The World Was Ending and I Looked Fantastic
During the COVID-19 lockdown, cosplay was a wonderful escape for me. I loved to bring my original (mostly Dungeons & Dragons) characters to life and show them off to the 500 followers on TikTok that I fought tooth-and-nail for over the course of three years. My cosplays were cobbled together from a stash of old Halloween costumes supplemented by online shopping habits that sought to fill the void by spending money.
Coming from my background in theater, I saw cosplay as the perfect medium to explore my SFX makeup fixation. Unsatisfied by my shitty college “stage makeup” class, turned to casual cosplay and threw myself into it until the world started to open up again. As the commute to school continued and my class load increased, I found myself with less and less time to work with. I was on track to abandon my budding love of cosplay.
Then ProTour LA happened.
When my partner, who’s FaB obsession had its own moment recently, made plans to go to ProTour LA earlier this year, I was reminded of my stint in cosplay. I had toyed with the idea of cosplaying my favorite FaB hero, Dash Inventor Extraordinaire, before the trip, and suddenly I was no longer just thinking about it. While I had high aspirations of steampunk-techno overload, the unfortunate reality of being a broke college student meant I was on a tight budget. I decided Dash’s young art was the way to go and knew that together we could bring more to this cosplay than expensive materials ever would. Over the next few weeks, I pieced together my outfit around a cheap corset and a pair of jean shorts, splurging on some muslin fabric to make a shirt.
After hours of rummaging online for the perfect shirt, I said screw it and decided to give a go at making one myself. I scrolled through Etsy and found a pattern for a Howl’s Moving Castle peasant shirt. Some important context: I have only ever successfully sewn one piece of clothing for myself before, a simple elastic skirt for the Renaissance Faire. I nearly lost my mind figuring out exactly what I was doing wrong with the pattern (it had a ruffle; I did not want a ruffle). Thankfully, I was living with an experienced theatrical costumer at the time. Their skills far exceeded mine and without them the shirt would have been no more than a bad memory. Ultimately, my housemate had to pry me away from the pins to let them do it. They managed to save the shirt after many hours of reworking the pattern to match me. I am proud to say, however, that I made the collar of that shirt all by myself. A true accomplishment in my mind.
The rest of the cosplay was found in my costume bins. With just some fingerless black gloves, steampunk goggles, and plain brown boots I had thrifted two years prior, Dash had emerged. I’m sure I could have done much more with this cosplay (notably arm and leg pieces) if I wasn’t such a serial procrastinator and a full-time theatre major doing two to three shows at a time with a job, but what I had done made me proud.
My partner made up for my lack of those pieces though. With only his 3d printer, some ingenuity and paint, he made me a Teklo Plasma Pistol the night before driving 8 hours from the Bay to share an Airbnb with 7 other gamers. Being in SoCal already, I hopped on the train from San Diego to LA to join them. I arrived on Friday in cosplay, playing in a couple of side events with my beloved Kassai. Bear in mind, this was supposed to be a casual cosplay for shits and giggles, purely for my enjoyment. I was surprised by the lack of “Let me guess, you’re playing Dash?” comments, but I was even more surprised when in one of my last games of the day my opponent asked if I had planned on participating in the cosplay competition.
Cosplay competition?
COSPLAY COMPETITION
I was giddy. I could hardly contain my excited curiosity. She explained that there was a registration form for it and even gave me her discord so I could message her for details later. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the anticipation of seeing the other cosplayers and competing among their ranks. We got back to the Airbnb that night and the house did not know peace from my excitement. I filled out the form as fast as I could and prepped my cosplay for tomorrow.
I was a nervous wreck. The deadline to sign up was two days earlier, and my anxieties almost got the better of me. Thankfully, my partner helped me fight my anxiety. When the day came, I was so excited and nervous and exhausted, but I got up early and channeled Dash as I did my makeup before heading to the convention center. I spent all day in that cosplay, participating in the Commoner Gold Foil event as the very hero I was dressed as. While I didn’t win, God did I have fun. I filled the time before the competition with side events, mostly losing, but who cares! I was going to be in my first cosplay competition!
Closer to the time of the competition my anxiety about being included past the deadline grew overbearing and I went to the judge’s table looking for answers. My fears were relieved by the head judge telling me that I should be able to compete with no problem. Later, another judge came up to me and asked if I was competing and he told me that the competition time had been moved a little later. I was disappointed, but the judge was so sweet and complimented my cosplay. We introduced ourselves and he invited me to the FaB Cosplay Discord. THERE WAS A WHOLE DISCORD?!
I was over the fucking moon.
After one more grueling hour of waiting, it was time. I started to see the others emerge in their stunning costumes. The girl who had initially told me about the contest was stunning in her Young Levia cosplay. Her gruesome and gorgeous SFX makeup was applied over lights that ran down her arm to make them glow! To top it all off, she had a detailed recreation of Hexagore to go with it. When the time came, she killed it. I was blown away.
The other astounding cosplay that won first prize was someone I knew! A fellow Bay Area player/cosplayer, Zeni, wore a detailed Kano, Dracai of Aesir cosplay complete with 3D printed staff that smoked. Oh. And the literal fire that shot out of their hand. No big deal. Just the coolest effect EVER. They definitely deserved the first-place prize. Then we had the fabulous Max Ferocity as Evo Mach Breaker ON FREAKIN’ ROLLER SKATES?!?!?! (Specifically, in-lines. Mad respect). As a former roller derby girl myself, I was losing my shit. I was also slightly fangirling since I knew we got the STL files for the plasma pistol from her Dash cosplay, and I’d seen her other mech cosplays when I first thought about cosplaying.
The other cosplays blew me away: Debilitate, Oldhim, Victor, Bone Vizier, and a full set of the common shadow equipment cycle from Dusk ‘til Dawn.
It Takes Work to Look This Dashing
Despite her immaculate costume, Levia was caught up in perhaps the worst case of stage fright I’ve ever seen. I tried my best to help her shake out the nerves and assure her that nothing could go wrong. After she conquered that stage, left swearing she would never do it again. It was a stark reminder of just how intense it is to perform on stage. We all have our own approach to those nerves; I credit my background in theater for mine.
I remember getting into character on that stage thinking fuck it, and all my nerves melted away. I ran onstage at full speed, stopping just before the edge of the stage and pretending to lose my balance before catching myself and saying, “Gotta dash!” As the MC introduced me and my process of making the cosplay I flaunted my pistol and did silly poses. I was truly in my element. While I may not be great at sewing, or making props, I know how to put on one hell of a show. The performance is part of the judging process, and I knew damn well that I wouldn’t be missing out on any points in that criterion.
Of course, the performance is not the only thing being judged when entering a cosplay competition. You are also interviewed by the judges beforehand. They asked me to explain my process, the different pieces of the costume, and anything I wanted to tell them about the making of my cosplay. It was intimidating. Very intimidating. Banish a card until the end of the turn intimidating. For taking part I received a Silversheen Needle Promo and a Fabric of Scales card. Both were gorgeous, and I flaunted them around the Airbnb all night. I was invited to join a few of the participants afterward for dinner, but my silly shyness around new people scared me out of it.
A Door Opens
This experience, though serendipitous, opened a new doorway into Flesh and Blood for me. I enjoy the game of course, but there is just something about having this kind of creative outlet that hits differently. The community is accepting and helpful, never failing to hype each other up in spite of the competitive nature of the events we participate in. My partner, who qualified for US Nationals this year, later informed me that there was another cosplay competition at Nats. I was so fucking ready this time. I was ready to chase that high that I felt on stage. I started preparing at once. Thus, my passion for cosplay was reignited and a new FaB cosplayer was born. I couldn’t think of a better community to have fallen into and I’m so grateful for welcome.
I couldn’t be prouder to be a Shapeshifter of Rathe.
