The Conceptual Phase
So, Jenni and Giffy asked us a few months ago whether we’d be keen to cosplay at Armageddon. We both said yes, since it sounded like fun, we both like costumes, and we thought we might be able to convince people with actual sewing skills to make cool costumes for us, which we could then keep.
I really do like cool costumes.
Things were quiet on the cosplay front until about 2 months ago. Giffy informed us that there was a secret, awesome costume idea that she was going to tell us about. It turned out to be TEEN GIRL SQUAD. Not what we’d been expecting, but cool. I considered making a Strongbad costume, but lacking the know-how or the make-do, I decided just to do voices for the skit instead.
A couple of weeks ago we had a cosplay meeting, where we discussed ideas for costumes. It was pretty simple really – get stiff white fabric, and make the costumes look as flat as possible. People were to create their own accessories, however they saw fit. We toodled off to Spotlight, and bought 7 metres of curtain backing type material. I was also strongly tempted by some of the teddy-bear print cotton and polar fleece, and by therma-drape curtain material, which was hella-cheap. This turned out to be for the best, as I returned a couple of weeks later, and bought curtain material ($2 a metre), pirate print material for bandanas ($15.50 a metre), and 12 metres of black cheesecloth at a dollar a metre. Some of this fabric turned out to be very useful…
Making the Costumes
Over the last week or so, we started making costumes. Debbie’s mother’s sewing machine saw a lot of use, and was privy to more than one rude word uttered by me when I made mistakes. Debbie sewed a simple A-frame dress, and did a very neat job of it. Unfortunately, when she tried it on, it was just a little too tight. I had drawn the pattern on, based on Debbie’s shape plus some room to account for 3-Dness. Not enough room, as it turned out – probably about 2 sizes too small? And with no zip, that made it kinda impossible to get in and out of.
Never fear, gentle reader, for a solution was at hand. Therma-drape curtain material to the rescue! Not the exciting green stuff I’d bought the week before, but rather some material we bought last year, to use as a screen, or a backdrop for photos, or whatever. We made a new, bigger dress, and it was way better. In fact, it was too big, and we had to redo a couple of the hems, but that was cool, and way more possible than biggifying a dress you’ve already cut the fabric for.
We got the dress made, but didn’t have gloves, hair, or a black top to go underneath. Shopping on Saturday took care of the top, and Sunday morning (after emergency burgers to fight off the worst effects of drinking the night before) we got hair-making supplies and gloves.
We arrived at Jenni’s at around 12, only an hour late. Lee and Svend put their awesome wool wrangling skills at our disposal, and Lee constructed ponytails for Debbie. Meanwhile, I made the magazine, and drew on the front of Debbie’s dress. With the hair complete, next step was makeup. White face paint, black lips, and eye-liner had the team looking like scary Japanese horror characters, or mental-patient mimes, or a crazy 80s band. It was awesome. I refrained from wearing makeup, as I was not in costume. In retrospect, I think this was a wise decision.
The Convention
We were dropped off by valiant driver types (the aforementioned wool wranglers), and got to wander around Armageddon for an hour or so before the competition. My stomach was sore, but there was lots of shiny stuff around to distract me. DVDs wanted me to buy them, as did magazines and swords and comics. I bought drinks instead – powerade and coke, to keep me functioning.
I took a few photos of the Squad wandering around at the convention – it was cool seeing them next to regular people. The best reaction they got was from the NZ comics table, who recognised them instantly, took photos, and wished them luck for the competition. Later, the people at the Squirt table were also excited when they saw my Stinkoman t-shirt, and one guy literally jumped out of his seat when I told him that there was a group cosplaying TGS. He had his photo taken with them – it was way cool.
The Judging
At 2pm, we went into the anime screening room for the judging. They tried to stop me coming in, as I wasn’t in costume, but a quick word about the skit, and that was all sorted out. It was a little strange at first, being one of the few people in the room (security, judges, me) who wasn’t in costume. There were quite a few people there (30ish?), in a variety of costumes. Some were pretty amazingly made (Michaela’s Eowyn costume being the most impressive for me), and some that were hilarious (the crazy Cactus was probably the funniest). It was a nice vibe in the room – lots of people who’d gone to the effort of making costumes, and were hanging out being excited. Very supportive, and lots of people recognised each other from previous cosplays, so there was a reunion feel too.
Each person’s name was called, they went up to the front and introduced themselves to the judges. They had to say who they were, and give a little info about their costumes. If they had a skit, they performed, and then they got a number on their hand (the order for the on-stage parade thingy), and had their photo taken. Some people sang songs, others acted out skits, some just introduced themselves and did a twirl. At first, the judges (mainly the Uber-judge, Zeb) asked a question or 2, such as “what was the hardest part of the costume” or “tell me about _____”, but as time grew short, the questions stopped.
We were up twelfth. The Squad introduced themselves in character, in TGS voices, which was hilarious. They gave useful information about their costumes, such as:
Puggle (The Ugly One): My dress has pipe-cleaners!
Giffy (Whatserface): I’m wearing pants!
Jenni (So-and-so): My hair is pantyhose!
Debz (Cheerleader): My hair is wool…
Then it was time for the skit. We had rehearsed that morning, but the room was hella-stuffy, I was hung over, and a little nervous. I took a deep breath, and began the script. All the Squad did an excellent job with the physical acting, my voice sounded OK (but echoed in the small room, making me wonder if I was super-loud), and the other cosplayers laughed like crazy. We got our number, and I mentioned as the girls were getting their photo taken that the TGS were drawn and voiced by one character from homestarrunner, which was why I was doing all the voices. At least one of the judges knew what TGS was, which was something of a relief.
The judging took about an hour and a half all up, and the room was stiflingly hot. I began to feel very seedy indeed, which was a worry. In future, I think it will be a bad idea to stay up drinking and cooking chicken and watching Black Books until 3am the night before Cosplay.
There was a brief break between the judging and going on stage, in which we went to the bafroom (2 bafrooms?), met the aforementioned guy from Squirt, and breathed in some more oxygenated air. It was a huge relief to be getting back towards regular temperature, and my seediness abated for a while.
On Stage
Then we lined up beside the stage, and prepared for our big moment. There was a pretty decent sized crowd, with some people we knew in the front row, which was very cool. I started getting nervous (What if my voice goes? What if the microphone feeds back like crazy? What if I pass out from heat exhaustion, or my stomach lining attempts to escape!), but it was pretty much OK. I figure if I hadn’t been hungover, it wouldn’t have been so bad. As it was, it was bearable.
Once on stage, I grabbed the mic, and took a deep breath. As soon as I started talking, 90% of my nervousness evaporated. I love microphones and PAs, and it was cool that I was able to be loud enough to be heard by most, if not all, of the audience. Apologies to Jenni for any hearing damage – she was standing right next to a speaker when I started. The script was very simple, and it was about the 5th time we’d done it, so I was pretty confident about the timing. The cool thing was that everyone’s performance came up a notch on stage, with hilarious physical acting to accompany the dialogue. This made my job easy, as I could watch their moves and time the dialogue to their actions. I also enjoyed the fact that I had to leave a pause after everyone was on stage for the applause to die down. Applause is great.
The on-stage performance was definitely the best, in all ways. It was the most fun, the most rewarding as we had instant feedback by way of laughter and applause, and it was the best executed. I was well impressed by the performances of the Squad. If I could see a video of what it looked like from the front, that would be excellent – once again it was a performance I only got to see from the back.
After we performed our skit, we lined up with everyone else and grinned and applauded others. It was way cool seeing all the people we’d been hanging out with for the past couple of hours getting their props from the audience. It made me very happy.
Then we piled onto the stage, another slightly awkward moment for me as I wasn’t in a costume, and thus felt like I was somehow spoiling the image. I decided to sit on the edge of the stage in one corner, as a compromise. When they announced the winners, there was one name that was read out wrong. There was a pause where we all went – who’s that? Then the penny dropped, and much happiness ensued. None of us were expecting to even get close to winning, but we were damn happy to do so. We checked with Zeb afterwards, to find out how we’d won (and make sure that it was really us who’d won), and it was all on the up and up. Awesome.
All in all, a hugely rewarding experience, even if you take out the winning part. It was fun, and had a great energy and vibe, and it was silly, and it was SOOOO GOOD!
My thanks to all for their awesomeness ;)
