How We Made a Voltron Cosplay Fit For New York Comic Con
Watching this video truly takes me back. I can’t believe five years have passed since I donned Shiro’s armor. Still, despite how much time it’s been, I remember it well.
New York Comic-Con 2016 was fast approaching, and I wanted to try something different than last year’s hand-sewn attempt at a gender bent Wonder Woman costume. Yet I couldn’t pin down exactly what I wanted to do. I was looking for a character who hadn’t been done, but also someone I actually wanted to be; a character that I connected with.
And then Voltron: Legendary Defender premiered on Netflix, introducing me to – at the time – Shiro Hiragane, pilot of the Black Lion and de facto leader of Team Voltron. After I binged that entire first season and was relieved he didn’t suffer the same fate as his predecessor from the original cartoon, I had found my inspiration.
Netflix
There was a slight complication with my plans, however, when I realized creating a costume such as Shiro’s armor from Voltron would be Herculean for one boy with little experience in cosplay creation, especially with how stressful it was working with fabrics the year prior.
Despite my inexperience, I couldn’t be deterred. Instead of giving up, I took my problems to my friends and together we were able to come up with a solution.
A very fun solution. We decided to tackle this armor together, forming our own unit, like the giant robot from the show. Granted, Liz (with the most experience manipulating materials and working with wires) led the charge, while Jess and I offered our support whenever we could.
And if you’re curious about how much work we put in, just look at all the supplies you need to make cosplays:
A lot of the time, it was standing for measurements and providing moral support, latter being necessary when the nights would stretch on and we needed motivation to keep carrying on, to not give up in anger because of some slight mistake. This support helped get us through the cosplay creation process.
I know, if I were doing it by myself, I would have given up early on and been left with supplies collecting dust in my garage instead of a finished costume. As a team, we built something we could be proud of.
When I strutted around the Javits Convention Center in the Shiro armor, the Saturday of the Voltron panel, I was not alone. There were others dressed in cosplay such as mine, a rainbow of colors, basing their armor off the other characters. I, in my completely unbiased opinion, believed I was the best dressed among them. Certainly I was the brightest, thanks to the lights Liz installed in the costume.
I felt good. I felt powerful. It was amazing, and something I’ll never forget.
Then, I had to pee.
By then, the convention was winding down. Or, at least, my interest in it for the day was. My panels had wrapped. I had no money left to spend. My arms were sore, and my legs were tired, and my bladder was empty. I packed my costume away like I had that morning, leaving in the same sweats I arrived in so I wouldn’t draw the stares I had yearned for during the day on the commute home. I left Comic-Con that day as me.
But for a few hours, I was Shiro.
Cosplay is definitely transformative. From the ideation, to creation, to the final stage of embodying the character, I grew so much. I wasn’t the same person on that train that I was, sitting on the bed, hitting Netflix’s ‘Next Episode’ on my laptop. I had learned a lot.
Most importantly – when thinking up costumes, always ask yourself, “Can I use the bathroom in this?”