Trying Out Cosplay Again

I know I’ve talked about cosplay here before, friends, but here we are. Actively doing it. Again.

It feels a little weird, honestly. It’s been years. 2014 was the last time, to be exact, when I put together an Amy Pond cosplay out of clothes I owned and a red wig I first wore for my Joshua cosplay back in 2009 (but has been ever so useful since then for a number of different characters).

And before that was 2011, when I made a steampunk outfit for AnomalyCon, and then 2010 was Agatha Heterodyne for WonderCon…

This year I’m doing Crowley from Good Omens.

(If you haven’t watched the miniseries yet, I highly recommend it if you have access to it. I’m also re-reading the book, and the series is pretty much spot on, except it’s expanded the emotional arcs for Crowley and Aziraphale.)

I used to be a very dedicated cosplayer. I made my own patterns, started costumes months before they were needed so I had time to design and sew. I made armor and shoes from scratch. I (badly) styled wigs. I tried for screen accuracy when appropriate and was not against adding my own flourishes when not.

It took a lot of time and money, though, and generally was bad news for writing (I find it hard to spend a lot of time on two different creative endeavors at the same time).

I do miss it, though, especially the design aspect, and the problem-solving of taking something (especially animated, since I did anime and video game characters) and translating it into something real. I learned a ton.

But, anyway, Good Omens rode in at the end of May and took over my life, and I found myself thinking–why not? Why not cosplay this? It’s relevant, it’s nowhere near as hard as what I used to do, and it’ll be fun, even if I don’t have to make a lined coat from scratch from a modified Civil War uniform pattern.

I waffled a bit on whether to do Crowley or Aziraphale. I thought Crowley first–while they’re both disasters, Crowley’s brand of disaster is a little more fun–since he is tall and lanky and so am I. But then I went back the other way, because I remembered identifying so hard with Aziraphale when I read the book the first time (many years ago), and like Aziraphale I am generally antisocial and want to be left alone to read.

But then my friend said, “Oh, that sounds fun, I’ll do it with you!” and since I am at least six inches taller than her, it allowed me to go back to the initial Crowley idea without feeling guilty about abandoning my Aziraphale roots.

Anyway, I bought my first ever FX contacts last night, so there’s no going back now.

(There is exactly one place on the entire Internet that sells prescription FX contacts that look at all like what I needed. What the heck.)

And this morning I bought a temporary tattoo pen, so that’s also interesting. Best not to test that on my face, probably.

All in all, it’s coming together pretty well. There’s only two things really outstanding, which are the shoes (shooooeeeeessss) and the hair. The shoes are because I’m not sure what exactly to get–I have about 12 pairs picked out. The hair is because I’m actually going to dye it (I had already decided to dye my hair red for my birthday months ago) and I have never dyed my hair aside from a few attempts out of a box in high school and the occasional set of highlights, so I’m still feeling out where I should go.

Anyway, I’m excited! And it is fun, even without the complicatedness.

Up to anything fun yourself?