Macross Cosplay

[Mercurial Morpheus]

I'd like to see the other Max or Roy cosplay uniforms, send those in, someone.

Ask and thou shalt receive. A few notes, I can't find the belt buckle for some reason at the moment. Also, naturally the lines will be a tad different when I wear it. I'll start in order of production. If you wish to view the near-finished product first, feel free to jump ahead. it still needs some final stitching. I'm also unhappy with the puckering in the back middle collar. After the hell we went through redoing the collar, it peeves me that the underlayer appears to be warping it. Though whether I'll ever get my friend to finish it up is unknown. He held onto it for months, yet never finished the hand stitching he claims would take less than a day. Any wonder the frustrations this brought about? Apologies for the extremely long post, but there's a story to tell.

Here's the Raider3 Hikaru. What I like to call the version 1. He did this himself with no imput from my end outside of the idea. I believe it's made entirely out of trigger poplin. One interesting note is the seperate collar pieces. Not a good choice as that, combined with their short length, really caused a problem. The slightest wind causes it to rush forward. We actually bought extra material to redo his (good thing too).

Next comes what I call the v2. This was the debut edition. Raider 3 was given almost full construction reign. Though I insisted on a near complete redesign from the v2. Pockets would be functional, the neckline more intune with the lineart, and a major overhaul to the collar. The costume was made concurrently with Dick Hunter's Roy costume. Construction began a paltry one month before Fanime 2007. The goal was completion in time for Mari's concert that Sunday. Communication breakdowns caused much frustration and we even signed off in San Jose on getting them while Raider3 finished them in Modesto. We literally didn't know they were finished until he called mere hours before the show, saying he was on the way. We quickly fashioned temp belts out of foam and spray paint, and received them literally as the concert started. Unfortunately, the final rush was apparent. A lot was right, but the sleeves were too long, more snaps would be needed, mine was a tad baggy, the shoes straight black, and the pants and shirt unaccented. The worst though was that in his rush, Raider three had somehow swapped materials. The collar material became the accent and vice versa. I was supposed to be Max, and yet it was more cannon fodder colors. The blue was actually more in line with Misa! ;;

Materials used for mine are offwhite twill for the mine jacket. The accents are linen chosen after scrutinizing the DVDs and Perfect Memory. The collar main was a deep grayish navy Moleskin gotten on sale. I loved this fabric, as it changes color depending on lighting from a deep blue to a dark gray, just like the show (multiple references defended both colors).

These pics were taken a month later, at Saccon. No work had been done, so this is the raw v2. Note the overlong sleeves, the bunching collar, the popping flap, and the lack of accents. And of course, the incorrect color sheme. Though I will admit to liking it a bit. Though that the moleskin for you.

The concert itself was fun though. Quite memorable too if not the huge Gala Rob Miles had promised us. We apparently got quite the reaction from Mari. She was in full swing by the time we made it in. I didn't catch it slightly, but my friend swears that the second Mari caught sight of us, she gave off a total "Dear God, WHY?" look that she quickly covered up. It amused the heck out of him. I did notice, however, that when she sang the obligatory "Do You Remember Love?" she seemed to constantly gravitate to our side of the stage and I swear she spent a good part of the song staring directly at us. It made it pretty much worth it. She said afterward that she liked them, and got that I was Max despite it. She did sign the temp belt buckle for the heck of it. I did get favorable reactions from other fans, mostly Robotechies though. One guy was even trying to test me by asking how my daughter Dana was? "I don't have a daughter named Dana..."

Work preceeded slowly on the costume. Tensions were stretched so much that I sort of let it go for awhile. Eventually it was bumped to 2.5 status. The sleeves were shortened and the stripes on them fixed to the proper color. Accents were added to the turtleneck and pants, and the shoes were painted. More snaps were added. I have no photos of this version to my memory. Here's the v2 collar though. It's part disassembled by Raider3 for template use.

It wasn't until the lead up to the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival Grand Parade 2008 that we tackled the collar and shorten the sleeves some more. Not only would we correct the colors, but it went through a design revision in an effort to minimize bunching, taking a 3D form into consideration. It was a good thing we had bought the material to redo Hikaru, as R3 had decimated my alotment for the stripes. This means his is still the crappy v1. Redoing and redesigning proved nightmarish, as simply getting the stripes to curve correctly was a royal pain. A lot of bad memories swell from the nights to get it done, stemming from my stubborn perfectionism and Raider3 own stubbornness and lack of confidence as well as third parties. A lot of problem were caused by communication breakdowns, misunderstanding, and a want to do it ones own way and following. We worked so long as to the point of final sewing being done the night before. Hours before the event it still wasn't even sewed in. I wore it mostly pinned on. It shows in these pics. Still, the new tapering design laid much nicer, the switch to the heavier moleskin kept it at bay from the wind, and the whole thing was finally in the right colors. I used Raider3's belt buckle for the event.

Eventually the collar was properly affixed for Fanime 08. Yet still now it sits without final touch up work, in need of dry cleaning. Like i said, the collar appears to need a little touchup as well. It truly is the hardest part of of a TV UN Spacey uniform. I'd also like to line the sleeves at least. Sorry for the long post, though as you can see, it has a long, sordid history. I'm still peeved that it's almost two years old and still not truly "done". It's like how my current project with R3, a Herbert von Kuspen Zeon uniform missed both ConXTremes and is hopefully going to be done for this year's Cherry Blossom on Sunday. It was started right after Max.

Still, for all it's faults, I think it came out pretty well. it's not as polished as Jasonc's, but I'm proud of the material choices, and colors. I'd like to think I got it as screen accurate as possible. Perfect Memory was a huge help there. Thanks to Raider3 for helping make it, despute all the setbacks. I'm sure I'll continue tweaking it. I my even rebuild it one day. As for Roy, it's sleeves have been shortened and lined, and the snaps better placed (it's biggest initial flaw). The shirt and pants need accents, though the shoes are painted. I have no pics of it currently. His collar may be redone to v3 status, but the material on his seems to work better, so it may not be needed.

Here's Max as of tonight. The current v3.5. These are the most finished. Sorry for the cellphone pics.

[Jasonc]

Interesting construction. Was the jacket made from scratch, or was it made from something else like a chef's coat? I'll try to take some pics tomorrow of the internal construction of my costume, so you can see what I was describing earlier

[Hikuro]

Just picked up some cargo pants, not perfect in color but they'll easily do just fine. Now I need a belt and some good boots.

[Jasonc]

Just picked up some cargo pants, not perfect in color but they'll easily do just fine. Now I need a belt and some good boots.

Are you creating an Isamu outfit, or something from Macross F?

Oh, here's some pics of the uniforms I have and some of the inner workings of them.

Sorry if this takes up a lot of space, my file attachments don't work on this computer

Edited April 14, 2009 by Jasonc

[Hikuro]

Going Macross F on my stuff, totally not willing right now to blow 800 dollars on whatyou got lol. Although I do have a good site where I can get the coveralls to get half of Isamu's uniform done.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

I think your construction is a lot more interesting. I don't think we ever considered a zipper method (given our failures with them, not to surprising). Is your front flap held in place entirely by the belt and friction?! I know it can be done. If you notice the black marks on the shot showing the snaps, that's where they used to be. Grievously inaccurate. I believe I wasn't even using any of them in the v2 shots. I also find the fabric lining pattern an interesting choice along with the busy back panelling and creative turtleneck mod.

The costume is 100% from scratch. Based on a Civil War costume pattern that was modified. The only thing we didn't do was forge the snaps personally. Moving them over did futz with the neckline a bit.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Mercurial Morpheus

[Jasonc]

Is your front flap held in place entirely by the belt and friction?! I know it can be done.

It's held together by 1)The inner zipper, 2)velcro lined along the red trim, and 3) the belt. Moreso by the first two. What all 3 end up doing is creating a jacket that is very rigid and military like. As for the undershirt, the collar is held by velcro lining the two red center stripes, and a button as shown in the pics. It allows the shirt to stay in place where it needs to be. As for the Misa jacket, that is just held by velcro in the front. Aside from maybe some drycleaning, they are awesome pieces of work. I think I may work on a cosplay outfit soon, just haven't decided on what. Perhaps the Hikaru DYRL space suit, or better yet, Max Jenius version.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

I didn't notice the velcro from the pics. I find it interesting that it's a DYRL Misa to go with the TV Hikaru. Nice stuff.

Any opinions on mine outside of awed silence.

Edited April 16, 2009 by Mercurial Morpheus

[polidread]

[MisaForever]

I love the outfit, very well done! (I'm talking about Klan)

[Jasonc]

Mecurial, I think it's cool that you made it from complete scratch. Definitely a skill I don't have. Fabrics aren't my forte, but perhaps doing the plastic stuff, and or harder shaped stuff I am decent at. Since I'm not much on critiquing cosplay outfits, I can't comment much on your outfits, but say that they look good. From what I gathered, you're still working on it?

As for the Klan outfit, that is pretty damn cool. It's a bold outfit, definitely.

[Valkyrie addict]

the klan outfit is very well done, but the girl is just nasty

[David Hingtgen]

Which one? Polidred posted pics of 2 different cosplayers. Either way, if you want more pics of the 2nd one (mainly construction) go here: http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/a45364/p1

[anime52k8]

the klan outfit is very well done, but the girl is just nasty

I think she's cute, and she does sheryl well http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/142929/

[Jasonc]

I have to agree. Although the cosplay costumes are quite nice, the girls in them are not helping the costume at all.

[Star Dragon]

Not to say anything unkind, but she does other characters better than some...

As I'm sure all people do. But yeah her version of Klan isn't working for me. But that's my person opinion and is meaningless.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Which one? Polidred posted pics of 2 different cosplayers. Either way, if you want more pics of the 2nd one (mainly construction) go here: http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/a45364/p1

Thankyou David! She is tops, and i agree the klan outfit is awesome, but it doesn't suit her, sheryl on the other hand rules for her. She's cute!

[Bariaburu Faita]

not enough pirate captains

and to keep him company

[Bariaburu Faita]

Grace flood!

[Jasonc]

Grace Invasion has finally come to Macrossworld.com!!! All those cosplayers are amazing. Definitely looks like Grace in just about all of them.

[Hikuro]

The one where she's looking a tthe camera with those big blue eyes it creeps my soul out

[Mercurial Morpheus]

It's probably the massive amount of facial smoothing liberally applied by Photoshop. It's rather prevalent in a lot of these japanese photo sets.

A lot of those are pretty nice. Though I still think my friend would pull her off wonderfully. Damn shame she stopped liking her.

Edited April 19, 2009 by Mercurial Morpheus

[Vepariga]

good grace,nice cosplays there,but i agree the one that is looking at the camera looks like shes a doll of some kind,sometimes too much airbrushing is a bad thing ,i always find a natural photo under natural lighting to be far more better,more genuine.

[Bariaburu Faita]

good grace,nice cosplays there,but i agree the one that is looking at the camera looks like shes a doll of some kind,sometimes too much airbrushing is a bad thing ,i always find a natural photo under natural lighting to be far more better,more genuine.

I`m not so sure about that, she has a blemish above her nose and right eye. so her skin is probably natural.

its her eyes, the contacts and heavy makeup probably is whats doing it.

this angle mitigates the effect somewhat;

Edited April 19, 2009 by Bariaburu Faita

[Hikuro]

Still a bit creepy.

I got a new belt for the SMS uniform...good enough for casual wear and what not as well, so I'm sure it'll be 20 dollars well spent.

[Gubaba]

Let me get this straight...

People are complaining that *GRACE* doesn't look NATURAL enough...?

[polidread]

Nitpicking: Macrossworld style ???

Grace there couldve combed her wig before taking those close up photos...

[Gubaba]

Nitpicking: Macrossworld style ???

Grace there couldve combed her wig before taking those close up photos...

Mm, it's not the nitpicking, it's the target: it seems to me that since Grace is entirely artificial, the more make-up and photoshop the cosplayers use, the more authentic they're being.

"She looks like the real thing...

She tastes like the real thing...

My fake plastic manager/secret agent/megalomaniac..."

[Jasonc]

Either way, it also doesn't help that her eyebrows are that purpleish color. Grace number 3 looks good too. Something about the Asian cosplayers that just seem to look more right than what's done over here. Don't know if it's just cause most female cosplayers here have bigger frames. I'll be posting many pics come July when AX comes to L.A. Hopefully some good Macross stuff, but we'll see.

Hikuro, why don't you post up what you got so far for your Frontier costume.

[Chewie]

[Hikuro]

Maybe tonight or tomorrow. I still need som kind of boots but thoe arent important. I will be joining a small frontier cosplay group in june. hopefully Ill get some pics.

[Hikuro]

Tell you what, if you don't got people to take pictures for you, or know what you're doing, it's a big waste of time, 20 photos. None of them were any good to me.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Tell you what, if you don't got people to take pictures for you, or know what you're doing, it's a big waste of time, 20 photos. None of them were any good to me.

I may be able to pass you off as a fat Gilliam

Again, Hik, you know I don't mean to offend.

[Hikuro]

I actually thought about putting on the war paint and gettin a necklace....it did cross my mind.

[Graham]

And, here's my own cosplay, made from an actual costume designer. This is made ot of the same fabric (jacket) that is from the Marin A-class fatigues. Anyways, without further ado, here it is.

Last one

Jasonc, has anybody ever told you, you bear a resemblance to a young Jean-Claude Van Damme?

Graham