With only one hour, what costume would you be able to make with scrap fabric, cardboard, ribbon, and other miscellanous salvage usually intended for the trash bin?
On a sunny March 6th Sunday afternoon, Anime Overdose attendees had the chance to see two talented teams compete against each other under such conditions in "Iron Cosplay." Host Chairman Baka presented the teams with the challenge: Construct a costume of a pre-existing camurai character within one hour using the materials provided and the "secret ingredient."
Whose costume would win the title of Iron Cosplayer?
Once Chairman Baka introduced the teams and judges, she proudly introduced the secret ingredient in the great Iron Cosplay style.
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Team #1 begins their costume by shaping cardboard amid planning the rest of the costume. Who or what were they planning to make? |
| Dom slices CD's with a box-cutter. These halved CD's will decorate the costume as well as clear the Secret Ingredient requirement. |  |
| Team Christophe has a meeting to design, sketch, and assign tasks to complete the costume. |  |
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It looks like Alphonso is weaving the CD's into a chain. Does he plan to use it for a belt or a skirt? |
About 30 minutes into the competition. Both teams' costumes are starting to take shape. Can you identify the characters that they are cosplaying?
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Amid the intense effort being put into the costumes, Chairman Baka and company entertained the crowd. Some modeled some of the unused material. The audience did the wave. The judges showed off their artistic skills on the CD's. Even the occasional con personality graced Iron Cosplay with their presence.
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Both teams began scrambling to finish the costumes during the final 15 minutes. There was still plenty of cardboard to cut and manipulate, plenty of CD's to play around with, and plenty of other materials just itching to be used creatively.
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10 Minutes remaining... Neither side is ready to quit yet.
5 Minutes remaining... Finalizing of the costumes.
1 Minute remaining... Is there anything else to do?
10 Seconds remaining... One last adjustment.
Time's up!
Drop the scissors and unplug the glue gun, the CD Samurai Battle is over. Chairman Baka and her assistant host called the teams' entries over for a photos and judgement.
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Natalie's
Team had model Kagome-Chan cosplay Polly Ester
from the old school anime Samurai Pizza Cats. Note the helmet, cardboard
armor, the 'P' on the apron, halved CD's on the armguards, and the discarded
pizza box found in the junk pile. |
Christophe's
Team had model Pegasus-Maiden cosplay Bishamon
from the fighting game Darkstalkers. They recreated the face on the
armor and used CD's to make the skirt, boots, sword, and floating spirits
that follow Bishamon. |
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And the Iron Cosplay that reigns supreme is... Here
The judges had a difficult time deciding on the winner. The judges gave credit to the craftsmanship to both costumes. Both costumes were constructed well within the one hour time limit. Both Samurai costumes used the secret ingredient effectively. What mainly swayed the judges was familiarity of the character. The judges could recall what the winner's costume was intended to resemble. The judges had not seen the other character before so they could not compare it to the costume in front of them.
With the end of the competition, the audience departed. The costume received a proper sending to a better place. As I left, I took one quick shot of all the items that the judges wrote and drew during the competition.
But Iron Cosplay was not over for me. In the hotel lobby after the competition, I spotted Team Christophe with the costume. Pegasus-Maiden was out of the costume and it looked like Bishamon wanted someone else to try him on. Always open to a new experience, I gave it a shot. I could get used to this.
