The original intentions for the Creative Genesis feature was to show off a fans devotion to the Genesis through art. Whether it’s drawings or music, there’s no limit to the creativity and total inspiration of the fans for the system itself and the characters that were created from it. Today instead of scouring the Internet for another talented artist and interviewing them on their “hows” and “whys,” today I’ll explain the story of how I was able to create my cosplay for Ohayocon 2008.
Staring off, a year ago in early 2007 I’d have never thought I’d be going to any sort of Japanese culture convention, especially for anime. Not that I think bad of it in any way; I just never got into the idea of going to whole meeting place for other fans to discuss different aspects. The whole idea is slightly intimidating, especially to someone whose entire knowledge of Japanese animation consists of Toonami and David the Gnome.
Enter my buddy, who had just spent three days over the summer at Collosalcon, a local show in the Cleveland area. All it took was him describing how even casual fans can enjoy themselves plenty (not that he was one; he’d pretty much kicks plenty of peoples in ass in anime knowledge, at least at our school). He convinced me to attend Ohayocon ’08, which at the time was a good six months away. I agreed, and we waited for months. Around November, he then asked me what costume I had planned.
He tricked me. The bastard.
I told him I wasn’t planning on really wearing one. I had planned on wearing an old Virtua Fighter 4 shirt I had, but I was told that to really immerse myself into the con experience I should think of something. (Yeah, I know). So, he starts naming off characters I could be. Most of them fell under the “way to skinny to live” category and I could not in good conscience actually perform a Phoenix Wright, or even attempt a Jigen, since he refused to be Lupin III. We then started looking around in un-thought of areas. Gluttony from Full Metal Alchemist came out as pretty much my best choice. I had started a look for the special contact lenses online when the perfect idea had come to me.
Dr. Ivo Robotnik!
When I mentioned it to my buddy, his face lit up and wondered why I hadn’t thought of it right away (“YOU’RE mister Sega fan site guy!”). It wasn’t any surprise of what version of Robotnik I would use. If I used any thing other than the classic 16-bit Robotnik I’d be mocked and ridiculed! And I just couldn’t face myself in the mirror! (a bit melodramatic, to be sure). Still, it was one that just seemed awesome enough to do.
I now had two months to plan out something some people take YEARS to do! Instead of typing another little story on where and how I got my parts, here’s a quick (shopping?) list instead:
- One pair of blue circle sunglasses. (John Lennon replicas worked out perfectly!) $17
- One red turtleneck sweater. (Wal-Mart, what can’t you do?!) $8.50
- One pair of black, ankle-high, square-toed boots, used. $67
- One giant Amish goatee kit. $7.50
- Santa gloves. $4.99
- ½ yard of Marigold colored fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics. $9.00
- One pair of Dockers black work pants. (Thrift stores rule) $ 3.50
- Paper plates. $3.99
- Spirit Gum. $6.99
- Duct tape. (I don’t remember the price; this was the one thing I didn’t have to buy. I don’t know why it’s even here. Oh well)
- Fat suit. (Seriously!) $10.99
Well, pretty much I enjoyed the hell out of myself at Ohayocon. I spent about $130 I barely had, and actually getting to wear the costume was a bit harder than it needed to be – from stuff ripping from shoddy sowing jobs (I can’t do it, hence the shoddiness), losing my glasses, to sneezing and ruining my only mustache, I only had the thing on for a good hour, damn it.
Still, I got a few nice pics taken and some hugs from people I’d never see again, which was nice. Overall, I can’t wait for June. Collosalcon will either have a better Dr. Robotnik, or possibly another awesome Japanese character:
Anyway, here’s a little collage of the pics I did get taken of the work during the con. Enjoy!
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