...And then there was BARRY.

My current and favorite cosplay, Barry the Chopper (armor version) from the series Fullmetal Alchemist. I had a bad case of insomnia one night, and got up at about 1:A.M. to sit in the living room. I switched on the T.V., and there was this odd character pirouetting, and he capped it off by patting his butt ("Kiss, Kiss...") I thought, "Oookaaaayyy..." but after researching the character and watching a few more episodes, I decided that I liked his attitude. I used a craft-foam tutorial by Penwiper (http://entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html), which made excellent shoulder and thigh armor plates, durable enough to survive a CatGirl attack. I made the head using a plasic serving bowl, and used Penwiper's armor tutorial to make the skull face. The fangs were made from cosmetic foam wedges, and the helmet flange and neck collar were made from plastic garden border spray-painted silver. The horns were pieces of vinyl formed into cone shapes and stuffed. I made the wrist-spikes from polymer clay and glued them to the wrist-bands. Unfortunately, they started falling off at the beginning of ToraCon, and by the time I got to the judges for the cosplay contest, I had three spikes on one wrist and two on the other! The judges still liked the costume, and I won Second Place, even after asking the emcee if I could chop him up... I wore the costume to ToraCon 2008 and 2009, and Anime North 2008 and 2009. 2009 was the best year yet, though--I got to meet Vic Mignogna, was reunited with great friends, and met a bunch of new ones! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90JW5f13P1c . I'm working Barry one more time at Anime North 2010, and then I might retire him, depending on fan response. The fans seem to enjoy him, and I get a lot of hugs and photo requests, but I don't want the fans to get tired of him, either. I DID have a lot of fun asking an Information Kiosk girl if she could tell me where Lab 5 was, though...XD