I Challenged a Cosplayer…
As the title would suggest, I stepped up to a cosplayer like the bad bitch I am and issued a challenge. ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ(ง’̀-‘́)ง
The cosplayer was myself. Surprise. 
Aside from being a mastermind of deception with clickbait blog titles, I’ve been making an effort to challenge myself creatively when it comes to cosplay. Things like trying new crafting and build techniques and conquering fears and insecurities have been my main focus in this endeavor. Being the naturally competitive (but always in good spirit!) person I am, I figured making new cosplays to enter into cosplay competitions would serve as a great catalyst for improving in these areas, and it has been! I love talking to judges and explaining my creative process, and I’m getting more comfortable with being on stage and putting myself out there.
So far, I’ve entered 3 contests this year at 3 different events. I’ve won cash prizes, con tickets, and really cute weeby swag and plushies!
The first contest of the year was the cosplay content at Jax Anime Day. There was a healthy dose of entrants, and the winners (a total of 3 entities, with 2 individuals and 1 group) weren’t given specific places because apparently we’d all scored extremely high. This was fine by me, especially when I saw who the other winning contestants were: Their work was impressive. For my part, I debuted my original design for a Female Yautja (Predator) Warrior. It was my first full fledged armor build, and I created it on a tight budget. My biomask is made of cardboard from a cereal box that I shaped and covered in craft foam. My armor is all craft foam and repurposed clearance Halloween decorations. I made my own wig for $10. It was labor intensive as fuck, but I am so proud of the end result.
My original design for a female Yautja/Predator warrior!
As for the contest itself, the judging process required me to be a lot more outgoing and social than I am used to. Instead of just going to a private pre-judging session, the vendors were the judges! Contestants were required to go around and talk to the vendors about their cosplays, and the vendors would mark off a score for them. At first I wasn’t crazy about going up to strangers and chatting them up about my cosplay, but I’m glad I did because it turned out to be pretty fun and I was able to garner a win! It felt really awesome to have all my work and creativity recognized. Plus I got this really cute cat plush and a fuckton of pocky.
My prizes! There was a lot more pocky, but I ate a lot of it in the car before I got home (◕‿◕)
The second contest I entered was at Mandarin MiniCon, which is a single day event in my current city that I highly recommend for anyone who loves supporting local artists, food, cosplay, nerdy shit and having a good (family-friendly) time. This MiniCon’s theme was “Joker’s Wild” (befitting for its April 1st event date). Naturally, I decided I’d create a Harley Quinn cosplay as it fit perfectly into the theme, and because she is my wife and I love her (ʘ‿ʘ). It’s no secret that I like to stand out, though, and Harley isn’t exactly the most “unique” character to cosplay. To combat this, I didn’t wear one of her classic looks, or her big screen Suicide Squad look. Instead, I cosplayed one of the original concept art designs of Harley for Suicide Squad that didn’t ultimately make it to the big screen.
My cosplay compared to the artseh art
I’ve been in love with that design ever since I first laid eyes on it, and I hate how it didn’t make the final cut to the movie because it just has so much character. It’s clearly something Harley would have fashioned while incarcerated, using whatever tools she had at her disposal in an act of rebellion and expression. It just tells such a story…and it doesn’t that fucking cringeworthy “Daddy’s Lil Monster” phrase on it like her shirt does in the movie. I seriously hate that fucking shirt. Anyway, having made up my mind I set out to recreate the look.
I created the dress using sharpies, a $3 t-shirt from Walmart, scissors, an orange strip of scrap fabric, and alooot of hand-numbing patience.
I also drew on the tattoos (freehand because I like to live dangerously), dyed and styled my wig, and then did my makeup (wore white face paint for the first time, which is my first experience with body paint).
My Harley tattoos! I should have taken good pics of all of them, but I didn’t think to do that until I was scrubbing them off in the shower -_- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The judging process was pretty cool, even though I was nervous as hell. I showed the judges my progress pictures and they seemed to be impressed with the thought I put into the details, down to adding the prison jumpsuit “corset back” since it seemed like a Harley thing to do. I ultimately got 2nd place, and won a $100 prize, which was a great surprise because I wasn’t sure I’d place at all and had no idea what the prizes were. Plus I like free money. Win-win.
The 3rd contest I entered this year was at CosCon Jax, which is yet another great local convention that focuses specifically and primarily on cosplay and cosplayers! The judging process for this contest was similar to Mandarin MiniCon’s judging; I was asked about my creative process and such, so I provided as many artsy crafty details about my cosplay as I could (and still forgot to mention some -_-). I’ve found that I really love this aspect of competing; telling someone all about how I went about making my cosplay is one of my favorite things. I entered the group portion of this contest, as my daughter was cosplaying with me. We were Harley (her) and Enchantress (me).
My munchkin and I. We’re cool cats.
Together, we came up with an age appropriate design for her Harley cosplay. I taught her to make a tutu, and she painted her shirt herself and whatnot. It was her first official homemade cosplay. Meanwhile, I decided to improve upon my Enchantress cosplay from last year a bit. I chose a screen accurate wig, remade my skirt, added another chain to my top, solved an issue with my choker, and went all out with my makeup.
Look at that sweet, sweet improvement. Aw yeah ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
So far, I feel like I’m off to a good start as far as competing and trying new things goes:
- I’ve made armor
- I’ve improved on an old cosplay
- I helped my daughter make her first cosplay
- I did body art and white face paint
- I finally competed in contests, all of which I have placed in (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
- I got over my fear of walking around a con with my stomach exposed (once my greatest source of insecurity)!
- I am conquering stage fright and being more social
In addition to competing and pushing myself creatively, I finally decided to hop into Twitch Streaming! I did my first stream at midnight on Saturday night, cosplaying Harley Quinn (Suicide Squad version, but in a regular tank top because fuck that stupid shirt in the film) and playing Overwatch. Playing video games and talking live was nerve wracking, but ultimately fun! So that’s another thing I’ll continue to do in the future every Saturday night around the same time!
And here’s me taking post-stream victory selfies as Harley Quinn. I may have been a *teensy* bit tipsy ｡◕‿◕｡
So yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to! As always, thanks for reading and please be sure to subscribe to my blog! You can also check me out in these places on the interwebs or drop me a tip so that I can continue to make more cosplay and content!
~DeLa Doll 💖
DeLa Doll is a culture writer, cosplayer, and artist based in Florida. She has been writing professionally since 2016, with some of her work being featured on sites like HuffPo and /Film. She is an advocate for meaningful diversity and representation in media, a gamer, a mom, and an avid user of DIY hair dye.
