Desucon 2012 cosplay plans!

Hello summer-hungry geeks!

I'm super early with this cosplay lineup post but I have already decided on my appearance at the upcoming Desucon in Lahti, Finland, on 8-10 June. There's still several months to go but, as I'm making an entirely new and somewhat challenging costume for the con, I want to start it already now while I still have plenty of time (and hype!) to get it done without it being yet another last minute project.. I hope. :D

This is what my plans look like~

Friday: Juushirou Ukitake from Bleach

Saturday: Ichito from Asaki, Yumemishi

Sunday: Souji Okita from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

I'm bringing my signature captain Ukitake cosplay on the first day and I will be taking the shikai twin swords with me too, woop! It seems our Finnish Bleach group decided on Friday being our group's main day – we're totally assembling once again! Gonna keep this greatness going~

When it comes to my planned Saturday cosplay I gotta say that this will be one of the most obscure cosplay choices I'll ever do and yet I don't care because I adore his design, period. Ichito is the antagonist from a visual novel game called Asaki, Yumemishi that was only ever released in Japan. I stumbled upon this character by chance when browsing online and I was immediately curious about the source. I've tried to read up on what the game is about and done my research but it's been quite limited since there's not a lot of information available in English, aside from a few scattered summary blogs. He might be a cursed undead spirit who's treading on psychopathic grounds but he looks cool and that means I want to cosplay him. Besides, I think his mystic backstory is what makes him rather intriguing because you have to piece together what happened to him through the routes of the other romanceable characters.

And for my third and final cosplay I will splurge headfirst into my latest new anime obsession and that's Hakuouki. Okita is currently one of my favorite shinsengumi members in the series, if not my favorite. I decided to do the sickbed yukata version or whatever it's called – the purple yukata he wears in bed while not doing too great. I don't know if it has an official name, probably not because I can't find anything? But anyways, this is a quick new cosplay to throw together and it should be possible to get both Ichito and this yukata version of Okita completed in time! Oh and yeah, my cosplay friend group is planning a smaller Hakuouki gathering so there's gonna be a lot of fun and derps~

That's all for this time, stay tuned for upcoming progress posts!
Shiro Samurai says bye~

Chibicon 2012 cosplay plans!

Hi everyone!

Chibicon is coming up at the beginning of next month and, after some thought, I have finally settled on my cosplay plans for the con. I don't know much about Chibicon, I've barely heard about it before but I heard an anime convention was coming to Oulu and yeah, that's enough to get my interest. xD

My original plans included bringing my Ichigo Kurosaki cosplay back but I read up on Chibicon's cosplay prop rules and it seems like they have some limits in place and well, my supreme super-sized zanpakutou would probably end up collecting dust all con day in the cloakroom and that would be kinda uncool. Very uncool. My Ichigo cosplay just isn't that impressive without the oversized butcher knife. Chibicon's rules don't like big props and that means Ichigo has to remain sulking in my closet.

So what am I cosplaying instead, then? Something else from Bleach, of course.

I'm gonna go with Byakuya's first appearance version. Anyone who has watched the anime or read the manga might remember that the first time he shows up in the series is when he arrives in the real world together with Renji in tow. What makes this version different from his standard attire is that he isn't wearing his captain's coat and instead appears in just his shinigami garbs. It's a peculiar thing, I'm not sure why the cloak was omitted but regardless this version exists canonically and that means I'm gonna cosplay it!

As much as I would like to do Byakuya's default outfit I just don't have the energy to make another captain's coat right now. I thought that this version would be a nice middle-of-the-road option where I get to do a character I really like in a version that's quick to put together and on top of that it's one that's rarely done. If ever?

I've already made those kenseikan hair pieces or, as I like to call them, "hair bananas" lol. I made them very budget-friendly by bending and stacking two layers of cardstock paper on top of each other and then using thin cardboard for the bottom and I shaped it with staples and secured it with duct tape for stability on the underside. It probably sounds incomprehensible and yeah, this was a bit of a trial and error project where I had to make do with what I had easily and cheaply accessible. During my first test run they were too big and thus troublesome to attach; I had to use strategically placed bobby pins to keep them somewhat in place. I later modified my kenseikan and now they sit a bit better and are easier to attach.. although I could still use a helping hand to fasten them, heh.

I've also made his scarf. It was very easy to do. We had this whole pretty white fabric roll at home and I wrapped several meters around my neck in front of the mirror to check the drape before commiting, lol.

I measured around 2,5 meters of that fabric (yes the whole width, huge scarf is huge) cut it out and sewed it. It feels like I'm having a whole curtain wrapped around my neck. xD I hope this thing doesn't get hot and I also hope I won't need to pin it in place lol. Damn you Byakuya and your über-precious-family-heirloom-crème-de-la-crème scarf...

That's all for now, bye!
Shiro Samurai out~