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Description

Photo by Ooc_photography (thanks again SO much!)

Alright guys, get ready for a short novel as I go through all that this cosplay has been, but first I need to give a huge shout out and thanks to Victoria Valkyrie for standing in as my Chise, and her husband for being my official handler! (He got a shirt and everything, lucky him!)

When Ancient Magus Bride first hit Netflix, I hadn't had any intention of cosplaying anything from it. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time that the show aired. When I witnessed the transformation of Elias in the series though, I knew I just HAD to try my hand at it. I had always wanted to try my hand at making a large-scale cosplay, and since I had experience in making furry accessories like ears and tails I figured this would be a good challenge.

120 work hours later, I finished Elias.

In the beginning, it was hard. With my pregnant belly I couldn't exactly get to work on things like the bodysuit or even the stilts for fear of falling over during testing and hurting myself and the baby. I couldn't even try making the tail due to the clips needing to go over my stomach. I had to wait until after my daughter was born to do those things. Instead, I first started on the skull. I had found tutorials all over the internet on different ways to make it, but alas... they were mostly for his usual form and not this beastly version.

This entire cosplay was a whole new experience for me. I had never before done things like I did with this- I worked with thermal plastics before, but I was introduced to a new sort called Friendly Plastic and had to learn how to work with that... I ended up teaching myself wood-working basics for the stilts, and then engineering mechanics for the hands! (The claws on both my arms and my Chise are articulated!) I had even used LEDs in the eyes, which was amazinggggg in the end.

Each feather on the costume was individually placed into the fur as well. In total I want to say I used about 1200 out of the 1400 I ordered in total. I highly advise if you are planning for a project with looooots and lots of real feathers to try Wish- but plan for a 4-5 month waiting period before they get delivered. I can't even begin to tell you guys how much money was poured into this project (mostly because I didn't exactly keep track...>>') but Wish really saved my butt on the feathers.

The articulating tail was also a new experience for me. I had been experimenting here and there to improve my ear/tail sets to sell on Etsy, and after finally finding a good common ground of materials and how-to, I managed to create the sway that I wanted...

The problem with the tail is the baseline though. I found it really difficult to make all of the different parts without being able to try things on. When I finally did have my baby girl, I had already made the skull and the tail had already been started, but there was still the back piece I had not taken into account. It wasn't until I saw these pictures myself the flaws in it that I overlooked during the construction, but I have to say I have never been so damn proud of a cosplay in my life before Elias...

Now let's talk Chise. Originally, another friend of mine was to be my Chise. We got her a wig, and I made the essentials for her costume. The cursed arm was originally supposed to be one of my Elias arms, but when we were constructing Chise I decided to sort of...use that first arm as a kind of tester arm. It worked out fairly well all things considered, and I hope to upgrade it down the line. However proud I was of making my friends costume though, we got the unfortunate news that work was holding her hostage at the last minute and she couldn't attend the event. I nearly cried- all that work for nothing?? Luckily, one of my good friends stepped up and donned the cloak and arm. The wand she is holding there is simple a sculpted bird made of oven bake clay, and jewels glued onto the sides for eyes. It rests on a wooden dowel, and it is perhaps the most gorgeous prop I've ever made! <3

That being said, we still didn't have a red shirt or a wig for her...as luck would have it though, she had a red shirt in her suitcase! Therefore, she became my Chise for me and though she is not spot on, I could NOT have even gotten on that stage without her.

Being in that costume itself... oh boy, I was NOT prepared.

Up until the convention, I had not even put the entire cosplay ON. There just wasn't any room, and I had no one to help me. At the time of the cosplay completion, my husband was off in training (Army life, gotta love it) leaving me alone with our three children. As you can imagine though, I was in for a rude awakening at the convention. It was so hot inside that costume, that I nearly passed out from that alone. DURING JUDGING NO LESS I could have DIED from embarrassment as I actually did falter and start to fall over. The stilts were sturdy but the angle put such a strain on my feet that my legs were almost violently shaking in them. After just ten minutes in the costume, I was nearly in full blown tears of pain.

Despite this, I guess I managed to impress the judges enough to win Runner Up for Best of Novice! I honestly wasn't even expecting to win a certificate at all after seeing some of the Honorable Mentions. Some of those cosplays were just SO FRIGGIN DETAILED that I was like well shit if THEY didn't get in for Novice, I'm not! ...And then they called me for Runner Up! I can't even begin to describe how excited I was!! Even if it wasn't the actual 'Best of Novice', it was still a goal reached nonetheless <3

This is the most ambitious cosplay I have ever done, but just because it was lacking in some aspects doesn't mean that it's going to collect dust now. I fully intend to keep improving, so here in the next year or so I hope to bring out Elias Beast 2.0!

Description

Photo by Ooc_photography (thanks again SO much!)

Alright guys, get ready for a short novel as I go through all that this cosplay has been, but first I need to give a huge shout out and thanks to Victoria Valkyrie for standing in as my Chise, and her husband for being my official handler! (He got a shirt and everything, lucky him!)

When Ancient Magus Bride first hit Netflix, I hadn't had any intention of cosplaying anything from it. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time that the show aired. When I witnessed the transformation of Elias in the series though, I knew I just HAD to try my hand at it. I had always wanted to try my hand at making a large-scale cosplay, and since I had experience in making furry accessories like ears and tails I figured this would be a good challenge.

120 work hours later, I finished Elias.

In the beginning, it was hard. With my pregnant belly I couldn't exactly get to work on things like the bodysuit or even the stilts for fear of falling over during testing and hurting myself and the baby. I couldn't even try making the tail due to the clips needing to go over my stomach. I had to wait until after my daughter was born to do those things. Instead, I first started on the skull. I had found tutorials all over the internet on different ways to make it, but alas... they were mostly for his usual form and not this beastly version.

This entire cosplay was a whole new experience for me. I had never before done things like I did with this- I worked with thermal plastics before, but I was introduced to a new sort called Friendly Plastic and had to learn how to work with that... I ended up teaching myself wood-working basics for the stilts, and then engineering mechanics for the hands! (The claws on both my arms and my Chise are articulated!) I had even used LEDs in the eyes, which was amazinggggg in the end.

Each feather on the costume was individually placed into the fur as well. In total I want to say I used about 1200 out of the 1400 I ordered in total. I highly advise if you are planning for a project with looooots and lots of real feathers to try Wish- but plan for a 4-5 month waiting period before they get delivered. I can't even begin to tell you guys how much money was poured into this project (mostly because I didn't exactly keep track...>>') but Wish really saved my butt on the feathers.

The articulating tail was also a new experience for me. I had been experimenting here and there to improve my ear/tail sets to sell on Etsy, and after finally finding a good common ground of materials and how-to, I managed to create the sway that I wanted...

The problem with the tail is the baseline though. I found it really difficult to make all of the different parts without being able to try things on. When I finally did have my baby girl, I had already made the skull and the tail had already been started, but there was still the back piece I had not taken into account. It wasn't until I saw these pictures myself the flaws in it that I overlooked during the construction, but I have to say I have never been so damn proud of a cosplay in my life before Elias...

Now let's talk Chise. Originally, another friend of mine was to be my Chise. We got her a wig, and I made the essentials for her costume. The cursed arm was originally supposed to be one of my Elias arms, but when we were constructing Chise I decided to sort of...use that first arm as a kind of tester arm. It worked out fairly well all things considered, and I hope to upgrade it down the line. However proud I was of making my friends costume though, we got the unfortunate news that work was holding her hostage at the last minute and she couldn't attend the event. I nearly cried- all that work for nothing?? Luckily, one of my good friends stepped up and donned the cloak and arm. The wand she is holding there is simple a sculpted bird made of oven bake clay, and jewels glued onto the sides for eyes. It rests on a wooden dowel, and it is perhaps the most gorgeous prop I've ever made! <3

That being said, we still didn't have a red shirt or a wig for her...as luck would have it though, she had a red shirt in her suitcase! Therefore, she became my Chise for me and though she is not spot on, I could NOT have even gotten on that stage without her.

Being in that costume itself... oh boy, I was NOT prepared.

Up until the convention, I had not even put the entire cosplay ON. There just wasn't any room, and I had no one to help me. At the time of the cosplay completion, my husband was off in training (Army life, gotta love it) leaving me alone with our three children. As you can imagine though, I was in for a rude awakening at the convention. It was so hot inside that costume, that I nearly passed out from that alone. DURING JUDGING NO LESS I could have DIED from embarrassment as I actually did falter and start to fall over. The stilts were sturdy but the angle put such a strain on my feet that my legs were almost violently shaking in them. After just ten minutes in the costume, I was nearly in full blown tears of pain.

Despite this, I guess I managed to impress the judges enough to win Runner Up for Best of Novice! I honestly wasn't even expecting to win a certificate at all after seeing some of the Honorable Mentions. Some of those cosplays were just SO FRIGGIN DETAILED that I was like well shit if THEY didn't get in for Novice, I'm not! ...And then they called me for Runner Up! I can't even begin to describe how excited I was!! Even if it wasn't the actual 'Best of Novice', it was still a goal reached nonetheless <3

This is the most ambitious cosplay I have ever done, but just because it was lacking in some aspects doesn't mean that it's going to collect dust now. I fully intend to keep improving, so here in the next year or so I hope to bring out Elias Beast 2.0!