Holy crap! She’s too fat to wear that!

Yeah, I said it. A lot of you probably agree with me too, but you won’t say it. It is time to get real here - let's talk about fat-shaming in the world of Cosplay.

We all like to say we are open-minded, but deep down we all know that we would rather see a skinny Wonder Woman than a fat one. I mean, come on, why can't the fat girl just have the willpower and lose some weight? Doesn't she know she looks pathetic? At conventions we take pictures with the skinny Wonder Woman and not the fat one. The fat Wonder Woman may have actually paid more attention to detail in her costume, but her body type doesn't match the character so who cares?

I do - because I am too afraid to be that fat Wonder Woman. I studied costume design for 4 years in college, but I don’t feel like I can fully utilize my talents to portray the characters I’d like to because I am afraid of being made fun of. I decided to cosplay as Charizard for Salt Lake Comic Con because I am too afraid to dress up as a sexy female character like Wonder Woman. Heaven forbid I post pictures of my fat Wonder Woman on the internet - the trolls will destroy me! I am genuinely excited about my Charizard cosplay because I know I can be the most kick-ass fat orange dragon at the convention, but it saddens me that I am too uncomfortable to play Wonder Woman. Sure, no one will likely insult me to my face if I were to dress up as Wonder Woman, but I would know that I will always be second to the skinny Wonder Woman.

Ok, I didn't put a ton of effort into this outfit, but I actually felt sexy when my sister took this picture. Then again, how can I compare to this: 

No contest!

Maybe I’m coming off and whiny here, but I don’t think I am the only one who feels this way. Fat cosplays are met with ridicule as a general rule - as is evidenced by the fact that when I typed “fat cosplay” into my Google Chrome search bar some of the options included “fat cosplayers are gross” and “fat cosplay fail.” There is even a website dedicated to “cosplay train wrecks” with a section called “Too Fat to Wear That”. With all of this fat shaming it is little wonder that some of us experience severe anxiety over choosing an “acceptable” cosplay.

For FanEx in April I cosplayed as Kaylee from Firefly because, although I am heavier than the character, at least she just wears a jumpsuit so I won’t offend anyone with my extra curves. I recently discovered geekxgirls.com and I was so excited to submit a couple of pictures, but when I looked at their gallery and saw all of the beautiful geek girls I was ashamed of my pictures. Apparently a real “Geek Girl” is skinny with big breasts so she can live up to the sexy female characters so prevalent in comics.

Seriously, I didn't even post this picture to Facebook because I was too self conscious about my arms and hips.

The interesting thing is that I am generally comfortable with my body - my husband compliments me and makes me feel sexy - but there is something about the world of cosplay that is still so intimidating. Why is that? Why do I still hear people snicker at the fat Princess Zelda? Shouldn’t geek-dom be a safe space for everyone?

Sorry, I don't know where this picture came from. Comment if it is yours and I'll give you credit :)

*** Do you agree that fat-shaming is still an issue in cosplay, or do you think that it isn't an issue and I'm just too self-conscious? ***

Edit: After I published this post I went to view it to make sure everything looked good and guess what ad Google decided to show? Yeah, liposuction. Thanks a lot!

Charizard Cosplay Update: Styling the Wig and Covering the Wings

If there is one thing I've learned from studying costume and makeup design in college it is that 
DETAILS MATTER!!! 

In this case, I decided to take my cosplay to the next level by getting an orange wig to match the feel of the character. Since I am doing a humanized interpretation of the character as opposed to a fur suit style costume, I thought it would be really cool to make Charizard's horns out of the hair of the wig. I was inspired by this awesome design:

http://tarnished-sanity.tumblr.com/post/63619720635/pokemon-gijinka

The wig was thinner and had shorter layers than I would have liked, so I couldn't do the fishtail style lke in the above picture and I had to get creative to get the right thickness to the horns. First, I brushed out the wig, sprayed some water on it, and gave it a good blow dry with some texturizing and volumizing sprays. 

*** A note on styling synthetic wigs: Most cosplay wigs are synthetic which means that the hair fibers are actually plastic. Be VERY careful with heat styling! Make sure you blow dry on a mid to low setting and NEVER use a curling iron and/or straightener or you will melt the fibers of the wig. If anyone is interested I can do a more detailed post on styling wigs later.***

Cosplay is a game of "use what you have to make what you want." Example: I actually used the cardboard from a Hamburger Helper box to make two cylinders to form the structure for the horns. Then, I put the wig on my styrofoam head form and positioned them on the head and cut the bottoms at the correct angle to match Charizard's horns.

See? They sweep back from the front of the head.

I used straight sewing pins to secure the wig and horns to the form to make styling easier - I styled around the pins holding the horns in place and carefully removed them once the style could hold on its own. 

First, I pulled the hair around the horns up to cover the cardboard and pinned in place. I added hair bands for support and because I liked the texture it gave. To give added texture like the inspiration picture, I began braiding sections of hair around the base of the horn horns and wrapped it up around the horn and around the base. Once I had something I liked I added a strip of the same orange fabric I am using for the wings to the top of the horn to hide some extra pins and just because I thought it would look cool.

Here is a picture of one of the horns "finished" and the other one in progress:

I say "finished" because I may add more ribbon or braids...

I also made some more progress on the wings this week:

I cut the scalloped bottom for both wings together and left the top alone. Since this is satin it started to fray where I cut it so I sealed the bottom edge with nail polish so I wouldn't have to sew. Then, I folded down the top over the structure of the wing, hot glued it and pinned it in place, and trimmed the excess fabric. I will glue that last piece of fabric down once I get the wire frame in place - I left it open so it would be easier and I would be less likely to catch the wire on the fabric and rip it. 

Next steps: cut out adhesive interfacing and teal fabric for the inside of the wing and iron in place. Then I get to figure out how to do the wire frame to mount the wings to the sweet orange backpack I got. 

*** Let me know if you like what you see or if you have any suggestions. Thanks friends! ***

Duct Tape Shenanigans and Charizard Cosplay Progress

I decided last week that I need a dress form if I am to be a proper cosplayer, but rather than spend the $100-$200 to get a plus size dress form (yes, I'm still a bit "curvy"... read: fat) I decided to try something I found on Pinterest and make my own out of duct tape. I realized at the final stage that I should have been taking process pictures, but it is a rather awkward experience so I suppose it was for the best. 

The process is fairly simple: Put on a shirt and pair of pants/shorts that you are willing to sacrifice to the cause, get 2-5 rolls of duct tape depending on your size, and find someone you trust a whole lot to wrap you in duct tape. Here is the tutorial that I used and found the most useful: http://offbeatbride.com/2010/11/duct-tape-dress-form 

And here is my result: 

It looks like a creepy, purple amputee and I still need to smooth out the form in a few places and seal the neck, but overall it worked pretty well. It probably won't be sturdy enough to build my wings on, but it will definitely make pattern-making a lot easier and more effective. I will be using this to create the tail piece for my Charizard gijinka cosplay. Speaking of which, I found the perfect shoes! 

Thank you little boys' dept of Walmart for trying to bring back the 80's! I also bought some polymer clay to sculpt claws that I will attach to the shoes with E600 adhesive. 

Last week I got the second wing wire structure shaped and covered with foam, so fabric comes next! I figured out the shape of the wings in the last post so I will get them cut out tonight and begin the process of attaching the fabric to the structure. I am going to use a hot glue gun to wrap the orange fabric around the frame and heat bond adhesive interfacing to attach the teal fabric to the inside of the wing. 

*** Stay tuned for more cosplay fun! ***

Charizard Cosplay: Part 1 - Wings

Its almost that time again... Convention time! T-minus 70 days until Salt Lake City Comic Con :) The Alpha Geek and I decided to cosplay as Red from the Pokemon games and Charizard - Gijinka style. I almost did the Pokemon X Mega Evolution, but I opted to go traditional so I could be a little more recognizable. I'm not saying every cosplay has to be obvious, but that was my feeling at the time. After looking at some pictures and taking stock of how much work I wanted to put into this, I drew up a quick design on my tablet:

I figured the wings would be the most difficult/most time consuming so I decided to start there. I got some 12 gauge wire wrapped around itself at least 2 thick to make the frame for the wings. I used regular masking tape to cover the pointy edges while I worked:

After I still managed to slice my thumb I opted to cover the whole frame with tape which also served to make it a little more sturdy:

I know, it still looks pitiful, that's where that 1/2 inch foam the frame is laying on comes in! I cut strips of foam and sandwiched the wire frame between them using E600 glue. I put a heavy dictionary on top while it dried to ensure a good seal. Then, I used scissors to round off the edges and get the shape I wanted:

I've been using a pencil on the wrong side of the fabric to figure out the shape of the bottom of the wing and I hope to get it cut out tonight. If you look at the Charizard reference pics above you can see that the long edge of the wing isn't a smooth line so I am going to bend the wire a bit before I cut to get it right. 

Also, I should note that the 12 gauge wire is not going to be sturdy enough to support the wings with the wire and fabric so I got a few metal rods that I am going to bend to make the frame that connects the wings to my back and the rods will go up the top "arm" part of the wing to support the whole structure. I debated using PVC, but it was too heavy and bulky. I wanted something with a little give so it is easier to walk through crowds at the con. I can collapse these wings down and if someone bumps me the wires can bend so they don't get whacked with a solid PVC pipe. In the future I am considering doing a Gargoyles cosplay and the sheer size of those wings will require something more sturdy like PVC, but the wire and rods should work to support these smaller wings. 

*** Part 2 coming soon! Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks! ***