I played the game Dynasty Warriors 4 at a friend's house and I knew immediately that I had to cosplay someone from it. It was just too...kickass. And you never see Dynasty Warrior Characters cosplayed anywhere. (I was soon to find out why. The costumes are incredibly elaborate with lots of brocade, armor, and gold decoration.) But I figured I was up to the challenge (even though I chose what I THOUGHT would be the simplest character to do.)

The costume turned out to be an elaborate work of engineering. I had to design the shirt so it had a side closure so that I could get in and out of it myself. All of the gold decoration on the shorts had to be sewn on by hand. The shirt was hand-embroidered with colored (and gold couched) embroidery. Some of the more elaborate gold scrollwork on the headband, shoes and tassels had to be painted on with gold fabric paint. At least the tights were easy -all I had to do was order them online (although they liked to slip down on me; if I hadn't been wearing my shorts they probably would've dropped to my ankles on more than one occassion. And THAT wouldn't have been very convenient.

The chakram were the toughest thing of all to figure out. I made them out of foamcore, plastic and craft foam. I posted a detailed write-up of them in my armormaking tutorial that you can check out if you want to.

The cuffs were made from craft foam and plastic and the earrings were made from painted beads and earring findings. The wig worked out really well, and I have to admit, I look better in short hair. I may have to have it cut one of these days...

By the way, I took the Which Female Dynasty Warriors Character Are You? quiz the other day, and big surprise!

You are Sun Shang Xiang! Being a tomboy, you feel most at home hanging with the boys. You're as strong and brave as any man, and are eager to prove it. Which Female Dynasty Warriors Character Are You?

Yup. That sounds like me (although I don't think I'm nearly THAT butch...)