REVIEW later discovered they were simply laughing at his French accent! For the Finals in November he is planning his dream cosplay; Judge Gabranth from FFXII. He is still deciding on how he is going to make all the pieces and no doubt we’ll all be following and cheering for him! Now, the 2nd place. The antics of the colourful Millennium Earl (Mechakal), the serious monochrome Allen Walker (Mahou Koneko) and the interesting stage props contributed to a very unique performance, keeping the crowd and judges entertained. I interviewed Mechakal to learn more. This is the first time the two have teamed up, and sharing the excitement, ideas and workload has proved valuable. However, the teamwork involved a lot of trust. She had to learn to pull back, allow her teammate to contribute and accept when she produced superior work (that can’t be easy!). She believes the advantages far outweigh the challenges and they plan to collaborate again in future.
6
For the two costumes and all the props, a variety of components were used, including latex, foam core, resin, hot glue, duct tape, fabric and clay. Creativity was very important, as the skit involved items such as boogie board, yoga mat, pumpkin head basket, kids alphabet play set, wardrobe rack, three feet long balloon, can of deodorant, pink umbrella, some chopsticks, some dirt (yes, dirt), gardening equipment, vinyl sheeting and pasta sauce jar lids. It sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Months of preparation and waking-up at 5.30 AM (during an increasingly cold weather) were necessary to mould the 3 kg of clay and to apply the countless layers of latex slush casting involved in making the most difficult component, the Earl’s mask. Winter saw to it that the latex dried as SLOWLY as possible and resin regrettably crystallised, resulting in the two cosplayers making a vow not to work with such materials in winter again.
7
The two of them plan to continue to challenge themselves, and have no interest in remaining inside their comfort zone of acquired skills and techniques. Australia looks forward to what they will unveil to us in the future.
9
Photo credits: 1-9. Charmaine Morgan (fluffyltd.deviantart.com) 10-13. Rachel Lewis (fiathriel.deviantart.com)
6
11