Emerald City Comic Con 2018: Queen Xenomorph (Aliens) **2nd Place: FX
This costume was one of the most complicated builds I’ve ever attempted. From the organic forms to the subtle textures in each of the pieces…I sanded and sculpted for many, many hours. Engineering a costume of this size and complexity was an absolute feat – I can’t believe I’ve more-or-less created a real, life sized Xenomorph puppet!
If you want to know more about how I made this cosplay, check out the competition book I put together for the ECCC judges. There are lots of behind-the-scenes pictures and explanations. And it almost goes without saying, lots of stories about how I leveraged mistakes to put together a finished costume.
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The Making of the Queen Xenomorph
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One of the greatest challenges in this costume was simple maneuverability. I was walking around on stilts and my face was hidden behind a semi-opaque fabric screen. Even though I was super sweaty and tired by the end of the night, I had a great time stalking ECCC as the Queen Xenomorph.
Not to name drop too much, but I met a couple of my heroes (and had a stupendous fangirl moment safely hidden behind the mask of the Queen). Steven K Smith of SKSProps found my on the floor, as did Bill and Brittany Doran from Punished Props.
From the get-go, one of my goals with this competition was to improve my stage presence. I didn’t have a lot of mobility, but I did manage to stalk and pose a couple of times across the competition stage.
I think the best moment of the day, though, was stepping off the competition stage to snap a couple pictures with my handler.
