Epic Mini Feature Part 3 Final!

The last two mini features are here for you to read. I had so much fun talking with so many talented costumers at Fantasy con. Enjoy!

Nathan, or the Salt Lake Psycho, is a Borderlands fan to the max. He spent three months perfecting the movements and voice of the insane Psycho of Borderlands 2. Nathan was fun to talk to and he totally owns the this character. His practice and hard work totally paid off. 

Nathan as the Psycho: Borderlands 2
Photo by VFire

The boots are just old rubber steel-toed that I've had for a few years and I painted to toes with a silver rattle can. The pants I found at the D.I. for 4.00 and I removed the cargo pocket cording to make the belt loops. The armor pieces are expanded aluminum wrapped with electrical tape and held on by elastic strapping and denim thread (for durability). The mask was a 3.00 masquerade knock off from Zurchers covered in masking tape and acrylic paint for a fabric look.

Creating a cardboard mock-up of a prop is helpful in finding the right scale.
Here is Nathan's mock-up of the Psycho's weapon.
Photo courtesy of Nathan

now we can't have real metal spinning wheels at conventions,
so here is Nathan's wooden saw blade and false dynamite.
Photo courtesy of Nathan.

Next up we have "Here to Save the World," a group of cosplayers who came from out of state and totally rocked the competition. I got a chance to talk with them backstage before the awards were announced. David and Anita were very nice and even sent me their documentation for the blog! Here are some awesome pictures and information about how they made their rocking original characters! Quotes and pictures are from the documentation. I only used a few of them so you can ask them to find out more! This group was amazing!

Best in Show winners at Fantasy Con
"Here to Save the World" by Jonnalyn Wolfcat Prill, Melissa Quinn,
David Tackett, and Anita Taylor!!
Photo by unknown

We are the Elf Lords, come through Time and Space, from beyond the West and through the Looking Glass. Your wisest men have the answers: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, acknowledge Fandom as a way of life, and be Excellent to one another. Don’t be a dick. Together We can save the World, one party at a time.
 These original Fantasy Costumes and Props were designed and created by Jonnalyhn Wolfcat Prill, Melissa Quinn, David Tackett, and Anita Taylor, and were inspired by J-Rock, Elves, KISS, World of Warcraft, Epic Fantasy, and our proud Pacific Northwest fandom heritage.

Concept sketches are important especially for original characters.
From left to right, top to bottom we have Jonnalyn, Melissa, Anita,
and David's sketches.

Our staffs serve a dual purpose. When we walk out on stage, each of us carries our Elven ceremonial staff. In our presentation “reveal” we flip the staffs over and they become our rock star guitars. Each staff was made from a variety of materials including wood round stock and flat stock bases, painted and decorated sheet and sphere styrene, acrylic gemstones, and craft foam.

Our wigs were constructed from a variety of materials including multiple commercial wigs used as the base, yaki hair extensions in a variety of colors, hand-spun yarn, beads, ribbon, and other hand-sewn embellishments. The common theme for our group is decorated braids. We are all wearing Elf ears.

Their costumes have a huge variety of materials just like the wigs. They have styrene, leather, jewels, plastics and more. They really put some hard work into these original designs and they were one of my favorites to see at the convention.

I want to thank everyone who was able to be a part of this feature! I always enjoy meeting new friends and helping share the talented people I meet here on the blog. I look forward to seeing what I find at the next convention!!!