Piplup (Gijinka) - Pokemon



Cost: $35
Time to Make: 10 hours
Timeline of Construction: May 2008


Pictures




Information

A couple of months before Anime North my friend Chibik3ro decided to organize a Pokemon Cosplay group based on a set of Gijinka (fanart) designs. I'm not entirely sure who the original artist was for the designs, but whoever made the pictures did a wonderful job creating neat outfits for each Pokemon. A ton of different humanized Pokemon had been designed so it was fun to look through the sketches and find Pokemon outfits that looked appealing. I've Cosplayed humanized versions of Digimon in the past so I thought it would be fun to pick a Pokemon and make a costume as well.

Several of my friends suggested that I Cosplay Magikarp as a joke, but eventually I settled on Piplup. I liked the cuteness of the design, but it was hard to pull off. I ended up rushing to make this costume during the last few days before AN so it didn't turn out that well. I like the hood that my mom helped me design. I had to put in a hook and eye and pin it to the blue bodice so it would stay in the right position. My friend Kristin helped out a lot when I put this costume on at the con so it would actually sit properly. Unfortunately it didn't like to behave and I really don't have any photos that I really like of this costume.

The body of the costume was annoying to pattern. It was made by altering a dress pattern, but it didn't turn out the way that I had hoped. It would have helped if I had more time to work on the costume, but I didn't manage my time very well. I underestimated how complicated it would be to finish my Hitomi costume and that ate up a lot of time that I expected to use to make Piplup. I really didn't get a chance to try the costume on until a few minutes before leaving for the con and thus it really could have used a lot of work.

I really like how the shoes turned out, though. They were made using a pair of slippers as a base and a couple of layers of fabric so they would stand up. I sewed a zipper into the back for a close fit and it was a long process to sew the material to each slipper. My mom added the finishing touch by embroidering black lines to mimic cartoon feet. :3 Pan lent me her Husky wig that I kept borrowing for Eureka. It was a nice wig to wear again.

I found a Piplup plushie at Walmart randomly in April. I decided to buy it because it was too cute to pass up and would be a neat addition to the costume. It was sort of expensive because it has a voice box and says Piplup. It ended up being a real joke at the con for my friends to take Piplup and make it say Piplup a million times. XD I enjoyed Cosplaying as a Pokemon with so many of my friends. We had an epic group at Anime North with more than 30 of us. I still felt really off wearing this costume because the crinoline didn't work out. If I cared more about it I could probably re-do the body of the costume, but I have other priorities and in 2012 I gutted part of the outfit so I could make pouches for my Bulma costume. I participated in the Cosplay group at AN and that was my goal so I'm happy enough.

Events/Conventions this costume was worn to
Anime North 2008 (Sunday)

Photo Credits
Kristin, P-chan, Kevin (SolarTempest) & Pan


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