For those of you who don’t spend your lives buried in fabric and reference photos, cosplay is the art of dressing like a character.  Basically, Halloween at other times of the year.

Some cosplay is simple, like putting on an Ironman t-shirt and play gloves.  Other cosplayers spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars crafting loving tributes to their favorite characters.

Here’s my first costume:

When I was in undergrad, there was a nearby convention called NekoCon.  I went every year, because I am a giant nerd.  (I haven’t been since moving to Hawaii, but it’s still my favorite convention and I intend to go again when I can afford it.)

I think it was my junior year that a friend of mine got the brilliant idea to cosplay in a group as the Eeveelutions. (Disclaimer: I’m a Digimon girl, so all Pokemon references may be incorrect.)

I agreed to join in, with the caveat that I not be required to actually make any part of my costume.  Since I’m not a particularly crafty person, that seemed like the best bet to get an actually usable outfit.  On Saturday (the BIG COSTUME DAY at any convention I’ve ever been to) my friend John (Jolteon, in yellow) handed me a pair of leafy ears and a tail.  The rest of my outfit came from a much more stylish, but not nerdy, friend’s closet.    And voila!  Leafeon was born.

During the afternoon we met that family of Bulbasaurs in the picture and staged a mock battle.  That’s one of the fun parts of cosplay, interacting with related costumes and coming up with whole new storylines for your character.

So while I’ll never be as involved in cosplay as, say, Yaya Han, it’s a really fascinating hobby and/or lifestyle.  And to be honest, I’m wicked jealous of people who have the energy and creativity to make such fantastic cosplay costumes.

Do you cosplay?  What was your first character?  Was it fantastic?  Share a picture in the comments- I’d love to see!

P.S.  My manuscript is (still) at 66,000 words.