Dr. Horrible (Evil League of Evil)

What a non-starter. I got everything together for my Dr. Horrible in time for AwesomeCon, but it was 90 degrees in DC, and I just couldn't subject myself to that kind of torture. Call me undedicated if you wish, but at least you can't call me hyperthermic.

At any rate, I have everything I need for a closet-cosplay of Dr. Horrible (post-acceptance to the Evil League of Evil). And I have plans to adjust the pieces to make them more accurate for later attempts (in cooler weather). I'll make the goggles fit into a piece made from chemistry goggles (so I can still remove them and use them for Ramona Flowers or other characters), I'll change the lab coat to cross the chest and fasten at the shoulder, and I'll add an embroidered red Caduceus to the lab coat, too. Plus, I want to make the arm-mounted gun (?) he has at the bank heist during the instrumental of "Everything You Ever."

But for now, this is what I've got:

Me...

...Neil Patrick Harris.

Me...

...Neil Patrick Harris.

Just me.

Edit to add:

I almost forgot to mention it, but this is my first crossplay!

Guest Bloggin'

I wrote a guest post about being new to cosplay for Therefore I Geek, a blog about all things geeky. If you want to read it, you can find it here.

I plan to write more for them (though I'll wait a while, or they'd be swamped in emails from me about articles covering every possible facet of cosplay) because there's SO MUCH MORE I could have said in this one but had to cut it to keep it at a reasonable length.

Funko Pop!

If you've been to a con lately, you've noticed Funko Pop! figurines just about everywhere you turn. They're super cute and, I assume, pretty addictive to collect. I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea at Tidewater Comicon while we were browsing some of them:

I will collect ONLY the Funko Pop! figures of characters I have cosplayed.

Genius, right? Turns out, none of the characters I've done so far exist in Pop! form yet. (Margaery is expected to be in the next set released for Game of Thrones, but she isn't out yet.) There's no Ramona Flowers, and there's no Sera. I looked ahead to this weekend, and that character doesn't have one, either. Luckily, there is a Harley Quinn (a couple, actually) so I can get her in October. And I would bet decent money that they'll do the new Star Wars characters, so depending on how important Rey is (I would guess "very," based on how much screen time she has in the trailers), I might be able to get her, too.

Nurse Harley from Arkham Asylum

So, so far, my brilliant idea isn't much to act on. Although I did discover that people on Etsy sell custom modified Pop!s in different characters, so I could always modify them for myself, but it's just not the same, y'know?

Death Makeup Test

I decided not to be Death from Sandman this Saturday at Awesomecon in DC, but I had to try her on before I could decide that. Part of that includes putting on the makeup (I've had the lipstick for almost a year now and I've never worn it) so here's what the test looked like:

The lipstick looks awesome, the eyeliner loop thing isn't all that bad. I don't do well with eye makeup so I didn't do the entire eyeliner thing (at this point I had already determined that the wig wasn't going to work, so I wasn't going to torture myself with eyeliner).

Funny story about that eyeliner... it's waterproof, so I went in search of my makeup remover. Oh wait a minute, I don't own any, because I don't wear makeup. So I think, I know! I'll grab the rubbing alcohol and wipe my face incredible carefully. Well, I didn't grab the alcohol. I grabbed the nail polish remover. Luckily, I didn't get any in my eye, so I didn't need to get medical attention (I still flushed the area with a lot of water... also luckily, the water shut-off that was announced for our apartment complex started later than announced, or I would have had no water). So, seriously, don't put on makeup (at least waterproof makeup) without some makeup remover handy. You could wind up accidentally trying to blind yourself.

If you're curious, Birk made the ankh necklace for me back in high school or maybe early college.

Mystery Cosplay!

I promise photos from Tidewater Comicon coming soon. But first...

This Saturday is Awesomecon in DC! We won't be entering any contests, and Beth and I aren't planning to re-wear our Dragon Age: Inquisition costumes. Beth and Chris will be Melissandre and Jon Snow, which means I kind of have free reign on this one.

I was planning to wear my Sandman Death costume, which I had never put on all at once before. Well, guess what happens when you have a costume like that? One piece (or more) don't work, and you figure it out five days from the con. In this instance, the wig sucked. So I tossed that and started thinking in terms of closet cosplay. I considered Daria, Velma, and a few others, then stumbled across exactly what I wanted to wear. Let's see if you can piece it together!

Finished: Marauder's Map Dress

I had so much fun wearing my Marauder's Map dress to work and visiting the Harry Potter Day program in it!

As you can see, I didn't wear the shawl. After putting it all on, I realized that it was just a LOT of that same linen-and-English-red color everywhere, and it wasn't flattering or interesting to look at. So I just wore a brown shrug I already had, and brown boots to match it. Also - not exactly visible in the photo - I wore dark red tights (rolled up) with a pattern like stained glass windows that matched my red belt's pattern.

My favorite reactions were the ones where someone would love the dress, then find out I hand-drew all the writing, and then they would really love it! I thought those were pretty funny.

One of my coworkers swears I should sell these, but considering it took me a hectic week to make one for myself (meaning I could try it on at any time, and the feel and fit were completely up to me), I don't think that would be wise. I could, however, make scarves (less time-consuming, and one-size-fits-all). We shall see.

In Progress: Marauder's Map Dress

These are the last "in progress" photos, because this dress is DONE! And the shrug. I decided to forgo the belt and use a red leather belt I already had instead.

Middle back of the shrug

Back of the dress, pretty much finished

The top photo is the only in-progress photo I have of the shrug, so you'll just have to see the finished product in my photos later, since I'm wearing this today for the library's celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts! (Which, I might add, the Marauder's Map was present for.)

Beth & Chris: Sera, Leliana, and Podrick Progress

Beth and Chris do amazing work. I really can't emphasize that strongly enough. They came down this weekend and we got a lot of things done (by which I mean "they got a lot done while I did one thing very slowly).

How I spent a large portion of the weekend: hand-sewing chainmaille to the Leliana tunic

You know it's a good (read: complex) costume when it takes three people to get you into it.

Podrick: so close to being finished!

This vest is the most incredible thing I've ever put on. It's SO AMAZING.

Fruits of my labor: Beth tries on the tunic.

Grr!

I'm just happy I can contribute something other than encouraging statements now. I'm not particularly GOOD at hand-sewing, but I managed to get the two panels sewn on, so hooray for me. The frustrating thing is that those were already on there when Beth and Chris arrived... we had to take them off and have Birk weld and tumble them so the thread would stop getting caught in the pinch of the outside rings. But at least now Beth doesn't have to re-do it.

I now have Sera's shirt, leggings, shoes, wig (still needs to be cut), leather vest, quiver, and bow in my possession. We also have Birk's shirt for Podrick (and need to get pants and boots ASAP).

Twelve days until Tidewater Comicon!

In Progress: Marauder's Map Dress

And now the basics of the back are finished too! I plan to add a couple more people and pathways, but it LOOKS finished enough to wear it.

Quidditch Pitch

Not sure what room Draco's hanging out in. Room of Requirement?

Owlery

Weasley twins up to no good

There's a lot more, but I stopped taking photos (it's amazing how much faster you can work when you don't stop every 30 minutes to take photos).

Next up: sewing the belt and shrug, drawing on both of them, then adding more detail to the dress (hopefully including the inside of the back).