Cosplayed by
ShinePrince Ferio (worn for Anime Festival Orlando 2001)
| Planning Construction |
A while back, I dated a beautiful blonde by the name of Nicole. She bestowed upon me the name "Ferio", from her (and my) second-favorite show, Magic Knight Rayearth. We also hoped to one day cosplay as our characters from the show, with me in the Prince Ferio outfit which has almost never been cosplayed before. We broke up and changed cosplay plans. Quite some time later, my friends realize that she was more than right about my Feriosity. I was (and still am) the equal to Ferio in height, build, voice, skin tone, EYE COLOR, personality, and apparent age. A few months later, my best friend at the time asked if I still wanted to be Ferio for a cosplay. That was how the adventure started. First, the outfit. I bought a pair of sweatshirts, one yellow and one white. I removed the sleeves from the white one and attached them to the yellow one's sleeves, cutting both to make it a WARM short-sleeved shirt. I removed the front and back of the white sweatshirt and sewed them in shape to the front and back of the yellow one, accordingly. I then spent the next two weeks staying up late at night sewing burgundy ribbons onto the shirt. Having a day job only made things harder, and I was forced to do it all in 2-hour segments. I bought the white pants and white turtleneck at the same Thriftko I always buy my cosplay materials at, and they were pretty much ready to go on their own. The gloves I got from a Claire's accessories shop. The jewels of the outfit were (and still are) my pride and joy of the entire affair. First, I obtained a household sealant called "Gulf Wax". I melted the wax down and poured it into 4 dessert bowls lined with aluminum foil. After the hemispheres of wax had hardened, they looked white-transparent. I bought 2 or 3 boxes of yellow Seran Wrap and completely enveloped them in it. I did several layers and obtained the perfect golden color for the jewels. Unfortunately, the jewels on the gloves didn't fare so well, as I will explain in a second or two. About 30% of the outfit was built over the span of 2 months or so. The rest of the outfit was built in a 30-hour rush to complete 3 costumes before the cosplay contest at the con started. Basically, I wrapped Dry Foam in masking tape and Seran Wrap for the glove jewels, my friend Bryan hastily assembled my shoulder gear out of my leftover cape fabric and cardboard, and I threw together belt/crotch drape bit with yellow fabric, cardboard, spraypaint, and a broken magnifying lens (for the jewel). The wig was originally a back-length blonde wig. You see, Ferio's hair is a natural-looking shade of green... a shade they don't sell. I took green food coloring and worked it into the wig with my fingers. This made it the perfect color, with the side effect of rubbing green off on people who touched the wig as well as making the wig fall apart with little provocation. One last thing: I pierced my ears for this cosplay. The earrings I wore for the costume were gold hoops that were beautiful, and clocked in at $40, being the most expensive part of the outfit. |
| How it turned out | Ugh... the costume was, according to everyone else, great. According to me, it was horrible.
You see, the upper front of the costume looked incredible for the most part, but everything else (cape, hair, belt, drape) was less-than-satisfactory.
We got no awards. I got several pictures taken of me, although I have only seen 4 or 5 of them. It sucked. Basically, the costume was an excuse to see my current girlfriend for the first time in 2-3 weeks. |
| Afterward Revivals Synopsis |
I went home and hung the costume up in my closet. I show it to people every now and then, but I'm not that proud of it. I may do this costume again someday... but if I do, I'm redoing the entire thing (but keeping the jewels). |
