Students bring costumed creativity to campus

 A demon-slaying angel, the most famous singer in the galaxy and Tony Stark were all on campus recently.

At least, NIC student cosplayers who had taken on their personas were.

Cosplay, short for “costume play,” is a performance art in which participants wear costumes of a specific character. While characters from anime and manga (Japanese animation and comics) are the most popular subjects, any character is fair game, be it from a book, movie, TV series, video game or comic.

Cosplay is a subculture, a world of gravity-defying, rainbow-hued hairstyles, giant swords, school girl uniforms and more. It can take months to complete a costume, assembling and modifying the many pieces that can come from a variety of places: thrift stores, garage sales, online stores. Other parts are made from scratch.

Cosplay attracts a wide variety of people, of all genders, ages and professions. Some don costumes simply to express love for a particular character. Others love the creative process.

While the Coeur d’Alene cosplay scene is relatively small, it includes some dedicated and talented cosplayers.

* * *

Hope Lane sweeps into the room already in full costume: red leather trench coat, boots and a silver wig. Her character—Dante from the video game Devil May Cry 4—is a half-demon mercenary, but Lane’s not in character just yet. She’s grinning and laughing, a bundle of energy, playfully swinging a sword.

Lane is a crossplayer—that is, she cosplays characters of the opposite gender. For her, crossplay is a challenge that forces her to take her cosplay and acting skills to the next level.

“I’ve always liked male characters better,” said Lane, 19, theater, Lake Forest, Calif. “It’s more fun because cosplay is all about being someone you’re not for a day. Doing crossplay, being male, is kind of the ultimate for me.”

Convincingly portraying herself as a male takes work. Lane has to bind her chest and carefully apply makeup to emphasize the right parts of her face.

For her next costume, Lane disappears into the bathroom for a small eternity. When she emerges, it’s easy to see what took her so long: She’s completely transformed.

Clad in a crisp blue button-up and jeans, with her hair slicked back and facial hair carefully drawn on, Lane has become Tony Stark, better known as Ironman. Hearing her voice is bizarre: The sound no longer matches her features. It’s hard to connect the 19-year-old college female to the charismatic, bearded fellow who’s speaking with her voice.

Still, when she unbuttons her shirt to reveal the Arc Reactor hidden beneath, the eagerness is all her. When she turns on the battery-powered prop, the Arc Reactor glows a blinding blue. Lane usually makes her own props, but she bought the Arc Reactor online.

She may joke around while getting ready, but the moment it’s time to start the shoot, she slips into Tony Stark’s persona like it’s a second skin, regarding the camera with a cool smugness. To achieve this gender-bending, Lane said she puts her acting skills to work.

“Being the character also helps,” she said. “Acting like the character. You have to know them.”

* * *

It seems that Celia Kowalski doesn’t choose characters to cosplay so much as the characters choose her.

“I pick a character because something about that character just clicks,” said Kowalski, 20, early childhood education, Fallon, Nev. “You know that feeling when a song or a movie resonates with you, and you have that ‘Aha!’ moment you can’t easily name? That’s how I decide.”

Her first character of the evening is Yoko Littner from “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann,” complete with colored contact lenses. The gun she’s toting breaks down into three pieces, but even then, it’s unwieldy to carry. Fully assembled, the gun is taller than her.

This costume is one of the first Kowalski ever made on her own, and she said it’s one of her favorites. It took time and effort to make: The beading on the bikini top alone took two weeks to complete.

When Kowalski changes costumes, the red wig disappears, revealing her long, dark hair, which is wound up underneath a hair net. As she pulls a pink and blonde wig from her bag of cosplay supplies, she says lovingly, “This is my baby. I have put so much love into this wig.”

Kowalski created the wig herself by combining two separate wigs.

She ducks into the bathroom to complete the transformation. When she reappears, the gun is gone, replaced by a glittering golden microphone prop. Now clad in a short yellow dress, with sherbet-colored tresses cascading down her back, she looks a bit like an alien princess. This costume depicts Sheryl Nome, the most popular pop singer in the galaxy, from the anime “Macross Frontier.”

“When I watched ‘Macross Frontier’ in 2009, Sheryl immediately became my favorite character,” she said. “Her stage sequences were really cool, and I connected to her through her music.”

When it comes to cosplay, Kowalski says it’s not about getting attention with a costume or being the best. The most important thing is having fun and exploring one’s creativity.

“Cosplay is an art form,” Kowalski said. “I love creating. I draw any chance I get, whether it’s a cute doodle or a new design. I even started learning to paint graphics on shoes and making my own jewelry. Cosplay is just a different medium for my art.”

* * *

Ashley Swearingen is a history buff. For her, cosplay isn’t just a chance to be creative. It’s also an opportunity to indulge her passion for history.

Her favorite series to cosplay is “Hetalia: Axis Powers,” a manga and anime series that centers on a cast of characters who are the human personifications of different countries. Her favorite costume is England’s Revolutionary War outfit.

“As I’m a history fan and history major, that’s always been my favorite subject to study and something I’ve always loved looking into and reading about,” said Swearingen, 22, history, Hayden. “I just felt closer to that outfit and story than anything else.”

Swearingen said she also enjoys the challenge of crossplaying. She’s drawn to characters whose stories move her.

“Usually, if I become close to a character because of their story, their background and who they are,” she said. “Usually I choose characters I can relate to in some way.”

Her first costume is Kotetsu, a superhero past his prime, from the anime “Tiger & Bunny.” She’s clad in a hat and vest, calm and smiling as she strikes some of Kotetsu’s signature poses and holds her pink plush bunny aloft.

Swearingen discovered cosplay in 2005, when she began to see photos of other cosplayers online and decided to try it herself.

“It’s been a huge part of my life ever since I started doing it,” she said. “I’ve met so many people and made so many great friends. It’s our own little world of fantasy.”

Her second costume is Castiel from the TV series “Supernatural,” an angel who unexpectedly befriends two monster-hunting brothers. Swearingen’s Castiel cosplay is particularly well-received at fan conventions, where Swearingen can’t even walk down the street from her hotel to the convention without passersby recognizing her character’s trademark trench coat.

The heavy layers of Castiel’s costume are a pain, but the effect is impressive. With makeup, she’s created a realistic stubble effect on her normally-smooth face. Combined with the dark wig that hides her long blonde hair, Swearingen looks nothing like her usual self—which, to a cosplayer, is the highest compliment that can be paid.

For Swearingen, cosplay transcends mere make-believe.

“Cosplay is something for any and all ages,” she said. “It’s a great hobby to share your love of a fictional character but it’s more than just that. It’s a door to a new world full of new friendships, adventures, creativity and more.”