Next goal: Japan Weekend Madrid 2012

Next goal is set: Japan Weekend Madrid on the 11th and 12th of February, 2012!! I´ll be completing my Lady Sun outfit for then, and praying it won´t be too cold. I had enough of that with Lady Thor in December. *shivers*

(She is so darned cool. Now I just have to practice with the Hula-hoops of Doom and be able to actually wield them somewhat, at least for photos.... =.= As soon as I paint them, I´m gonna start practicing).

LipDub Video at Expocomic 2011

Well, while at Expocomic, this girl walked up to us and said "I´m doing a Lipdub video for Expocomic. Wanna be in it?" Despite my hesitation, Loki prodded me into it. I´d never done a lipdub before, but she had (my Loki has experience!!).

So we´re in it!! Only one of the scenes that she taped us is in it....2 seconds of fame and glory (or not XD). We´re at 2:02. It´s funny, the one I liked was the one where we posed and said "I´m sexy and I know it" but the one that got put on was my awkward dancing. RoFl. 

I´m happy that you don´t actually see my face. Because, wel.....awkward dancing is awkward. 

Lady Thor: first photos

I finally have two photos of my Lady Thor cosplay. I hope to get more soon, since I was lucky enough to get together with an Avengers group who had a wonderful and talented photographer, so.....she took photos of everyone and has promised to photoshop nice thunder effects into Thor´s images!

 

I´m Photoshop-impaired. I really admire people who can manage feats like that. It´s even more admirable when the photographer in question is actually a talented photographer. So, on to the photos:

This photograph is by Eylin Da Cyel. All credit  of photo-taking genius and photoshopping is hers. Here is her facebook, and here is her deviantart (she goes by the name "Whitelemon").

After that, any pictures would look a bit amateur. Here is the other one I currently have (hopefully, more will turn up later).

A full body shot, with Powergirl (who I´s just met) and my Loki. A lot of people found it funny that Thor and Loki were both genderbent and actually getting along well. 

Here´s a crop of my outfit. It´s a shame that my hair is covering my silver discs and cape-brooches (a shame. I really fiddled around with them to make them functional). I´ll definitely be doing a decent 2.0 version of this cosplay for the Avengers movie release in May. 

Tweaking the brooches and fixing my wig´s hair (into larger front braids, probably) will be first on that list. Well, right after fixing the tiara. I dropped it minutes into the con and had to haphazardly tape part of one of the wings so that it re-attached to the tiara (Or rather, the section of the tiara with the wind unglued from the headband I used as a base....). In the end, what worked better than tape was a bobby pin (yep. I was surprised too). My friend Loki also had a similar problem with her horns.....

Lady Thor props: hammer and winged headband progress

Almost done!!

As of tonight, this is what everything looks like:

 

The only thing left to do is paint them, glue the wings onto the forehead-headband and wrap the hammer´s grip. All of which can hopefully be accomplished tomorrow morning. Yay!!

Making the hammer was a killer--covering everything with "fun foam" so that it´s even and flat is one thing, but making up for mistakes while cutting and uneveness while doing that is another....What´s great is that it´s extremely light: the only thing that really weighs in the wooden dowel. The actual head of the hammer is as light as a feather. Swinging it around will be easy and fun.

Crossplay: Female-to-male

What is "crossplay"?

It is a term coined from the mix of "cross-(gender)" and "cosplay". It refers to any situation in which a person decides to dress and act like a character (anime, videogame, book, etc.) of the opposite gender. While it can be used to refer to both male-to-female and female-to-male costume-wearing, it is used more generally to mean the latter. It´s less socially accepted for a man to dress as a woman, than the other way around, and therefore easier to find a female posing as a male than the other way around.

My personal experience is in the realm of female-to-male crossplay, naturally. I don´t have any male friends who have ever been willing to dress like a woman (much less crossplay), to my regret. Hopefully someday.....I would love to have a reverse-pair cosplay: girl cosplaying as guy and  guy as girl. Fun!

I´m fascinated by "gender bending"; I really enjoy reading manga that deal with this topic because it´s delightful (and a guaranteed laugh) to see all of the characters scrambling around in awkward situations without knowing that the reason they´re feeling awkward is that the "guy" they think they fancy is actually a girl. Or viceversa.

The one cosplay that I have determined I will do, without a doubt is even more confusing: I want to crossplay a guy crossplaying a girl. Meaning, essentially, it´s plain cosplay, but not quite, because you have to retain a "male" personality. Where can you find this insaneley strange plot device? Well, it´s  a regular boy-as-girl manga, only the reason the main character crossdresses is not because he wants to--it´s because he´s a member of a kabuki troupe, and he´s one of those boys who "plays" a woman. It´s called KUNISAKI IZUMO NO JIJOU.

Anyhow, it should be obvious--a woman generally doesn´t look like a man. So, when it comes to disguising oneself, you really have to pay attention to, amongst other things:

1. Your chest. Chest-binding of some sort, even it it´s just a sports bra over your A-cups, is important. 
2. Your hips. Boys....don´t have them. So it´s up to you to disguise them. Sometimes padding works, or the place where your pants lie on your hips, or just wearing a looser top. Whatever you can adjust from the character´s outfit.
3. Your butt. Ours tend to be curvier. Sometimes you can make them seem less with the cut of your pants.
4. Your face. Guys tend to have higher or at least more prominent cheek bones. While you can´t actually change your facial structure without the use of surgery, the clever use of contouring and reflection makeup on your face can make them seem more prominent. 
5. Your walk. Guys walk differently than girls. They sit differently as well. Observe the nearest guy to you and compare. What does he do when he walks or sits down? What doesn`t he do?

 And even then, the differences between a guy and a girl will probably still be obvious:

Do pardon my derpy face and wierd armor bump....it had been a long day and it was my first "real" cosplay. But you get it, right? Our facial structures aren´t that similar. To say the least, my chin is more delicate than his (XD). My face is thinner. Truthfully, when it comes to handsome anime characters, girls usually have the advantage: anime guys are somewhat "girly". To be handsome or beautiful in an anime generally calls for softer features. Some "guys" will be best played by "girls".

To set an example out of the anime and manga sphere.....what did the best elves in the Lord of the Rings movies all have in common?




Legolas.....

Haldir and Co....... (Haldir was a bit of a chubby-face elf, though. XD).

Random elf #4......

And the rest of the elf parade!!


(.....I totally want their robes.)






So, have you seen it yet? All these pretty boys that every single woman that watched LotR sighed over (you know you did, admit it!!) have in common.....their "ethereal" features! Or, in other words, they´re girly. Their facial features are generally thin, long, and more towards the rounded edge of things. (No rugged elves. Leave that to the rangers, along with dubious hygiene.).

Basically, elves=effeminate men=good crossplay material.

To generalize: effeminate men=good crossplay material.

Not to say that a woman can´t manage "rugged" or "bearded":

Yep, both of them are women.










Anyhow, I find this a really interesting phenomenon, and as a part of "cosplay", I will definitely come back to it another day to continue.  Meanwhile here is a website that has some interesting tips for crossplayers: Cosplay Island.

To finish everything off, I leave you a picture of my favorite crossplayer of all time: Pikminlink. Her face will always make my heart doki-doki, no matter that she´s a girl, she´s Link come to life.

Meet my Darling

Well, since I haven´t been able to post any progress pics of my Female Thor lately--because I´ve been and still am studying for my exams--I thought I might as well show you a picture of that great machine that´s behind the construction of all of my cosplays. Darling has accompanied me in my cosplay journey ever since I sewed my first cosplay-oriented stitch.

It´s really old for a sewing machine: about 15 years, probably; I inherited  it from my mother, who´s not fond of sewing (makes me wonder why she even bought the machine, frankly). It´s a SINGER sewing machine; without a lot of the fancy stuff that machines can do nowadays.....but hey, at least it has 10 kinds of stitches and is easy to use. The only problem it´s had so far was once, when the light bulb burned out and I had to change it.  

I keep on discovering more about this sewing machine every time I use it. The most recent thing I noticed: it actually has a little "blade" on its side so I can cut thread when I´m done sewing without resorting to scissors.

I love my machine; it´s a great brand; whenever I have to buy my next one I´ll definitely be getting a Singer, because they´re built to last.

Cosplay inspiration: Pikminlink

I admire and fangirl Pikminlink beyond the limits of fangirling. This is the Link cosplay and crossplaying that I aspire to.

All credit for the image goes to consplayers.com.