Cosplayer Problems- How Do I Explain It to My Parents?

Photo from buzzfeed.

Cosplay. It is a pretty cool hobby, I have to admit that, but how exactly do I explain it to my relatives, friends, ect.?

I think if you are in my age and time when you still live with your parents, it is definitely hard to come out to them. We all have that moment where we want to get a new cosplay or our first, and need to tell them what we are buying. Let’s just say it is REALLY hard to say “I need a costume so I can go hang out with other people in costumes,” or something along that line.

The best way, or how I did it, is have my parents sit down and discuss the matter. What could go wrong? I mean, my conversation went so well, that my dad is now my right hand man in prop making.

So to help you with your talk, I have prepared a few things you have to include in your discussion.

1.) History of Cosplay 

Basically go and find the meaning of the word, (costume play), find how it started, how it has grown; I could go on. Just find the roots of it to start your discussion strong. Here are some links to help you!

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay http://www.costuming.org/history.html)

2.) Delve Further into Cosplay Itself

How I described cosplay to my parents is a mixture of theater and artistic aspects all squished together. Cosplay has A LOT of acting and theater aspects, especially if you plan on competing, and has EVEN MORE art forms along with it!

3.) Who or What are You Cosplaying?

Show them what you are cosplaying. Gather up the person/thing you would like to cosplay as in the anime, video game, ect., and a picture of how other people cosplay the character. Bring up a list of materials, costs, and other things you would like help on also.

 

Well there you have it, that is my plan to help you and others join the ever-growing culture of cosplay. I hope you all had a good Easter, and I will see you on the flip side!

 

Cosplay Ideas on Roles Using Bow and Arrow

I know some people are fans of bow and arrow, then which characters can we cosplay? Here I’d like to give you some cosplay ideas.

bows

Female Characters:

If you prefer to cosplay lovely young girls, the following characters may be among your choices:

Kaname Madoka

Kaname Madoka is a kind-hearted girl in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. After turning into a magic girl, she became independent and confident. Her weapon is a golden longbow decorated with several rosebuds. When Madoka bends the bow, it will generate an arrow with a huge amount of energy. Either a single shoot or a continuous shoot is possible, sometimes she can make a magic circle for a wide range of attack. Sometimes there is a flame emitted from the bow.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Madoka Kaname Final Version Cosplay Costume

Sinon

Sinon’s avatar in Sword Art Online 2 ALO is a cute Cat Sith with blue hair and icy eyes. She is a talented archer because cat’s vision is further than other races in ALO. A jade bow and arrow is one of the main weapons of her. She can shoot the enemies even before they cast the spell. “One shoot! One kill” is Sinon’s slogan. Wanna be a character with cat ears and an amazing bow and arrow? Sinon is absolutely a good choice.

sao2_06

 

Cute is not your cup of tea? How about a brave, bold, daring, courageous, stubborn, rebellious and headstrong girl?

Merida

Princess Merida is the by said girl who  does not fit the stereotypical princess role. She is an impetuous girl who wants to take control of her own destiny. Merida has honed her skill in archery, and is one of the most skilled archers ever seen. Cosplay as Merida, take the bow and arrows with you, ride on a horse and explore the world.

Brave-merida

cosplayer YunaDaKilla

 

Here comes another princess using bow and arrow:

Princess Zelda

Princess Zelda, the heroin in Twilight Princess from Legend of Zelda series, owns a Bow and a Light Arrow. She calls upon the Light Spirits to aids Link by aiming a Light Arrow at Link’s Mirror Shield and aids herself in defeating Ganondorf. By shooting the Light Arrows from her Bow, Zelda can stun Ganondorf, giving Link a chance to strike.

Princess Zelda

 

zelda

Cosplayer 16bitlaughter

 

Kikyou (also spell as Kikyo)

Kikyou, one of the main roles in Inuyasha, is a good female psychic in warring state era. Kikyou has two famous arrows, one is “Hama Arrow” and the other is “Arrow of Seal”. Hama Arrow, which can powerfully penetrate through the enemies and purify the miasma, is used to break the magic. On the other side, Arrow of Seal doesn’t take the monsters’ lives but can seal them up.

kikyo

Kikyo (Inuyasha)

Cosplayer sara1789

 

Ashe
Ashe, the Frost Archer is one of the most popular characters in League of Legends. Her weapon is an ancient icy bow with an enchanted crystal arrow. The arrow is a linear and colliding skill shot. Ashe fires a giant arrow in a straight line. If it hits an enemy, it will deal magic damage and stun that champion for seconds. She concentrates on every target, fights for the unity of Friel Chesterton tribes and devotes herself to make it a powerful nation. Ashe is definitely a heroine with cool outfit and ability.

Ashe_0

Cosplayer Riddle1

 

Lara Croft

As an athletic English archaeologist-adventurer in the video game series Tomb Raider, Lara is fairly good at shooting. In the game, her bow and arrow can be upgraded to different types according to the player’s different grades, which include rope arrow, fire arrow, napalm arrow, explosive arrow, penetrating arrow, etc. This game has adapted into movies and animations by the same name.

Lara Croft_副本

Lara Croft

 

Photo Found on etsy.com

 

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Miccostumes Weekly Summary 6-10th.April 2015

Our shop released the first part of our new costumes in April, and this week, we uploaded 5 costume videos to our youtube channel as well, they are Yukio Okumura,Panty & Stocking Panty,RWBY 2 Yang Xiao LongSupersonico and SAO 2 Sinon, you can see more details about costumes in the videos.

And right now there are 10 more cosplayers joined in our blog to share their cosplay articles,How to prepare for a Cosplay photoshoot and Exercise and diet for cosplay are the most popular articles this week,thanks Lisa and IRVY ,amazing! Hope more cosplayers join in our blog, and miccostumes.com will sponsor our authors for costumes/wigs,sounds good?Right now we need some articles topics below:

  • What Is The True Cost Of Cosplay?:Topic inspired by this article.
  • Top 10 princess cosplay ideas in 2015
  • How to find good cosplay ideas
  • Top 10 Ways To Become Cosplay Famous/ How to Become Cosplay Famous
  • How to make Assassination Classroom Korosensei cosplay Mask.
  • How to start your first cosplay

Also our sponsor convention reporter kitty shared her  Anime Boston 2015 experience with us, if you did not have the chance to be there, please check her report!

Best Cosplay This Week:

cosplay. Akame ga kill – Esdeath by kmitenkova

Best Team Cosplay This Week:

Killer Five Nights At Freddy’s Cosplay:

satsxw1awvgvr810wgga

Photographer:Thewillbox

 

Link Love:

How to Style a Space Dandy Cosplay Wig

How to style a wig for Space Dandy:A pompadour tutorial!


(image credit: https://warosu.org/cgl/thread/7384530)

Hello everyone! I’m back with another article!! This time, it’s for a wig for the title character Dandy from Space Dandy, a dandy guy in space who is an alien hunter and travels the galaxy with his robot assistant QT and cat alien friend, Meow.

Now Pompadour wigs can be tricky so here is a list of things you will need!

  • A short black base wig (but not too short!)
  • Newspaper or mesh wire
  • Tape (strong tape, so masking or painting tape)
  • Glue (a strong one, possibly hot glue)
  • A lot of matching black wefts
  • Black acrylic paint
  • Long lasting hair spray
  • Patience
  • A wig head (or a friend’s head if that’s easier)

1. First off, you are going to place your black base wig onto the wig head or friend’s head. You want to make sure it’s nice and tight on the stand so it won’t fall off while you’re styling it.

2. Leave the wig head alone for now and start working on the main portion of the pompadour. You can do this in a number of ways but the easiest would be using newspaper or wire. Bundle the newspaper or shape the wire into the way you want, which should be like the shape of a loaf of bread.

3. Once you’re satisfied with your shape, start to cover the whole thing in tape so it won’t come apart. If you want, you can cover the pomp in glue so the tape won’t come apart.

4. Next step is to get your black acrylic paint and start painting the pompadour until it is all black so it matches your wig.

5. Now using your glue, take your black wefts and start to cover the top of the pomp. Then start gluing wefts to the circumference of the pompadour and go from ear to ear, leaving the back without the wefts glued.

6. Measure where you want to cut the wefts by wrapping the hair up and around the pompadour, find a good length that you prefer and then start cutting the ends vertically so that there is no blunt cut on the ends of the wefts.

7. Start styling the wefts by hair spraying them and slicking them down against the pompadour base. Hairspray from the bottom to the top until it feels stable.

8. Now go back to your base wig and try it on while holding the weft covered pompadour on top of your head where you want the pompadour to be positioned. If you like the way it looks, start hot glueing it to the top of your wig. Try not to use too much because you could burn the top of your head if too much hot glue seeps through the wig netting.

9. Finally, have a friend or someone in your house style down any inconsistencies on the pompadour and blend in the base wig with the pompadour wefts in the back of the wig to make it look even and whole. Lastly, style the sides of the base wig to look like Dandy’s sideburns!

With this tutorial, I hope you enjoy your new space dandy wig!!

[☆ Kitty Himee’s Anime Boston 2015 convention report ☆]

☆ Hello kittens! Kitty Himee speaking here ~ I am a Canadian-based cosplayer who likes everything pink and cute, and who mostly cosplay as dolls, lolis and princesses. I hope you guys are doing great and having a good time, at least as much as I did last week-end during Anime Boston 2015!

General ☆

Anime Boston is a three-days anime convention held in Boston, Massachussett at Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel. Always happening during spring, this year, it occured from April 3rd to 5th 2015. It is a pretty big con as it got 6th place in North American anime convention 2014’s top 10, with approximatively 25 000 attendees.

☆ As a cosplayer, I mostly go to anime conventions to portray characters I like, meet new cosplayers from other countries and to buy anime-related goods such as figures, pieces of clothing, plushies, jewellery, etc. I know some people might come to go to panels, concerts and such, but those aren’t my cup of tea, so I will not comment about them. On another note, Anime Boston’s Dealers Room as well as Artist Alley have always been my favorites. I went to more than a few conventions in North America and I can’t help but feel emotionnally attached to AB’s one. The Dealers Room and Artist Alley aren’t on the same floor, which I find great since it helps you to guide your choice. Searching for a gorgeous Mononoke Hime print? Go to the Artist Alley. Looking for a cute alpacas plushie? Dealers Room has it. On the other hand, I felt like this year’s AB didn’t have as much variety as it used to and was a little dissapointed in the figures I saw unfortunatly.

Pros ☆

♥ Very good vibe about the cosplayers, everybody seemed to have a good time and enjoy eachother’s compagny

♥ Nice LiSa concert from what I heard, one of my friend even cried from the perfect performance

♥ Big Artists Alley and Dealers Room

♥ Cool selection of guests

♥ Faster elevators than previous years to get to your hotel room while staying in Sheraton Boston Hotel

♥ Nice and helpful staff INSIDE the actual convention

♥ More effective bag check than previous years

 ☆ Cons ☆

♥ Rude staff screaming all con long OUTSIDE of the convention

♥ Not being able to access Sheraton Boston Hotel by the usual way, have to pass by a 10 minutes walk other way while being yelled at by said rude staff

♥ Very long line to get in the convention, even going outside while it was windy and cold, and even raining at some point (can you imagine yourself wearing huge high heels, bikini-type cosplay or long wig outside during a cold day of spring?!)

♥ Less variety of goods in the Dealers Room

♥ Artists belonging in Artists Alley in Dealers Room instead due to lack of organisation

♥ Foodcourt crowded at all time of the day, at least 40 minutes wait before getting your meal

 

 ☆ My own experience ☆

☆ I had a great time despise the negative aspects of the convention I already covered. I dressed as a pastel kitty maid on Friday, as Shiro from No Game no Life (sponsored by Miccostumes) on Saturday as well as Sunday morning before changing into my Korilakkuma kigurumi.

☆ I bought three very lovely alpacas plushies, two gorgeous Sailor Moon macarons, a very cute pink seifuku, a rainbow petticoat with tiny bows and two pastel necklaces which I love very much. I even got a free print, given by an artist after I talked to her at the con since we found in eachother lots of things in common !

☆ I got filmed in two videoshoots and got a personnal photoshoot as Shiro on Monday in the hotel room and I would lie if I told you I wasn’t super excited to see the result just yet !

☆ I had tons of fun with my friends and even got new ones from Connecticut and Boston which is great since I love befriending new people. Those guys were the main reason why this Anime Boston was my ultimate favorite up to date. I laughed all con long, watched animes in the room during the nights (got to discover Gundam Build Fighter which fitted perfectly with AB’s Kaiju VS Mecha theme), drank cool purple drinks and I can’t wait to see my new friends at Connecticon this summer.

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