Riku Profile Blog Joined June 2009 United States 1019 Posts Last Edited: 2011-11-23 19:04:00 #1





Faris (Final Fantasy V)



After being dragged to an anime convention (Sakura-Con in Seattle) by friends and feeling utterly left out due to not having a costume. I decided to make a costume for the next convention. I decided to cosplay Faris, as I had just played FFV and loved her character. Also, I thought she looked like an utter badass in the trailer. My mother always loved making me costumes and offered to make the jacket if I put together the rest of the costume. I was 14 at the time, I believe, and had absolutely no sewing experience, so I hand stitched all of my armor. With glue, paint, gems and patience I created the armor, skirt, belt and boot accessories (not pictured, they didn't stick on well). I loved working on the costume, but put too much faith in the strength and usefulness of superglue. I later learned that other glues actually work better (my favorite being Modge Podge).



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Ino (Naruto)



Yes, I did that. I always justify that I cosplayed Ino before Naruto was popular, it was back before you could even buy the headbands and before so much as an ounce of filler-episode. I helped designed the outfit, but my mother did most of the sewing. My mom watched Naruto more than I did, so this outfit was more for her than it was for myself.



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Haruko (FLCL)



This outfit was probably my most popular one. Also, at the time, I think it was the hardest to make. I hand-dyed and modified the gloves, he material the dress is made out of is enough to make one scream and I forgot the white undershirt at home. I wore this at Anime Evolution (Vancouver, B.C.). However, it did provide me with an excuse to buy a pink wig, which I absolutely love and based my next costume off of! This was also the only costume I had a good set of professional photos for, a photographer kidnapped me!



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Aries (Fairy Tail)



With Anime Evolution coming up again, I was unsure of what costumes to do! My mom and I had decided we'd make two, but which two was the question. We had both been reading Fairy Tail and really enjoyed the manga. I looked at Erza, the ass-kicking armor-clad beauty, but figured it would be way too much work with making two costumes! My mom then found some super shiny, super soft white fur and we decided on Aries, the innocent, helpless Celestial Spirit. Her coloring is rather vague, but a common version has her with pink hair and pink accessories. Due to the fact I already had a pink wig, we went with that version. This is the SOFTEST COSTUME EVER! I just can't stop touching myself when I wear it, so I really love it.



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Bikini Aries (Fairy Tail)



Upon seeing there was a cosplay swimsuit contest at Anime Evolution, my mom immediately ran to the nearest fabric store, grabbed some white fur and made me a bikini in just a few minutes. My mom seems to have a love of showing me off, so I humored her and actually had a ton of fun in the contest! The crowd Q&A was definitely my favorite part, I really cracked them up! It might not be the best put-together costume, but it got some public attention!



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Ruka Souen (Vampire Knight)



I wanted to do this costume purely because I love their uniforms. Seriously, I would have loved to go to a school with such awesome outfits! This was all my mom, she made this while I was off at college.



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Alexstrasza (World of Warcraft)



This costume I did 100% by myself. The armor took WEEKS and involved many painful hours of gluing and using random objects in my room to hold the armor in place while it dried. However, all of the blood, sweat and love I put into this costume really makes it my favorite and I am so glad it was received so well!



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Puck (Midsummer Night's Dream)



This is my version of Puck, as I discussed before in previous blogs. As we decided Oberon's faeries would be animal-like, I decided the trickster Puck would best be portrayed as a raven. The costume overall wasn't too difficult. I made most of it from scratch except for the jacket, which I made out of a black jacket I got at a thrift store. The paldrons were the most difficult part! Those feathers were so hard to sew in!



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Nidalee (League of Legends)



This is undoubtedly my most well-known costume, though perhaps not in the Starcraft community. I play League of Legends quite often and my favorite character is Nidalee, the Bestial Huntress. While I generally use one of the in-game skins for her, I decided to make my costume for PAX Prime 2011 the original Nidalee skin. Working with the fur was surprisingly difficult, in order to sew it, I had to "shave" along all of the seams with scissors! It took an extremely long time. However, this is one of my most comfortable costumes by far. Everything stays in place and I have a lot of freedom of movement. Plus, with the fur and foam, I can sit on or squish or bump any part of it without fear of damage. The only annoying part to wear was the wig. It is extremely heavy and makes my scalp sore and requires adjusting after a few hours.



+ Show Spoiler +





Not a very flattering picture, but it's with Tryndamere (the president of Riot, the company that makes League of Legends):

Not a very flattering picture, but it's with Tryndamere (the president of Riot, the company that makes League of Legends):







Baneling (Starcraft 2)



My very first post on the Team Liquid forums was to inquire as to what kind of Starcraft cosplay I should make for Blizzcon 2011. One person requested a baneling cosplay and I really liked the idea, being a Zerg enthusiast myself. This was by far the most open cosplay I have ever done. Without much references and no idea how to approach the costume, I had to ask around for a lot of advice. Eventually, I figured out how to make a wire-cage for the butt. I was very proud of my design, it looked absolutely wonderful on paper, but it came out looking much skimpier than I planned. My favorite part of this costume is the spine because it was 100% my idea and I think it looks really badass.



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Renegade Talon - Female (League of Legends)

Riot would not allow me to enter my Nidalee costume in their Halloween costume contest, so I had to come up with another costume idea. At the time, my second most played champion was Talon and I was particularly fond of his Renegade skin. In just a few days, I cut, sewed, painted and glued together a costume. While it could use extra details and improvements, I think it came out quite well for my time constraints and a few people have requested the cloak from me!



+ Show Spoiler +







For more pictures of most of these costumes, check out



With another year, I have quite a few more costumes to add to my costume list!After being dragged to an anime convention (Sakura-Con in Seattle) by friends and feeling utterly left out due to not having a costume. I decided to make a costume for the next convention. I decided to cosplay Faris, as I had just played FFV and loved her character. Also, I thought she looked like an utter badass in the trailer. My mother always loved making me costumes and offered to make the jacket if I put together the rest of the costume. I was 14 at the time, I believe, and had absolutely no sewing experience, so I hand stitched all of my armor. With glue, paint, gems and patience I created the armor, skirt, belt and boot accessories (not pictured, they didn't stick on well). I loved working on the costume, but put too much faith in the strength and usefulness of superglue. I later learned that other glues actually work better (my favorite being Modge Podge).Yes, I did that. I always justify that I cosplayed Ino before Naruto was popular, it was back before you could even buy the headbands and before so much as an ounce of filler-episode. I helped designed the outfit, but my mother did most of the sewing. My mom watched Naruto more than I did, so this outfit was more for her than it was for myself.This outfit was probably my most popular one. Also, at the time, I think it was the hardest to make. I hand-dyed and modified the gloves, he material the dress is made out of is enough to make one scream and I forgot the white undershirt at home. I wore this at Anime Evolution (Vancouver, B.C.). However, it did provide me with an excuse to buy a pink wig, which I absolutely love and based my next costume off of! This was also the only costume I had a good set of professional photos for, a photographer kidnapped me!With Anime Evolution coming up again, I was unsure of what costumes to do! My mom and I had decided we'd make two, but which two was the question. We had both been reading Fairy Tail and really enjoyed the manga. I looked at Erza, the ass-kicking armor-clad beauty, but figured it would be way too much work with making two costumes! My mom then found some super shiny, super soft white fur and we decided on Aries, the innocent, helpless Celestial Spirit. Her coloring is rather vague, but a common version has her with pink hair and pink accessories. Due to the fact I already had a pink wig, we went with that version. This is the SOFTEST COSTUME EVER! I just can't stop touching myself when I wear it, so I really love it.Upon seeing there was a cosplay swimsuit contest at Anime Evolution, my mom immediately ran to the nearest fabric store, grabbed some white fur and made me a bikini in just a few minutes. My mom seems to have a love of showing me off, so I humored her and actually had a ton of fun in the contest! The crowd Q&A was definitely my favorite part, I really cracked them up! It might not be the best put-together costume, but it got some public attention!I wanted to do this costume purely because I love their uniforms. Seriously, I would have loved to go to a school with such awesome outfits! This was all my mom, she made this while I was off at college.This costume I did 100% by myself. The armor took WEEKS and involved many painful hours of gluing and using random objects in my room to hold the armor in place while it dried. However, all of the blood, sweat and love I put into this costume really makes it my favorite and I am so glad it was received so well!This is my version of Puck, as I discussed before in previous blogs. As we decided Oberon's faeries would be animal-like, I decided the trickster Puck would best be portrayed as a raven. The costume overall wasn't too difficult. I made most of it from scratch except for the jacket, which I made out of a black jacket I got at a thrift store. The paldrons were the most difficult part! Those feathers were so hard to sew in!This is undoubtedly my most well-known costume, though perhaps not in the Starcraft community. I play League of Legends quite often and my favorite character is Nidalee, the Bestial Huntress. While I generally use one of the in-game skins for her, I decided to make my costume for PAX Prime 2011 the original Nidalee skin. Working with the fur was surprisingly difficult, in order to sew it, I had to "shave" along all of the seams with scissors! It took an extremely long time. However, this is one of my most comfortable costumes by far. Everything stays in place and I have a lot of freedom of movement. Plus, with the fur and foam, I can sit on or squish or bump any part of it without fear of damage. The only annoying part to wear was the wig. It is extremely heavy and makes my scalp sore and requires adjusting after a few hours.My very first post on the Team Liquid forums was to inquire as to what kind of Starcraft cosplay I should make for Blizzcon 2011. One person requested a baneling cosplay and I really liked the idea, being a Zerg enthusiast myself. This was by far the most open cosplay I have ever done. Without much references and no idea how to approach the costume, I had to ask around for a lot of advice. Eventually, I figured out how to make a wire-cage for the butt. I was very proud of my design, it looked absolutely wonderful on paper, but it came out looking much skimpier than I planned. My favorite part of this costume is the spine because it was 100% my idea and I think it looks really badass.Riot would not allow me to enter my Nidalee costume in their Halloween costume contest, so I had to come up with another costume idea. At the time, my second most played champion was Talon and I was particularly fond of his Renegade skin. In just a few days, I cut, sewed, painted and glued together a costume. While it could use extra details and improvements, I think it came out quite well for my time constraints and a few people have requested the cloak from me!For more pictures of most of these costumes, check out http://www.facebook.com/pages/Riku-Kitty/170236112994841 Creative Director, CEO at Stumbling Cat, Writer for Broken Joysticks - Twitter: @RikuKat