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Used a similar technique yrs ago on much inferior cosplay(I wasn't really a cosplayer att, so it was basically a Halloween costume) ^^;
(won't take credit, remember being inspired by someone else even earlier)
Basically a tron light jacket when all I had were xmas led strings. https://twitter.com/squeakadeeks/status/1323363690083614720
(won't take credit, remember being inspired by someone else even earlier)
Basically a tron light jacket when all I had were xmas led strings. https://twitter.com/squeakadeeks/status/1323363690083614720
Cut slits into the jacket, used what was basically white poster board as scatter material. Slits were also covered in shower curtain vinyl for extra diffusion. Disc shapes were too much of a pita for scissors so those were EL ^^;
LEDs were never visible, just their 'reflection'
LEDs were never visible, just their 'reflection'
That cosplayer obviously did a much better & more pro job than my hasty macgyvering with duct tape at the time(the board was held in place with literal duct tape). I actually still have the jacket, even tho it's way too big for me now and looks like trash by my current standards.
But I'm still proud of that old thing ^^;
Actually used it as motivation for coming up with a lighting trick I still plan on using at some point, that uses a similar effect but with only ~3mm thickness.
Actually used it as motivation for coming up with a lighting trick I still plan on using at some point, that uses a similar effect but with only ~3mm thickness.
It looked better in the dark obviously and I remember getting out of my brother's car heading to a Halloween party in Ottawa and a cyclist smacked into the curb and almost faceplanted being distracted by the fancy walking light show 
It's likely the costume that put the first bug of cosplaying into me.
the following year I did another Halloween costume that incorporated plasma.
It's a lot lamer than that sounds.
It's a lot lamer than that sounds.
You've been warned.
The disc holding up the hood was a plasma disc(later used in the ray gun I'm holding in my profile pic).
The staff I also still have and use on Halloween to greet Trick or Treaters. Has an embedded plasma ball. Two years later I saw it on a steampunk prop and felt vindicated ;)
The staff I also still have and use on Halloween to greet Trick or Treaters. Has an embedded plasma ball. Two years later I saw it on a steampunk prop and felt vindicated ;)
That was 2012. In 2013 I was back in my ol city of Halifax, first con there in a couple years. @DrinkingQuest had randomly started following me on Twitter(in a not creepy way, I promise) and I saw he'd be at the con, as would @RobDenBleyker threatening a pub crawl.
Decided at the last min to throw on a trenchcoat w/ a hastily made out of order sign around my neck and go as Gary King from World's End. Compared to my previous costumes, this one was laughably basic, but I credit it as my first 'cosplay' as it was my first _for_ a convention.
AKA, it wasn't a "Halloween Costume" it was a con costume, even if was literally just a trenchcoat and a sign around my neck. That's when cosplay finally got me.
2014 I tried doing a serious cosplay. I googled "fictional characters who are 6'2" because I literally had no idea what to do or who I could pull off. I got Zack Fair from Crisis Core as a result and thought "I would love to make a big sword!"
It....well...
It....well...
I mean it wasn't ALL bad, pauldrons worked out, sword wasn't the _worst_ thing but it bent and made creaking noises and had the _worst_ paint job with that awful "hammered steel" spraypaint. The wig was hot trash ordered from aliexpress, had the feel/appearance of a garbage bag.
Next year I wanted to try it again. That was the ghostbuster proton pack. I was SO proud of that pack(and still am). I tweeted about it here. Also, here's a picture of me and @rockpapercynic holding creaky Buster trying to make @DrinkingQuest jealous.
https://twitter.com/RaeGun2k/status/1342145704760909825
https://twitter.com/RaeGun2k/status/1342145704760909825
2016 I decdie to try Zack again, this time I engineer the HELL out of the Buster and fix the saggy bits of the costume and then...errr....I come out as trans that summer
I couldn't bring myself to dress as a male character by the time November rolls around.
I couldn't bring myself to dress as a male character by the time November rolls around.
Really, I very nearly gave up trying, and retreating into a hole. I've mentioned before the amazing, I guess 'role models'? I came across on this here bird site that helped me keep my courage. I thought I'd use my cosplay as a subversion.
I'd go as a gender swapped usually male character. Would be the first time I'd be 'girl mode' so publicly for so long. In my mind, worse case people would see me as a 'crossplayer', right? So what character?
I literally had maybe two months. So, I thought I'd be clever, I'd use Zack cosplay, alter the pauldron, add a gauntlet, introduce a pink wig and be that Lightning in Cloud's outfit DLC. The shiny new Buster was finished already.
So here it went. Clumsy, yes, but this costume meant and STILL means a lot to me. I still wear an improved version of it to this day. You can see I was still nervous as HELL but this was a HUGE confidence boost.
What got me to keep at it in the end after all that was actually 2 things. 1) Me nervously entering a woman's washroom at a mini con and just having a normal discussion about makeup with another cosplayer in front of the mirror also touching up her's.
It was such a normal interaction with another woman cosplayer in an area that at the time I was still SUPER nervous about being in it made me think I could continue as a woman cosplayer.
2) @wuckajuice inviting me to a cosplay gathering hosted by @cosplayandnails
2) @wuckajuice inviting me to a cosplay gathering hosted by @cosplayandnails
Met so many awesome cosplayers, geeking about our work, always felt mad welcome, they still go on when not in plague era, anyone local I would absolutely recommend the "Cosplay Over Beverages" happenings as they are called.
Anyways, here's that cosplay now :P
Partways through this thread I realized some ppl follow me for that cosplay stuff and thought, 'to heck with it, let's go full origin story on this thing', maybe it can inspire someone else nervous about it into giving it a shot :P
Partways through this thread I realized some ppl follow me for that cosplay stuff and thought, 'to heck with it, let's go full origin story on this thing', maybe it can inspire someone else nervous about it into giving it a shot :P
Or help someone who transitioned after some cosplay not their gender identity wondering if one can really make that switch 
