Casey hosted her 21st at the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe a few days ago. The theme? Anime dress up. Yup, you read that right, it was an invitation to cosplay.
In the past I've had quite a few reservations about the whole cosplaying thing, having seen one too many cosplays done horribly wrong (both in the flesh and on the net). However, when a lot of thought and effort has gone into preparing a person's costume, you really cannot help but marvel at the dedication that's gone into just one outfit or be stunned be the sheer insanity that's possessed these people.
Good cosplay
It's also a personal thing. I don't think I would ever have the guts to walk up on stage and 'play' my character in front of hundreds upon hundreds of anime convention participants. Plus, most anime characters wear revealing/figure hugging outfits and are either stick thin or have huge breasts, each side bigger than the size of their head. That's pretty hard to emulate if you don't already have those physical attributes to work with.
Erm...yeh...I would say he doesn't have the right body shape to pull this one off.
Arrgh! I need to go wash my eyes out or something!
Bad cosplay! Bad cosplay!
Arrgh! I need to go wash my eyes out or something!
Bad cosplay! Bad cosplay!
It was probably a good thing that I've stopped being so very adverse towards any form of cosplay since that was exactly the theme Casey decided to use for her 21st.
I wouldn't have been gutsy enough to break my cosplay virginity at a convention, but a private themed birthday party seemed like a fun way to give it a go. (It also helped that Bon was willing to dress-up as long as I worked out all the finer details like what she would go as and how we would get our hands on a costume for it).
So with that decided, I then wracked my brain and searched all over the net looking for easy cosplays which looked simple to make and preferably didn't require a wig (good quality wigs are expensive!) which wouldn't make both of us look completely daft.
And after countless hours of research (probably better spent studying for my finals) we finally decided on these two characters from Bleach.
Hinamori Momo, 5th Division Vice-Captain for Bon:
...and Ise Nanao, 8th Division Vice-Captain for me:
I was also seriously contemplating cosplaying as either Unohana Retsu, 4th Division Captain
Or as one of the characters from Azumanga Daioh, since their costume looked pretty straight forward to make.
However, I've never watched Azumanga Daioh properly so cosplaying as them would be a bit silly if I didn't know how to pose in character.
I ruled out Unohana as well because her costume requires really long and thick hair for her plaits (which I don't have) and an extra white haori that all the Bleach captains wear on top of the standard issue shinigami uniform. Why unnecessarily add to your work load by making additional costume pieces?
So with that decided, I searched high and low on the net for all sorts of free tutorials on making the keikogi (top piece a bit like a really really short kimono) and hakama (wide pants with pleats). There are patterns you can buy but I draw the line at having to pay for a pattern when the costumes look, according to Mum before she started trying to make them, "piss easy".
They actually turned out not to be as "piss easy" as Mum had originally thought and I was nasty enough to use that as leverage every single time she wanted to give up on making the costumes.
Mum: I have no idea what to do. I give up. These costumes are too difficult.
Ky: But Mum, you said they would be "piss easy" to make! You're always telling me that once something is said, it can never be taken back!
Mum: *grumble grumble*...since when did you have such a good memory?
I'm actually over the moon with the magic Mum managed to perform on our costumes. Bon and I managed alright with accessorising and doing our own hair do's but it was Mum who really made our first ever cosplay experience so fun. Thanks Mum!
Snapped by someone right upon entry lol
These badges were a great combined effort. Bon ruled up the pieces of wood, I cut them all up, using a saw for the first time in my life, and Mum used a permanent marker to draw on the designs.
Bon and me with the Supreme Master of Making Bleach Costumes
Ada cosplaying as Maka from Soul Eater (minus the blound hair)
Grace as "No Face" from Spirited Away was quite well fed at the party
Hehe, the two of us with Tammy, Casey's cute little sister
Bon and Anthony in an all-out poke war
Gogo Yubari and Phoenix Wright: Quantum of Solace style :p
Lucy as Deunan Knute from Appleseed and Cathy as Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill. I can't get over how amazing your costumes were that night!
Anthony as...someone from Evangelion? Sorry, I'm not familiar enough with the series to know who you were that night!
Yeh...quite a few of us 'Bleached it' for the night including Casey as Soi Fong! Awesome costume! Which website did you order it from again? 
Happy 21st, Casey! Thanks for inviting me and for coming up with such a fun theme!***
And because I'm amazing cool and technologically hip and happening (no really...what, you don't believe me?) and have finally figured out how to encode videos, here's a clip of Bon and me versing each other in a round of Jan Ken Pon (Japanese style "Scissors, Paper, Rock"), complete with weaponry in the form of foam pool noodles and protection in the form of a plastic bowl.
In the Japanese version of the game, the winner grabs the weapon and proceeds to thwack the living daylights out of the loser, erm...I mean...tap the opponent lightly on the head. At the same time the winner makes a grab for their weapon. The loser will be trying to reach for their "helmet" (e.g. bucket, colander or plastic bowl) to hopefully prevent themselves from getting their skulls cracked open by their opponent's enthusiastic 'tapping'.
In the Japanese version of the game, the winner grabs the weapon and proceeds to thwack the living daylights out of the loser, erm...I mean...tap the opponent lightly on the head. At the same time the winner makes a grab for their weapon. The loser will be trying to reach for their "helmet" (e.g. bucket, colander or plastic bowl) to hopefully prevent themselves from getting their skulls cracked open by their opponent's enthusiastic 'tapping'.
Ok...so we both sucked at this game since it was the first time we played it and we both had incredibly slow reflexes...mep...Jono will show you how it's meant to be done below...
Watch the clip below of the stunning conclusion to the Jan Ken Pon finals wherein Jono does a lot of girl bashing...and vice-versa...
2 comments:
No, cosplay is reserved for the crazy, hello crazy.
lol jk
Seems like an awesome night you had there... and the size of the hall room could only meant how much money and effort Casey's spent on organising it!
I can't help but to think the model (of the good cosplay) spent hours making sure every strand of hair and every fold of the shirt was the same as the illustration lol
Lol, you may be right there, I think I AM a little crazy.
Yeh, the amount of effort that went into that party was incredible. I was ecstatic when so many other people turned up in cosplay. There's actually an edible mini Soi Fong on top of the cake if you look carefully enough at one of the pictures.
I reckon that model probably had the picture on hand so that she could adjust her hair and pose to look exactly right. Maybe she's one of those professional cosplayers who get paid a fortune to cosplay...hmm...
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