How Cosplay Changed My Favorite Character

How making an accessory for a cosplay changed an entire outlook on a character.

In its most basic form, cosplay can arguably be described as a personal art. You are attempting to depict a character by modifying raw materials to resemble theirs. Obviously there will be varied degrees of accuracy based on skill and budget, but the consistent factor is the research put in for the ultimate result. If you’re lucky, you’ll come across a happy accident while doing so.

Recently I had decided to do a Boondocks Saints cosplay with several friends of mine. The movie was rather influential to a group of us and let’s face it, the McMannis brothers are pretty bad ass. The key to the costume were the famous rosaries the brothers had worn throughout the movie. You can purchase an official version from their website, but it’s not cheap and I’m a pretty handy guy so I started researching pictures and watching scenes from the movie to make my own.

Long story short, an unrealistic deadline and lack of exact supplies had me hand making every piece to achieve the look I wanted. I was creating three at the same time. 159 pill-sized beads had to be hand cut from round wooden dowels then sanded and drilled out to fit on a string. Extremely tedious and time consuming work that again, circumstances required I preform. Hours before completion I saw an almost religious epiphany. Don’t worry, it was less born-again Christian and more Homer discovering that licking poisonous frogs helps you praise Jeebus better.

In the opening scenes of the movie, the brothers were attending a church service and got up to leave before the end to head for work. The only person that had an issue with their actions was a guest priest that had never attended this particular church before. The scene hadn’t been anything more than clever to me until this moment. Why didn’t anyone else have an issue? Even if the brothers had been known in the community for many years, Catholics are very specific in the scheme to which a service goes and the brothers hadn’t done anything extraordinary up to this point…

Or had they?

Research into the rosaries revealed that the ones they wore only exists because of the movie. Upon a closer look at images, it revealed a very raw and imperfect look as if whittled from a branch with nothing more than a sharp knife. My strong theory suggests they underwent a spiritual retreat like a monk going into the mountains and taking a vow of silence. Why else could two seemingly unimportant poor Irish men disrupt a mass without so much as a stare of passing judgment from the attendants.

It’s the moment when you discover what the round tube on the back of a Stormtroopers suit is for. Why Batman’s cape is a certain length or the purpose behind the shape of Master Chief’s helmet. My happy accident on this project was the real connection I made to the character that I hoped to bring to life. A moment that should give the highest honors to the directors, producers, writers, and costume designers whose vision for their art form can be so minuscule yet tell a lifetimes worth of stories.

This article was written for publication on Geek Chic Elite by Dan Puchala.