Euro Cosplay October 2013

Where: London Expo / London Comic Con
When: October 2013

The London Expo has become very overcrowded the last few years as it's become more and more popular. One of the reasons for this is that they're trying to get on the same level of popularity as the Japan Expo in Paris (which is the largest geeky convention in Europe). So to compete with them and make more money they began running Euro Cosplay, it's only been going a few years but has become super popular. Each country runs its own competitions in various conventions and picks one or two entries for their country. The winner of those then gets flown to the UK for the competition in October where they get judged on their costume and skit.

Here's a video made as the introduction for the 2013 competition showing the entrees from the year before:

Video by ManyLemons who does photography and filming. Here are his Cosplay videos on YouTube

So because it's become so crowded and repetitive I decided to offer my services to help out. (I know Nert from ManyLemons and some of the other con event people who were involved in the EuroCosplay organisation) And after a few conversations I was asked to do the informal interviews of the contestants which was great because that's exactly what I did for my dissertation at Uni. Below are some of the photos of the contestants from the competition (unfortunately I couldn't get good ones of all of them):

Tess Cosplay

Tess from Jak II & III

When: October 2013

Where: London Expo / ComicCon

This costume didn't come out too bad, and I was surprised at how many people actually recognised it! I was a bit disappointed at the lack of pictures I have of it though.

If I were to do this again I'd improve the ears and make the gloves (I didn't have time to before the con)

Tess Cosplay - Construction

Tess from Jak II & III

When: August 2013

Where: Home, UK

For What: London Expo Oct 2013

Tess is a character that a lot of people who have played the Jak games might not remember if they saw her on the street. She's a cool character though, a strong bubbly freedom fighter and spy who really, really likes guns. It was a shame I didn't have time to make a gun for her this time.

Horo Cosplay II - Photographs

Horo from Spice and Wolf

Where: London MCM Expo / London ComicCon
When: October 2011

Horo (which some people pronounce Holo) is one of my favourite characters from the novel turned anime/manga Spice and Wolf (狼と香辛料). She's a boisterous old wolf goddess who hires the help of a merchant to get back to her homelands. I love her because she's such a strong female character with her soft spot and she talks like an old Japanese lady, hahaha!

This was the second time I did this costume and I mostly improved it by buying a new wig to match her fur and original hair colour. The annoying thing was I forgot her sack of wheat the second time, and I didn't get as many photogaphs taken. I would like to do this again at some point soon and get some good photographs with the complete costume.

First set of Horo Photos

Horo Cosplay Construction

Jade Cosplay II - Photographs

Where: London MCM Expo / London Comic Con
When: May 2012

I mentioned that I had done this cosplay a few time in my previous post and this was the second, and most successful one. I decided to improve on the costume making the menu computer on her side look a little more real, and I completely re-did the trousers so the patter and fit would work better. The only thing was I didn't realise until after that I had the strap around the wrong way! Grrr. I'm hoping to loose some weight again and do this costume again, improving it even more! This is the one costume I want to get 100% correct! And I'm hoping one day to make a DomZ or Double H armour for my boyfriend.

Simca from Air Gear Cosplay - Photographs

When: October 2009
Where: London MCM Expo (now called London ComicCon)


I did this costume with a group of my cosplaying friends and it's one of my favourites. I really enjoy the manga for Air Gear (haven't touched the anime with a barge pole) so the costume had to be based on the manga. I put tons of research into doing a sailor costume and worked really hard on painting the trouser leg. It turned out a lot better than I was expecting it to! I'm particularly proud because I made everything in this costume, from the hat to the trousers (obviously not the skates or the wig though).

I didn't take any progress pics for this costume.

Reference Pictures

This was practically the only reference picture I used. This and other images from the manga.

Photographs

Unfortunately spending a day skating around in the wind resulted in the wig getting very, very tangled.

Nausicaa Cosplay - Photographs

When: October 2009
Where: London MCM Expo (now called London ComicCon)

I love Ghibli so when a friend suggested cosplaying characters from it I jumped at the chance. I chose Nausicaa because I probably looked the most like her (she's not petit) and because I love blue. The costume itself wasn't that hard to do and I had a lot of fun making it. It was probably my first successful cosplays that I'd made so I'm still proud of it. The only problem was that I didn't practice posing so I look way too serious in all the photos when actually she's a very happy bubbly person.

I also wanted to make a prop with it so I made her flare gun. I got a lot of people saying "Nausicaa doesn't have a gun" (imitates pretentious voice). I'm guessing they'd never seen the film or read the manga where she clearly has a flare gun for the majority of the beginning.

The only thing I wasn't able to do were the gloves and her hat. I tried making a hat but it turned out too small, and I didn't have time to do the gloves. Note to self - I need to give myself more time before cons to get the entire costume done right. (More often than not I end up wearing the entire costume together on the day of the con...)


I didn't take any progress pictures of this costume unfortunately...

 Reference Pics

Photographs