Cosplay entered my life five years ago and today our relationship is healthy and strong.
And slightly co-dependent.
And a little obsessive.
The point being, I entered the cosplay world tentatively in 2012, but now I feel confident declaring that I’m seasoned cosplayer. 2017 is gonna be my break out year! Or not. I’m okay with either outcome.
I don’t cosplay professionally – and I’m not sure I ever will. My personality doesn’t lend itself well to financial risk-taking, so I probably won’t be quitting my day job any time soon. But cosplay is something I really love to do in my free time, and I’m happy donating every spare moment to my projects.
I’m building some back story here before I dive into the good stuff – the RCCC experience – to give a sense of the person that I metaphorically “bring to the table.” And I’m unashamed to admit that my opinion and experience are biased, because I love cosplay and the community of cosplayers that spend their precious hours laboring over projects of love.
So, Rose City Comic Con was an important convention for me for a couple of stand-out reasons:
- I cosplayed for the first time at RCCC in 2013 – It’s my home base!
- I have enough friends and emotional safety nets nearby Portland that I feel comfortable taking risks – the artistic kind, at the very least.
To me, cosplay is about celebration and creation. I select characters that I admire, or speak to me in some way – folks I’d like to meet in real life and have a conversation with over a burger. But there’s also the artistic aspect of cosplay. I like to imagine that I’m tasked with bringing a character to life, and it’s my job to interpret that character in a way that honors the work of the actual artists, actors and writers who make a character living on screen.
For RCCC, I decided I wanted to cosplay Heimdall. I had some help in making this choice (thanks mom!), but ultimately there were some things that really drew my attention to Heimdall:
- In the Thor franchise, Heimdall is conveyed as quiet, thoughtful, calculating, observant and strong. He’s complicated. I like that. He’s also not just a front line grunt, he’s an unstoppable force – always a step ahead and always a level stronger. I think this makes his character interesting.
- Heimdall is rarely cosplayed. This could be because Idris Elba plays Heimdall in the movies (and as far as I’m concerned, he is a god amongst humans) or it could be because his recognizable character is passed over for the more popular kids – Thor and Loki.
So, let me be clear here: I’m not Idris Elba. Not. Even. Close.
If Idris Elba was the Statue of Liberty, I’d be a kindergartner’s clay coffee mug.
We are very different people. And I’m not speaking about size or skin color or gender – the physical traits that are obvious – I’m talking about branding. No one calls me calculating, or powerful, or unstoppable for that matter. Sometimes, when I sneeze, I startle my cats, but that’s about as intimidating as I get.
It turns out, the fact that Heimdall and Idris Elba are so different from me actually attracted me to the cosplay more. I felt challenged to scale the character to a petite female form, while showcasing the strength and pride of Heimdall.
This isn’t a tutorial. Those will come…eventually. So, I’m not going to go into great length about how I built my cosplay. Instead, I’ll share this: my vision for my costume was always crystal clear and present in my mind’s eye. I wanted my Heimdall cosplay to be magnificent. Clean lines. Solid pieces. Detailing that keeps the eye busy for a solid five minutes. Most importantly, I wanted my work to honor the original concept of Heimdall and the integrity Idris Elba brings to the character.
With any build, there are pieces you like and there are pieces that you put on your list to “revisit.” When I walked into the Rose City Comic Con in my cosplay, I worried that my pieces in need of “revisiting” would overshadow the whole build.
I was wrong.
And I was swamped. With requests. For pictures. Of me.
The reaction was both overwhelming and flattering. People loved the cosplay! In retrospect, I think what surprised people most was that I took a character who was hard to imagine past Idris Elba, and I adapted it to me. Short, fluffy Kristy. There were some things I had to give up – like his heavy golden chain mail. But there were other things that I added – celtic knot work across the vambraces and sabatons. Subtle details like embroidery and quilted sleeves in exchange for heavy leather garments.
This is the part I really want to talk about though. As I worked my way across the convention floor, from photo request to photo request, my cosplay heroes approached me about my work.
Eric Jones, from Coregeek Creations, came to talk to me about my sword.
Nick Kettman, from Modulus Props, let me chat his ear off about his samurai storm trooper.
I met Murray from Foam Friction and Brad Hallock from BHCosplay and they invited me to RenCon!
To have the major players in cosplay take time out of their convention to strike up a conversation was amazeballs. I’m still riding the high.
Fangirl done.
Kinda.
What resonates with me most, though, is that my vision struck a chord with people. The vision I worked tirelessly to achieve caught the attention of my community. And that’s some pretty heady stuff.
I’ve never been one to network, but the experience of reaching out and actually making contact with the people I admire inspires me to try again. There are a number of amazing cosplayers whom I’d love to pick their brains. And this whole experience has me wondering about what might happen next time.
Cause’ RCCC makes me want to build again. And I’m hopeful to get an even bigger reaction with my next project.
