Continued from Page 1

DENNIS: If you do create the costumes on your own, do you use an expensive sewing machine or a basic sewing machine?
MATT: No, it doesn't take an expensive machine. When at home, I use my mom's machine, which is like at least 20 years old. I know some people that put costumes together completely with "Heat n' Bond". A scary thought.

PHOTO: Matt cosplaying as hyde of L'Arc~en~Ciel at AniMagic 2000

DENNIS: Please give us one example of your favorite costume, can you tell us a history on the making of the costume? How much? The challenges? Where to buy? Material? And all that cool stuff.  MATT: Hmm. Well, most of my favorite costumes have a bit of history, but lets see if I can trace the history of my Kurow costume; I think that would be relatively easy. It started when a bunch of friends were talking about making costumes, at the time, from the new "Rival Schools" game and at first I was uninterested because I wasn't a very big fan of the first games. Pretty soon, though, a friend showed me a picture of Kurow, because they thought that I'd be perfect and I pretty much agreed. I love those types of characters, especially when they're the main boss or something, as is the case with Kurow. The coolest thing about the costume, though, was the fact that its completely vinyl, one of my favorite fabrics. So after a bit of investigating, which included hunting down all known pics on the web and playing the game a bit, I got enough info to make the costume. I took a trip to the fabric district down here in LA with some friends, picked up the fabric. I think that the vinyl cost me about 8 dollars a yard or so. Including the gloves and paper I used to make the claws, plus the buttons, etc., it probably put me over $150.

I found a pattern at JoAnne's that vaguely resembled the Japanese school uniform that I needed to mangle to end up with the costume, so I picked that up, took it home, and started screwing with the pattern to get what I needed.

Eventually, when I started sewing, I realized how hard vinyl is to work with when you're making an entire costume out of it, and enlisted the help of my friend Justin, who really saved me. He did a whole lot of the vinyl sewing for me. Then came the trimming, which was really tedious and the gloves, which were actually kind of fun to make. So it took a couple of months from beginning to end, with most of the sewing taking place within a couple of weeks. It's become one of my favorite costumes; its vinyl composition makes for easy identification and a bit of popularity, plus it just feels good wearing it.

DENNIS: When you create a costume, do you try to make it look as authentic as possible? Do you add your own creativity to it?
MATT: I almost always go for authenticity. For me, it is a challenge to do it exactly as the creator intended. I almost want to say that changing the intended costume would change the artistic merit of the costume but I really don't think it does. There is artistic merit in adding a bit of yourself into the costume and I think that as close as you can make it, there is always going to be a bit of yourself in it no matter what. I think that's really important to have at least a little bit of yourself in it. But I like to watch the anime or play the game and think to myself, "I can do that really cool pose because my jacket really does flow like that," or something to that effect.

DENNIS: How many costumes do you own or have created?
MATT: Hmm. I'm not really sure. This year it's been hard on me financially, so I've only made three "real" costumes that I'm proud to be wearing. I've worn others that are new, but mostly as favors for friends for various masquerades, and I'll never wear those again. Last year I think I made about… seven or eight "real" costumes, and a little bit less the year before that. Hopefully next year I can start making more again. Of those, I've kept most of them in a bunch of boxes in my parent's house that I drag to conventions with me.

DENNIS: Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your costume? How thorough do you research the character for the costume and the costume itself before creating it?
MATT: If it's a costume or particular character that I really like, then I will work as hard as I can on it to get it perfect. It really bugs me when I can't do a certain thing, like the particular belts for my Kuroro (from "Hunter x Hunter") costume that I'm missing. When I do research, I'll do whatever it takes to get full shots of the character, and if I can, character sketches. Character sketches are a cosplayer's best friends, because it shows exactly how the fabric moves when the character does, and what he wears, where and up close designs and all that great stuff. Art books are almost indispensable in that regard and I at least try to get scans from them, since they're so expensive. I can't go buying them like I used to. I always like to at least play the game or watch the anime for a good while before making the character, to get a feel for the character and the costume.

DENNIS: Do you feel competitive when it comes to cosplaying? Do you compete? Do you want a costume to look the best in the crowd or do you just cosplay for the fun of it and don't care what people think? MATT: I like to compete, but I've never really been competitive. Actually, I do feel competitive but only when I see costumes that I've done before. I'll look at it and try to see what they did wrong to it and how mine's better. Actually, I hate it when I do that, but it doesn't really happen that often, because the characters I like aren't done that much. But I like to think that I did the best I could on it and that I did it all for fun anyway, so I get over it soon anyway. The reason I got into cosplay was for the friends and good times I make, and that's what it will always be about for me. This year at Fanime, I did what was probably the weirdest skit I've ever been involved in, which involved costumes from Hunter x Hunter, Sexy Commando Masaru, and I think something else, but we got the skit idea from Sexy Commander, which is something that most people haven't seen. We knew it at the time, but we thought it was fun anyway, and since we got such a huge kick out of it, we decided to do the skit, even though we knew we had no chance in winning anything. When we were done, no one knew what the hell had just gone on onstage, but we couldn't stop laughing for like fifteen minutes. That was one of my favorite moments of cosplaying.

Photo: Matt cosplaying as Kuroro via OVA (shirtless!) version of Kuroro. Photo is courtesy of Lionel Lum of www.usagichan.com

DENNIS: When you are done cosplaying, what do you do with your costumes? Do you continue to wear them or are they retired and packed away in your closet?
MATT: Most of the time, I pack them away in one my little costume boxes, and if I feel like it, it'll make a return appearance at the next convention. The only costume that I've officially "retired" is my Iori (from "King of Fighters") costume. Most of my others are still complete, for the most part, in boxes and stuff. Though sometimes I have to take an old costume apart to use parts for a new one. Though now, my hair has grown out, so I would look a lot different wearing, say, my Farfarello (from "Weiss Kreuz") costume, who has short spiky hair.

DENNIS: As an American-based cosplayer, do you see a big difference in terms of style and dedication to a costume from US cosplayers and cosplayers from other countries?
MATT: Yeah, I think there is a difference. It seems as though the Japanese spend more time and money on their costumes. But then, I don't know, since stores such as Cospa just sell entire costumes pre-made. But there are so many gorgeous Japanese cosplayers. There's also a trend of American "Catgirls" and girls wearing close to nothing and I don't think you see that quite as much in Japanese cosplay, thankfully. So I think that Japanese cosplay is more of a fan thing than a social thing, though I can be wrong. There does seem to be an overabundance of hastily slapped together costumes and skankiness in America, though I mentioned that I'm somewhat guilty of that myself, so I don't really know what to think.

DENNIS: What is the most satisfying and most frustrating aspect of being a cosplayer?
MATT: The most satisfying part is having fun with friends. I've made so many awesome friends in the past couple years, and I've had so much fun with them, too, in and outside of conventions. The most frustration is the drama that invariably happens in any sort of social group. But, multiply that inescapable drama by the personalities of the types of people that dress up for attention and are as weird as cosplayers are and it seems like drama just follows us wherever we go; not even someone who tries to stay out of it like myself can really escape it.

DENNIS: For the newbie cosplayer, can you give us your top three advice for them if they want to get involved in cosplaying.
MATT: If they want to get involved, I say go for it. The three things that I would say to them is number one, have fun. That's what its all about.

The newer cosplayers that are around nowadays seem so aggressive, and so competitive, and a little annoying sometimes. The "old-school" cosplayers are usually just there to have fun, and no matter how the awards are handed out or however costumes turn out, they'll have fun, and they can turn a bad con into a good one. Some of the new ones, however, can sometimes turn good cons into bad ones because they didn't win anything at the masquerade. That isn't always true, though, because there are seasoned cosplayers that turn any con that they don't win at into a bad con. But I suppose you're going to get that wherever you go. I don't know, maybe that type of newbie just wants instant acceptance into the cosplay circle? It's not that hard; you just need to be friendly and you're in, really. So that would be number two. Flattery might not get you too far, but friendliness will get you everywhere.

Number three, that would be… if you're going to be serious about making a costume, start early and work hard on it. I love seeing newbies do a better job on a costume than myself, and it's an easy way to get known quickly. You don't need to wear bikinis or a G-string.

DENNIS: What do you see in the future of cosplay especially in masquerade competition?
MATT: I think that there will soon be a lot less Sailor Moon costumes, and more creativity. More fans are starting to get into more obscure anime because of digital subs, so we'll be seeing a lot of newer, more obscure stuff, I think. And of course, the bar is going to be raised every year as far as craftsmanship goes.

Photo: Matt cosplaying as Tao Ren of Shaman King at AX 2002

DENNIS: For those who are new to cosplaying, they will notice that many of you belong to a group or a circle of cosplayers. Are these groups public, members only or area-based type groups? What advice do you have for those who want to join a group? MATT: There are different types of groups, really. There's the inclusive group, which is usually a group of cosplayers that are friends, and find a show or game that has a lot of characters, and they all pick a certain character, and the characters get filled out. That way, there's a group of whoever wanted in, and the entire cast is filled out, and its all just fun. That happens pretty often. To get into one of those, you really just need to keep an eye out for someone asking around for people that want to join in. They're really easy to get into, and a good way to make friends, especially when you go through with the costume and do a good job; they'll be impressed by your punctuality and you'll be invited to join others. Then, there's the exclusive groups, where seasoned cosplayers will take something well known, and work hard to put together a group that they select, to make the best group they feel they can. This is most often involving musical groups, such as USA Musume. Then, there's the exclusive groups, where seasoned cosplayers will take something well known, and work hard to put together a group that they select, to make the best group they feel they can.

Due to the experience of these cosplayers, one can expect some ego-clashes and internal strife between the members. But the truly great groups are the ones that with members that are able to put their differences aside and work towards their ultimate goal, together. I've been involved in groups like that, such as the "Escaflowne" group for Anime Expo 2002. In those groups, the people were selected both for their ability to make costumes and for their amiability; because of the camaraderie, it's just a joy for everyone involved. USA Musume is another shining example, because the people who run it are great people, and the girls work really hard to get their costumes done and their routines memorized. Just like Morning Musume, they do tons of subgroups, so that each girl gets her share of the spotlight and whatnot. There are other groups, like those who were friends before cosplay, and then only by cosplaying together did they become a "cosplay group," but you can't really place every group in a category. If you really want to be a group, the bottom line is: be nice, make friends.

DENNIS: With each costume, I have seen your costumes get better and better. Your "HunterxHunter" cosplay is awesome but I was wondering if you feel pressure of creating a much more advance costume the next time?
MATT: Thank you! Yeah, I'm pressured to make better costumes every time I start a new one, but the only person who pressures me is myself. It's a challenge to outdo myself, and it really isn't that hard to do but I feel great when I can sit back and look at something I've been working on for weeks and just know that this is the best costume I've made so far. I would love to make costumes involving armor and LEDs and stuff like that, but I can't afford it. So until I can, I won't feel any pressure to go that advanced.

Back to Cosplay Underground ][ Go to Page 1 ][ Go to Page 3 ]