Carbon Costume

John Freeman is a character created as part of a fanfiction story written for the Half-Life video game franchise.  John is the brother of Gordon Freeman, the scientist players become when they play the game.  The poorly written fic was given new life when it was adapted into a five-minute YouTube video.  John’s character design is based on Citizen 07 from the original game, and he wears and fingerless gloves and a dark grey beanie paired with a grey vest and jeans.

Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck is a main character in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He is a Hobbit who joins the Fellowship of the Ring and its quest to destroy it and defeat Sauron. Although Merry is actually one of Frodo‘s cousins, Pippin is his constant companion. They like to adventure and pull pranks together, and while more silly than resourceful, they’re the ones who form an alliance with Treebeard. Merry himself even fights in the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and helps Eowyn kill the Witch King. He likes boats and ponies, while also taking interest in the maps of Middle Earth. In the movie adaptations of Tolkien’s novels, Dominic Monaghan plays this role.

2021 marks the tenth birthday of the one of the internet’s most beloved memes: Nyan Cat. Also called “the Pop-Tart Cat” or the “flying rainbow cat”, Christopher Torres created Nyan Cat as part of a donation drive for the Red Cross on his website LOL-Comics. It’s since faced some controversy as people tried to use Nyan Cat without permission. But its viral status is as enduring as the comic is cute!

Pop-Tart costumes are unfortunately hard to come by unless you can find an adult one on Etsy. Your best bet is a quick bit of DIY following this simple tutorial.

1. Measure the length of your Pop Tart, starting at the top of your shoulder and going down whatever length you want the costume to be. Add on an inch and a half for gluing and cutting mistakes, then purchase enough tan felt to cover the length twice (so you can make a front and back). Use this same measurement to buy the light pink felt, but only buy enough for one side. Add in a glue gun and hot pink felt dots to finish up the DIY shopping.

2. Cut the tan fabric in half width wise so you have the front and back of your costume.

3. Mark out how large a space you need for your head to fit through the top of the costume. Put a pin on either side of this head hole, then glue the top edges together, except the space where your head will go. Repeat this process on the sides while leaving holes for your arms.

4. Put a piece of cardboard between the front and back of your costume, then lay the pink fabric on the front. Trim it down so that a “crust” is visible around all edges of the pink felt. Glue the pink fabric down to the tan, making sure cardboard separates the front and back of the costume in any place you add glue.

5. Glue on the hot pink circles as sprinkles and glue your tail to your costume (on the side or at the back depending on how you want to interpret the meme). That’s it!

With your Pop Tart done, use a face painting kit to add in your cat features. Put on your ears and the grey underclothes, then slide into your pop tart. Grab a rainbow scarf to trail behind you and you are set! May you bring as much joy to your convention as Nyan Cat does to the internet!

Signs was something of a cultural phenomena when it came out in 2002. A genuinely scary movie with a twist that most did not see coming, it set the tone for the next decade of horror movies. Part of its appeal was a cast that delivered consistently strong performances. This included Joaquin Phoenix as the washed up local hero Merrill Hess.

Once destined for baseball greatness he now lives and works on the family farm without much ambition toward anything. His clothes – work jeans, work boots, and a dark henley – are all ideal clothes for working on a farm. And when the aliens touch down, he’s one of the first to accept the idea that it’s aliens and reach for a tin foil hat. Of course it’s his trusty bad that really makes the costume and with a little help from Etsy you can have your own Merrill Hess slugger ready and waiting! Just don’t forget to keep a glass of water nearby.

Wildcat is a superhero title that has belonged to several people. The first of those was Ted Grant, a renowned heavy weight boxer that took up the Wildcat mantle to clear his name after getting involved with the wrong people.

Wildcat’s costume is fairly simple so there are a few ways it can be done. The simplest is a black body suit and fingerless gloves paired with a cat mask. Wearing martial arts slippers with the body suit – either inside the suit of it goes over your feet or outside of it for suits that end at the ankle – should protect your feet and give you the Wildcat look.

If the mask doesn’t look quite right you can go with face paint to mimic the look of his mask.

Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) is a character in the British sci-fi series, Doctor Who. He was a companion to the 13th Doctor alongside Yasmin Khan (former classmate at primary school) and Graham O’Brien (his grandfather). Ryan worked at a warehouse to earn enough money to go to school and become a mechanic. His dyspraxia made his job difficult. While learning to cycle with his grandparents, Ryan fell off and threw the bicycle into the woods out of anger. Upon retrieving it from a tree, he discovered a glowing symbol and summoned a strange pod. He called the police and reunited with Yasmin, now as a police officer. His grandmother, Grace, called him for help on the train. When she dies, Ryan battles his dyspraxia in her honor. Despite his impulsive behavior, Ryan learned to obey the Doctor’s rules and understand her way of thinking.

Born from the Tree of Feelings, Dream!Sans contains all the happy energy in the universe. Every monster, human, plant, and animal’s happy feelings went into Dream’s creation. Twin to Nightmare!Sans, Dream is the peacekeeper, the light bringer. Created by Jokublog as part of an AU (alternate universe) to the game Undertale, Dream has since grown into a beloved character nearly as widespread as the original Sans himself.

Because Sans is a skeleton you have a few cosplay options. One is to use a bald cap and body makeup to achieve a similar look. A second option is making a Dream mask using a tutorial like this one. The best option is whichever you are most comfortable with.

Once you’ve chose the option you like best you will need the rest of the costume. A gold circlet is the main accessory, followed by a yellow cape and star pin. Dream wears a very simple circlet which isn’t easy to find. A simple gold crown comes close or you can make your own circlet using heavy gauge gold wire.

Finish the look with a blue tunic, yellow fingerless gloves, blue pants, a gold belt, and yellow boots.

Wesley Dodds is the real name of DC superhero Sandman.  Originally introduced in 1939, Dodds uses a gun that administers a powerful sleeping gas to subdue criminals.  He then sprinkles them with sand and leaves them for the police.  In his original (and most iconic) iteration, Dodds wore a green business suit, brown fedora, and purple cape.  Sandman’s look has been updated on several occasions, including a version with a more menacing-looking gas mask and a yellow suit from the mid-eighties until the early 2010s.  No matter which version of Dodds you choose to recreate, you’ll need a brown fedora and a futuristic-looking gun with a wide, round barrel to help you put crime to sleep.