Cosplay: Steampunk Wonder Woman

This cosplay was an absolute labor of love and the collective effort of myself and some wonderful friends. I knew I wanted to completely overhaul my Steampunk Wonder Woman from last year's DC Steampunk Group, but had no idea how to pull it off. Luckily, I have incredible friends.

First, my friend Chelsea designed the concept for me while we were riding in the back of a car on the way back from a convention. Then, I asked my dear, talented friend Niall to make me a corset. He put his own spin on it with the chain maille, created by his incredible lady friend Angela. The leggings, boots, and jacket were bought and then altered by myself and my dear, dear friend Becki.

The JACKET was an INSANE find. I initially wanted a blue duster, but we were running through Good Will with 3 days until SDCC and I found this incredible red leather duster for SEVEN DOLLARS. Becki painted it for me, and I sewed on new buttons and D rings and put stars along the hood.

We sewed the stars onto the side of the leggings, and I cut up old belts and put them on the bottom of the boots after I painted them. The bracers and crown were also created by the amazing team of Niall and Angela.

The entire costume was down to the wire. I actually had Niall and Angela overnight the corset to me in San Diego, and when I opened it I nearly weapt. It weighs about 15lbs and is one of the most beautiful (albeit uncomfortable) things I own.

The above photos are by Debshots; the ones below are by ljinto  (Thanks, guys!!)

I'm ridiculously proud of this cosplay and I cannot thank those involved enough!

PHOTOSHOOT: Real Gamer Girls

About a week ago my dear friend Sarah Hiraki and I were talking about how silly the "girl gamer" pics are of women posing seductively with video game controllers. We were discussing the real point: when girls really game, we don't look sexy or glamorous... we look terrifying. Messed up hair, oversized t-shirts, smeared makeup, junk food everywhere... thus, our concept for this photoshoot was born. We wanted to represent how women REALLY look when we game.

So we grabbed Angeline Oliver and the amazing photographer Vince of Darkain Multimedia, ate a bunch of pizza, listened to Jpop and had a pretty hilarious photoshoot.

EDIT 02/20: There's been a little bit of controversy due to this photoshoot, and I guess I felt the need to clarify a little bit more. First of all, when I wrote the above paragraph I did so in less than a minute because I was so excited to get the photos online. I should have taken more time because it's a hot button topic, but I just couldn't wait!

This is the expanded version of why we did these pics: We don't find the 'girl gamer' pics silly because they are 'fake' or 'not geeks enough', we find them silly because of the backlash that they create. Women owning their sexuality is AWESOME and we were striving to do the same thing - showing that as three women who are VERY well known for being "legit" geeks we are still sexy even when eating pizza and cheetos.

Yes, this photoshoot is stylized and glammed up a little bit, but it's a PHOTOSHOOT. But I can promise you that I look almost identical to this when I game - you think I have time to take my makeup off when I walk in the door and I'm almost at a big story arc in Final Fantasy? Psh. I peel my clothes off (bras are uncomfortable!) and run to the couch as fast as I can. And after losing a boss battle five times my eyeshadow IS smeared everywhere because I've been rage crying.

This was a fun, playful photoshoot that we had a blast doing. And if anyone calls me "anti feminist" for being comfortable with my body and showing it off and OWNING MY SEXUALITY INSTEAD OF LETTING MEN/OTHER PEOPLE OWN IT, you may need to re-think your ideals.

Models:
Molly McIsaac (me!)
Sarah Hiraki
Angeline Oliver

Photographer:
Darkain Multimedia