Carbon Costume

Yumi Ishiyama (voiced by Mirabelle Kirkland) is one of the Lyoko Warriors from the French cartoon Code Lyoko.  Yumi is a calm and athletic person, as well as Aelita Schaeffer’s best friend.  Her relationship with Ulrich Stern wavers between platonic and romantic throughout the series.  Yumi’s typical clothing is black and straightforward.  However, to recreate her original virtual costume, you’ll need to be a little creative.  By layering red leggings with brown socks and beige sports tape, you can mimic much of her outfit.  Then, you’ll need to layer a yellow obi over your dress, and wield a pair of fans to finish the look.

Caitlyn – Also known as Pop – is your typical little sister. She wants to do everything her big sister does, no matter how dangerous or difficult. And she doesn’t like having her big sister hovering over her. It causes a few fights but at the end of the day Caitlyn’s sweet nature wins out.

Some of Caitlyn’s personality comes out in her clothes. Her main color when not in her magical outfit is purple. Red is her main magical color for those who plan on making their own magical cosplay!

For her daily outfit you’ll need lavender socks, dark purple shorts, blue shoes, and a long sleeved lavender shirt. To get closer to Caitlyn’s details you will also want large white buttons that you either sew or glue to the top, a detachable peter pan collar, and purple pompoms to decorate the top of each shoe. Add in a bright pink wig and a little bit of attitude and you’re ready to go!

(A thank you to Izzy who noticed a mistake in the original version of this article and alerted us!)

Some villagers like to work out. Others like to play music. Wendy likes four things: DIY, MagLev Mike, chasing her dreams of pop stardom, and – of course – her friends. She loves sharing good news with other people on the island and spends most of her time socializing with her neighbors. Her personality is as playful as her style and it shows!

Setting up a Wendy costume requires a little bit of DIY. You’ll have to paint the horns in stripes of marigold yellow spaced out with pale yellow. Then you’ll want to wrap the headband in blue ribbon so it blends in better with the blue wig that mimics the wool on top of Wendy’s head.

A watermelon-print blouse, a blue ruffle skirt, brown leggings, and brown ballet flats finish the look. You can accessorize with a hammer from your DIY bench or – if you’re feeling the urge to chance Wendy’s dreams – a microphone so you’re always ready for your big popstar-slash-fashion designer break!

Shado is a controversial figure in the DC comics. In some iterations she is the mother of Oliver’s half-sister. In others she’s is the mother of Oliver’s son. Oliver was delirious when he and Shado slept together though Shado claimed not to know this at the time. It’s a long-standing point of tension on her character. In the CW show Arrow she is a straight-forward love interest at one point, which is only one of the many changes the show made to the character.

Cosplaying as Shado requires a few specific pieces. The most important is a bow with a quiver of arrows as Shado is a master archer. You will also need a black off-the-shoulder shirt and white wid-legged pants. Shado’s shirt has a long black panel in the front that extends past a belt but finding this exact style is difficult. A black scarf can be used to emulate the look while a white scarf can serve as she belt. Black martial arts shoes round out the look.

Shado also has a red dragon tattoo on her left arm which you can recreate with face paints. She is often seen with her hair in a long braid down her back but her style does vary from time to time so the braid is not a hard and fast costume piece though one is linked above.

Cosplaying as the comic book version of Shado is fairly straight-forward.

Emily Sweeney (played by Laura Spencer) is a dermatologist who dates Raj Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory.  Emily and Raj meet on a dating website, and she ended up being Raj’s longest lasting relationship on the show.  Emily has a strange sense of humor and she is interested in all things horror.  Emily has long red hair and often wears skinny jeans tucked into riding or ankle boots.

Sporty and caring, Paula is a delight on every island. She’s the sisterly type, always willing to lend a hand and step up if someone’s bothering you. And you know she’ll be around. With her love of sports and the outdoors, she’s all over the island!

You could get Paula’s look by springing for a bear suit and then adding the clothes on top. But for the sake of comfort – and nailing Paula’s adorable style – this costume is a blend of human and bear.

The first thing you’ll need is a pair of bear ears. Clip those into a blonde wig and you’ve got a good start. Then take white fabric paint and copy the script on Paula’s shirt. When it’s dry layer it over a blue camisole and brown leggings. Add on some tan shoes and a brow band in white and black stripes and you’re ready to do laps across the beaches! Just don’t scare off all the fish.

Amy Rose (formerly known as Rosy the Rascal) is one of the sweetest hedgehog girls you’ll ever meet. Until you make her angry. Or get between her and Sonic. Nevermind that the blue blur doesn’t exactly feel the same way, of course. Rose isn’t about to let that stop her from helping him however she can!

There are a few ways to get Amy Rose’s bubblegum pink look. All three involve a wig and a combination of pink and coral face paint, of course. The looks differ, however, when it comes to your arms and legs.

You can use the same body paint from your face to paint your arms and legs. If that’s a bit much you can opt for pink tights and a pink shirt under your dress. The final option is to use a body suit under your dress instead of the shirt and tights to avoid anything riding up or falling down while you’re cosplaying.

Once you decide on your pink base, you’re in for a little more DIY. Finding red dresses with white trim is pretty hard unless you want a Mrs. Claus look.  So you’ll want to get a red dress, white ribbon, and some fabric glue. For Amy Rose’s boots you’ll want red rain boots than you then use paint to detail.

Finally put on some white gloves and chunky gold bracelets. Now ready to run after the speedster himself right alongside Amy Rose!

Shadow (voiced by Tara Mooney) is a recurring character on the Disney Channel show Bear in the Big Blue House.  Just as her name suggests, Shadow is a shadow in the shape of a young girl.  Her role on the series consists primarily of telling stories, sometimes in the form of a song, with an Irish accent.  To dress as shadow, you will want to start with a black bodysuit and then add black clothing overtop to imitate her easily recognizable silhouette.