This week I was honored to have the opportunity to speak with the great folks at Mythos Creations. I was so impressed with their portfolios, it took a while to realize they are in Oklahoma! (I kept thinking they would be somewhere like New York, but nope!) They have some great group cosplay as well as solo efforts so be sure to “Like” them on Facebook and keep up with their travels.
Enjoy!
I was surprised to see that you are from Oklahoma. What kind of reaction do you get from that at Cons? Seeing the level of costuming you do, I would have said you had a theater background and were from New York!
We’ve never noticed any difference in the way people treat us because we’re from Oklahoma. The few times we’ve been in cosplay on the west and east coasts, it didn’t seem like a big topic either. If anyone asked, we’d just jokingly tell them it’s really hard finding time to work on costumes between wrangling cattle and square dancing. Although all three of us live in decently-sized cities, it’s kind of amazing how many people think Oklahomans all live in teepees!
From your bios, I see that each member came to cosplay at different times in their lives as well as learning to sew at different stages. How did you guys meet and say to yourselves, “lets form a group?”
Saya was one of the two founding members of Mythos Creations. She met Hikaruhime at a con, and they became friends. Hikaruhime was asked to join as they were already planning to do a group cosplay together. Saya knew Tsukiko through their local comic store and got to know her better through the lolita group of which all three of us are a part. Saya found out Tsukiko really loved cosplaying and wanted to compete more and attempt more difficult costumes. Luckily, we all hit it off immediately once we all got together in the same room!
Your work is so elaborate and colorful! Do you focus solely on anime and manga?
For competition pieces, we all agree on something we feel will push us to new boundaries as costumers. It really doesn’t matter where we find the source material although manga and manhwa tend to have more elaborately detailed pictures for reference. We’re also very active in regards to original, fantasy, Western comics, and sci-fi costumes. Basically, we just cosplay what we are feeling “into” the most at that moment. If we plan to compete in the costumes, we search our memories for series/games/shows/whatever that we love which also feature heavily detailed outfits.
Do you ever get burned out? How do you manage to remain inspired?
We do get burned out, usually after a really long project. After debuting costumes which have taken us a few months, we often take at least a few weeks in which we don’t touch our sewing machines. Although we love to compete, we also will skip competing at some cons and just enjoy watching the contest from the audience in order to give ourselves a break. After a bit, we will find something new we want to start working on and the fire is reignited. Sometimes it takes a few months and sometimes only a few days! None of us do any type of costuming as our career. One of us is in the medical field, another is a teacher, and the third is a data analyst. We find that by having these completely unrelated careers, we can just enjoy cosplay as a hobby. Since we are not having to make costumes for other people (unless we want to), we find that we don’t get burned out quite as easily as we would if costuming was our career.
You have SO many awards? Is there any one of them that means the most to you? If so, what made it so special?
They all mean alot to us because it’s so humbling to be amidst such amazing talent as we usually find at contests and then also have our hard work recognized. As far as some meaning more than others, our award from Anime Matsuri 2011 is special because we had recently lost a group member. This award was the first we received after our group became three members, and it was the highest award we could receive at that con. This really helped us move on and realize that we could be better than we were before, both as costumers and as friends. We also really liked AM 2011 because they allowed entrants to use their own music for walk-ons. We were really excited and spent a few hours sending each other music, mixing them up, and making a selection. Another award we value above the rest was at Naka-Con 2010. It was the first award we won after Tsukiko joined. We had been sitting in the cosplay green room for seven hours. We were freezing (even with the blanket we brought) and starving. It was nice to have something to show for all of that time spent missing out on other con events
What kind of process is there for deciding what the group cosplay will be? Is there ever disagreements on that and how do you work it out?
Usually one of us will find a game/anime/whatever with characters who look interesting and then email the other group members an outline. We then email back and forth deciding who will be which character and when would be a good time to debut the cosplay. We discuss pros and cons of actually making the costumes. For example, would the final product look as “wow-ing” as all of the time and money we put into making them? Is the series over-cosplayed? We have so many ideas that most of them get vetoed. Nobody minds though; dreaming up possibilities is part of the fun! We don’t recall every having a true disagreement (i.e., one that actually made one of us upset), but we would just talk it out if it ever did happen.
Do you create everything from scratch or do you alter found pieces (or both)?
For competition pieces we strive to sew everything ourselves, even pants and other items we could easily find at a store. As we compete in the Master category at cons, we would never want to insult the abilities of our fellow Master costumers by wearing store-bought cosplays. We value construction very highly in regards to contest pieces. We strive to get better each time we make a costume, and we want to live up to people’s expectations. On the other hand, we may use altered items on costumes which we have no plans of entering in contests. We love shopping at thrift and vintage stores, and we’ve been fortunate enough to come across some amazing old jewelry and clothes. Sometimes modified pieces of our finds will make their way into our costumes. Re-use and Recycle!
What is your favorite costume of all time and why?
Tsukiko can never decide which is her favorite. For now, it’s her newest Draenei from World of Warcraft because she hasn’t gotten to wear it much. She looks like a purple goat alien, and it’s funny to hear everyone’s reactions of “she’s so tall!” For Saya, her favorite costume is probably Tess from Princess Ai. We all love our moving wings worn with that group of costumes. Hikaruhime’s favorite changes just as often as Tsukiko’s. Right now, her favorite is Frey from Anima: Tactics. She loves the clomping talon feet as well as being blind and handless. The more hazardous, the better!
What’s the most expensive costume you have ever made?
Hikaruhime has a few costumes that cost over $200, such as Meggi from Princess Ai, but for the most part, she tries to keep costs at a minimal. She loves the challenge of coupon-collecting and searching several stores to find the lowest prices for fabric, notions, and other items. Saya’s most expensive costume is Suh Wang Mo from Bride of the Water God. All of the silk, jewelry, feathers, and wig-work items added up to alot! Tsukiko purposely doesn’t keep track of how much her costumes cost; she doesn’t want to know! Her guess is that Soah from Bride of the Water God is the most expensive. Yards of silk, giant wig items, and tons of metal findings and jewels!
Any advice for the novice cosplayer?
The best advice we can offer to novice costumers is to explore new techniques and don’t be afraid to push yourself! Also, be patient! Most processes in cosplay are very, very time-consuming if not always difficult. If you can sew one bead to a scrap of fabric, then you can also sew 5,000 beads to an entire dress. It might not be the most stimulating task, but the end result will be worth it! Also, don’t forget the details. Doing the right shoes, jewelry or contact lenses can push a good cosplay into a fantastic cosplay! Most importantly, just have fun. If cosplay becomes a chore, then you need to take a break. After we take breaks from long projects, we enjoy re-discovering why we love cosplay in the first place.
Do you have questions for cosplayers? Are you a cosplayer and would like to be featured as Cosplayer of the Week on www.almostnerdy.com? Send an email with pictures and contact information to info@almostnerdy.com. (Please put “cosplay” in the subject line)
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