Carbon Costume

Vivian (voiced by Yuko Natusyoshi) is a vampire in the anime Journal of the Mysterious Creatures.  She attacks Lili Ryu while Lili is touring a house, introducing her human roommate Yoshihito to the realm of otherworldly creatures.  Vivian has a very gothic look, so depending on your personal style, you may be able to use pieces from your own wardrobe to emulate her outfit.  Some red fabric paint can add the bat details to her skirt and top, while layering red and black pieces together will help recreate pieces it might be difficult to find exact replicas of.

Cornet (voiced by Koaru Fujino in the original games and Sarah Thomas in the English dubs) is a sweet village girl with a gift for talking to puppets and making her wishes come true. She is the main character in the first Marl Kingdom game, “Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure”. By the time of the second game Cornet is Queen of Marl, leaving the adventures to her daughter.

Long before becoming queen of Marl, Cornet’s look matched her village girl life. A plaid bow in her hair matched her plaid skirt. A white turtleneck, blue vest, brown leggings, and tan boots finished off her look. She also accessorized with a simple necklace and earrings though you can leave those off or just add any you have at home. The finishing touch is a wavy honey blonde wig with bangs. Put it all together and you’re ready to have adventures of your own.

In 10 Cloverfield Lane, Michelle (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is one of three people living in an underground bunker after the surface becomes uninhabitable.  Early in the film, Michelle’s vehicle is driven off the road by a pickup truck, after which Howard finds her and brings her below ground.  Michelle and Emmett become close and eventually decide to escape from Howard and his bunker when they uncover information about his past.  Michelle’s clothing consists primarily of jeans and a white tank top.  She also uses crutches for a portion of the film a result of injuries sustained during her car accident and has chipped red nail polish.

Remilia Scarlet is the owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and is the primary antagonist of the sixth version of the Touhou Project game.  The elder sister of Flandre Scarlet, Remilia has kept her sister imprisoned in the basement of her mansion for nearly 500 years.  Remilia is a fearsome evil-doer with vast magical abilities.  Her only weakness may be that her long lifetime has left her bored by most things, and she will allow herself to be manipulated if it means something more exciting than the alternative.

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!

The agents of the Matrix, like Agent Smith, are not known for being unique. And that made Agent Pace all the more remarkable. She was programmed to emote. The beguile and disarm people in an age of Truce. And when that Truce ended, it made her all the more deadly.

Like the other agents, Agent Pace wears clothing similar to what most American federal agents are believed to wear. Some variations are black, others dark green. Here I have listed the black version of one of her outfits, including the black gloves and pistol she carries when she knows she will be in a fight.

Her usual outfit consists of a black blazer, white button down shirt, and black skirt. She wears either black or sheer hose and black shoes. In one incarnation her glasses are clear though her glasses later have dark lenses. And in true businesswoman fashion she wears her long hair swept back in a bun with the bangs styled off to the left. It’s not a look easily found premade on wigs but it can be reproduced with the wig listed above. Add in a simple gold necklace and you are ready to act as The Matrix’s newest liaison.

Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson is the rebellious teenage protagonist at the heart of Greta Gerwig’s semi-autobiographical film Lady Bird.  Lady Bird dreams of a big life in a big city on the East Coast, but her family struggles financially, which often causes tension as Lady Bird’s mother thinks she is not grateful enough for what she has.  Lady Bird’s clothing is a mix of simple pieces and vintage thrift store finds, giving her a cool ’90s vibe even as a high school student in the early 2000s.

Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) is a character in the hit Marvel Disney+ series, WandaVision. We first met Monica as a child in Captain Marvel as the daughter of former pilot Maria Rambeau and goddaughter of Carol Danvers. As an adult, she joined S.W.O.R.D., an extra-governmental intelligence agency founded by her mother. In WandaVision, we discover Monica was one of many who disappeared in the snap. She reappears in the hospital, as she accompanied Maria to her cancer treatments, but sadly discovers she died during her absence. Returning to work at S.W.O.R.D, Agents Heyward and Jimmy Woo call upon Monica to investigate the missing town of Westview, New Jersey. When Monica gets too close to the radioactive forcefield surrounding the town, she gets pulled into the sitcom, where she stars as Geraldine. This is her outfit from the third episode set in the 1970s. She helps Wanda deliver her twins, but when she mentions Ultron, she blows her cover. Wanda takes a closer look at her necklace, and recognizing the pendant with S.W.O.R.D’s insignia, she uses her powers to expel Geraldine from the town. Now Monica again, she uses her experience to help Jimmy and Darcy find out more about the hex.