going to SCA events with uncle's family. The high point in my costuming career would be part of two honorable mentions at the 2004 Worldcon masquerade for a presentation called "Professor Gumby Teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts". My SO was Professor Gumby, and no, not the green guy... think the Monty Python characters with handkerchiefs on their heads.

Best costume... I've seen so many that I couldn't pick one. But I think this one, assembled in 24 hours, is the most amazing one in my recent memory.

Thing I haven't cosplayed as yet? Tons of them. But in particular, when I have time for costuming again, I think there is a masquerade entry in the fact that Charlie Chaplin and H. P. Lovecraft were contemporaries...
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Kyosuke_



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 56
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:55 am Reply with quote
Oh I remember that Doraemon costume! That was the first Otakon that I went to.
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 1236
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:03 am Reply with quote
Nice homage to Cosplay Complex in the title. That was an awesomely hilarious and lesser known series, especially the dub. Very Happy
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:34 am Reply with quote
Echo_City wrote:
Nice homage to Cosplay Complex in the title. That was an awesomely hilarious and lesser known series, especially the dub. Very Happy


Hey! I named some of my devices after Wonder Farm characters! Laughing

I remember those Holiday Inn 24-hr Otakons. Back then, we were gonna cosplay as Rurouni Kenshin charas on one of those, but we determined it was too much work for us - we're lazy. Anime smallmouth + sweatdrop
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 1708
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:53 am Reply with quote
Michael Toole wrote:
Heh, hey guys, remember Wonder Farm? They made a bundle on that Hand Maid May rubbish, then pretty much killed their company with Hand Maid Mai, which was so awful it got cancel--

You may know something I don't, but the official reason it got cancelled was that Five Ways, the company that was funding and distributing Hand Maid Mai, went under—not Wonder Farm (which is still running). A copy of the notice is here (in Japanese).

Personally, I enjoyed all three series (except for the lack of the promised episode 4 of Cosplay Complex, and the missing episodes of Hand Maid Mai), but then I am easily amused.

Michael Toole wrote:
Okay internet, what I need you to do now is dig up all of your issues of Animerica from, like, 1996 to 1997. Look in the back, where you'll find generally awful fan art and blurry cosplay photos. I'm in there somewhere, dressed as Black Jack, Tezuka's dark doctor. Would you do me a favor and scan that in? I've rummaged all week and can't find my own copy. Thanks, internet.

I can't scan it for you, but I can tell you that it is in Animerica vol. 6, no. 7 (1998, not '96 or '97) on page 78 (top, second from left).
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khaos1019



Joined: 28 Nov 2007
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:38 am Reply with quote
Michael Toole wrote:
I spent the rest of the presentation wandering around the back of the hall, passing out candy that I'd kept in the costume's belly pouch, because that's what these things are for.


I think every anime convention should have a Doraemon passing out candy from his 4th dimensional pocket.

Great post, Mike!
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bravetailor



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 817
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:38 pm Reply with quote
Trish Ledoux...man, I wonder what she's doing these days. Thanks for those retro Animerica days. I have more issues than I care to admit.
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Asukatoo



Joined: 28 Nov 2005
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:40 pm Reply with quote
It was in Crystal Beach, VA. Not sure if I remember your Doraemon costume back then, but I was dressed (of course) in my Asuka plugsuit. That was the second (I think) time I wore it.

I fondly recall all the folks you mentioned: Trish, Jeff (RIP), Neil (he had a posse!) and many others.

Peace, love & Hello Kitty,
Tiffany Grant Surprised)
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:39 pm Reply with quote
The best costumes I've ever seen were a highly detailed Ryuk as well as an Alphonse Elric (both at separate cons). These were not like your run of the mill cosplays at all. Both were painstakingly crafted (and it shows since I saw them just about everywhere getting asked for photo ops).

I'm not much of a cosplayer myself, as I've only ever done it twice so far. The best I could pull off was Jiro from Blue Dragon (yes I know, real imaginative design Rolling Eyes), but a few people mistook me for Great Saiyaman. This was I get for dressing up as a character Toriyama designed (seriously dude, variate your style more! Evil or Very Mad).
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Mushi-Man



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1537
Location: KCMO
PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:16 pm Reply with quote
Another great article Mike! You did a great job giving a quick and interesting history of cosplay in a well written manner. I love reading things about early cons and anime culture so this was right up my alley.

I'd say the best cosplay I've seen (in terms of detail) is this Pyramid Head cosplay. He put every inch of detail into the costume that he could and even went so far as to make the helmet out of real metal (although a light kind of metal). I can never remember the guys name but when he wares it you can catch him around the con taking periodic breaks because the mask is too heavy and hot. I have to say he might be the hardest working cosplayer I've met. I've also seen a very well done Portal cosplay, the portal gun looked like the real deal and had all the fancy bells and whistles. I thought he had just bought it but I talked to him and it turns out he actually spent hours constructing it himself at home. But one of the cosplays that has most impressed me wasn't really even that well done. It was a young man dressed as Captain Harlock, I simply enjoyed the fact that another young fan liked it enough to cosplay as him.

As far as a cosplay that I've always wanted to do I'd have to go with Ginko from Mushi-shi. I've always wanted to spend a year constructing a very detailed cosplay of him.
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