Seeing as I have concentrated on the pop culture side of 2024 in my previous blog entry, I wished to cover the other side of my interests this year. These are various cosplay cons that I have been to, costume and prop crafting that I have done as well cosplaying in general. In terms of all three, 2024 has been a rather busy year and I have enjoyed it more than I would have guessed.
Instead of categorizing and sectioning this blog post like I have previously done, I would instead want to focus on a chronological recollection. So, you will be seeing what I crafted before what con I attended beginning with January 2024 and moving forward. Maybe with some photo shoots in between. I tried to be very concise, but holy shit, this got long.
Cosples 2024 – February; Brno, Czechia
Last year we went to a special occasion in the nearby Brno in Czechia called Cosples. It is a play on words – first is cosplay, second means ball. And the event is exactly that: a cosplay ball. Each event has themes and for 2024 it was magical forest – suffice to say we rarely follow these themes; we just wear what we want. In any case, we wanted to make something special either way – so we decided to go as Firelord Zuko and Mai from Avatar, the Last Airbender. The version of Zuko I chose is not actually from the show, but from a graphic novel that sort of continues it. Kaya wanted to do the classic Mai costume from the show, however. I just wanted a badass cape! Just after Christmas last year we went fabric shopping and we sort of crunched both costumes with wig styling in a couple weeks. The pattern making for both was not exactly easy, but with some advice from friends we managed. I also got us a new sewing machine for christmas, so we put that to good use!
There were some foam parts too, which I enjoyed crafting. Fire nation in the ATLA universe has that amazing pseudo fantasy Japan themes, which I always loved.
It was pretty fun! Although I think I chose the cheapest and worst fabrics I could for the costume, if I were to do it all over again, I would choose something more dull and perhaps richer in color.
This year, Cosples was in a new venue, different from the place it was at before. The new hall was supposed to be bigger, with a more modern take. We packed our stuff, got accommodation at our favorite Brno place when we went there for conventions and got dressed. Kaya has done amazing stuff on my face for my Zuko scar and it felt awesome having a grand red cape.
On our way to the new venue, we had to take an obligatory elevator picture. What were my impressions of the event itself? I didn’t mind the new place where the ball was at, even though I preferred the old space, which looked more like a theatre or an old school ball hall. The new place was a typical con hall with metal supports and glass walls. The old one has a nicer feel to it. From what I understood, the organizers chose the new space for better and bigger capacity, as the tickets to each Cosples are usually sold out within the first five minutes. I love the idea of this event. Go to a ball dressed as your favorite character in a gown or a suit, or something similar. We chose ceremonial robes from a show we love. As far as I know, you can come in pretty much anything as long as it is not downright heavy armor pieces. There was an issue with bars and getting drinks though – we stood in a line for three hours for some wine, sat down and talked to our friends, then went into another line and after two hours left. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t completely terrible. In 2025, Cosples is being planned to take place in the old space and I am really, really looking forward to it.
Even though the lines were too long, I really loved seeing our friends and talking with them while waiting for some wine. Cosples is one of my favorite cosplay events every year and I cannot say this one too many times, but I am always looking forward to it.
Animefest 2024 – May; Brno, Czechia
Alright, time to restrain myself when writing about Animefest 2024, because this could be an entry on its own. I love Animefest, it is easily my favorite convention. It took place once again in Brno, in the exact same place as Cosples (although this time it wasn’t obviously in just one hall, but encompassed a larger area).
Before we went to the con however, it is prudent for me to describe just how much Kaya worked on her FFXIV Dark Knight Chaos set over the year. She actually started on it in early 2023 – she began by making the Shadowbringer dark knight weapon.
I enjoy playing Dark Knight in FFXIV and while I am also a casual Berserk enjoyer (it is very reminiscent of Guts’ Dragonslayer), personally, I have not used Shadowbringer in the game myself. Even though it looks amazing in real life. She also made the rest of the set by herself, her own patterns, everything. I just watched her craft everything along with our then baby, now toddler. There are way too many WIP pictures that Kaya has for her Dark Knight set and you can see 90% of them on her IG.
As far as my own costume was concerned before Animefest 24, I always wanted to do Cloud Strife from Advent Children and in summer 2023 I ordered something from China which I was rather underwhelmed by. Over the course of winter 23 and 24 when Kaya was crafting the Dark Knight chaos set, I began to replace pieces of that costume bit by bit myself. Just in time for Animefest, I managed to make a new wig, new top/sweater and pants. I have not yet had time to make the side skirt that Cloud has.
Regardless, we arrived to Brno on Friday noon and after we successfully got into our accommodation (they made us wait hour and a half at the reception), Kaya and I set out for the cosplay competition rehearsal in our Final Fantasy VII getups – I got her an Advent Children Tifa costume to go with my Cloud on Friday.
Animefest has two cosplay competitions – the “main” one where if you are a Czechia native can go forward abroad to places like France and even Japan and also a new “cosplay debut” competition for those just starting out competing. Kaya, having never really been in a cosplay competition yet wanted to try it, so she entered with her Dark Knight set to debut. I cannot really speak for her experiences, although she herself said it was amazing. In my Cloud cosplay, I was Kaya’s helper and as such had a glance myself at the judges and I loved how interactive they were with the contestants. They have shown genuine interest in the costumes and the process of crafting. Usually, competitions are divided into a so-called pre-judging phase (where the actual judging takes place) and then there is the stage performance. I had a front row seat amongst the spectators for the latter (helpers do get certain privileges) and the whole cosplay stage performance was amazing! I have seen so many great cosplays and got goosebumps at so many fantastic performances! Seeing my favorite characters come to life in a dazzling display with some of the most fitting music thrown in was truly a treat. And for the first time ever I got to see it from the first row and not on a screen projected somewhere else – because most of the time, it is very nearly impossible to get in, as people always want to see the cosplay performance.
My two favorite pics of her stage performance are these two – actual in-game idle pose of the female Dark Knight character and her derp victory pose! There is something else I wish to underline when it came to the competition at Animefest – mainly how much of an interaction was there between the judges and the contestants. Every time after a performance was finished, one of the judges would make a constructive, helpful and sweet comment with each contestant. There also was an interaction with the show host. This really seemed to me like a great idea, it made the people feel like they were part of the show. I know of cosplay competitions where you just get on stage, do your thing and leave. The contestants at the cosplay competition also get their professional photos taken before their performance, which is a neat plus with no extra charge. Another small detail was that as a contestant you could have a large picture projected during your performance behind you, which was nice.
Over the course of Saturday, we also had our first ever cosplay support booth or whatever you want to call it. There we had some of the greatest pictures of our cosplays made possible by the amazing photographers who were gracious enough to let us have these at the booth. It was great because even though it was our first booth, we were next to our friend Aetherlune (IG: aetherlune). Unfortunately, I cannot tell who that amazing Hythlodaeus was. Let me know, if you can!
What else can I say about Animefest 24? I loved it! Despite cosplaying for a while, for the first time in a long while, I felt great in my costume. Even though my Cloud was not amazing by any means, it was good enough for me to feel great in it and it has surpassed all my expectations. I wasn’t just wearing a Cloud Strife costume; I was Cloud for three days! While this might seem a bit vain from me, it was a very important moment in my life. Of course, it does not compare to other important events in my life that have happened recently, like becoming a father or getting a doctorate after ten years of tears. Cosplaying Cloud was something that really unblocked something in me. For a very long time I was a very shy and softspoken person, due to my own insecurities and other insignificant maladies. I have always loved Final Fantasy VII and a long time ago, when I was starting with cosplay, I was told that I look nothing like Cloud and would be terrible. For reasons unknown, this has stayed with me for a long time. In preparation for this cosplay, I really tried to look my best. Of course, I support body positivity and everyone should be as happy as they prefer with the way they look and feel, it is all up to you – but this one remark I got has blocked me for a decade. I did other costumes, mostly with helmets, masks, hoods, whatever. I did not want to show my face at all – and as much of my body as could be hidden beneath armor or robes, the better. So, I trained myself. This may sound silly and pretentious, but I looked up guides on how to pose, how to mimic facial expressions, and how to walk like someone else. I also trained physically – I quit drinking at all, would not have a beer or a glass of wine. I stuck to a strict workout routine and I wanted to be my best. The change that happened physically is up to others to judge, I suppose, but what I noticed the most was how mentally freeing this was. I realized I could be just like Cloud, if I really wanted. And as such, this whole experience has been extremely freeing for me. As such, I decided to remake the rest of the costume from scratch too. Should not have bought it, however now I feel like if I did not, I probably would have never gotten that first spark to start me on this.
In any case, it was amazing meeting all my friends and also so many people that I got to know for the first time and talk to them, and share our passion for the things we have in common.
I met this amazing Isaac Clarke that I could not find anywhere, if by any chance you ever see this, please let me know! I really love Dead Space (well, the first two games anyway) and that advanced rig suit is on my bucket list. I also met so many other Final Fantasy VII cosplayers and it was such a joy! The Aerith in the picture below is Faila Ray (IG: faila_ray) and the Aerith and Cloud that I photobombed are Kimesuke (IG: kimesuke_) and her brother (whose IG account I could not find – let me know!).
Kaya took the best crafting trophy home and I could not be prouder of her. Everyone was fantastic and congratulations goes to each contestant from me. Seeing them on stage is an inspiration and motivation. The Dark Knight Chaos set was Kaya’s first project completely from scratch and the entire build is insane. All in all, Animefest 24 was absolutely amazing and I cannot wait for the next one. I have some big plans for 2025 and I am hoping that I will manage to get it done. Honestly, I am a little afraid that my plans might be too grand. We shall see.
FanAsia 2024 – June; Bratislava, Slovakia
As far as I can tell, this was the first year of this con. It also took place in Bratislava, where we live. It was not actually too far from our home either, so we asked a friend to come take care of our toddler (who was just a week away from her first birthday), dressed up at home and went. Between Animefest 24 and FanAsia I managed to finally make my own skirt for Cloud – I was still wearing the shoulder piece I bought, though. I was also working on a new Fusion sword, because the one I had was too small and I wanted to make it true to scale (188 cm tall – I am myself just barely 173 cm tall). Zack is walax_cosplay (IG) and the friendly Samurai is gerygerhard (IG).
In any case, FanAsia was much smaller than Animefest, but it was still very enjoyable. They also hosted a cosplay competition, even though we did not attend. Kaya was still a bit winded from Animefest and I did not really have a costume worthy of competing, at least not yet. Once again, we met with friends, chatted and went to watch the cosplay competition. The cosplays and performances were really good!
While we were getting ready for what would be our last con for 2024, we both decided to enter the cosplay competition there. Kaya wished to finish her Dark Knight Chaos set with a helmet that she did not have for Animefest 24 (because she had an amazing wig with cat ears) and I was also in my final stage of remaking the Advent Children costume. With how I felt afterwards, I wanted to make it as good as I could. I remade the harness and shoulder piece and also constructed a new Fusion sword.
I am thinking about posting my WIP book for Cloud as a separate Blog post. It has things in it, that might be interesting to look at. Furthermore, while I was semi happy with how the costume looked, I ended up preparing quite an elaborate stage performance (at least for my own merits) and I needed some props. I really never used props in any of my previous stage performances as I have always been a minimalist, but this was my FFVII cosplay, so I wanted to go all in. So, anyway my performance was somewhat inspired by that one scene in Advent Children where Cloud goes to fix Zack’s vandalized memorial and reminisce about his friend that passed and is then possessed by Sephiroth. I had a spin on it where I added some graffiti on the Buster sword and the photo of Zack. As well as the fact that Sephiroth taunts Cloud that he is a mindless slave, then from 9 to 5 starts playing and I swing around the stage on a scooter. I needed a fake Buster sword that can stand upright, a courier’s backpack and some background. Eventually, I came up with the following:
As far as graffiti goes, this was pretty good and I was satisfied with it! Anyway, on to the Con itself.
ComicSalon 2024 – June; Bratislava, Slovakia
Oh, ComicSalon… You have gone by many names in the past, whether it was IstroCon or if it was AnimeShow. It's all the same. I have a long experience with this convention and one thing I can say about it is that it has not changed in a dozen years, even more. Whether I was just a visitor, or a cosplayer, competing or giving lectures on the fandoms I love as well as the hobbies I have – crafting and such. Even though I do not always have fond memories of this convention, I met my wife there in 2015 and have made such amazing friends, most of them by total chance.
So, what was the experience in 2024? Kaya did not want to go to the convention on Friday, we had a raging toddler back home and were pretty tired. I wanted to go to the rehearsal at least, because I was nervous about the performance. What shocked me was that the rehearsal was very late at night. It could not even be called an evening; it was either at 21.30 or 22.00. Really late. It might be the baby or just me getting older, but I was horribly out of sorts and tired as all hell when I finally managed to find a parking space near the place where the con was at. This was shocking to me, because when I was Kaya’s helper at Animefest, the competition rehearsal was before the con started in the early afternoon (I think at 13.00 or 14.00).
Thankfully, my amazing friend Mulins was willing to come and help me out with my props and stuff I needed. I was seriously hoping there would be a place to have them stored, so I would not have to drag them with me while in costume the next day. I suppose it was my fault, however once again, when compared to Animefest – the contestants there had room to store their props for the next day. I did the rehearsal, it was fine, I got some feedback from friends and kept that in mind for the actual competition. And then… of course I found out that I cannot store my props anywhere. Essentially the organizer said it’s my stuff, I should take it away and it’s my problem. I was actually expected to drag them back to my car, drive them home and then repeat the whole process again but this time in costume. I was too tired to be angry. With ComicSalon/AnimeShow/Istrocon, it has always been something. By a miracle just as I was to leave in desperation, I ran into my friends from Czechia who run a store that has everything pop culture oriented, as well as cosplay supplies. I have written an article for them regarding foam work for beginners, as well as have one in the pipe regarding some crafting supplies. In any case, they were once again willing to help me out and since they also had a store setup at the con, I could leave my things in their van that was right at the entrance. If I didn’t know anybody, I would be screwed.
Thus, even before we attended the con, this has left a sour taste in my mouth. I was ready for inconveniences as well as having to stand in the dark while being stepped on like I was in 2023 – when I participated with my Artorias cosplay. Suffice to say, it was not off to a great start. What was Saturday like then? We arrived an hour before pre judging as to get into costumes comfortably. We did not have to stress around props thanks to our friends at Imago who really were the real saviors, as well as Mulins who was so kind to us, even though he didn’t really have to.
Kaya was actually first at pre judging and I was third. Out of thirty plus contestants and there was some great competition! We both had a great experience with the judges – even though I was surprised how stern the time limit was, when I got timed exactly five minutes to talk and not a second longer, even cutting me off mid-sentence. Which I suppose is fine, even though that was not the case the year before – where I actually was allowed to have a chat with the judges, they could ask me whatever they wanted and we had a back and forth. Now, I talked about how I made which part of the costume, what was my favorite part to work on and which one was too difficult and BAM! No more. I got a very stern “No!” from the organizer who slammed their phone with a stopwatch before them and menacingly glared at me. Ok then.
Once we were both done with pre-judging, we went outside to get some fresh air. I really have to mention how horrid the event spaces for this con are. They are practically a ruin – there is no air flow, most of the windows cannot be opened, there are very narrow hallways, uneven and tiny stairs. Everything is of course packed to the brim with shops and whatnot. I get that everything is expensive, but I refuse to believe that a better space is impossible to acquire. This was an issue in 2015 and now it is almost a decade later and of course, nothing has changed.
We rested outside and met some of our friends. I loved to see their costumes; they are very talented cosplayers. We met Aetherlune and Kasame Katiak (IG: kasame_katiak).
Now I only wish I could see better in my blue contacts, because even the good photos have that awful sun glare in them. Also, we got photobombed by Gandalf in the background, which is the best kind of photobombing.
I also met this amazing Astarion cosplayer, Astel (IG: faerie.rot).
Soon it was time for the stage performance, which we were really looking forward to, even though we were really nervous. It went fine and felt great to be on stage. The perk of being in the first three contestants that go on stage was that we got to watch every performance in relative peace. I also have to mention another friend, Sasaki (IG: _sasaki.cos_ ) who helped me with my stuff backstage and I only wish we could get a proper backstage photo together! Ah well. Next time. Below is the only backstage I managed to fumble. My eyes were really water from the contacts, the darkness backstage as well as the blinding light on stage. Also, I have triple chin like our toddler now.
That was it for Saturday. Kaya went home, I got a quick dinner with my friend Mulins and then followed Kaya. For Sunday, we decided to do something different and dressed up as Tifa and Cloud in their 90s clothes, or at least as close as I could get at the last minute. It was also fun driving to McDrive in costume and makeup (it always is!).
Anyway, we went to the judges for some feedback, because unlike at Animefest, as contestants we did not get anything, not even comments – there was literally no interaction at all. Which never feels great in my opinion and really just seems like you are ignored. The judges were very nice at their booths, though and promised to write us their feedback on socials. Which for the most part was extremely helpful and constructive, and I am very thankful for it.
One final tangent regarding ComicSalon – we have to talk about the price of admission. The way it works is that you buy your ticket and if you are a cosplay competition contestant, eventually after some time you get a refund, basically letting you attend the convention for free. This is great… if you are a student or if money is tight. Kaya herself has said that if the price for the ticket weren’t refunded, she would not attend. However, I would much prefer if the attendance were not free for contestants (and presenters) and instead, we got something for it instead – say, professional photos taken at a photo op set up officially by the organizer. Or if there were actually better spaces for the event. Or more interaction with the judges during the competition.
I don’t know. This convention has been stagnating ever since I can remember. The drastic changes that have happened were only in terms of smaller venues and increasing prices. I wish it were different.
Finally, no cosplay feels finished until I get proper photos done. I felt like the only proper way for a Cloud Strife photo op was to take out my Honda Shadow 750 somewhere into a field and pose with it. Thankfully, my great friend Pavel from Torei Arts, who is a great photographer, agreed when I asked him and traveled all the way to Bratislava from Prague to help me out with this. We talked about my vision, how I wanted the photos to look, what angles and feelings to evoke, of course he was an absolute professional about it and advised me how to make everything looks just about perfect. He brought his better half and it only felt appropriate to bring Kaya and our little savage toddler with us too. She loves everything that goes vroom and sitting her on my bike was a treat.
I was extremely happy with how my 2024 went for cosplay. I crafted what I wanted, I got to the cons I wanted. I would have liked to attend the Vienna comic con, however life got in the way this time – hopefully in 2025 we can manage it. I have two big projects I want to tackle this year, one being the FFVII Remake Cloud, which I have already begun – I made a fully magnetic Buster sword. Considering making a blogpost about that too. My other project is kind of a secret, but here is hoping that it is successful, one way or the other. How was your 2024 in terms of cosplay? What were your favorite conventions you went to? Did you participate at any competitions? Let me know! I am curious to hear what your experiences have been like. See you all at the stage.
