Never Too Early for Halloween Planning

If you're a crafter and a nerd, at some point you end up thinking about cosplay. I get way too invested in my favorite fictional characters, and I often find myself doodling their costumes in my notebooks. But being the scatterbrain that I am, I've only managed to complete a cosplay once (Lalli Hotakainen from the wonderful webcomic Stand Still Stay Silent). It's really fun, but planning and executing a cosplay is also a lot of work.

That being said, I've recently taken to listening to the podcast called the Adventure Zone, and I love it. The humor is silly and immature at times (I'll confess to laughing anyway), but overall the story is heartfelt and satisfying, and the characters are absolutely the best. Their most recent arc at the time of writing is called Amnesty, and I can't wait to see how it goes! I love the protagonist trio: Duck, Ned, and especially Aubrey. She's a stage magician turned actual magic user with an affinity for pyrotechnics, and from her introduction, I've loved her style. My friend wants to cosplay Duck at some point, so I thought "why not make it a group thing?" and got to work!

If you're looking to try your hand at cosplay (or just want a sweet Halloween costume), non-visual media like books and podcasts are a great place to start. You'll have a lot more leeway with the character design when there aren't any official pictures to work with. For Aubrey Little (aka the Lady Flame), we get some physical description. She's a young woman who does magic tricks that center around fire, with a punk-goth style. She has facial piercings and an undercut. I know she wears gloves that create sparks to do her tricks, too. This is plenty of description for the purpose of the podcast, and it gives me freedom to create a look based on my own resources.

For a first cosplay, go with something on the simpler side. Fully human characters who wear more-or-less modern clothing will be easy to get supplies for, while nonhuman characters who wear elaborate armor or full Victorian dresses will require quite a lot of skill and time to produce! Don't feel too limited by your own appearance: while it's certainly easier to cosplay a character you resemble, it's much more fun to dress as someone who you have an emotional connection to. You can always tweak details or make an AU design in order to make things easier on yourself.

Since I've got plenty of freedom with Aubrey, I'm going to make a design based on how I look: skin, hair, eyes, and body type. These particular features were never stated in the podcast, so I get to decide for my own cosplay. I'm also going to raid my closet for clothes that fit her style: gotta use those resources where I can find them! I'll be back in a bit with a plan and a design for you all to see.