Issue 9 - Yipe!

Yipe!The Costume Fanzine of RecordVolume 2 Issue 9 Giant Size Otaku

Yipe!Staff & ContributorsYIPE!LoCs - editors@yipezine.comwww.yipezine.comJason SchachatEditorKevin RocheEditorAndrew TrembleyPhotographerissue nine:giant size otakup3 Letter from the Editor by Jason Schachatp7 Very Old School Anime Costumes by Karen Dickp15 Journey to Anime North by Dawn McKechniep22 Sheriff Don’t Like It by España SheriffEspaña SheriffAssociate EditorDawn McKechnieWriterMette HedinWriterp28 Oxy-Gum and Origami by Kevin J. Rochep38 You Damn Kids by Jason Schachatp45 10 Questions for a Costumer by Mette Hedinp51 Letter from the Other Editor by Kevin RocheThe Costume Fanzine of RecordKaren DickWriterPhotograph credits:Maureen Starkey coverAndrew Trembley pSakuafk.com p15,16Hypersapiens p5,18,19Featherweight p17Nickon p17S. Shirayuki p17Elemental Photography p16C. Mak p18Archangeli p20Christina Stoppa p20Air `leth Aodhfin JaMmCaTPhotography p23Charming Monster p21Simon Chambers p22Zachary Schwartz p19Jason Schachat p4,6,25-27,38-43John O’Halloran p45Sarah L. Goodman p35p7-16 from the collectionof Karen Dickp29-36 from the collectionof Kevin Rochep46-50 from the collectionof Mari Ellen Cottman

CLetterfrom theEditorSend all complaints to:Jason@yipezine.comReaders will know I’m not one for incendiarystatements. Except when I’mtalking about things that suck or rule, ofcourse.isn’t ‘real’ SF/Fantasy.But, after decades of anime fandom growinglarger and larger with every passing year, theterm ‘fad’ seems rather petty. Face it folks,anime may be a medium not-entirely-catering-toSci Fi, but it produces more Sci Fi andFantasy than American television. Betterquality, too.Anime fandom also did one better by embracingvideo game fandom whole-heartedly.No judgments about legitimacy. They justaccepted that people who play Pokémon canbe equally fanatical to the people who watchPokémon.That said... Anime fandom, you need to growup.I and some members of the Yipe! staff wereat an anime convention recently. Everythingwas going swimmingly when we got into theelevator with some other fans from the lobby.After a pregnant pause, a cosplayer stucka finger in the face of a fan wearing a shirtproudly displaying Marvel’s Avengers.“How can you wear a Marvel shirt at an animecon?”We were baffled. I mean, aside from the factthere’s an Avengers movie in the works, comicconventions have embraced anime and cosplayersalike, and, Jesus people, MARVELVS. CAPCOM 3?! Seriously!What it comes down to is acceptance. NotBut I don’t think I’m far wrong when Isay anime fandom is the foundation ofthe next generation of fandom and everythingelse is just clinging desperatelyto the edge of the cliff as the march of timeunerringly pushes us all into obscurity.The discord between general SF fandom andanime fandom is something we constantlybicker about. In this issue, you’ll see phrasesbandied about like “The Greying of Fandom,”“You Kids Get Off My Lawn,” and “FannishKids Are Few and Maladjusted’.”See, the big problem with anime vs. everythingelse in fandom is it’s something moretraditional fans need to put effort into researching.And why do something silly likethat?Conversely, the kids and teenagers raised onanime and manga will think they know everythinguntil life properly beats all the hope andjoy out of them (which, appropriately, happenssometime between legal voting age andlegal drinking age ).The solution? Hell, there’s no magic potion.You either like anime or you don’t.I could point out all sorts of wrongness onboth sides. That older fandom having sucha vehement reaction to the first non-U.S.based science fiction movement to achieveworldwide success smacks of prejudice. Thatanime fandom’s retention rate doesn’t live upto the hype. That anime is a medium ratherthan a genre. That general SF fandom has abad habit of picking and choosing what is andBut they’re really quite shy.

East Coast.Anime North, Toronto’s sprawling home tocosplayers, masqueraders, ravers, lolitas, andmaids alike.España chimes in with her own take on theglory of Cosplay and anime fandom beforebashing the hell out of them for being prettierand more talented than her, then Kevin setsthe wayback machine to his own childhoodand dredges up his formative years influencedby Kimba the White Lion, Astro Boy, and8-Man.I resume my unending thesis paper on animefandom vs. general fandom in our later pages,then Mette Hedin returns to form with 10Questions for Bay Area Cosplayer Mea.Incendiary? Perhaps. Definitely one bigdamn fanzine.-Jason SchachatWest Coast.tolerance, but accepting that the new generationis getting their Sci Fi and Fantasy frommediums the older generations have neverhad the time or inclination to celebrate to thesame degree.The other side of the coin: anime fans needto chill out and broaden their horizons, orthey’re doomed to the same ‘Greying of Fandom’their parents/grandparents are goingthrough right now. Ironically, they’d realizethis if they’d read “Rainbow’s End” by VernorVinge.So, like that Hugo Winner, Yipe! takes thisopportunity to build one Giant Size Otaku,reflecting on the early days of anime fandomand the seemingly boundless growth of thecosplay community.Karen Dick graces us our pages with her personalstory of the seminal days of anime costuming,complete with pictures of her Starblazersand Captain Harlock creations fromwhat might be considered the dawn of Cosplay.Then Dawn McKechnie takes us on a tour of

Cby Karen DickVERY “OLD SCHOOL” ANIMECOSTUMES (1979-1981)Come with me to theprehistory of Cosplay in thelate 1970’s. A time when:• We called anime“Japanimation” and wereforced to watch it inafternoon TV time slotsbecause program executivesreasoned that “cartoons arefor kids.”• DVRs did not exist,VCRs were available butexpensive ($400-$1000),and individual blankvideotapes were $20. Ifyou wanted to record yourfavorite anime, it was asignificant investment.• Personal computers andthe internet did not exist,so there was no easy wayto research your favoriteanime, meet other fans, orpurchase anime-relateditems.• Specialized animeconventions did not exist,so anime fans wore theircostumes to general sciencefiction, media, and comicconventions, often to thebewilderment of otherattendees and masqueradejudges.• Anything manga or animerelated (books, records,videotapes, etc.) was onlyavailable from specialtystores in the “Japantown”area of several major cities,and selection was poor.Special orders to get itemsfrom a particular movie orseries were difficult.• Specialty wigs, especially incolors not found in nature,were extremely hard toobtain.• Often, to see a particularanime, a club orconvention would have torent a 35mm undubbed/unsubtitled print of thefilm and show it with atranslator in the room todo real-time interpretationof the dialog. (My favoriteinstance of this was whenthe 1983 World ScienceFiction conventionplayed one of theSPACE BATTLESHIPYAMATO movies.Toward the end of themovie, the captain of theYamato gave a long andimpassioned speech, whichthe translator abbreviatedto “Don’t screw up.”)I grew up in SouthernCalifornia and was privilegedto see all sorts of anime whenit first hit U.S. airwaves inthe 1960’s: ASTRO BOY,SPEED RACER, MARINEBOY, PRINCE PLANET,GIGANTOR, 8 th MAN,AMAZING 3, etc. ASTROBOY remains a favorite. Thehighlight of the 1978 WorldScience Fiction conventionfor me was to be able to seeuncut episodes of ASTROBOY in the film room afternot having any access atall to them for 13 years.And my home office is stilldecorated with ASTROBOY collectibles.When the second waveof anime-based series hitthe U.S. airwaves a decadelater in the mid-1970’s,they failed to capturemy heart and attentionin quite the same way astheir 1960’s counterparts,in part due to clumsydubbing and rescoring, andin part to extensive storyrewrites to remove violencefor an American audience.GATCHAMAN was watereddown into BATTLE OFTHE PLANETS, andSTARZINGER was turnedinto SPACEKETEERS (partof the FORCE FIVE lineup).Then along came STARBLAZERS (the Americaninterpretation of SPACEBATTLESHIP YAMATO).I was introduced to the showin spring of 1979 by TerryCampbell. Terry workedvarying shifts at a localconvenience store, often hadhis afternoons free to watchTV, and had discoveredSTAR BLAZERS whileflipping channels one day. Iwas attending college in themornings and evenings andworking a part-time job forthe local school district inthe afternoons, so I usuallycould not watch the showin person. VCRs were stillin their expensive infancy, asdescribed above, so I did notown one, but my friend DaveMeyers did, so I persuadedhim to record the episodesof STAR BLAZERS for me.Each week, I would shellout $18 for a new VHS tapefrom the local Photomat store(which was the lowest pricefor a single tape at the time),and hand it to Dave, whowould then set his VCR to

tape the episodes each day.Then, over the weekend, Terryand I would show up at Dave’sapartment, and watch 5 daysof episodes in one marathonsession. Lather, rinse, repeatthrough 10+ weeks/52episodes.I was now a woman with acollection of anime VHS tapesand nothing to play themon, a situation that was notrectified for another 5 years. Inretrospect, I find it interestingthat I chose an anime as thefirst thing I made an effort topreserve on videotape, ratherthan episodes of classic STARTREK, which I had beena rabid fan of since the late1960’s.I had a private room/officefor my job (used to givecompetency tests in mathand English to high schoolseniors), so, each afternoon, Iwould listen to the audio ofthat day’s STAR BLAZERSepisode on a TV band radioas if it were a radio play. It isa tribute to the quality of thevoice acting and the retentionof the original Japanesesymphonic score that theepisodes held up amazinglywell under these conditions.I belonged to my college’sSTAR TREK club (S.T.A.R.San Diego), and had beengoing to STAR TREKconventions and the SanDiego Comic-Con since1973. I actively competedin the masquerades at theseconventions, and madecostumes for S.T.A.R.meetings and S.T.A.R.’sannual Halloweenmasquerade party. It didn’ttake long for me to lookat STAR BLAZERS withmy costumer’s eye and seeuniforms with clean designlines and bright colors thatcould be reproduced easily ininexpensive double knit fabric.I made the first two in fall of1979 for Terry and myself.Other friends saw them andwanted them, so I made more.By spring of 1980, there were10, and some of my friendswere figuring out how to buildthe various weapons from theshow out of sheet styrene.Either in fall of 1979 or springof 1980, I also connected withMark Merlino, Fred Patten,and The Cartoon FantasyOrganization (CFO), basedout of Los Angeles. CFOmembers had an interestin all kinds of animation,but the club, founded in1977, was becoming moreand more heavily weightedtoward anime. They alwayshad flyers at conventions,and often had input tothe film programs of Los-Angeles based science fictionconventions. My friends and Iattended some of the monthlymeetings, at least once inSTAR BLAZERS uniforms.The CFO broadened ourhorizons and introduced usto anime series and movieswe had not seen before:LUPIN III, CRUSHER JOE,RAIDEEN.With the help of CFOmembers, I got directions toplaces in Los Angeles whereanime-based materials couldbe bought, including the“Little Tokyo” area downtown,and the Gardena area furtherafield. Armed with thisknowledge, my friends and Iwere able to purchase a wealthof manga, reference books,LP soundtracks, and othercollectibles related to STARBLAZERS. (First Japanesephrase I learned was “UchuSenkan Yamato,” to querybook store and record storeowners about our favoriteshow.)This was the era when anime

series based on the “Leijiverse”(of Leiji Matsumoto) werepopular: big, sweeping spaceepics with romantic andchivalrous ideals, populatedby women with ridiculouslylong hair and tall, thin men.At the time, my friends and Ibore physical and personalityresemblances to some of thecharacters, which helpedin our costumed portrayals.Through our shoppingexpeditions to Los Angeles,we discovered other animeseries set in the Leijiverse thatwe hadn’t seen yet: CAPTAINHARLOCK, QUEENEMERALDAS, GALAXYEXPRESS 999. We boughteverything we could lay ourhands on, and were neverdisappointed by the music orthe visual imagery. Terry feltan immediate affinity with thebrooding Captain Harlock,and I with Emeraldas.By spring of 1980, thosecostumes were part of ourrepertoire, and so were all theaccessories: guns, swords, andpirate flags, all scratch-built.In spring of 1980, SanDiego based CAPTAINHARLOCK and STARBLAZERS groups descendedupon the masquerade of theS.F. Weekend convention inLos Angeles, and both wonmajor awards. Both groupswere aided enormously by thesound technician, who wasan anime fan and happenedto have both theme songson tape. These were stillthe days where sound wasan optional luxury at mostconvention masquerades,and entries recording theirown soundtracks was evenrarer. The visuals and themusic together were verypowerful, and won overaudiences and judges alike.By Memorial Day of1980, there was a fullCAPTAIN HARLOCKcrew put together for anothermasquerade competition,including the Mimaycharacter, who has longblue hair, large pupillessgolden eyes, and no mouth.We searched high and lowthrough costume shops inSouthern California andfinally found a suitable bluewig. Nathalia Quirk, whoportrayed the character,consented to have hermouth sealed shut with alatex prosthetic and her eyescovered with yellow sunglasslenses glued directly to herface. Even though the lenseshad been pre-drilled withairholes, they steamed upimmediately, and she spentseveral hours being bothspeechless and blind. Talkabout suffering for your art!We brought color Xeroxes tothe masquerade to show to thejudges, as we knew they wouldprobably be unfamiliar withthe anime. The masqueradedirector refused to pass thematerial along, so I tucked itinto my belt, and as we wereleaving the stage, I looked theend judge in the eye, handedhim the folded up papers, andsaid, “Here. You need this.”The judge opened it up, sawwhat it was, and said, “Yes.Yes, we do. THANK YOU.”I think we got some kind ofaward for accuracy to sourcethat evening.At the same convention, wegot in trouble with the hotel(the infamous AmbassadorHotel in Los Angeles, whereRobert F. Kennedy wasassassinated by Sirhan Sirhan)for flying our Harlock andEmeraldas pirate flags outthe window of our hotelroom. They were afraidpassers-by on the street wouldthink terrorists had taken overthe hotel.By summer of 1980, therewere over a dozen STARBLAZERS uniforms (andCaptain Avatar, and Starsha),and we descended on theSan Diego Comic-Conmasquerade en masse. Wewon a much-coveted Best inShow that year.The next anime groupwe did was based on theGALAXY EXPRESS 999movie. Captain Harlock andEmeraldas required minimalmodifications, but costumeshad to be made for 5 newcharacters. It was originallyintended for Galacticon in fallof 1980, but the conventionfolded two weeks before itwas supposed to be held.While we were sad not tohave anything to do thatweekend, we were happy tohave additional time to workon the costumes. Kelly Turner,who was portraying CountMecha, had to do a lifecastof his face, sculpt the CountMecha robot face in clay onthe lifecast, and then take amold of the robot face and useit to produce a fiberglass resin

mask. A friend with access toa machine shop tooled up theresin “cogs” on Count Mecha’scoat. And again, we had wigproblems. Count Mecha hadshort, blonde, page-boyishhair. The wig we got was theright length, but the endswere too curly and there wasan unwanted “Prince Valiant”effect. We spent a lot of timeand frustration trying torestyle and straighten the wig,which was synthetic fiber andheat-set. (I think we finallyended up ironing it, aftertrying to wet it, comb it, rollit on curlers in the oppositedirection, and use a curlingiron on it.)The GALAXY EXPRESSgroup finally made itsappearance at Equicon inspring of 1981. It was entry#13 in the masquerade,which lived up to its unluckyassociations, as Kelly, in fullcostume, got stuck betweenfloors in a hotel elevatorjust as the masquerade wasstarting. We realized hewould not be freed before ournumber came up, so we askedthe Masquerade Director tomove our entry to the end ofthe masquerade. Fortunately,Kelly was able to escapefrom the elevator before themasquerade was over, and thegroup was well-received andwon an award.Later in 1981, we did a largeELFQUEST group andthen started a push on largescaleoriginal costumes forthe next four World ScienceFiction conventions. In 1984,Kelly and I, now husbandand wife, moved to NorthernCalifornia, which made itdifficult to work on furtheranime-based groups with ourusual costuming partners.There were other animecostumes and characters wewanted to do (with the firstthing on the horizon beinguniforms from MACROSS),and San Francisco’s JapanCenter became our newsource of anime-based booksand music, but we just nevergot around to it. The lastanime-based costume I madewas Hikaru Ichigo’s uniformfrom MACROSS, for Kelly,in 1989. The materials I hadso painstakingly accumulatedfor a matching Misa Hayaseeventually got used for a nonanimeproject.In 1990, I moved to theEast Coast and completelydropped out of anime fandomfor a while, thus missingthe emergence of the firstanime conventions as entitiesseparate from S/F, media,and comic conventions.My first introduction to amodern anime convention wasAnimeUSA several years ago,and it was a huge eye-opener.Now, as a middle-aged adult,I still have an avid interest inanime and costuming, but Istruggle to find age-suitableanime characters to portraythat appeal to me. I do keeplooking at the State Alchemistuniforms from FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, andthinking “Hmmmm. I wonderwhat these would be like, fullytailored out of wool?”In all, my San Diego friendsand I produced 3 highlyvisible anime-based costumegroups (STAR BLAZERS,CAPTAIN HARLOCK,GALAXY EXPRESS 999)over an 18-month periodthat made the rounds of theWest Coast conventions anddid very well in competition.I like to think that theseearly efforts were part of thegroundwork that eventuallyled to cosplay and animeconventions as they existtoday.

Journey to Anime Northby dawn mckechnieCIn May, Anime North,Canada’s largest animeconvention is held in Toronto,Canada.With Anime North’syouthful demographic anda subject matter as colourfulThese Armored Trooper Votoms cosplayerswon Best Novice Workmanshipin the Anime North Masquerade in 2008.as anime to draw from it’snot a surprise that a largepercentage of Anime North’s16,000 attendees enjoycosplaying! What is surprisingis high percentage of attendeeparticipation in wearingcostumes in general, not justJapanese media cosplay, butwestern media too, as well asJapanese fashion and streetstyles, and colourful fandomrealated fashions of theirown invention, a testamentto HOW popular costumingand dressing up really is!Anime and video game relatedcosplay of course reigns supremeduring the weekend, but you’re likelyto meet a variety of other charactersas well in the halls or during one ofthe many costume related events.Harry Potter, Spider Man, a StormTrooper or an Elizabethan queen,may be spied, amidst the patronsdressed in anime standards such asPokemon,, Naruto, or Sailor Moon.You may see Lolitas crossing the road,or a couple sporting a popular J-Rocklook dancing in an impromptu congaline, or perhaps some girls sporting aDecora fashion look stopping for icecream at one of the many ice creamtrucks parked along the populargrassy meeting grounds.. And ofcourse, there are hundreds of the mostcasual of costumers, the funny t-shirtdecked out in cat, (or bunny), ears andperhaps a tail and maybe a crazy haircolour.Cosplayerdressed asRachel Alucardfrom Blaz Bluestrolls amongstthe thousandsof other fans atAnime NorthCosplayers Gillikins, Jayuna, and ChibiLenne in Magic Knight Rayearth cosplay

Cosplayer Featherweightas SquirtleGirls dressed in the Decora StyleCosplayers Kudrel andMagic Mirror perform inthe Saturday night Masqueradeas the ShivaSistersA ChocoboFrom the hard corecosplayers to the casualalternative style enthusiasts,all participants in creativedress lend to the vibe andatmosphere that make AnimeNorth such a deliciously funspectacle to be immersed in.The Friday Night SkitCompetition is an event forthose who love to perform.It allows cosplayers a longtime limit to sing, dance, orperform a long sketch of anytype. Costumes can be eitherself made or purchased.Anime North is veryfortunate to be in the heartof a strong, long establishedfandom costumingcommunity, and thus offersmany costume related eventsover its official three day run.Here are a few of the eventswhere eye-popping costumescan be seen:The Saturday NightMasquerade is the jewel inthe crown of Anime North’scostuming programming.It’s a costume showcasewhere workmanship isextremely important. Unlikemost Anime Conventions,Anime north welcomes morethan just Anime or Mangacostumes. Costumes basedDynasty Warrior Cosplayers Sarah and Lindsayat the Saturday Night Masquerade

Cosplayer Ani-Bee as Alice B-Rabbit from Pandora Hearts inthe Saturday Night MasqueradeMaid Café – Café Delish. Forthose who wish to experiencethe charming traditions ofa Japanese style café such asthose found in Akihabara,Café Delish fits the bill. TheMaids at Café Delish, servesweet cakes, and entertainthe patrons with dancingand games, all while wearingtheir custom maid outfitsdesigned and made by CaféDirector Jordan Smith.Patrons may get their photowith their favorite maid totake home. Many of AnimeNorth’s attendees attend themaid café dressed in costumethemselves.Café Delish Maids welcome you!From Team Fortress 2, anEngineer sings an ode tohis Sentry Gun.on western media, Historicaldress, J-Fashion, and originalcreations are all welcome aswell. The masquerade followsICG guidelines and uses thedivisional system with greatsuccess. The participationrate is high, having upwardsof 143 entries at one point.The competition is fierce.The masquerade is so popularwith spectators you’ll have toget a wristband in advanceto garuntee getting a seat towatch the event live.

The Moonlight MasqueradeBall:In addition to a traditionalfandom dance, Anime Northfeatures a MasqueradeCostume Ball known as TheMoonlight Ball. Attendeescreate prom style costumesbased on their favorite animeand manga characters, or dressto fit the theme of the year.(This years theme was Alice inWonderland.) No costumerstarves when feasting on the Ball'sfull buffet, and none go unfitafter a night of court styledancing.Kimono Fashion Show: ForKimono enthusiasts, Anime Northhosts both a Kimono Fashion Showand a Large Kimono Display.A lover of traditional Japanesefashions may seek out one ofAnime North’s well knownkanzashi* artists such asSarcasm-Hime. (*hand made,A sampling of sweetlolitas gathered forthe Lolita Tea Party.folded, flower hair ornamentsworn by Geisha and Maiko)Lolita Teaparty: Girls andboys, (but mostly girls), inLolita fashion of all typesgather for the annual LolitaTea Party. An abundant arrayof Lolita styles such at Sweet,Gothic, Aristocrat and Walolito name a few, can be seenduring anime north. For everygirl dressed in Lolita, there is aphotographer ready and willingto snap photos of the cute,doll-like ladies. During theweekend there is also a LolitaFashion Show.Steampunk FashionShowRecognizing the risingpopularity of steampunk,and steampunkcostuming, AnimeNorth now hosts asteampunk fashion show.Cosplay Chess.The massive team effortit takes to coordinate afully costumed thirtyfiveperson humanchess event is enormous.Fortunately the love theorganizers and costumedparticipants have for thegame and their subjectmatter, (the theme andcostumes change fromyear to year), is immense.Adam Smith and Dr Holocaust prepare forbattle in the Steampunk Fashion Show.A sample of the costumed chess playing pieces in thehuman game of Cosplay Chess

COutdoor RaveAt the Otakubaloooutdoor rave,things are a swirlof light and colourand sound, as theattendees deckedout in neon glotubbing, el wire,and dressed in avariety of colourfulcostumes, crazyclothes, andj-fasion dance thenight away. And itdoesn’t stop there.Even DJ Selia theDJ from Japan isfully decked out incolourful costumewhile providing thetunage that makesOtakubaloo such apopular event.Made in Japan – DJ Selia at Otakubalooby España SheriffIt’s impossible toconvey the exciting,and fun atmospherecostumersexperience at AnimeNorth, or theastounding array ofbeautiful, comicaland eye poppingcostumes that visitthe convention overthe weekend, but Ihope this has givenyou a small sampleof what one canexperience in a visitto Canada’s LargestAnime Convention.You know what I hate?People who are younger,prettier and moretalented than me. Whichis pretty much Animefandom in a nutshell;hordes of happy, adorablycute teenagers in brilliantcostumes they madefrom scratch. Probablyin between studying fortheir advance placementclasses and volunteeringat the local soup kitchen.Or at least that’s howit feels every year whenI look around at theAnime LA membership.The first time I attended,just a few short years ago,I had only a vague idea ofwhat to expect. Of course,I knew the averageattendee would be on theyounger side, but mostlythat translated in mybrain as “No party floor,dammit!” I was familiarwith certain aspects ofthe fandom from conreports, costuming andart websites or fromthings like Wondercon.But the sheer number ofpeople in costume wasalmost overwhelmingand a real treat; fromindividuals cosplayingtheir favorite videogamecharacter or just dressedin a specific fannishsubculture fashion, togroups all doing oneseries, movie or manga,pretty much everyoneseemed to be dressed up.I am a big believer in hallcostuming as a vital formof fanac and there is noquestion cosplayers havethat down cold.One interesting result

of this is that one ofthe biggest activities atAnime cons seems tobe taking and posingfor pictures. Evencompared to eventswith a similar ratio ofcostumed attendees likeSteampunk cons, theanime crowd spends alot of its time on photos.Any patch of grass islikely to be occupiedfrom sunup to sundownwith a stream of models.Which on the one handI totally get wanting tohave a good record ofthe hard work put intoan outfit, and a lot of thephoto galleries you canfind online are amazing;the costuming, modelingand photography-- alltop notch. On the otherhand, I sometimeswonder if it’s a symptomof some degree ofshallowness; are thekids who spend all daystanding in front ofcameras interested in therest of their fandom at all?Are they the equivalentof the hipsters who goto clubs to be seen, havephotos taken for theirFacebook wall but don’treally care about theband, dancing, or talkingto their friends?I suppose the answer is“Who cares?” There areplenty of Con-dom vs.Fan-dom discussionsare general interestconventions as well, so,as long as everyone ishaving fun, the more themerrier I guess.But back to the amazingcostumes; A look at awebsite like cosplay.com will show you theincredible work thatgoes into some of these.A great deal of thesource material for thesecostumes is extremelystylized, to the pointwhere, if I had not seenPink dress and bunny ears,gloomy goth doll. Thismakes more sense whenyou read her blog.It took three attempts toget a shot of these twoeating their sandwichesout of character.the costumes personally,I would have said itwas unrealistic to do arecreation; long, flowingtresses that defy gravityand the structural limitsof human hair, props andweapons that stand twoor three times the heightof the person wieldingthem, and clothingthat was designed ina animated or drawnworld of selective physicsin which wardrobemalfunctions only existfor comedic effect.But, somehow, theseCosplayers make ithappen; wigs in highlyunlikely colors are cut,spiked, styled, andsprayed into drag queenesquelevels of artificiality.Styrofoam and papermache are assembledinto lightweight propsthat would otherwise beimpossible to lift, muchless carry, and the outerlayers are worked on withsuch attention and carethat even knowing thematerials are faked up,it’s hard to believe you’renot looking at metal orstone.The results are wonderful,and, although theMasquerade is a big partof the convention, the joyof running around in thehalls in full regalia seemsto be half the point.Cosplay appears to me tobe a social activity.I remember walking thehalls at the first ALA Iattended and thinkinghow this fandom differs,at least from the outside,from the cliche ofmisunderstood outsidersthat mainstream fansusually claim as theirorigin story. These kidsall appeared to be healthy,highly social, and prettierthan anyone in Nerdomhas any right to be.Am I exaggerating?Yeah, okay. Maybe a little

it. There are certainlyalso a whole lot ofslapped together Narutocostumes, and deliciousmoments of second-handangst in the elevatorwhen you are treated tosnippets of drama, gossip,or the occasional full-onmeltdown. And I’m suresome of the kids are nogoodnikswho should besent to military school,dammit.And, to be fair, I amseeing them in their ownenvironment, surroundedby their peers. But still,it was a great contrast tothe combined ‘Greyingof Fandom’ and ‘FannishKids Are Few andMaladjusted’ truismsthat come up regularly inconversation most othercons I attend.España Sheriff spent three days runningthis fanzine lounge, and all she got wasthis stupid column.Sadly, thiscosplayer’shealthinsurancehad noclause forspinal injurydue toexcessivehair mass.CEarly ExposureBits and pieces of Japaneseculture have been droppinginto my life as long as I canremember. I think it all startedwith origami (the art ofpaper-folding). On severaloccasions after my parentshad been away for a night inThe City (San Francisco, forreaders who are not Bay Arealocals, is simply The City forthe chunk of Northern Californiacentered on San FranciscoBay), they returned witha gift of one of those booksof simple origami designscomplete with samples gluedinto the pages. My brotherand I decoded the drawings(dashed lines for mountainfolds, dotted for valley folds)and happily made origamiflowers, fish and pigeons(which if you shifted thewing folds slightly could beOxy-Gum& OrigamiBeing a mostly chronological non-mendacious personalreminiscence on the reccurrent influence of J-pop inits various forms on your editor’s life and artisticresume...by Kevin J. RocheFigure 1 The Crane -- Note the all important G-spot to get from step 5 to step 6occasionally be persuadedto fly), and puzzled over themore complicated designscrammed onto a single mapfoldedpiece of paper in theback of the package of extraorigami paper my parentswere clever enough to buy.Eventually, my civil engineerfather (I’m fairly sureit was he) figured out thecryptic drawings to get fromstep 5 to step 6 in the classical“crane base” for origami(see the figure.. the trick isrealizing that you after doingthe folds from step 4 to5, you grab the top layer atpoint “G” and swing it up

and out; the creases you justmade open and then refold toform the sides of that narrowdiamond figure), and we wereoff again, creating fabulousbirds and beasts galore. I stilllove origami, have successfullyessayed some rather exoticdesigns including unicornsand octopi, and have evencreated a few designs of myown, notably a proper shamrock-- three broad flat leavesand a narrow stem, and papermodels of the USS Enterpriseand the Space Shuttle(which, rather like the poororigami pigeons, would sortof fly if properly weighted beforelaunching them).About the same time (1965,1966) I acquired some newfavorite afternoon shows. Todaywe would refer to themas anime, but back then theywere just cartoons. Ah, butwhat cartoons! Astro Boy, MarineBoy, and 8 Man (or Tobor,the Eighth Man, dependingwhich title you were reading)were my new heroes. A littlelater I found out about SpeedRacer and Kimba, the WhiteLion. I watched them all,but while my friends lovedthe high-speed adventure ofSpeed Racer, I was hooked bythose first three.In hindsight, it’s painfullyobvious why… I was a tinyboy, and smart, and everybodywas bigger than me.Astro Boy and Marine Boywere heroes, but they weredrawn as boys, smaller thaneveryone around them. MarineBoy also had his waycool-super-secretOxy-Gumwhich let him stay underwateras long as he liked (well, aslong as he always had anotherstick handy in his utilitybelt), which to a tiny boy whowas much better at sinkingthan at even dog-paddling,seemed like the perfectly obvioussolution to a problem.In hindsight, I’m not sureexactly how one could actuallysucceed at chewing one’sgum while battling monsters,greedy marine exploitationists,riding one’s best-frienddolphin and delivering cheesydubbed action-adventuredialog all at the same time,but it made perfect sense atthe time. (Marine Boy andAstro Boy also had the verydefinite advantage that theywere not SCARY like thatcreepy fanged Angelique onmy babysitter’s favorite afternoondrama, Dark Shadows.She gave me nightmares foryears.)How, you may ask, does anyof this relate to costuming?At the time (in 1965,I was 5 years old), my ideaof a costume was paper bagmasks, or, more likely, wearingonly the hood of myjacket tied on and runningaround with it as a cape tofly as Superman. In 1966the stable expanded to includeBatman (his costumewas way more cool thanRobin’s).Ah – but one of the keysto my early heroes was thatthey (or their costumes)could transform. Astroboy’sfeet turned into rocketboosters. Marine Boy’swetsuit boots extruded swimfins when he clicked his heelstogether, and had “hyperpoweredpropeller packs” inthe heels when he needed togo fast. And then there wasTobor, the Eighth Man. Amurdered detective whoseconsciousness had beentransferred to an ultra-secretandroid robot, he could changehis entire appearance by simplythinking about it. If only costumingwere that simple!Flash forward a couple ofyears and we are now gettinga show that begins withwonderful exotic creakingpercussion effects as twowhorls of paint slowly untwistto reveal… Ultra Man.The adventures of Hayata

and the Science Patrol werethe beginning of my real loveaffair with kaiju and cheesyminiature effects. My husbandAndy Trembley can laythe blame on Ultraman formy voracious consumption(and collection) of Gojira(Godzilla), Mosura (Mothra),Gamera, and other actors-in-rubber-suits-stomping-on-miniature-citiesfilms. The Abominable SnowMonster from Rankin-Bass?Terrifying with all thosefangs. Giant Lobster-Menfrom Space? Not a problem.Eventually, I learned whyJapanese actors voices neverseemed to match what theyappeared to be saying, but itdidn’t matter, this was stillfun. (I will say that whilestill cheesy, those shows andfilms are way more entertainingthese days with Englishsubtitles and the original languagesoundtrack)Spreading the InfectionIn high school and college,while I was awareof other animated seriesfrom Japan, noneof them made a tremendousimpression onme… this was the timeof Star Wars. Just aftercollege, however, anew wave of Japanimationarrived. I vaguelyregistered its existence(my friend Karen, on theother hand was doingamazing StarBlazers andSpace Battleship Yamatocostume, as she talkedabout earlier in the issue).I was doing all sorts offantasy and SF costumes, butthere were a couple of Japanese-inspiredpieces tuckedin there: at Costume-Con 3(1985) I entered a the historicalmasquerade with a kabukicostume: Princess Takeyashi(from The Demon Princess).In 1993 I entered the Confrancisco(51 st World ScienceFiction Convention) with aset of origami-folded papercostumes entitled From theFolded Universe, which effectedkabuki-style transformationswhile on stage (adragon with captive maidenbecame a helmed prince withprincess in bridal kimono, allmade from folded paper). WeFigure 2: Lost in Space -- The RegenerationIt doesn’t get any prettier at higher resolutionwon that year’s CostumeApaaward for our efforts.And then came Robotech,which all my friends wentmad for, but I found justplain confusing. Fortunately,more and more films and serieswere becoming availablefor view (and folks also beganreferring to it as anime ratherthan Japanimation). I wanderedinto a convention videoroom one day and watched,jaw agape, the opening episodeof Ranma ½. After exhaustingRobotech, KTEH,our local PBS station, startedbroadcasting other anime,including several OAV(Original Animated Video)productions and one of theTenchi Muyo! serials. Sometime in there Jennifer Tifftand I did an entry at the Bayconmasquerade with designsinformed by (yes, really) Anime,Star Trek: The Next Generation,Dr. Who and Lost InSpace. As I recall, the designbrief for Lost in Space: TheRegeneration entailed “colorcombinations not found innature, spandex, asymmetricconstruction, and horrificpuns.” In addition, my uniformwas designed to be hottubcompatible as soon as Ished my boots. Fortunatelyfor the reader, I have only onegrainy snapshot of the result.

And then, in 1998, I met(my future husband) Andy.He was definitely an animefan. While trapped by a NewYear’s blizzard at his housein Milwaukee, we watched amarathon of Ranma ½. AndHere is Greenwood. Then heintroduced me to the whackinessthat is the multiple retellingsof Tenchi Muyo! andI learned what OAV means.In 1999, Andy moved here tothe SF Bay Area and our animeinsanity truly began. Thatyear Karen Tully, Andy and Iactually organized a Japanesepop-culture Halloween party:Godilla vs Pokemon (withthe gracious co-conspiracy offriends who owned an atriumEichler home with a pool).It featured Speed Racerand the Mach 5 in the carport,one giant Gojira loomingover the entrance atrium(arriving guests beingably defended by Pikachu;the fog colum was agood 40 feet tall), a secondGojira surfacing inthe pool behind a miniaturetug towing a glowingMosura egg, and athird relentlessly encroachingon the miniaturedowntown (throughwhich guests were invitedto rampage and becaught on film), whileGamera and Mosuraflew overhead and miniature(plastic) jetfighterspursued them futilely.A few snapshots from saidparty are included here, therest are still available for viewat http://www.twistedimage.com/productions/halloween .Andy came as a faceless alienambassador. Karen and Icame as the Cosmos Twins(from the Mosura remake),with costumes that, regrettably,define the color “screamingpink,” and matching pageboywigs that, if we had anysense, we would have burnedas soon as we looked in a mirror.Team Rocket from Pokemonarrived, as did a pairof Agents from the Matrix.Darth Maul and Boba Fettdestroyed downtown withrelish, as did a truly frighteningKiller Klown. In the end,when the votes were tallied,Pikachu won the day, whichis only fitting, as the younglady in the Pikachu costume,the 3 year old daughter of ourhosts, was the *only* creaturewho remembered to movethe civilians out of harms waybefore stomping on downtown.Andy had brought his animecollection and we added to it,including numerous aspectsof the Tenchi Muyo! universe(I still want to make some ofthe Jurai court costumes withthe levitating arm-bands), anunexpurgated set of SailorMoon!, and a complete boxset of Super Dimension FortressMacross. (I know alsounderstood why Robotechmade no sense – it had beenhacked together from severalMacross stories to tell a completelydifferent adventure.)We now have the better partof a wall covered with variousand sundry anime titles, farmore than I care to detail, buthere are a couple suggestions:if you like quirky and offbeat,check out Haunted Junction,if you like surreal and funny,try Excel Saga (and be sure torun it with the pop-ups enabled).In August 2002, Andy andI were workmanship judgesat ConJose, the 60 th Worldconmasquerade. Among theawards we presented was oneto Karisu for “Excellence inAttention to Detail” for thepropwork on her family’scostumes (recreations from avideo game). That introductionled to a strong friend-

that in addition to lots of animecosplay, there’s appreciationfor beefcake costumingthere; my JungleBoy costumewas quite well received; howeverwe did make a point ofmaking sure he always hada handler to keep the moreexuberant fans at arms distance.We still visit YaoiConmost years; recently we’venoticed an influx of youngstraight men who’ve figuredout the demographics mightstack the odds in their favorfor meeting girls.ship between our two families,and a now (occasionallymind-bogglingly) hugecircle of cosplaying friends.In October of that year, Andypersuaded me to attend Yaoi-Con, at which I first experiencedthe awesome power of300 fangrrls squeezing simultaneouslywhen the boy/boycouple they’ve been waitingfor first appears on screen. I’mnot sure my high-frequencyhearing has ever recovered.If you have never been exposedto it, yaoi -- whichstands for Yama nashi, ochinashi, imi nashi “No climax,no point, no meaning” -- isa phenomenon not unlikeslash fan fiction, which startedwith fans (mostly youngwomen) creating their owncomics (dōjinshi) romanticallypairing male characters,sometimes from completelyindependent manga or animesources. There are also nowprofessionally made mangaand anime which fit into thisgenre.While there is plenty ofhot bedroom tension, in generalyaoi tends to a romanticfantasy of “boy’s love” ratherthan the gritty reality (moreor less) and messy plumbingof porn created for gay men.YaioCon skews to a mostlyfemale demographic (withits attendant high-amplitudehigh-frequency squeezing).It also includes a recruitedtroupe of bishōnen (beautifulboys) to add to the fun.(And, for the record, all the“bishies” at YaoiCon are actuallytoo old to actually qualifyas bishōnen, but they playthe part gamely). This meansIn 2003, I built an Ultraman-inspiredcostume fora stage fantasy productionin which a space heroand a turtle-backed villainChudwadon (recycling theGamera hell from the party)battled through a miniaturecityscape (also recycled fromthe party). It was an epic battle,although it really was ashame what happened to TokyoTower. Sorry, no photos,unless I can find where I hidthat album.In 2006 and again in 2007 weran the cosplay competition(masquerade) for Anime LosAngeles. By this time I wasseeing lots more anime, video-gameand J-pop inspiredcostumes show up at generalscience fiction conventions,and had been involved in numerouscosplay vs costumerdiscussions, both at conventionsand online. In 2006, infact, the Best in Show awardat WorldCon was given to aHCC Cosplay, a group recreatingcostumes from theTrinity Blood anime.In the final year before Costume-Con26, Andy startedstudying historical Japanesegarments, culminating inour creation of very accurateplaid (yes, plaid!) Edo-periodkataginu kamashimo, whichwe wore to the PEERS MikadoBall. The end result wasmaking another fabulousnew friend, Lisa, who adoptsa Japanese persona at SCAevents. We proceeded to cre-

ate mediaeval versions of thekataginu so we could go picnicwith her at them occasionally.I watch a lot less anime thesedays, but I see plenty of amazingJapanese pop culture-inspiredcostumes and cosplayon display at conventions.Perhaps it is time to go reviewTenchi Muyo! and buildthat Jurai court costume…CYouDamnKidsBeing a bitterand half-drunkentirade againstbitter fandomby Jason Schachat“The Graying of Fandom.”This is a term we’ve tossedaround for a while, now. Itseems like every day sees itused more and more. You goto a major science fiction convention,and the majority ofattendees are middle aged orbetter. Younger fans are usuallythe demented offspring ofsaid attendees (a traditionaltruism) and to a greater degreethan ever before.Any time you have an age gapof twenty years at a con, youknow you’re not reaching outto every generation.But I think this gets to myproblem with the argumentsthat fandom is getting olderand no new fans have risenfrom the ashes of prior generations.I realize that I, myself,can be considered a youngerfan, but this seems like theworst possible hyperbole todescribe the present situation.The problem isn’t that fandom’sgetting old. The problemis that old fandom has rejectedyoung fandom.A bold statement, true, butlet’s stand firmly behind itbefore riddling it with bullets.Young fans are out there.There are far more of themthan ‘the rest of us’. The problemisn’t that they don’t haveany interest in science fictionand fantasy. The problem isfandom’s shown little interest

J-Pop is not Filk.This is a bad thing?interest of SF fans and thusdeserved a place in their convention(that place often beinga dark midnight screeningroom tucked away in afar corner of the hotel.)Any costume theme that embarassesneither boyfriend nor girlfriend hassomething going for it.Thus, anime fans were treatedlike juvenile delinquentsand second class citizens, notto be trusted with the lineageof fandom because they ‘justdon’t get it’.But a truly terrible thing happened,at one point. Some ofthose repressed anime fansgrew up. And some of themdecided to start anime conventionsof their own. Andsome of those anime conventionsmake WorldConlook like the saddest littleTupperware party in the historyof leftovers.in them.I’ll grant some of this stemsfrom feelings running between“The college kids keepsneaking drinks to theirfriends” and “You kids get offmy lawn!” Humans, by ourvery survival instincts, liketo separate things into categories,and younger peopletend to be more energetic yetless organized/organizablethan their elders. They haveless invested in the worldthey inhabit, and thus can’tbe trusted to treat it with therespect it deserves.On the other hand, we ain’tgetting any younger. So, it reallydoesn’t matter if we don’tentirely respect the opinionsof future generations as longas there are, in fact, futuregenerations willing to carryon any part of our belovedtraditions. Modern rockabillyshows may not matchthe ones in the ‘50’s, but atleast they’re keeping the musicalive.The debates we have in sciencefiction fandom are legion,but a big one seemingto separate ‘young’ from ‘old’is the place where animebelongs. Classic fandomhas had many reactions tothe phenomenon of anime.Some say it’s nothing morethan a passing fancy. Othersargue the term ‘anime’ istoo general (allowing non-Sci Fi/non-Fantasy into thescene). But more peoplemade a case it’s a commonSure, size isn’t everything*snicker*, but even the mostagoraphobic, mouth-breathingneckbeard would agreethey want to be at the biggestand best convention outthere. And they back thisup by flocking to the growinganime conventions, leavingbehind the science fictionconventions where ‘oldpeople’ relegate 20-year oldanime to the basement level.Now, before we go too farpainting the anime fans asrepressed young revolutionariesboldly leading us intothe future of fandom, let’snot forget much of theirscene is built on the ideaof getting away from theirparents, being cool, and celebratingtheir youth. Wecan pretty much guarantee,when the next big thingcomes along, anime conventionswill themselves becomegrey, somber affairs adults

A grown-up cosplaying a little boywhose soul is bound to a giant suit ofarmor. And really well, at that.drag rebellious children to.So we have to look at ourselvesand ask if this is theway things are doomed to be.One generation will rise upas the other fades away, oldtraditions dying as new onesblossom.Nope, I don’t buy it.We’ve seen ‘corporate cons’attract new generations offandom decade after decade.It’s clearly not about oldand young refusing to finda happy medium. You justneed to give them a reasonto be there. It could be theannouncement of the latestsuperhero film or a demo of anew video game, sure. Thenagain, it could just be a picturesquearea for Cosplayersto pose. Dozens of screeningrooms for anime and classicSci Fi alike. Manga sellers inthe Dealers Room.And I know people will saywe’ve done this all before.Attempts have been made,olive branches offered. Thekids, they just don’t like us.But that’s ultimately wherenegotiations break down.“Kids.” What’s the best wayto piss off a teenager andconvince them they have nosay in what’s going on? Setup events for ‘kids’. Makeit look like a place wherethey’re being babysat. Remindthem, whenever possible,they’re not on the samelevel as the rest of us.Even worse, consider thatmany of those teenagers arenow adults.We then have the other argument:Anime is not “Sci Fi.”Well, neither is Lord of theRings, but we made room forFantasy. And, sure, HarryPotter is kid stuff, but it’s ourkind of kid stuff, so that cancome along, too. Oh, andThe Prisoner is pretty weirdand British and cult, so whynot?The counter to this is that animeis a medium, not a genre.Not all anime is fantastical,futuristic, or mind-expanding.Very true. However, theanime popular in the West isexceptionally fantastical, futuristic,and mind-expanding.So much so, various serieswhich failed to capturean audience in Japan havebeen renewed based solely ontheir popularity in America.Should fandom celebrateall anime in existence? Ofcourse not. That’s like sayingwe need to welcome all televisionand movie genres intoour tent. But to say we can’tcelebrate this massive outpouringof Sci Fi and Fantasyjust because it’s animatedis ridiculous.The dark side of anime fandom:useless novelties and nauseatinglyadorable plush toys.

Consider American televisionand how much Sci Fiis made for it every year.Pathetically small amount,no? It’s gotten so bad, SyFymostly runs reality TV tocut costs and boost ratings.Now, consider what’s comingout of Japan. Sure, youhave lots of kid’s TV in animeform, but the amount offull blown Sci Fi and Fantasyis staggering. If you just addup the number of Sci Fi/Fantasyanime getting their firstruns on Cartoon Network,SyFy, and IFC, you quicklyfind American productionbeing left far behind.fans. Being a fan is lovingsomething to the pointyou’re proud to shout it outto the world. But being fandom?That’s something bigger.That’s more than anyone person’s likes or dislikes.Fandom is about all of us celebratingthe fantastical, futuristic,and mind-expanding.Fandom is a big tentthat stays standing becausemore of us are willing to say‘yes’ than ‘no’.Fandom is books, movies,television, comics, anime,video games, virtual worlds,and whatever else is lurkingaround the corner of the nextdecade. If we decide to closethe doors to anime, we’remaking ourselves smaller forno good reason. Do you haveto love it? Do you have to likeit? No, not really. But acceptthat it’s there and stands forthe same principles as whatyou do love. That is the futureof Science Fiction andFantasy. It should be the futureof fandom as well.So, once we establish thatanime’s as prolific and competentas what’s made forAmerican TV (not the mostshocking accomplishment,granted), the final point wemust consider is, well, doeseveryone like it?You were raised on Superman.Your kids were raised on Avatar.Deal with it.Oh, not on your life.Tons of fans despise it. Thehumor, the cultural references,the limited productionvalue, the art design choices,the stilted dialogue, the portrayalof female characters,the glorification of violence.There is so very, very muchto hate about anime. You eitherlike it, or you don’t.Yes, these Street Fighter cosplayerswearing Christmas ornaments iscompletely intentional.Then again, do all of us likethe writings of Robert Heinlein?How many among ushave read more than onebook by Ursula K. Le Guin?Is classic Star Trek free of theproblems with anime I justlisted? Is it free of ANY ofthem?See, it’s easy for us to be

C10Questionsfor aCostumer2. Q: Costumer or Cosplayer?A: Cosplayer, definitely, because that is reallywhat got me into costuming. I associatewith both terms, but because I started doingcostuming and I knew it as Cosplay, that isthe term I most associate with what I do. Idon’t make the big distinction other peopledo. It’s just the term I have always used forit. I started costuming at anime conventions,and that is what they were calling it.3. Q: Do you work on things for a deadlineor year round?A: Generally speaking, I usually pick a conventionto wear a costume at and pick a costume.Usually, it is really far out because Iwork slowly. I don’t concentrate on it as intensivelyas other people I know, so I tendto pick things that keep me working on acostume for about 6 months. Kain from FinalFantasy took me 8 months. That is thelongest I have worked on one costume. Itwas for Costume-Con and was specificallypicked for that convention. I will typicallyspend half an hour before I go to bed, so aby Mette HedinThe Monk class from Final Fantasy Tactics. I madethe armor for mine (and helped with the dragoon’sarmor) the Dragoon (Hoshikage) made the bodysuit#5 - MeaWho doesn’t love a girl in armor? MariEllenCottman, also known as Mea, is one ofthose female costumers who proves the ladiescan kick ass in hardware. In less than10 years, she has made a rapid developmentfrom her first ever costume to a varied andimpressive costume armory, mainly specializingin anime and video game characters.Her contagious enthusiasm and love of theart of costuming is readily apparent in herbright and vivid creations, but don’t let thedeceivingly cheerful colors of her armorsfool you: her Cosplay personas are all badass!1. Q: What was your first costume?A: The first costume I made was a SuperSaiyan from Dragon Ball Z. It seemed easyenough to make for Halloween. I boughtparts from a thrift store and made a chestpiece out of plaster cast wrap. It was what Icould fairly easily make while I was in college.Halloween of 2001. I had worn othercostumes before, but that was the first costumeI made and went out of my way to notget at a store

Jadis the White Which fromChronicles of Narnia2nd version of Samus Aranfrom the Metroid SeriesAsuka: From NeoGenesis EvangelionMade in 2006Athena: From Angelic LayerMade in 2004costume is a long term project for me.4. Q: Recreation or Original?A: Most often recreation because that ishow I got started with costumes, makinganime costumes or video game costumes. Ihave kind of started toying with doing myown original stuff, but it has mostly just resultedin sketches, so far. Most of it wouldbe painful to actually accomplish. Maybe,when I get better at sewing, I’ll go back andmake some of them.5. Q: What is your favorite material rightnow?A: I am really digging Wonderflex. It’s likecraft foam but even better. I started most ofmy costume building doing armor becauseI didn’t own a sewing machine, so I startedplaying with craft foam with wire suports.Wonderflex is even better because it willhold its shape without the wire support. Itis so good that my new secret costume is almostentirely made of Wonderflex.6. Q: Loner or Collaborator?A: Most of my stuff has been loner. I wantto do more collaborations because I thinkthere’s a lot of awesome costumers out therewho have skills I don’t have. I recently didcollaboration on a set of final fantasy costumes.A friend of mine did all the fabricwork, and I did all the armor, so it was a nicetrade to do, and it was a lot of fun. I find thatmy taste in costumes doesn’t tend to alignwith most of my friends in the costumingworld, so I end up working on my own onmost things. I am planning to do some collaborationscoming up, but I haven’t doneany big ones, so I don’t know how it wouldwork. It takes me so long to do anythingwhereas many of my friends work a lot closerto the deadline, so I just haven’t had asmuch opportunity to collaborate as I wouldlike to.7. Q: Has a costume ever brought you totears?A: Yes, definitely. A couple of them. TheCitizen of Oz costume I made had mebawling my eyes out and screaming as Ithrew the costume across the room. I hadn’tworked with the fabric before, and I wasn’t aseamstress. The pieces were fraying apart afterhours and hours of attaching ruffles. Theseams were just pulling apart where I haddone all this ruffle work, so I couldn’t go backand re-sew the seams. My friend Chris rescuedme by finding a solution where I couldsteam all the seams together so they couldn’tshift. That costume was a big stretch for mebecause I don’t sew normally, but I managedto finish it.

Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy 4made for Costume Con 26An armor set from World of Warcraftmade in 2006Wicked: Citizen of Oz from the Musical Wickedmade in 2009Franziska VonKarma from thePhoenix Wrightgames madewith help fromLindsay Tallmanin 20078. Q: What costume are you the proudestof ?A: I would have to say Kane, because I feltlike I really learned a whole lot doing thatone, and I was very proud of it. It was a lot ofwork over 8 months, and I learned how to dofiberglass, oil based clay carving, silicone, etc.I bought a bunch of power tools and taughtmyself how to use them. I taught myself a lotof techniques. I would love to still be able towear it but I can’t. I wish I had gotten moreopportunities to wear it, but at the same timeit is pretty impractical because it is full fantasyarmor.9. Q: Historical or Science Fiction/Fantasy?A: Definitely Science Fiction/Fantasy.I totally respect historical costumers,but I have yet to find a time periodthat thrills and inspires me, and I finda lot more of that in fantasy and sciencefiction. I love the challenge of theoutlandish costumes. Maybe I need tolook at non-18th century Europeancostumes and maybe I’ll get more inspirationto do historical costuming.10. Q: Anime shows or video games?A: I personally tend to lean towards videogames, but that is because I play more gamesthan the amount of anime I currently watch.I pick whatever I like to wear from whateversource I like. That can be science fiction,fantasy, anime, video games, stage shows. Itend to play a lot of fantasy RPGs, and I likethe fantastic armor, so that is what I make!A genericSuper Saiyan fromDragon Ball Z.My first non-boughtcostume.

CLetterfrom theOtherEditorSend all complaints to:Kevin@yipezine.comWe’ve wanted to do an animethemedissue of Yipe! for months,and I’m very pleased we can offer thisperhaps somewhat hefty tome to youin September. After whining at naggingsuggesting numerous times to some highlyqualified acquaintances that they mightcontribute an article about their experienceswith anime/Japanimation/videogamingcostume/cosplay/emodrama, I’m thrilledit all came to fruition with such anassortment of viewpoints. Realizing that Ihad some experience to bring to bear didn’thurt, either, even if it was as Ye Olde Fartewho watched early Japanese animation inblack and white.As the contributions started to arrive, Ibegan to suspect this issue might be as bigas our Steampunk issue, and joked to oureditorial staff that perhaps it would be aMegaMechaManga issue. I then realizedthat sounded like a character in its ownright, and Maureen Starkey graciouslyoffered up her sketch of that valiantdefender of otaku everywhere. (I made myown feeble attempt at a sketch, but hersblows mine out of the water, so you won’tbe subjected to it).September is my birthday month (I turnthe big five-o on the 15 th , the day beforewe leave for FenCon in Dallas), so I’mespecially glad we could produce a moresubstantial issue of Yipe! this month. I’msure that Jason, once he recovers from theenormous task of pulling all this togetherinto a coherent and cohesive layout,would agree. Who knows? Now that thefloodgates have opened, we might manage arecurrent if regularly scheduled anime issue.The cosplayers are certainly active enough.Regular contributor Mette Hedin also wentto the Bay Area Gay Rodeo last month,and we met some very interesting peoplewe hope to bring to the pages of Yipe! inthe near future. We also have some articlesin the pipe on several historical costumeevents.Aussiecon IV will be over by the time thisis published, which means Renovation(http://www.renovationsf.org) is now theseated WorldCon. Andy and I are directingthe Renovation masquerade, so you canexpect regular updates from me about that.I’ll try not to be boring. I may be in the airen route to Dallas even as you read this, soyou can also look for my con report fromFenCon as Fan GOH in the near future.Next month Yipe! turns one… The editorialAdmittedly, replacing the batterycosts so much, you might as welljust build a new one.staff, of course, is deep into its evil plans tocelebrate. If you want to help, SEND USSTUFF! Photos, articles (short or long,about conventions or balls or dinners orpicnics or newt-wrestling or how-to’s orfashion research or …), art, poetry, it’s allgood. The more we have, the more we canshare with our readers, and the less likelyJason is to chain me to a workstation untilI cough up 5700 words on specializedEtruscan weaving techniques and how bestto simulate them on a needle felter in timeto wear a tebenna to the Black&WhiteBall. Drop a note to editors@yipezine.comif you have something to share. We use aweb-based drop box (at box.net) for largearticles and photos, so don’t worry abouthaving to get them past a spam filter,just drop us a note about what you’dlike to share. We’ll take it from there.Now get out there, put on somethingfabulous, and then tell us about it!Kevin(it’s still all my fault)Kudos and brickbats to Kevin@yipezine.com

Also available forBar Mitzvahs.of people who were wearinglarge costumes or extremelyhigh heels.)Dear Jason and Kevin:Welcome to summer’s homestretch, the last third of theyear, and for me, the jobmarket is starting to improveas student start to go back toschool. All of this has nothingto do with the fact that I havetwo issues of Yipe! to respondto. I’ve got Vol. 2, Nos. 7 and8.Vol. 2 No. 7…I thought dregswere the last foods and drinks(and fans) left over at the endof a dead dog party. The staffpicture of Jason looks like he’sbeen in a fight, and lost.Jason: That issue beat mewithin an inch of my life.When we were winding downour costuming career back inthe late 80s, we worked thestage, backstage and dressingroom, and there was still toomuch drama and personalempire building. Still, beinga stage ninja was fun, andpeople appreciated the factthat they would need helpoff the stage, especially iftheir vision was burred witha costume piece or headpiece.Most of our small hotels usedfor conventions have shallowrisers about a foot or so tall,so the stage ninjas usuallywind up looking after theelectronics of recording theperformance, lighting andmaking sure that people areready to go out in the assignedorder.Kevin: One of the thingsI’m really looking forwardto as director of the 2011WorldCon masquerade is theuse of the Tuscany ballroom.The ceilings are 25’ under thechandeliers, and I have a 13’ceiling in the green room! Italso means we have a 40’x60’4 foot tall riser on which tobuild our set (the usable areafor contestants will probablybe about ¼ of the total squarefootage). We also seem to havea hotel whose AV departmentis actually excited about theMasquerade and Hugos beingheld at their property.(This past weekend, Yvonneand I took part in yet anothersteampunk fashion showat the Fan eXpo, which isbecoming Toronto’s versionof the San Diego Comicon,with what is estimated tobe over 70,000 people inattendance. Our team savedthe masquerade becausewe had the equipment torecord the masquerade whilethe convention centre teamscrewed up royally. And, I hadto be stage ninja for a coupleKevin: I ran and emceed theConjecture masquerade oneyear where the av system was aboom box next to the podium(I had to push the button)and we had someone in theaudience with a big flashlight.We made it work. One thingI appreciate about most fanrunconvention audiences isthey want the costumers tosucceed rather than wait forthem to fail, and are game toplay along with crude facilitiesas long as everything is donein good humor (and not theresult of fupuckery).España’s report shows mewhat others are saying aboutWestercon…small all around.It may be that it’s not theconvention that’s gettingsmaller, but that interestin a particular part of theconvention is losing interest.Some cons here have doneaway with the video room,especially when whoeverstages the room monitors it,and finds that few people areever in the room; half thetime, it’s empty.Jason: Westercon has alwayshad the misfortune of beingon 4th of July weekend,but the rise of Anime Expomakes it hard to get evenCalifornians to attend.

Bonus points to any convention willing to cover theinsurance costs of a Kaiju wrestling exhibition.laptop of my own, but I can’tjustify the expense right now.Thanks for setting up thee-mail subscription feed…now Jason won’t haveanything to complain aboutwhen I don’t respond to thezine because I don’t knowone’s dropped. I will knowfrom now on.Jason: At this point I’d liketo mention laying out thisletter has taken more thanDisclaimer: Not all Kaiju wrestlersare flesh-eating zombies.2 hours because somethingabout it keeps crashing AdobeInDesign.Jason again: Correction -Make that 2 days. Thanks fortweaking the file back intoworking order, Kevin!My loc…there were a fewMat Hatters at Polaris, andthis past weekend at the FaneXpo, there was a great RedQueen from the most recentAlice movie. Yvonne got herhands on a Mad Hatter hat,and has been wearing it atlocal cons…most people didn’tknow the hat was available forsale.All done…we’re melting herewith temperatures in the lower90s Fahrenheit. So, I imaginewhat kind of heat you folksare dealing with. We are bothworking on new steampunkcostumes for future events…there’s new photos on myFacebook page, if you’d likea look. Take care, seeyou folks later.Yours, Lloyd Penney.Now don’t blame me for thelack of locs on this issue!There’s got to be others whocan write them, too. Besides,I didn’t get any of the booze.Nice selection, too. I don’t getto go to the good conventions!Vol. 2 No. 8…Garcia Alert!Is this guy burning outthese days, or is he just busywith work at the computermuseum? Doncha hate itwhen work gets in the way offanac? Shouldn’t be allowed…Cohesiveness is good, butcoherence works, too. Yousure none of the Mythbustersworked on this issue? Nothingblew up or anything?Jason: Oh, something blewup...I hope Dawn McKechniesees this article on Kaiju BigBattel…I can see her trying torecreate this at Anime North.She’s got the Gojira costumefor it; I think she’d have ablast. And, lots of kids wouldhave a great time watching amodel city being stamped flat.Might yet happen!Kevin: One of the brilliantthings that has happened onoccasion at Further Confusionis an impromptu kaiju battlestaged in a lobby alcove,complete with breakawaycityscape. I love coverageof events like that, wherewhacko costumes intersectthe general population in ahappy way. I’d love to get anarticle from someone who hasactually watched one of theIdiotarod races and attendantinsanity (including costumes),or where folks costume theirpets and have them pull sleds.It would fit into a future issuewe’re contemplating.We’ve never had Macequipment of any kind, justthe PC with IE and MSOffice, and Yvonne justbought a laptop to help withhis law clerk studies. I’d like a

Yipe! September 2010Yipezine.com