Forum - View topicIn need of cosplay assistance.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 12095 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Okay, so I went to my first convention during Labor Day weekend and had a lot of fun. It was interesting to see all the booths in the dealer room, the anime being played in the video rooms, and of course the cosplayers.
I've never been surrounded by so much anime-related material before in my life, so it was quite an experience. I did not dress up, myself, because I didn't want to slap together a badly made costume in the 2 months I had prior to going. Two of my friends dressed up. The one who had put our trip together had dressed up as Nekozawa from Ouran Host Club, and did it pretty well. He got the cloak (easy enough), and the Beelzenef puppet was right on. There were actually quite a few Ouran cosplayers, and we met a pair of cute/hot twin girls that were cosplaying the twins. His girlfriend dressed up as Hinata from Naruto and looked pretty good too, aside from no Byakugan contacts, but I probably wouldn't do that either as I'm paranoid about putting things on my eye  .
--------------------- Anyway, the point of this is that I was so impressed by some of the cosplaying, that I wanted to give it a shot next year. My character? Why, my favorite one of course! Shinomori Aoshi from Rurouni Kenshin. Now, I've Googled around to see if I could find some pics of other Aoshi cosplayers, but to my dismay there are very few, and most of them don't look too good. And so, here I am asking you all for a little assistance or any tips you could provide. I know a year is somewhat of a long time, but I'm asking now because my mother is going on a trip to Laos this November and has kindly volunteered to have some of the costume made over there (cheap manual labor  ).
There are 3 main characteristics of the costume that I feel should be achieved: 1. The hair. It should be pretty easy since my hair is black and already short. The only problem is my hair isn't parted down the middle at the front. Judging by how long my hair gets, the bangs might also look weird in real life since his are pretty long. But I saw these pics of a Vincent (FFVII) cosplayer with some really cool and long bangs. I'm not sure if I should grow my hair out longer and just put some chemicals on and style it or what, but my aunt is a hair stylist and might be able to help. 2. The trenchcoat and gi. This is what my mother has volunteered to help me on. The gi itself looks to be simple in that it's just a purple long sleeve top and pants with a sash (obi) around the waste. Judging from the stature of Aoshi and some of the sound effects I thought I heard in the anime, the material is probably silk or some other similar fabric. Obviously, I'm not going to make that thing out of real silk because of the money, but I'd appreciate any feedback from those who are knowledgeable in fabrics and textiles. The coat also appears simplistic in appearance; long, off-white or maybe tan colored, and with a belt. But the unique thing is the golden ruffles on the collar. What I was thinking here was to just find a coat with the same frame and have the ruffles sewn on there. I'm just not sure on the material to use for them. Maybe a thin rubber or some well-made polyester? 3. The twin kodachi. This will be by far the hardest thing to make. In a lot of the pictures I saw, the cosplayers had awful looking toy ones, and I sure as hell don't want to disparage the character by having half-assed weapons. I've searched on the Internet, and to no surprise, I couldn't find any kind of information on a replica or anything of that sort. More than likely, I'll have to make it from scratch or create them out of something else. But I'm still trying to figure out the dimensions, which is probably around 4 ft. in total length and roughly 2 ft. per blade (w/ hilt). Overall, it'd be a wooden sheath where the end is built around one of the blades, with the other kodachi being a normal one (wrapped hilt and handguard). If it comes down to it, I might just make a non-drawable prop and carry the hilt and sheath like an ohdachi instead. As for the miscellaneous traits, I share almost the same physical characteristics as Aoshi. He's 5' 11'', 158 lbs, and I'm 5' 8'', 155 lbs. With the dress shoes for the costume, it'll probably add another inch or two. I'm not fat, and yes, I am asian (just not Japanese), so don't go thinking I'm gonna' look that awkward  .
I would like to keep this thread going for as long as possible and request the help of anyone here that could provide any information about how to make this or who to contact if you have connections with people who can help with making these (the kodachi in particular). Thanks  !
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ironwarrior
 Posts: 151 Location: Under Clare's armor, Lewisburg, WV |
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Tony, I don't know if this will help, but my wife recommends a non-cosplay site called http://craftster.org for seeing how the experts can literally make something from almost nothing. She is practicing up her craft and costume skills for a con next year (we're going normal since we already look like freaks to one in October).
If you are planning any hair change colors besides wigs, I recommend the standard bleach pack at any store and Manic Panic Hair Dye. I've had Shocking Blue hair for almost 4 years and used Manic Panic every time with no ill effects. It's very easy to do. If you go with a light hue, you can re-color it with a dark brown or black afterwards (if work screams). If my wife come up with any other ideas, I'll post them for you if you are interested. |
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sykosteve
 Posts: 356 Location: columbus, ga |
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oh man...
 for being a mod you sure missed my previous cosplay assistance thread lol j/k...wish i could help you, but I'm in just as much a need of help as yourself. My con is in one week
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unhealthyman
 Posts: 306 |
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I know pretty much nothing about cosplay, but I was intrigued, so I found this about a Kodachi.
Although at first I was thinking you could buy a mock one, I then realised that it was (understandably) against the rules at most conventions to take 'realistic' or real weapons. It looks like a fair bit of effort tbh, but the main thing I've read about cosplay seems to be that half-assed is worse than no-arsed... I'd also say, pick a couple of main features (like the Kodachi,) and do them properly, and then everything else should kinda fall into place or not be so important. |
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Cyborg 009
 Posts: 214 |
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Shinomori Aoshi, he is the swordsman of Kanryu in volume 3 right? Anyway, for a sword, make sure they will let you in with it. Usually it has to be under 6'0'' for them to let it in the con buildings. I went to AnimeNEXT in July as Zabuza (I hate Naruto, but Zabuza, Hinata, Kiba, and Kimimaro rock). I made a giant sword out of Insulation foam, and coated it with fiberglass cloth, epoxy, and paint. It ended up being 6'4'' so they told me I had to bind it up with rope and carry it on my shoulder. like a backpack: a very heavy backpack.
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cyrax777
 Posts: 1825 Location: the desert |
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http://forums.cosplay.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30
probly get alot more responces over there. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 12095 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Ah, thanks for the tips. I showed my mother an episode with Aoshi during the Kyoto arc and she understands the jist of the costume. That link for the kodachi looks like it'll be a lot of help as well.
Ironically, another friend of mine dressed as Sanosuke at A-Kon (which I did not attend). I just saw a picture of it last night and it was pretty good. Looks like we'll have at least two Kenshin characters next time around . Thanks again.
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