Cosplay Archives - Michelle Louring

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Michelle Louring — Leave a comment

KoyoCon 2022

Last week I went to KoyoCon, as I do every year. It’s hard to keep coming up with new and interesting things to share when doing a post, but as is most often the case, I had a good time!

Even after all these years, I greatly enjoy talking to people who come by my booth in Artist Alley and I’m so happy that I keep seeing both new and old faces. There’s always an inspiring author asking for advice, and someone coming by to get my latest book after buying the other ones at a previous convention.

Oh, and then there are the conversation where you spend 20 minutes talking to someone with a TV for a head.

(Cosplay conventions are the most trippy experiences you can get without drugs.)

I did a bit of cosplaying myself as well. I had somehow gotten roped into cosplaying Ada Wong from Resident Evil 4. How she chases zombies in that evening dress in the middle of some Mexican desert town, I will never understand, but I think I mostly kept from accidentally flashing people.

My friends had way too much with getting me to pose for photos, though, so I’m honestly afraid of checking the contents of my camera’s SD card.

Maybe you’ll get an embarrassing cosplay post one of these days.

Posted on November 3, 2020November 1, 2020 by Michelle Louring — 18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday – Non-Bookish Hobbies

It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, and for once, the prompt is not book-related.

It’s Non-Bookish Hobbies, and while I don’t think I can list 10 of them, I do have quite a few.

…And they’re all ridiculously geeky.

Cosplay

Yes, I enjoy dressing up as fictional characters. It’s frowned upon to be pretending to be a dragon at most workplaces, so I do it in my spare time instead.

I make most of my costumes myself, literally pouring blood, sweat and tears into them (as well as some burned skin). Every once in a while I “cheat” and raid a thrift store in order to put together an outfit, just so I will have something comfortable to wear once I get tired of people knocking into my horns at conventions.

Dungeons & Dragons

The heading says Dungeon & Dragons, but I really play a long range of tabletop RPGs. Currently, I have been roped into campaigns for D&D, Vampire: The Masquerade and Dragon Age RPG.

Of course, these terms will mean nothing to non-geek readers, so in short: I’m still pretending to be a fantasy character, but instead of flashy costumes, I’m using flashy dice.

LARP

I’m seeing a theme here, considering this is yet ANOTHER hobby where I pretend to be a made-up character. But hey, at least this one gets me out in the fresh air!

And quite often beat up in a forest in Poland…

(For non-geeks: LARP stands for Live Action Roleplaying.)

Gaming

Surprise, surprise, I also play a lot of video games. My favorites are fantasy games like World of Warcraft, The Witcher and Dragon Age, but every once in a while I’ll also exercise my God-complex in The Sims.

Archery

Not much to say here. I just like to shoot stuff.

Falconry

Since I couldn’t really put “I own an unruly owl” as a hobby, let’s go with ‘Falconry’. I know I have some pictures somewhere of me training various Harris Hawks, but since I can’t find them, we’ll just have to feature aforementioned unruly owl.

While it bothers me not to be able to find ten things for a post titled “Top Ten Tuesday”, I simply don’t have time for anymore hobbies if I’m ever going to get any work done. So this is it!

Any of you guys share my passions? If not, tell me of your hobbies, since I so rarely get the chance to talk about things other than books in my comment sections.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book (usually) blog prompt hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. They’re a lot of fun, and it’s a great way to discover and connect with other book bloggers!

Posted on February 10, 2020June 25, 2020 by Michelle Louring — 5 Comments

DokoCon and the Big Plant Heist

So, I went to DokoCon this weekend. It’s a tiny Danish cosplay convention held for the first time this year, so the scheduled program was limited. This is understandable, of course, but it did mean that after I brought my team to victory in the Harry Potter quiz (my reading list had been well-timed) I had to find some way to entertain myself. I had opted not to get a booth to sell books this time around, so I found myself with a lot of time on my hands.

And I was cosplaying as Crowley from Good Omens. You should never let demons get bored.

I have always said that if you just appear like you have every right to be doing whatever you’re doing no one stops you, but I’m still slightly surprised no one questioned me when I made off with one of the potted plants from the canteen.

I walked around the entire convention area while carrying this thing, and only one person was like, “Why do you have a plant?”.

The plant, of course, was too scared to call for help. It knew the consequences of such actions.

Last time I wore this cosplay, I kidnapped an Aziraphale (she didn’t dare ask questions either), so I fear I’m making a habit out of abducting hapless creatures. But as I probably couldn’t get away with stealing a Bentley, I have to make do in some way.

Posted on February 4, 2020June 25, 2020 by Michelle Louring — 9 Comments

The Bookish Owl – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Owl

Here’s the owl post you have all been waiting for: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling!

It’s really amazing that it has taken me this long to do one of these posts with a Harry Potter book. I mean, really? I have an owl and I take pictures of it next to fantasy books, but for more than a year I never once did it with the most owlish book ever?

Talk about missed opportunities.

But I finally did it and it turned out to be my all-time favorite owl photo… because Artemis is wearing the perfect “Are you kidding me?!”-expression and I find it hilarious.

It’s almost as good as the time a friend and I took him on an improvised Harry Potter cosplay photoshoot, and he tried to eat the letter we gave him.

Artemis does not care to be stereotyped.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Posted on December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 by Michelle Louring — 5 Comments

Cosplay Photoshoot – Morrigan (Dragon Age)

I believe these photos are from all the way back in July, but I have been crazily busy ever since. Besides, it’s cold and dark outside right now, and I haven’t seen the sun in days, so sharing some cosplay photos from a beautiful summer day might be just what is needed to lighten this blog up a bit.

Otherwise it will just be all owl photos and me grumbling about stuff like an old man.

The cosplay I used for this photoshoot was Morrigan from Dragon Age. It’s an old cosplay, but still one of my favorites and I never got around to have any good pictures taken of it at a suitable location, so my friend Line and I took a trip to Hald Ruin, an old castle ruin about an hour’s drive from where I live. The ruin itself turned out to be a bit disappointing, but the area around it was gorgeous, and it was all too easy to find spots that looked like the swamp where you first encounter Morrigan in Dragon Age Origins. It was also the first cosplay photoshoot I did after getting LASIK surgery, meaning I could actually see something while shooting – I don’t use contacts, and I needed to remove my glasses for the photos, so in the past I have always stumbled around nearsightedly – so I could move around more freely. Possibly a little too freely, if you ask Line, because the branches I was crawling around on were hanging out over a lake and might have moved a bit more under my weight than they reasonably should have.

Apparently, working eyesight means little if you step on something that snaps under you, and I was told in no uncertain terms that while she was willing to act as my photographer, Line would not save me if I fell headfirst into the lake.

I look all relaxed in this one, but what you can’t see in the photo is that there’s a rather sudden drop just behind me, so really I’m just hoping I’ll be able to get back down from the damn tree without slipping.

It was such a lovely day that I had trouble stopping myself from smiling, which is why I totally fail at capturing Morrigan’s wonderful bitch vibe in most of these photos.

“Just ignore the Dutch tourists staring at you. Juuust ignore them.”

Morrigan is one of the few cosplays I can sit down in. That helps a lot.

“I think I hear Darkspawn… oh, wait, it’s just the tourists again.”

Photographer: Line Torntoft

Angel’s Voice

Stand-Alones

Extras

Tag: Cosplay