Geek Syndicate Issue 8 | Page 26

Geek Syndicate Image © DC Comics, 2013 COSPLAY ON A BUDGET ... Atomic Wonder Woman The Costume: Atomic Wonder Woman From DC’s Infinite Crisis I’ve only been cosplaying for a year or so now, but I love it. I started off with a partially complete Wonder Woman costume that I made myself and developed it further for each convention I went to. Finally, it got to the point where I didn’t want to add more to it. So what next? Back when DC Infinite Crisis was announced, I fell in love with Atomic Wonder Woman. Unconventional with her ‘STOP’ sign armour, tie skirt and badass makeshift chainsaw, she still showed the strength and power of the original Wonder Woman but in a completely new way. I decided that Atomic Wonder Woman would be my next stage in developing my Wonder Woman cosplay! My previous costumes hadn’t cost me too much - I bought cheapish fabrics or had a rummage through my fabric boxes to find what I needed and made the tiara and bracelets from cardboard. Very basic stuff that turned out quite well! I think I spent around £20 in total on the finished costume (minus my Wonder Woman Converse, which were £45. But I don’t really count them as part of my costume as I wear them nearly everyday). Atomic Wonder Woman was going to be a very different story. She has so many different components to her costume, a lot of which aren’t made from fabric. I wanted to try and make the entire thing myself. I prefer homemade costumes to shop bought ones any day! I think it shows that you really care about the character you’re portraying and also, it’s wonderful when people compliment you on your work. I’d been watching a lot of Just Cos on Nerdist and liked the idea of making my costume on a budget. After all, I am a student, which dramatically cuts my funding for cosplay. Being a fashion student, there’s no excuse for me to not make my own costume. 26