Cosplay Dreams (+ Upcoming Plans)

While I am working on the cosplay to go with my large white wings I thought it'd be fun to go over some of the goals, ambitions, and plans I have going further into my cosplay/creative journey.

I won't be revealing what the white wings are for just yet (the red dress is just a temporary substitution) but I do already have a few costumes planned for once it's done, all with wings of course, and there are several conventions I'm hoping to attend one day when I have the funds for travel.

Let's begin with the cosplays I'm hoping to do!

Auriel (Diablo 3/Heroes of the Storm)

Auriel has been on my cosplay list for around a year now after I got intrigued by her energy wings while playing HotS (she's my main now along with Lucio from Overwatch). I have started some basic planning on her like how I want to make the wings and I've also got some materials ready to go (real chainmail wasn't going to work for this costume since she's got it tightly around her joints and I want to be able to at least move a little bit, so I found some chainmail printed fabric that I will be making the under-suit out of).

I'm hoping to start building her within the next year or two, but that will depend on how my other planned projects go (since with study going on I'm not getting much time to work on costumes).

Dira (Final Fantasy Mobius)

Dira isn't high on my priorities list, but she is on there. I'm personally not familiar with the Final Fantasy series (or the card game version Mobius), but while looking for harpies to potentially cosplay I came across her by accident. I love her feathered body design and harpy wings would be a completely new design to try.

Hawkgirl (DC Comics)

I am not sure which version of Hawkgirl I want to do yet, but I want to do one of them eventually. I don't have any experience painting fake feathers (which I will need an airbrush for) and Hawkgirl would be a great candidate for that since in many versions of her outfits the feathers are brown and I could paint them similar to an actual hawk.

Zarina the Pirate Fairy (Tinkerbell)
I've not ever done proper fairy wings before and it's something I really want to do! I didn't want to just go with classic Tinkerbell though since her outfit style isn't one I like wearing, and there's also no way to properly hide animatronics. With the pirate fairy I can incorporate a tiny backpack that blends in with her clothing. Also that hair is amazing. The pirate fairy would be one I could also travel with easier than my large wings.

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Now with the costumes out of the way let's look at some of the conventions I hope to attend one day! There's a lot, so I'm just picking a few to quickly talk about.

Before doing that though I want to go over the 5 reasons why I really want to attend these conventions:

1. If you've read my last post you'll know that I can't really compete in NZ cosplay contests anymore due to where I'm studying ruling out the major NZ conventions (Armageddon Expo - the contests are judged by the tutors of my school and that means students can't enter), and once I graduate basically all NZ contests are ruled out since there's no contest with professional categories (which I will qualify as once I graduate). I've only competed in one cosplay contest so far which was an Armageddon Expo last year before I started studying set and prop making, and I loved it so much that I really want to experience it again.

2. The conventions in New Zealand are all pretty small, and although they seem pretty big to me (especially the Auckland one after having gotten used to the smaller Wellington one) they are apparently incredibly tiny. I want to experience these bigger conventions and see what they are like.

3. In my new career path networking is important, especially if I want to become a freelancer wing builder doing commissions as my job. The cosplay community in New Zealand knows me pretty well (and my new study should hopefully help me get a job in the industry to start building a name there before I go freelancer), but travelling internationally with my wings would really help get my name out there more.

4. There have been a few interesting guests that have come to New Zealand conventions (such as Jeremy Renner), but many I'd love to meet one day only go to the larger ones overseas and never come to New Zealand, and a few that came before I got into cosplay so I missed them but they probably won't return anytime soon if ever. Travelling internationally would give me a chance to meet some of the people I look up to, from famous cosplayers to movie stars.

5. I know a large proportion of the New Zealand cosplayer base already, so I'd love to make some more cosplaying friends and just meet more cosplayers in general. A few people that I'd really love to meet include:

• The Crooked Feather (builds wings as a living)
• Axceleration Cosplay (made the first articulated wings I ever saw for a Hawkgirl cosplay)
• Kamui Cosplay and Adam Savage (I love their tutorials)
• Biserbuilds (did an amazing male Kayle cosplay)
• Demorafairy Cosplay (created so many amazing Mercy cosplays from different pieces of fan art)
• Germia (I just love her builds in general and she's done an amazing Auriel)

Now let's get into my top conventions I want to attend.

Dutch Comic Con (Holland)
Originally being from Holland I really want to go visit a Dutch Comic Con one day since I only recently found out they even have them via another cosplayer. I haven't fully investigated which Dutch Comic Con I want to go to, but I am hoping to travel over the Holland in 2021 for one as well as visiting family.

SuperNova (Australia)
I originally thought that an Australian convention would be my first ever overseas one since it's relatively nearby, but even though that's probably not going to be true anymore it's definitely near the top of the list of where I want to go. There's lots of different conventions in Australia and I don't know which one to go to yet, but I have several friends in AUS so I'll probably see which ones are near them.

These are the 2 I'm hoping to attend in the sorta near future (with many more after hopefully) but there is one more that will be a longer term goal.

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This particular convention is one I've been wanting to attend since shortly after I started cosplaying in 2016 and I've made it my long term goal to make it there one day. This convention is:

Drumroll please

Blizzcon

Blizzcon has been the dream ever since I learned about it shortly after Overwatch was released. I'd been a massive Warcraft fan before Overwatch came out (I'd never played World of Warcraft but Warcraft 3 had been a massive part of growing up for me), Diablo II was a game I often played with my brother, and then Overwatch was added to the list of Blizzard games I loved.

This convention is the dream, but when I do finally go I have some special plans for it: I want to enter the cosplay contest.

My first Mercy cosplay was life changing for me and I loved portraying the character so much so I've decided to make a new Mercy for when I eventually go to Blizzcon. Initially I wanted to do a police Mercy but I've found something I love even more since.

Created by AnimatedAnarchist

Blackwatch Mercy. Red and black is one of my favourite colour schemes and I absolutely LOVE this fan design. <3
There are quite a few different Blackwatch Mercy designs but this is my favourite (although the dragon themed Blackwatch Mercy is also really cool).

I have already photoshopped her a body and weapons to go with this art as a full reference (since this is the only image the artist did and contacting them about the possibility of a full design resulted in no response), am working on the back design, and have already started planning out some other parts. The wings are the main challenge since I'm wanting to improve on my previous version and also be able to transport them without too much issue. It'll work out eventually!

Anyway, those are some of my goals and ambitions for my cosplay journey over the next several years to come. Do you have a convention you'd love to attend or a costume you'd love to make one day? I'd love to hear it! I'm also keen to hear if anyone has any convention recommendations since there's so many out there. <3