Special Edition NYC 2015 Experience and Lolita Pikachu Cosplay Walkthrough

This year I went to the second annual Special Edition: NYC, and it was an experience. Head below to read more.

Special Edition NYC is put on by ReedPOP, the same company that puts on New York Comic Con. I decided to go because I wanted to start going to more conventions since I had a lot of fun last year at New York Comic Con. Another reason is because I couldn’t get tickets for this year’s Comic Con online. I’m glad I made that decision because I had so much fun.

Due to prior engagements for Sunday, I only went to the Saturday date. The day started off rainy but ended up being beautiful outside. So all the cosplayers were able to do photoshoots outside and convention goers didn’t have to worry about getting their new merch and comics wet as they left. Since I had ‘will call’ tickets I didn’t make the first line for NYCC tickets, so I had to wait an hour until they opened up the line again. It was a disaster. The staff did the best they could to control and direct the crowd that formed around the yet to open line. There were points where I couldn’t breathe because of people pushing forward, and meanwhile I was accidentally hitting people with my Pikachu ears. After the line was opened again, I was able to breathe and move freely. After about 2 hours of waiting on line, I was able to snag a 4-day Comic Con ticket and was able to enjoy the rest of the day.

I spent the majority of my day at the Artist Alley. I was absolutely blown away by these artists. It even inspired me to start drawing again, so when I went home that night I painted a watercolor Spider Gwen. I walked away with two prints by Colin Lawler, a Link and Mario one. I got to speak to some of the artists about their drawing styles and so forth. Here are some of the artist that stood out to me: Colin Lawler, Christopher Uminga, Henry Minata, and Cassie Hart Kelly.

Lolita Pikachu Walkthrough:

Firstly, I cosplayed as a Lolita Pikachu. My mom brought up the times when I was little and pretended to be Pikachu and only communicated in pikas. With a little help from my mom and without a mannequin, I made the Lolita costume back in October for Halloween. The top I wore for Halloween and the shirt I wore for Special Edition were completely different. The original top I made was crossed in the front. I looked more like a yellow ninja than a pikachu. So I bought a yellow crop top from Amazon ($10.50).

To make the skirt, I just sewed two basic circle skirts, one brown and one yellow. I made the yellow one shorter than the brown one so I could layer the two on top of each other. I sewed both of them together and added black ribbon to the edges. I then sewed the markings that pikachu has on his back to the yellow skirt.

As for the tail and ears, I decided to make them plush. I used methods as if sewing a pillow or plush toy. After I inserted the stuffing in the tail, I stuck a wire in it and molded it into the shape of tail. By doing so, it would stay up and not flop over. In order to attach the tail, I just pinned it to my skirt with a safety pin. The ears are a little more complicated. I bought a plain white headband and covered it with yellow fabric. I sewed the ears, but before I stuffed them I cut out two pointed rectangles (like this) from styrofoam and inserted them in. Then I added stuffing around the styrofoam. Before attaching the ears to the headband, I cut yellow circles out of felt and used Beacon’s Magna-Tac 809 to glue it to the bottom of the ears. Then, I used the same glue to attach them to the headband.

The belt and pokeball were easy. Just cut and sew a long piece of black fabric. The pokeball was made out of felt, and each component was glued with the Magna-Tac, but I attached it to the belt with a safety pin. The other accessories were the black over-the-knee-socks, I got mine from H&M ($9.99), and black shoes.

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