Carbon Costume

Will Simpson (played by Wil Traval) is an antagonist-turned-protagonist over the first two seasons of Jessica Jones. In the show he is a cop with the NYPD who is first brainwashed by Kilgrave and then recruited by a secret government project to test pills that cause supersoldier-like abilities with a nasty set of side effects.

This storyline is adapted from the Marvel Comics character Frank Simpson also known as Nuke. He is depicted as a foil to Captain America to such a degree that the two go up against each other more than once. The second time is in Captain America #14 (2013) when Cap defeats Nuke while uttering the poignant truth, “Patriotism taken too far is fanaticism”.

Portraying this contrast in the Netflix show is a little harder than it is with the comics since Cap never makes an appearance in any Netflix run. The show runners did manage it, however, though some clever costuming. In fact Will Simpson’s most memorable costume is almost identical to that worn by Steve Rogers while on the run in Captain America: Civil War. The big difference comes down to the behaviors they display and the pills Simpson takes.

Aside from the pills the cosplay for Simpson is very easy. A dark grey baseball cap, light grey shirt, and basic jeans all pair well with aviator sunglasses, a brown leather jacket, a brown leather belt, and brown leather shoes. If you do choose to take something along that resembles Simpson’s supersoldier pills, please do not use real medication. Mike and Ikes candy look close enough and come in all the same colors (plus a few extra you get to eat whenever you want!)

Seiko Shinohara is your average sweet – if silly – school girl. It doesn’t save her from the darkening. But it does help her save the girl she loves from meeting the same heartbreaking fate. She is voiced by Miki Honda and Satomi Arai in the video games, and played by Youko Kita in the live-action movie, all of whom capture the sweet, sad nature of Seiko’s character.

For this cosplay I opted to go with Seiko’s appearance while alive. Unless you are going to a horror convention or an adults-only convention, it is probably best to opt for this version as Seiko’s appearance after her murder can be very upsetting for children and other convention attendees.

Seiko wears a pretty typical school uniform: White undershirt with a blue line across the chest (that you will have to paint on), tan v-neck pullover sweater, blue pleated skirt, and white shoes. Her uniform collar is blue with a yellow tie that she decorates with a brooch. She also has long brown hair which she wears with bangs and loops behind her ears. The style doesn’t exist on premade wigs so you will have to style the wig by hand.

As a final touch, pin your convention badge at your waist where Seiko wears her nametag!

Minthe is a character in the webcomic Lore Olympus. She is a river nymph and serves as personal secretary to Hades. Because of her insecurities and self consciousness, she is very insecure. This makes her wary of any kindness. For instance, Persephone agrees to respect the boundaries of the relationship between Hades and Minthe. Although Minthe has always been rude towards Persephone, as she’s jealous of Hades’ feelings towards her. Despite wanting to get better, the nymph keeps falling back into her manipulative and vindictive ways. In the comics, she has red skin, long red hair, and pointed ears. For this cosplay, use the face paint to also paint the ears.

Created by Bernard Bally and Ken Fitch, Hourman first appeared in 1940. He quickly became a beloved character in what would be known as the Golden Age of comics. Originally the mantle was worn by Rex Tyler who gained his powers for one hour at a time through the use of Miraclo.

Rick Tyler – the bearer of the Hourman name since 2011 – has a different look than the one pictured above. But who doesn’t love a good Golden Age costume?!

To start you’ll need a yellow hooded cape. Hourman’s includes a mask that covers his face but that’s a bit hard to find. You can closely recreate the look with a black face mask that blends with the shadows inside the hood of your cape. You’ll also want an hourglass pendant that you either glue to your cape or fashion into a necklace of some kind.

Under that you’ll want yellow compression pants over which you wear a black long-sleeves singlet. Wrap a red belt around your waist like the one pictured above (though you’ll have to trim the pictured belt quite a bit once you have it sized properly). Finish off the look with some red boots painted with black stripes and you’re ready to go!

Handsome Jack (voiced by Dameon Clarke) is one of the antagonists in Gearbox Software’s hit franchise Borderlands. He is charasmatic, engaging, and thoroughly evil. Of course everyone loves a good villain and Handsome Jack is no exception. Of course it helps that he is modeled after two other fan favorite characters: Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and Mal from Firefly. Neither man would get along with Handsome Jack, unless of course we’re talking about their style.

There are two keys to getting Handsome Jack’s look: His mask and his layers.

You can buy a premade mask on Etsy. Or, if you want something more pliable, you can use face paint to recreate the look of his mask.

His layers are a little bit easier. Start with a long-sleeve yellow shirt and add a long white collared overshirt on top. Then put on a brown leather vest and finally a short blue coat. Once all that is in place you can finish off the clothes with black jeans and a brown belt with a large buckle, brown sneakers, and a large digital watch. The finishing touch, a brown wig, will have you set to hatch your own schemes in no time.

Roblox is an online gaming platform that allows users to create their own games as well as play those made by other users.  A Roblox noob’s avatar is often depicted as a generic, square-shaped humanoid.  While there is some personalization available, a stereotypical noob will be yellow with a simple happy face, blue shirt, and green pants.  You can use a black fabric marker to create the smiley face on a yellow zentai suit, and then layer clothes over it to recreate the avatar’s look to your specifications.

In Speed, Jack Traven (played by Keanu Reeves) is a Los Angeles SWAT member tasked with keeping a bus full of people alive while trying to negotiate with a bomber who has rigged the bus to explode.  Jack works to get passengers safely off as civilian Annie Porter drives the vehicle.  During the events of the film, Jack is wearing several layers, which is useful as he sheds them for various reasons throughout the movie.

Leni Loud (voice by Liliana Mumy) is the second oldest child of the titular Loud family on Nickelodeon’s The Loud House. She is a stereotypical ‘dumb blonde’ in some ways. But her kind heart and unique skill set make up for it.

She usually wears her long blonde hair down and favors the color mint green. Her taste for fashion means that she changes her costume fairly often as well. But her most common look is a short dress, flip flops, and round white sunglasses like those worn in the ’60s.

Hisoka may take his fashion inspiration from jesters but that doesn’t mean he’s here to play. He only spends his time on those strong enough to challenge him. Anything less is just beneath him.

It’s a little hard to pin down a specific look for Hisoka. He’s had more than a couple of looks that include changes in the way he layers his clothes as well as the coloring. But the cosplay written up here is completely Hisoka. Anything less would be a waste of time. And Hisoka wouldn’t stand for it!

There is a fair amount of DIY with this cosplay, at least in terms of painting and cutting. You’ll need to use yellow fabric paint around the arms of the crop top and decorate it with a heart a a diamond using purple fabric paint. Once that has dried you can cut the arms off the turtleneck so that it is completely hidden by the cuffs of the crop top. You’ll need to do some DIY with your wig as well and add in the purple sides using hair chalk.

With those done you just need white harem pants, gray leg wraps, and black boots. After that all you need is to paint on the heart a tear drop Hisoka has on his face and you’re ready to go!

“Never miss a beat!” Neon Katt (Meg Turney) is a highly competitive Huntress in training, whom Team RWBY first encounters during the Vytal Festival competition that pits top student Huntsmen against each other. Naturally, Neon didn’t hesitate to trash talk her opponents and spin around them in rainbow circles, not unlike the Internet meme she’s named for!