Tagged: Cosplay

Photo Gallery: Anime Boston 2008

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

ComicMix reader (and aspiring anime/manga artist) Heather recently sent me a gallery of photos from Anime Boston 2008, heralded as "The Northeast’s Largest Anime Convention." The three-day convention was held held last weekend at Hynes Convention Center.

As anyone who’s attended enough anime, comics or pop culture-related conventions over the last few years will no doubt agree, the anime/manga crowd rarely phones it in when it comes to costumes. Sure, there are always a few kids who slap on a metal-plated Naruto headband and call themselves cosplayers, but by and large, the average anime fan’s costume looks like the product of some serious time and effort.

So, with that in mind, I’ve posted some of the photos she sent me after the jump. Consider it a salute to the cosplayers at Anime Boston ’08 and anime fans everywhere. Heck, I have trouble buttoning my shirt correctly most days — I can’t even imagine crafting some of the outfits in these photos. (more…)

Zack Snyder Answers Fans’ ‘Watchmen’ Questions

  • News
  • February 16, 2008

Over at the official Watchmen film website, director Zack Snyder has answered a pretty hefty list of questions from fans about his upcoming big-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

The Q&A is divided into two parts (part one, part two) and covers a lot of ground, from the difficulties of adapting Moore and Gibbons’ use of panels and dialogue to create "scenes between the scenes" to the costumes and fight sequences of the film.

On the subject of Rorschach’s costume, Snyder shed some light on the level of detail he’s aiming for in the character’s mask and the way it reacts with Rorschach’s mood and hidden expressions:

As you can imagine, the most effective way to render the ever-changing inkblot that is Rorschach’s face is with the use of visual effects. So, we created a blank mask and strategically placed small green tracking markers on it. The markers will be used to track the contours of his face throughout the shot. There is also a hole that reveals Jackie’s [Jackie Earle Haley] eyes not only so he can see, but also to help to the VFX artists later while they animate Rorschach’s face. The opening allows them to see what Jackie’s eyes were emoting. When completed, his open-eyed, green polka dotted face will have been replaced by a CG element, a slowly changing inkblot pattern. We’ve gone through and analyzed the many inkblots from the graphic novel and have assigned them each different emotional characteristics — so that when Rorschach is experiencing something in a scene, the shape on the mask reflects his emotions in a graphic and abstract manner. I have had the opportunity to see some of the early tests and I am very pleased with how it is coming together.

Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, Snyder also addresses some of the rumors surrounding the development of The Black Freighter, the story-within-a-story that unfolds throughout the graphic novel.

 

Real-World Superheroes?

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

Next time you see someone in a cape and tights running toward you on a busy street, you might not need to cross the road or locate your pepper spray, folks. You could be having a real-world superhero encounter.

This article in The Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages documents the presence of "Reals" – people who don costumes to do good as real-life superheroes – throughout the country. According to the article, 150-200 of these individuals operate within the U.S., with at least another 50 fighting crime internationally.

One such real-life superhero is "Geist," who dons a black duster and arms himself with smoke grenades, bolos, a slingshot, and a pair of six-inch fighting sticks to fight crime in and around Minneapolis.

A mission awaits and time is of the essence, so Geist eases his solid frame, honed from martial arts training, into his trusty patrol vehicle—a salt-covered beige sedan. Unfamiliar with the transportation tangle of downtown, he pulls a MapQuest printout from his pocket, discovering his goal is but a short cruise down Washington Avenue.

You know what? Forget that stuff we wrote earlier. You should still cross the street and put as much distance as possible between you and the masked guy in spandex… just to be safe.

… Tip o’ the hat to the Blog@ crew

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Is Iron Man Mike Hammer? by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • November 27, 2007

schepper__mike_hamme_60417h-4232768So where we at?  For the past month or so, we have, in a scattershot and disorganized way, been discussing the various elements involved in the evolution of superheroes.  I don’t think we’ve come to any conclusions worthy of being preserved for the ages, nor should we: things change, darnit. But maybe a little tentative upsumming would not be inappropriate.

Upsumming:

Haberdashery: There is currently a trend away from putting superdoers in costumes, though the big bucks movie heroes are still wearing the suits and, judging from the films I know about that are in development, this will not change in the foreseeable future.  But most entertainment consumers — I’m excepting comics fans here — get their heroism, super and otherwise, from television and maybe because of tv production hassles, costumes aren’t common.

Powers: We’ve agreed (haven’t we?) that for a long time the superbeings of mythology and folklore got their powers from some supernatural agency: they were gods, or demi-gods, or friends of ol’ Olympus,  or something.  Or they were agencies of darkness — black magicians of one kind or another.  Then science became the rationale, most famously with Jerry Siegel’s extraterrestrial origin of Superman.  Last, and decidedly least, there was technology allowing the good guy to do his  stuff. And now…well, it’s anything goes time.  Look at the current television offerings: we have a superhero private eye whose abilities are due to his vampirism, which we can call magic; a technology-enabled superhero(ine); and a whole bunch of peripatetic whose gifts have “scientific” explanations, or so it currently seems.

(more…)

Happy Birthday, I Love Lucy!

On this day in 1951, CBS first aired the hilarious classic, "I Love Lucy," and it’s never been off the air since. We must also honor the memory of Lucy for inspiring countless cosplayers across the country.

Where would they be without her?  Forced into the likes of Barbra Streisand and Cher? Is that really the world we would want to live in? Thanks Lucy, we owe ya.

Costume contest in time for Halloween

  • News
  • September 28, 2007

fightsfightstights2_promo-9222637The thing about superhero costumes is, you can get away with a lot of cheating.  Costumes appear to stay attached by magic (particularly to areas featuring naughty bits), usually contain no wrinkles or folds, pretty much be painted on what would otherwise be nude bodies, because the characters wearing them aren’t real people who actually move and have bodies which feature internal organs and such.

It’s much trickier designing a streamlined, stylish superhero outfit to be worn by a living, breathing human being in motion.

But the folks at the superhero fashion site Project Rooftop have announced their second annual costume contest, entitled Fights, Flights and Tights.  All you have to do, say editors Dean Trippe and Chris Arrant, "is wow us with a cool, original costume that redesigns a classic superhero or villain. Take some photos and send them to us along with your name, age, and website (if any) by October 21st, 2007."  Winning entries will, as always, be featured on the site, with the grand priize being an original sketch of the winning design drawn by Trippe.

Presumably, Trippe and Arrant are counting on entrants not violating the spirit of the contest via photo manipulation programs.

SDCC: Just Be Cos

  • News
  • July 30, 2007

at-the-back-of-the-dc-panel-2838431I’ve seen the Spirit of San Diego, and it’s wearing a costume.

 

Saturday sold out first at the San Diego Comic-Con and many dealers were wondering why the floor was more crowded on Friday.  Well, that’s because Saturday night is the Masquerade.  And if you’re wearing a nice costume you don’t want to, and quite often physically can’t, maneuver on a convention floor that’s even mildly crowded.  So you wander the many acres of convention center space between the rooms.

 

lego-star-wars-3205381And you pose for pictures.

 

Want to bring happiness to millions (or at least hundreds) in one day?  Come to San Diego on Saturday and ask people in costumes to pose for a picture.  They live for it, and I’m glad they do.  They are brilliant posers, having worn out the mirrors in their houses.

 

You don’t have to buy a ticket, you can do it on the sidewalk.  You don’t even have to have batteries in your camera, it’s the moment that counts, not the immortality.

 

Some of them are in this world; a sharp looking black haired guy in decent shape in a spot on Superman outfit.  He was standing in the back of the room during the DC Panel.

 

Some are in their own world, in a costume that barely suits (or fits) them.  And I wouldn’t be cruel enough to post their picture near this paragraph.

 

buddy-christ-4097419After a while you realize that no one human can know all these characters.  After a longer while you start seeing costumes when all the person is is extremely stylish.  I saw a guy in backwoods hippie gear and was thinking maybe Hillbilly Bears when I realized this is just how he walks the streets everyday.  I asked a woman to pose, thinking her outfit was something from Sandman but she was just a very happening goth chick.  And, like a true Shipoopi, she doesn’t get sore if you beg her pardon.

 

My favorite was the gathering of eight Doctors Who.  They’re not only well into their costume and character, they’re clearly having the time of their lives.  And when you take a picture or stop to smile back at them, you get a piece of it for free.

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Genre film costume auction

  • News
  • February 14, 2007

obiwancloak-9989840British auctioneer Bonhams is holding a massive auction of what is believed to be the UK’s largest collection of film and television costumes on March 6th. The collection comes from Angels The Costumiers, a fifth generation family firm that has been doing costumes since 1840 and worked on 26 movies that have won Oscars for Outstanding Achievement In Costume Design.

Items going under the hammer include costumes from Superman, Supergirl, six of the Doctors from Dr. Who, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Highlander, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, James Bond’s suits from Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Tomorrow Never Dies, and Alec Guinness’s Obi Wan cloak, pictured here.

In recognition of the popular appeal of the items, Bonhams’ saleroom will be allowing interested customers the opportunity to try on selected costumes. So if you can’t afford to bid, you could just try flying to London — but you probably won’t be able to nip off somewhere and play with your significant other unless you win. (Hat tip to Craig for the story.)

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