UnderTaker VS Sakura?

Ever since I started reading Tsubasa I've fallen back in love with Sakura's character. It doesn't help she has awesome outfits. Its sort of making me want to cosplay Tsubasa instead of Black Butler. So I'm going to list some pros and cons to each outfit before we buy anything.


First up Black Butler

Grell pro                                                UnderTaker Pro
High energy character                           Creepy and fun

Fabulous!                                               Well known/well liked
Comfortable outfit                                 Comfortable outfit (PANTS!!!)
Famous anime/manga                            Excuse to stalk every Ciel I see
Well liked and well known                   



Cons (For both)

Long wigs, easy tangle!
Long coats(Could be hot out)
Lots of make/effects (Grell's teeth, Undertaker's scar)
High heeled shoes
Heavy, big props



Tsubasa

Syaoran pro                                                                      Sakura pro
 Strong, kick ass character                                                Amazing, drop dead beautiful outfit
Quiet personality (Suits Nic)                                             Short wig!!!
No contacts needed, brown eyes                                       Unique outfit, popular character
Unique outfit (Not a lot will be wearing it)                       Cool and flowy (Good for warm weather)
Non heeled shoes                                                               Is a princess ;)
Short wig                                                                           No heels on shoes (Chinese flat slippers)
Light make-up for both



Cons (For both)
Another long dress (Could get dirty, stepped on, heavy to wear)
Lots of white/light colors could get stained
Large, hard to make props


I'm stuck between both. I mean it would be awesome to do both of them but we can't in less I get a job soon. We'd save a lot of money by doing Tsubasa and have a better chance at getting the outfits done correctly. But I'm not sure. Both characters are awesome....but I'm really split between them. 

Dream cosplays (picture heavy)

Every cosplayer has a dream cosplay. Whether they are just starting out or are a pro. There is always that character, the outfit you dream of creating. To prance around in. For me I grew up with this character and always thought she was so lovely and strong, like a true queen should be. (Why do I always pick royal characters?) I loved this movie when I was younger. Most of other kids my age didn't know about it. But it was my favorite. A true gem along movies. especially for someone who had little interest in Disney princesses.

The movie?

                                         

Remember it? Most likely not but its my favorite movie of all time. Besides Mirrormask and The Secret of Moonacre. This movie (even today) leaves me inspired. The characters, the actors, the costumes, the music and of course, the yellow brick road is wonderful.

 

This movie was so colorful, so exciting and thrilling. They really did a good job on it. But who is this character who claims the title of my dream cosplay? Oh did you have to ask?

That's right. Her royal highness, Ozma herself. This girl is my dream character to cosplay. Of course I want this to be a costume I make all by myself so I enter it in costume contests at every con I go to. Since I'm realizing I'm a bit of a perfectionist like most cosplayers tend to become I'll take my time with this, hoping this will be made some day. But until then, here are some more picture of the Ozma the great!

The outfit will consist of one very long light green gown with slit Russian style sleeves (I call them Russian style because that style was very popular during Imperial Russia. And are on the Anastasia gown I plan on making some day) The torso of the gown will be made of a slightly darker green covered in a light, flowy, see through green fabric. The necklace will be decorated in all sorts of green and white and seer pieces, and yes, lots of feathers. It looks to be at least four flowers on the neckline but I could be wrong. The waist is defined by green ribbon in which starts the long flowy skirt of the gown. The arms also have gold chains hanging from the top and down the arm. These seem to have green beads as well.

The skirt seems to be layered. The first layer is short then shows the layer under which hides her feet and ruby slippers. The second layer is also a train that flows behind her. There is a lot of beading on the gown near the waist so I'll be trying to bead them on myself. I'll also be making the famous head piece. Two flowers with the golden OZ. I love this headpiece and I have a feeling I'll refuse to remove it. 

Feel free to share your dream cosplay in the comments below. I would love to see your ideas!

 

Grell+Undertaker cosplay math

GRELL  (Nic)


Wig+Glasses  Price (Plus shipping) 33.98

Outfit Total (Plus shipping) 115.95

Shoes

Red/black -52.12



Grand Total- 202.05




UNDERTAKER (Jess)


Outfit+Wig set Price (plus shipping) $188


 Shoes 
shoe
$35.99 (Shipping included)



Grand Total- 223.99






Props/make-up

SKull :D

Rigid-Collodion-Scarring-Liquid

First hand-made cosplay choices

So I finally settled on two choices for my first hand-made cosplay. This will be my third cosplay. It may not be made right away but at least I have a plan all set up. :D

So for my first choice is the famous yellow ball gown seen in Anastasia (the FOX movie)

Ever since I was young I flipping loved this dress. It was much better than the dream version. Plus not only does it look like the dresses the older Romanov sisters wore in real life but has many true Russian elements to it. (See below)

If you didn't know these woman did in fact exist. Until they and their loving family was horribly murdered (shot and stabbed to death)

The dress in the movie has many elements taken from the real Anastasia's two older sisters, Olga and Tatiana. These dresses were worn for their family's 300 anniversary party. The two younger girls (Anastasia and Marie) both had similar dresses made but did not go to the party. Theirs' were short as they were not yet sixteen (The age where the length of skirts were past their ankles as a sign of maturity.) 


I've been dreaming of having this dress since I was little, so why not just make it? I'm going to. I just need to find a few patterns so it wont be such a headache since I'm still new at sewing. I also plan on making the lovely crown she is seen wearing which is also a traditional Russian style crown for woman.

 This is the one the movie has based its copy off of. Lovely isn't it?







The next choice is from a anime. "Alice" version of Esther from Trinity Blood.

Trinity Blood is one of my favorite mangas. This one would be fun not only to wear but my hubby could easily get his chance to finally be Abel (The person in the watch) Plus I could get him to wear bunny ears like pictured. Esther is in the middle as Alice.

(Scan colored by me)

This dress is a simple long sleeved (with cuffs) blue dress with white apron with large fluffy petticoat under. The boots are what makes me really want to cosplay this because I just so happened to have found a pair that look very similar at a thrift store a few years back! I was also going to use them for a Dinah (Bizenghast) cosplay but I cannot yet afford to buy that one.

This dress will most likely be created before the one as mention above. It's simple and easy and it would require less work/fabric/time to create. I'm guessing it will be created before Sakura-con 2013 but we'll see. Maybe I'll be able to make both by then!

Kumori-con 2011 (Dislikes/likes)

So upon reading some peoples' dislikes and likes on the Kumori-con forum I decided to go ahead and write a small post about what I liked and what I didn't  Plus what I'm looking forward to and what I'm not. So lets start off with the bad...

RANT

Location
Oh the location was the worst. It was split in between two hotels. The two hotels booked quickly so we had to walk a long way, plus back and forth between both hotels to get to the dealer's room. The park was nice but it felt more like the con then the hotels because everyone was in it. Including a lot of weirdo (non-con members) and was very open to the public which was caused a lot of irritation.The walk between the hotels was not long but with heels on and a huge ball gown it was not fun and by the time we walk in between the two of them we were tired and my dress had become dirty. I was not pleased. This was the worst part of the whole con. It was a poor choice compared to having it at the convention center.

Dealers hall
Small. 'Nuff said.


Food/drink locations
Lacking. Luckily we packed enough food. Although I normally do like the choice of coffee I didn't even bother with it because of the lack of choice. But it worked out okay.

Staff
I didn't have any issues with them at all. They were nice and kind. That's all I could ask for. Good job guys I know you have to do a lot and you did a job well done.

Hotels
Oh goodness. We didn't book fast enough because of a misunderstanding with my hubby he didn't book a room quick enough and we were stuck at a hotel that wasn't one of the two hosting. Meaning we had to walk a long way to and for. I was in a large gown with heels. I was not pleased. The lack of hotels was horrible. We wound up driving. The hotel was fine, clean  with kind people. I love getting stared at when walking down the hall in full cosplay.


RAVE

PEOPLE
Oh my gosh. This is both a rant and rave. On the good side we met some awesome new friends that we are still friends with but we ran into our friends from high school and it was nice just sitting in the park talking and getting to know everyone. It was really enjoyable. The downside was the rude girl who was in our cosplay photo shoot. She and her friends were yelling out my hubby's character's true name (although when wearing his outfit he's never called it) during the time I just happened to be panicking about my wig slipping off. It was like the fifth time I had to fix it and I was angry about it. I hadn't heard the girl and her friends. My hubby later told me he did but was too focused on helping me he ignored them. So when we all met up for the photo shoot not only was she rude but she didn't seem to believe me when I told her I was in a hurry and had not heard her. So she ignored us the whole photo shoot which was a huge shame. I really wanted to make friends with her since she was so nice on the forums. Bad experience but our friends helped us to forget and get in a better mood. Lets just say I'll be ignoring her from now on and may not be going to the photo shoots.


Merchandize 

Yeeees. Good choices, fun booths. I enjoyed it. Just wished the area was bigger so I could have moved around without having to bump into someone.

Kumori-con was great. Even though it did have its downsides I believe I'll enjoy the con over and over again. This con isn't really one we go to for guests or events, especially since I just found out I might have epilepsy and Kumori-con only has raves, I wont be able to do much event wise. But chatting people up and taking pictures, shopping and such is well worth it. I can't wait to see my friends again and enjoy the event that is Kumori-con.