By Mark Rodriguez
Johnny and I love anime cons, and we try our best to cosplay. Now we can't sew and can't afford super extravagant super detailed costumes and/or weapons, but I mean, we make do with what we have. While we don't exactly have a huge collection of Cosplay outfits, it's fun to look back and remember the cons of yesteryear, especially since this year Johnny finally got himself a different outfit.
-1 Cosplay Ever- Krillin and Android 17 from DBZ-
Krillin is Goku's lifelong friend and possibly the strongest of the normal humans in the series. He would eventually marry Android 18.
Android 17 was meant to be an evil Android set to kill Goku and wipe humanity but he was absorbed by Cell. He would mellow out since then.
Oh wow, those were the days. I used to shave my head to Cosplay as Krillin. Well, the OG DBZ outfit of mine (which no longer exists) was basically an orange shirt we cut up to match the show and we had to buy orange fabric and custom make the pants. We used blue fabric for the wristbands and I wore a black shirt underneath. We carefully drew the Kamesennin symbols for the patch on the front and back of the outfit and had someone sew it on for us. We used some black fabric for the martial arts belt.
Of course for Android 17 it was matter of a black shirt and jeans and we used some of the leftover orange fabric to make 17's scarf. We also created the little Red Ribbon logo and sewed it onto the shirt. Add a wig that best matched his hair style and there we go. I noticed Johnny wasn't wearing a white shirt underneath but this was his first outing in Cosplay. He would wear the white shirt at future cons.
- DBZ Cosplay 2.0
After the old outfit was falling apart, Pikachika offered to make me a fully custom made new-and-improved DBZ outfit. You can see the difference in quality, especially on the top part. To save time on a tight schedule she cut out the symbol patches from the old outfit, re-inked them and sewed them onto the new outfit. I used the same wristbands and belt from before. Even though I had stopped shaving my head at this time, everyone still knew I was supposed to be Krillin. I would use this at Anime Vegas 2012 not knowing that 2013 would be the last.
-Ryu from Street Fighter
Ryu trained alongside Ken to be the best martial artist out there. His main goal is the perfect mastery of the Ha-Do-Ken and controlling his inner Dark Hadou.
This one got me buying a legit martial arts training gi from a Japanese store on Amazon. The uniform sizes were hard to figure out since they don't use the American style measurements (sizes like 000 and 03 instead of L and XL for example), and the store was nice enough to replace my first attempt that was way too small for me. We had someone cut off the sleeves and give it that torn up look Ryu has with the exaggerated triangular shapes.
I also bought red hachimaki bandanas from Amazon but they were way smaller than expected. Luckily it came in a pair, so sewing both of them together gave me the perfect size for a bandana.
The gloves were also legit MMA gloves I got off of Amazon. The fun part with cosplay is you can go as legit as possible. The blackbelt was the same one I used for the Krillin costume.
This pic shows the before and after of the Karate Gi when I first got it out of the package and after we made it match Ryu's gi.
I used this outfit mostly for Zenkaikon and Scifi Valley Con. I'd need a haircut to make the costume accurate so I probably won't be using it for a while.
-Cosplay Terry Bogard and Kyo Kusanagi from Fatal Fury/KOF (and King too)
Terry Bogard trained since a young age to one day return to get revenge on Geese Howard for killing his father. He mastered several street fighting techniques to rival his brother Andy's ninjitsu techniques.
Kyo Kusanagi has the flames of the Kusanagi clan and is fated to deal with his rival Iori Yagami as well as one day defeat Orochi.
I was lucky enough to get the Fatal Fury cap beforehand at a previous Anime Vegas. I found the exact same jacket Terry wore on Etsy and bought the very last one. All that was missing was the star on the back. For that we used thick fabric to make the star, cut it out and sewed it on the jacket. Paige got me the fighting gloves from Five Below. The rest was basically a white shirt and jeans and growing out a pony tail.
For Kyo's outfit, Johnny had a similar enough jacket and gloves. He re-used the Android 17 wig. Johnny went for the simpler outfit Kyo wears in KOF XII without the sun symbol on the back.
Bonus Pikachika dressed as King. I would not be surprised if she made the whole outfit herself.
-The Riddler- Batman
Edward Nygma has a compulsion to always leaves riddles at the scene of the crime. He wants to match wits with Batman to prove he can outsmart the Dark Knight as the Riddler.
Alright, this might be cheating, especially when it comes to the world of Cosplay and opinions regarding Halloween costumes... but yeah, I found this cool looking Riddler costume at the Spirit Halloween Store and picked it up. It's the vest and it comes with the bowler, the mask and question mark staff. The only problem is the 'black shirt' and tie are all part of the same vest, all one piece. But hey, all you have to do is buy some classy black pants and the costume is complete. I decided to ditch the mask though.
I mostly used this one at Zenkaikon though sometimes I wear it during Halloween Comicfest since the stores are usually holding some sort of costume contest. I really wish I had this outfit a few years back when we went to Comic Expo Las Vegas.
-Android 17 Dragonball Super
In Dragonball Super, Android 17 now works as a part ranger and he joins Goku and the rest for the Tournament of Power to save their universe from being erased.
Shortly before meeting up with Johnny, I was able to order Android 17's new shirt from an Asian store on Amazon. The shirt has the extra lines and details pre-drawn as well as the Ranger band around his sleeve, but oh well. A more accurate shirt would have cost way more and we would have to waste time making the arm band from scratch. From here, you guessed it, Johnny used the classic wig and also found some black gloves at the local hardware store.
He's so far used this outfit at Shine Con and Sabakon.
And that is it for now. Like I said, we really don't spend tons of money on these costumes and we don't go for characters that would require overly complicated costumes, wigs, make up and weapons, like say... an accurate Cell or Freeza, or even All Might. We do with what we can manage based on budget and time and while a lot of fans do love to show off brand new costumes for each and every con they go to, we re-use ours.
I do wonder what other costumes and such we can work on eventually, though I probably will keep using the Terry Bogard one a few more times. Johnny is enjoying his DBS Android 17 outfit as well, and I figured after 10 or so years of cons, it was time for an upgrade. Remember guys, unless you're one of those professional Cosplayers where I guess you're actually making a living out of it, Cosplay should be for fun and not taken seriously. Who care if you don't look like the character just jumped out of the anime blueray? Just go nuts, have fun and don't sweat the details.
I'll probably never get tired of saying I miss Anime Vegas.. but hey, Zenkaikon and Shine Con were also fun.
Johnny and I love anime cons, and we try our best to cosplay. Now we can't sew and can't afford super extravagant super detailed costumes and/or weapons, but I mean, we make do with what we have. While we don't exactly have a huge collection of Cosplay outfits, it's fun to look back and remember the cons of yesteryear, especially since this year Johnny finally got himself a different outfit.
-1 Cosplay Ever- Krillin and Android 17 from DBZ-
Krillin is Goku's lifelong friend and possibly the strongest of the normal humans in the series. He would eventually marry Android 18.
Android 17 was meant to be an evil Android set to kill Goku and wipe humanity but he was absorbed by Cell. He would mellow out since then.
Oh wow, those were the days. I used to shave my head to Cosplay as Krillin. Well, the OG DBZ outfit of mine (which no longer exists) was basically an orange shirt we cut up to match the show and we had to buy orange fabric and custom make the pants. We used blue fabric for the wristbands and I wore a black shirt underneath. We carefully drew the Kamesennin symbols for the patch on the front and back of the outfit and had someone sew it on for us. We used some black fabric for the martial arts belt.
Of course for Android 17 it was matter of a black shirt and jeans and we used some of the leftover orange fabric to make 17's scarf. We also created the little Red Ribbon logo and sewed it onto the shirt. Add a wig that best matched his hair style and there we go. I noticed Johnny wasn't wearing a white shirt underneath but this was his first outing in Cosplay. He would wear the white shirt at future cons.
- DBZ Cosplay 2.0
After the old outfit was falling apart, Pikachika offered to make me a fully custom made new-and-improved DBZ outfit. You can see the difference in quality, especially on the top part. To save time on a tight schedule she cut out the symbol patches from the old outfit, re-inked them and sewed them onto the new outfit. I used the same wristbands and belt from before. Even though I had stopped shaving my head at this time, everyone still knew I was supposed to be Krillin. I would use this at Anime Vegas 2012 not knowing that 2013 would be the last.
-Ryu from Street Fighter
Ryu trained alongside Ken to be the best martial artist out there. His main goal is the perfect mastery of the Ha-Do-Ken and controlling his inner Dark Hadou.
This one got me buying a legit martial arts training gi from a Japanese store on Amazon. The uniform sizes were hard to figure out since they don't use the American style measurements (sizes like 000 and 03 instead of L and XL for example), and the store was nice enough to replace my first attempt that was way too small for me. We had someone cut off the sleeves and give it that torn up look Ryu has with the exaggerated triangular shapes.
I also bought red hachimaki bandanas from Amazon but they were way smaller than expected. Luckily it came in a pair, so sewing both of them together gave me the perfect size for a bandana.
The gloves were also legit MMA gloves I got off of Amazon. The fun part with cosplay is you can go as legit as possible. The blackbelt was the same one I used for the Krillin costume.
This pic shows the before and after of the Karate Gi when I first got it out of the package and after we made it match Ryu's gi.
I used this outfit mostly for Zenkaikon and Scifi Valley Con. I'd need a haircut to make the costume accurate so I probably won't be using it for a while.
-Cosplay Terry Bogard and Kyo Kusanagi from Fatal Fury/KOF (and King too)
Terry Bogard trained since a young age to one day return to get revenge on Geese Howard for killing his father. He mastered several street fighting techniques to rival his brother Andy's ninjitsu techniques.
Kyo Kusanagi has the flames of the Kusanagi clan and is fated to deal with his rival Iori Yagami as well as one day defeat Orochi.
I was lucky enough to get the Fatal Fury cap beforehand at a previous Anime Vegas. I found the exact same jacket Terry wore on Etsy and bought the very last one. All that was missing was the star on the back. For that we used thick fabric to make the star, cut it out and sewed it on the jacket. Paige got me the fighting gloves from Five Below. The rest was basically a white shirt and jeans and growing out a pony tail.
For Kyo's outfit, Johnny had a similar enough jacket and gloves. He re-used the Android 17 wig. Johnny went for the simpler outfit Kyo wears in KOF XII without the sun symbol on the back.
Bonus Pikachika dressed as King. I would not be surprised if she made the whole outfit herself.
-The Riddler- Batman
Edward Nygma has a compulsion to always leaves riddles at the scene of the crime. He wants to match wits with Batman to prove he can outsmart the Dark Knight as the Riddler.
 |
| Bonus points for finding The Scarecrow. LOL |
I mostly used this one at Zenkaikon though sometimes I wear it during Halloween Comicfest since the stores are usually holding some sort of costume contest. I really wish I had this outfit a few years back when we went to Comic Expo Las Vegas.
-Android 17 Dragonball Super
In Dragonball Super, Android 17 now works as a part ranger and he joins Goku and the rest for the Tournament of Power to save their universe from being erased.
Shortly before meeting up with Johnny, I was able to order Android 17's new shirt from an Asian store on Amazon. The shirt has the extra lines and details pre-drawn as well as the Ranger band around his sleeve, but oh well. A more accurate shirt would have cost way more and we would have to waste time making the arm band from scratch. From here, you guessed it, Johnny used the classic wig and also found some black gloves at the local hardware store.
He's so far used this outfit at Shine Con and Sabakon.
And that is it for now. Like I said, we really don't spend tons of money on these costumes and we don't go for characters that would require overly complicated costumes, wigs, make up and weapons, like say... an accurate Cell or Freeza, or even All Might. We do with what we can manage based on budget and time and while a lot of fans do love to show off brand new costumes for each and every con they go to, we re-use ours.
I do wonder what other costumes and such we can work on eventually, though I probably will keep using the Terry Bogard one a few more times. Johnny is enjoying his DBS Android 17 outfit as well, and I figured after 10 or so years of cons, it was time for an upgrade. Remember guys, unless you're one of those professional Cosplayers where I guess you're actually making a living out of it, Cosplay should be for fun and not taken seriously. Who care if you don't look like the character just jumped out of the anime blueray? Just go nuts, have fun and don't sweat the details.
I'll probably never get tired of saying I miss Anime Vegas.. but hey, Zenkaikon and Shine Con were also fun.
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