[O.o] [Insert chapter we forgot to write] [>.<]

For the bold cosplayer who excepts the challenge of a uniquely sized cosplay, I bow my head in your general direction. But if it’s your first time there are certain things that need to be considered.

First and most important is weight. Do you plan on carrying the prop with you the whole time? How long are you going to be carrying it? How far do you need to carry it? Will you have help? Will you be able to fit through the door? Ask yourself these questions now, before it’s too late! To best explain further the importance of these questions I’ll tell the tale of Ikkaku’s bankai.

It’s a cosplay I did a couple of years back. Ikkaku is a character who’s ultimate weapon is three giant axes. 2 are handheld, each about the size of a person, and there’s a giant floating axe, triple the size of the handhelds, floating behind him. Well for the hand axes I constructed the body of pvc pipe, cardboard and duct tape. Same with the back axe. But the back axe needed more support to be held up, so I constructed a wooden brace that strapped to my back like a backpack. It was pretty good, but I wanted more detail. So I used plaster strips to cover the axes and painted them. They looked great! However the major problem was that they were now 100+ pounds. I had paid the price for that extra plaster, as it accounted for at least 50 of those 100+ pounds. But I’m a big guy, so I went for it anyway, and I took this cosplay to Anime Expo.

Since I knew how heavy this bad boy was, I had a good many friends with me to help with the cosplay. I did make one big error though in the sense of the photoshoot location. They changed it at the last-minute, too the complete opposite side of the convention. I had no choice but to lug my giant cosplay to the other end of the convention center. What made it worse is that it’s impossible to reach the other side of the convention without actually going through the convention center itself. The cosplay would not fit through the doors, but luckily some happy volunteers helped me disassemble it on the spot and lug it across the convention hall; security was very polite and helpful as well, thankfully. So I made it to the Bleach cosplay photoshoot 30 minutes late.

Was it worth it? Hell yes, it was! It was one of the most memorable, crazy, and exciting cosplay experiences I’ve ever had. However, I would do it a bit differently if I had to do it over again.