Costumes here are presented in ascending chronological order (most recent costumes are up top).

DancingMad's costumes Anima (Final Fantasy X) Temari (Naruto) Kefka Palazzo (Final Fantasy VI) Tasuki (Fushigi Yuugi) Fancy Toph Bei Fong (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Judge Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation) Mozenrath (Aladdin) Baaya (Rose of Versailles) Byzantine Angel

Cachalot's costumes Shiva (Final Fantasy X) Gaara (Naruto) Suboshi (Fushigi Yuugi) Shadow (Final Fantasy VI) Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII) Cid Highwind (Final Fantasy VII) Osaki Nana

'Fancy' Toph Bei Fong - Avatar: The Last Airbender

Anime Boston 2007 costume

This is the costme that almost made me quit costuming altogether. I was SO UNHAPPY with how it turned out. And the worst part is it's my fault--I thought I could do this without any real plan and that was a huge mistake.

So, for those that don't know, Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American cartoon that is, honestly, one of the coolest cartoons ever made. Many people call it American anime since the show was not episodic -- it had a clear plot and conclusion -- and the character development was great. To me, a lot of the elements in the show were still very strongly American-cartoony, namely the humor, the "learning of lessons," even the gag sound effects. So while I'm one of those people who gets all Up Ons about cartoons versus anime, I will call a spade a spade and just say that, yeah, Avatar's a cartoon. And I have no problem admitting it, because it's a great show!

Toph's the seemingly-obligatory-in-any-American-show Spitfire Girl With Attitude, which is usually the character I hate most in any show, but somehow in her case she's just awesome enough that I don't mind.

This costume is basically seen only in one episode, it's a throwaway for one of the main characters -- we see her dressed in this modified hanbok when we first meet her but that's about it. The big challenges here? One, she's supposed to be like 12 or 13 years old. Two, she's *blind.*

Yeah. So aside from having almost no reference material to go on, doing this costume without planning lead to near-disaster. Did I also mention my sewing machine was just AWFUL and just ate up the delicate fabric for this outfit? Yeah, that too.

Sadly, this is IT for references! See below:

I won't get into the litany of things I hate about how this costume turn out. It'll bore you, trust me. I will say though that meeting the tons of other Avatar fans at Anime Boston the year I wore this costume made all that cosplay-angst worth it. I had a lot of fun meeting fans of all ages -- some were parents who dressed up with their kids, so adorable!

The amazing Zuko above is the Most Awesome Ali Wilgus, who some of you within the Avatar fandom might know as both a fantastic artist AND writer. When I went to her artist alley booth the next day to pick up some commisioned work, she didn't recognize me out of costume. That's a win right there ;D