Pixelninja

By Shamus Posted Thursday Feb 21, 2008

Filed under: Pictures 32 comments

pixelninja_samus.jpg
Cosplay is among the most hit-or-miss of the geek arts. The problem is that in order to want to engage in Cosplay you have to pretty much be a hardcore geek. Mild geeks, or normal people who might be geek-curious, do not spend weeks making costumes and attending movies at the multiplex dressed like Luke Skywalker and Optimus Prime. So while Cosplay requires a certain high degree of geek dedication, at the same time you have to look nothing like the stereotypical geek. You have to be in exceptionally good shape, because the characters you’re going to be emulating are going to have impossibly idealized physiques.

A lot of people fail to realize this, and so for every well-crafted Mahoro costume out there you’ll have a scrawny guy in an oversized Batman outfit and a fat guy in Vulcan ears and a dirty t-shirt.

Still, when someone does well at Cosplay, the results are really amazing. Here is a young lady who did a brilliant Samus Aran (of Metroid fame) that would pass for a professional quality costume in my book. If they made a big-budget Metroid Prime movie, I doubt the main character would look much better. (The excellent photography helps.)

The other costumes are worth a look as well. Nicely done.

 


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32 thoughts on “Pixelninja

  1. Vyolynce says:

    Yeah, Nintendo Power highlighted this kickass Samus cosplay a couple of months ago. Made my wife rather jealous, since she cosplays as well and would love to be able to do a good Samus. Sadly, creating decent-looking armor is a little out of her reach, although her sewing is top-notch.

  2. Chip says:

    There’s a workaround to the geek-in-good-shape thing; I make costumes for my non-geek teenage daughter to wear when she accompanies us to SF conventions. I get to make elaborate costumes without worrying about having to look good in them. If you’ve got a cute teenage girl lying around loose, I quite recommend this method.

  3. Divra says:

    Most cool. In a geek-extreme-ultra-turbo type of way.

  4. Adam says:

    I think Shamus has just opened himself up to a billion of these.

    By the way, that’s my wife in the pink. She did a good Robin, from Witch Hunter Robin as well.

    Not as good as me as Jack Sparrow, though. She made the costume. She’s actually really talented.

  5. Shamus says:

    Adam: Man, I didn’t see that one in the forums. Yeah, that Jack Sparrow is excellent. (Never saw WHR, so I can’t comment.)

  6. wildweasel says:

    My stance on cosplay goes both ways – I see a lot of downright awful costumes, but for every bad one I see, I notice at least three really good ones. Especially with the costumes that would be very hard to make. (I’ve got a few pics lying around on my hard drive of the more detailed and elaborate Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney costumes.)

  7. Avaz says:

    Wow, amazing pictures. They’ve been photoshopped quite professionally, too. (if you check the very bottom of the page, you can see pictures of the “real” girl, brown eyes, brown hair – compared to the blond, blue-eyed Samus close up)

    Edit: Shamus, no more captcha?

  8. Nilus says:

    Generally I only see Cosplayers at cons and I think they vary from con to con. At an Anime cons I see more good cosplayers then bad ones. At Game cons its usually the reverse. I think when done well they are cool but when done badly…well there are pictures in my mind that I can’t ever forget.

    I think a lot of it comes down to the attitude of the Cosplayers. If you are into something and really have the body shape for it and get enthusiatic about dressing as a character then its great. But it seems to me a lot of girl cosplayers are basically dressing like the skankiest character they know so they can get the attention of boys. I don’t want to come off as a prude but I think some costumes are inappropriate to where in a public family environment(like Gencon). Last year I saw a girl dressed like one of the Bunny People from Final Fantasy XII. You shouldn’t be flossing you ass with a thong when children are are around.

  9. Avaz says:

    Nilus: Is this what you had in mind?

    *evil laugh*

  10. Phlux says:

    That’s an amazing costume. You couldn’t make a functional suit that worked for a human body if it was all made of rigid plates and “armor”. The real masterpiece is that helmet though. She nailed the look, and the fact that you can just slightly make out a face behind the visor is exactly how it’s portrayed in the video games.

    This is about as good as homebrew costuming gets.

  11. Nilus says:

    Thanks Avas :(

    I was actually thinking of a guy at Gencon last year who had to be pushing 400 pounds wearing an entirely knitted Flash Costume. Now I will be the first to admit that I am not a dashing slim well built man(Like most gamers I do not have a 6 pack, I have a keg). But if you are gonna dress up as a fictional character, pic something that you can pull off.

  12. Telas says:

    I think you nailed it, Shamus: the execution of a costume is highly dependent on the shape of the wearer. It’s somewhat sexist, but pretty women can get away with more than anyone else in this regard.

    There’s a fellow at some of the Texas renfests, who does an amazing Jack Sparrow. He has the shambling walk, the rambling lingo, the whole package down pat. I’ve never seen him break character.

    Me? I dress up in rennie garb at the appropriate times, but I never dress like a fictional (or historical) character. I can’t explain it, but that feels ‘fake’ and awkward. Were I to dress up in Jedi garb, I wouldn’t try to be any fictional character, just another Jedi. (Although I’ve threatened to go in Jedi robes with a speculum as “OB-Gyn Kenobi”.)

    I guess a thread on cosplay isn’t the place to mention cosplay feels fake, but there you go. :-\

  13. Dev Null says:

    “There's a workaround to the geek-in-good-shape thing; I make costumes for my non-geek teenage daughter to wear when she accompanies us to SF conventions. I get to make elaborate costumes without worrying about having to look good in them. If you've got a cute teenage girl lying around loose, I quite recommend this method”

    Plus, bringing her along to a con full of your more garden-variety geeks has to be good for her ego.

    What? I’m not implying anything sexual; its not like anyone is going to work up the nerve to _talk_ to her…

  14. Nixorbo says:

    Bad cosplay, while the stuff of nightmares, is hilarious. ManFaye, anyone?

  15. krellen says:

    Avaz: They've been photoshopped quite professionally, too.

    I doubt Photoshop is involved. When you have someone dedicated to that level of cosplaying, hair dyes/bleach and coloured contacts are par for the course.

    One of my personal favourite cosplayers is Heidi Rogers, who does some really good work. Warning: some of the images on her site are leaning towards NSFW. No nudity, but skimpy happens.

  16. Vyolynce says:

    Or, y’know… a wig.

  17. krellen says:

    I considered the wig option, but I looked at the pictures and determined it looked more like a bleach job than a wig. The hair looked too much like it was hers to be a wig, even a good one.

  18. DarkLadyWolf says:

    Funny thing is that I seem to enjoy the costumes if they’re done well, whether or not the person looks good in them. I suspect I may be unusual in this regard.

    :)

  19. Cadamar says:

    Very nice work. At first I thought the pic was CG.
    Of course it doesn’t hurt that all of the models are hot japanese girls… ;)

    Every now and then I think it would be fun to do a little cosplay (or at least date a girl that was into it *kinky*) but being a short-ish, fat, white guy with a beard, there aren’t many characters that would work for me. Unless, of course, I went the Sailor Moon route: http://www.fantasyanime.com/sailormoon/sm_cosplay19.jpg

    And, NO, that is not me!!

  20. Davesnot says:

    Cadamar… right.. that’s you.. come on.. own up.. that’s a great costume!!

  21. Rebecca says:

    because the character's you're going to be emulating are going to have impossibly idealized physiques.

    *sigh* English is hard.

  22. Shamus says:

    Yeah I can’t believe my editor missed that.

  23. Dwaggi says:

    Wow. That costume is impressive. When Halloween comes around it’s fun to try to do that, but I’ve never seen something that good before.

  24. JP says:

    As long as we’re sharing favorite CosPlayers, for my money, you can’t beat Alissa Kiss. The costumes are right on, she’s a total Geek (her fav music includes They Might be Giants and Weird Al!!) and she’s BEAUTIFUL!

    http://www.alisakiss.com/alisachan/index2.htm

    This link is SFW but she links to her Cheesecake site as well, which would be NSFW.

  25. Namfoodle says:

    @ Avaz: That link is hilarious. Where did it come from?

    @ Dev Null: I’m sorry, but you can’t count on EVERYONE at a CON being too afraid to chat up a pretty girl. Especially if there are any SCA or LARP types around. I’ve seen some seriously depraved things transpire at SCA events. Anyone who lets their underage daughter run around after dark unsupervised at an SCA even should probably be locked up for bad parenting…

  26. Helm says:

    I just don’t “get” the whole cos play thing………….besides it’s just one step away from being a *shudder* furry heh

  27. Namfoodle says:

    Furrys are potentially downright frightening. We’re talking major SAN loss here.

    There’s nothing wrong with a girl in a cat suit or the occasional hot amime character with furry ears poking up out of her hair.

    But when people start bumpin’ uglies in head to toe fur costumes complete with big amusement park heads, it’s time to run away at top speed.

  28. Andrea says:

    I spend most of my travel time & money attending dance events instead of cons, but I quite enjoy cosplay. Any casual geek with a slight penchant for dress-up can manage it.
    Harley Quinn

    I have closets full of costumes & am working on Castaspella & a steampunk costume now. Also sewing for Faerieworlds.

  29. jake says:

    dude i thought samus aran was a dude i made the pirfect samus cosplay sute. i mean it is realy high detal it is made of plastic. i spent 3 and 1/2 years making it. this realy sucks. $ 15oo down the drain.

  30. jake says:

    dude i thought samus aran was a dude i made the pirfect samus cosplay sute. i mean it is realy high detal it is made of plastic. i spent 3 and 1/2 years making it. this realy sucks. $ 15oo down the drain. i sold my car to make it.

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