Need A Last Minute Costume?
Player Theory Asked Around and Got Some Ideas...
We hope you're having a terrific Halloween so far! Today is a day for scary movies (and games!), eating too much candy, hanging out with friends, and taking a day off of real life to put on a costume! I talked to a few people (some with more relevance than others) and I asked them all the same question:
"You're told that you're going to a gaming-themed Halloween party and it starts in less than two hours. What do you go as and how do you pull it off last minute?"
I asked this with the assumption that they wouldn't have anything already pre-made. I got a ton of great answers and ideas, and I hope this article is able to inspire you into making your Halloween costume awesome.
Alexis of Shattered Stitch Cosplay
You might remember that we did an interview with Shattered Stitch cosplay last year. Since then, she has been making costumes (like Maleficient, Zatanna, Jinx and multiple awesome Game of Thrones characters) and hitting up comic conventions like mad! When I contacted her last minute about answering this little Halloween for us, she was excited to hit us with a bunch of awesome ideas.
"First thing I'd do is raid the closet - Mario/Luigi is always easy. How about a Pokemon trainer? Grab some markers and outline everything to be a Borderlands character! You can always wrap yourself in some white sheets with some cardboard wings and be a Spirit Healer from World of Warcraft - even with a short amount of time, making something from your favorite game is always possible with some quick thinking and enthusiasm!!"
Alexis, Shattered Stitch Cosplay
Check out her Facebook page to keep up with her!
Kevin Kauffmann, author of "The Forsaken Comedy" trilogy and the "Icarus" trilogy
I've known Kevin for more than a decade now, but in these last few years, he's really turned into a fantastic writer and is cranking out fantastic sci-fi/fantasy/apocalyptic novels like nobody's business. He's been hitting up all kinds of conventions since starting his writing career as a way to reach out to his audience and get his name out there. He's thrown together a costume or two.
I'd go as a Hunter from "Left 4 Dead." All I'd have to do is get a hoodie, some duct tape, slather on some goth makeup and I'd be good to go. I'd spend the night jumping at people, and the costume would be a convenient excuse for that [drunken] behavior."
Kevin Kauffmann
You can find out about Kevin and his books on his website. As a bonus, "From Hell With Love" is free on Kindle for Halloween (definitely check out 'The Forsaken Comedy')!
Kimberly Serena, "Modern Day Renaissance Man"
Kimberly is a super talented artist, model, musician, make-up artist, seamstress....and, well, just about anything. She is one of those people that you could give a box of scraps too, and she'd turn it into something amazing. I got to work with Kimberly a few times in a past, and it's awesome been a good experience. I was super excited to hear her answer this little question, which she took very seriously:
"I would go as Goddess Hylia from "Skyward Sword." Her dress is simple so long as you have a white sheet (or even a pastel color would do). It is very free flowing; hence, a forgiving pattern to work with. If you don’t have sewing supplies to run a seam you can just have a buddy safety pin the back together (think hospital gown style!) You will need some of those Hylian ears! All you need is some scotch tape, and your everyday makeup. Make a triangle by wrapping a piece of tape roughly 2” long around the tip of your ear and fold/press into a triangle shape. I would cover it without about 3 coats of liquid foundation (with your finger or a brush) and blend it onto you ear. Set with a powder. You can also use hairspray to set the makeup. Her hair? Ribbon, string, shoelaces...whatever you may have laying around to braid into the hair. Last but not least, the Goddess’s Harp! You can go about this several ways but I would use tinfoil or newspaper to form the shape of the harp and wrap it in masking tape. This way you can tape the strings to it. If you have gold paint laying around, boom! If not, at least the masking tape is pale enough a color. Now go! Live some memories for Princess Zelda!"
Kimberly Serena
If you want to follow Kimberly online and see all the amazing things that she does, all you gotta do is keep your eyes on her Facebook page!
Olivia of Avant Geek
We got the chance to talk to Olivia last year in our first IRL interview. Since then, Olivia has been all over the place - creating art, making awesome costumes, crafting dresses out of toilet paper and winning awards. Right now, she is working on building a set of wings for her next cosplay creation. She answered our question in true Olivia style:
Okay.... Well, in two hours I could put together an okay wizard hat. The more raggedy, the better, right? Then I'd throw on a grey bathrobe and cut out a "beard" from paper (or yarn, if you're too good for that). THE PLUS SIDE: You can have more than two hours to make it since 'a wizard is never late...' Hur hur.
Olivia, Avant Geek
If you want your news-feed filled with awesome projects, you just need to follow the Avant-Geek on Facebook!
Rachael Wagner, Face Off Season 7 Cast Member
Rachael is a good friend of mine that you might recognize as the purple-haired girl from this past season of "Face Off." She may not have won, but she made it really far, and I'm still blown away by all of the incredible make-ups she made during the course of the show. All of the prosthetics and paint jobs she did for the show took hours, so I was really interested in what she would do if she had to make a costume last minute with nothing pre-prepared. Not to spoil her answer or anything, but she is a silly goose.
"Well first, I might make myself into a Magic card with cardboard and some paint. I'd leave the illustration spot open for my face. Or maybe I'd go as myself and be a 'bag of holding.' And then, when people ask me how my costume is a bag of holding, I'd just start eating the nearest item to it's entirety."
Rachael Wagner
Rachael is now working as a freelance make-up artist in Los Angeles, and you can keep up with all of her amazing work on her Twitter!
Jeff Bond, Editor-In-Chief of Player Theory
What would this post be if I didn't ask Player Theory's fearless leader this question? In between editing posts, updating the website and doing other mysterious "Editor-in-Chief stuff" that he doesn't tell us about, Jeff did take some time to answer our Halloween question:
"I'd grab one of my excess Amazon boxes, flip it over, and crawl underneath. Snake from Metal Gear Solid. Boom.. It's clever, dammit."
Jeff Bond, Editor-In-Chief of Player Theory
After I got my answer, he slammed his fist on the desk and told me to stop asking questions about Halloween costumes and get him more pictures of Spider-Man.
Have a Happy Halloween, everyone!
