Ideas – Pinkie's Paradise

Pinkie Ponders: How Could Humans Transform in Dragon Ball

I have been pretty bedridden the last couple of days, which let me catch up with some games, tv series, anime and my thoughts… one of these thoughts went to Dragon Ball. I saw a bit about Krillin and wondered.. what would the next level of evolution look like for him. So I decided to let my brain come up with a way humans could transform.. and here is what I came up with.

Step 1: Pinkie’s Guideline for Transformation

Now how do I tackle this problem?! Well first of all we need to make the transformation a functional one! Of course I am delving in the realm of fan fiction here but I would not want to turn humans into something they are not. So no giant form, or them suddenly becoming rubber or something. It would also need to do something. I can say humans get a 10x power boost and their hair turns purple and skin turns pale.. but a 10x power boost will not make any difference and besides that there are possibilities to just use Kaioken for those levels of output. The tricky part here is that we can easily not actually provide a transformation for humans themselves. After all we could just say humans and saiyans are clearly compatible as they can interbreed, we may have the same forefathers and humans have a saiyan-like transformation as well. It would not even be that far fetched.

**No trash Gohan! Best of both worlds Gohan will rock!**

This would not really allow humans to stand on their own though. Not only do Saiyans already have a faster base growth, there is also issues like Zenkai boosts, the power boost Saiyans get after they have been defeated. Humans don’t have that so just giving humans a golden form of their own.. would not feel right. Then there also would be the fact that humans getting blond hair and blue eyes and calling themselves a person which has transcended humanity is a bit iffy! Yet neither are the main reasons I opted out of this route! No .. the real reason is Gohan! Well him , Goten and Trunks to be exact. Hybrid Saiyans are made a big deal… However in my eyes the show does very little to establish humanity in Gohan, Goten and Trunks. It is merely reflected in their personality. If we give humans a transformation however.. I want it to be able to coexist with a Super-Saiyan transformation. This will mean that there will be big changes in the story and Goku and Vegeta might just take a back-seat towards the Hybrids later on.

***We can’t mess (too much) with the iconic moments!***

The third factor I am taking into consideration is that it has to keep humans relevant to the story. During the Saiyan Saga, humans were not relevant.. and only during the Namek Arc did Krillin have a few fights where he would be relevant. After that, it all goes down the drain fast. I do not say humans are weak but clearly they can not top the Saiyans in terms of sheer power. We must find a way to equal the playing ground at least a bit. Of course the series only started to be be transformation heavy on Namek, and I do not want to make the Super Saiyan moment less Iconic.. so transformations have to come after that. Yes.. most likely there will be gold! As golden Frieza is an ultimate form as well I might as well keep the theme up a bit. Either way… it does mean that this power is more or less stumbled upon.. as if a human had extra abilities people were aware off, it would have come up earlier.

***Transformation has to be show in Manga and sell toys!***

The fourth and final factor I will need to take into consideration is that this transformation works both in Manga and in Anime, Dragon Ball is a Multi Media franchise after all. So stuff like an eye colour change, or the aura taking a faintly other shape will not be enough we have to make something up that people can instantly see and go like “oh heck yeah Krillin is using his transformation” Something that looks badass but also is unique to humans. That was quite a task..but I think I have come up with a great solution, that feels very in line with humans and martial arts alike.

Step 2: Coming up with “type” of transformation

***Clearly Humans would not use Transformations as restraint!***

Now to make a unique transformation and keep humans relevant let’s take a look at all the other races that we know that do have transformations and how they work. First of all there are of course the Saiyans, who transform by anger/emotion. The power works as an enhancement. It boosts their power level by several factors, the amount of energy needed and wasted depends on what form they are in. Then there is the Frieza race, who transforms based on mostly innate talent. The race has access to extreme raw power and the transformations are sealed as it were to keep one from being destroyed by their own power. The transformation works like a metamorphosis and is reached by unleashing power.

***Our transformation has to be cooler than that!***

The Namekian transformation is lesser known and it literally allows a Namekian to grow. As Namekian’s do “grow” as plants and are genderless this makes sense. It mirrors them well. Then there are the androids, who in some cases transform. Cell, Android 13 and Android 21 had access to transformations.. and while all work in slightly different ways, the concept of their transformation is Augmentation. The biggest asset of this transformation is to give them a higher reserve of power.. it is additive transformation. Meaning it is the sum of several parts not the multiplication of one. The Majin transformation basically is exactly the same as that of the Androids, one adds parts to gain that parts strength.

***Our transformation ,should probably be less heavy on Trucker Hat!***

Saiyans seem to be the allrounders, that get better at what they already do. The Frieza Race gets more destructive as they transform and the androids, even Cell are slightly more defensively focussed. Android 17 is known for his barriers, but Cell uses these as well, 19 and Gero absorbed energy in a defensive capacity as well. Namekians trough the series from Z onwards mostly work as guides. Piccolo is more so a teacher and a Mentor rather than a fighter. Kami has always been a guide and Dende works as a healer. Majins are a bit of a mirror match fighter idea. While we later also see other transformations like magical girls nearly all of the transformations fall either in the “healer, Fighter or Tank” archetypes. So with humans I wanted to go with the fourth option… support. Clearly the show is about Goku, Gohan Vegeta and the likes and that will not change. So for humans to have a transformation it would need to be one that can help the main characters.. but that also can turn Gohan into an absolute beast of a warrior.

How do we do this?! Well Saiyans are a race of Barbarians, a race of soldiers and warriors they grow through fighting. Namekians work like plants, they grow like plants.. so how do humans grow like earthlings? We evolve. We adapt. This adaptability is shown as the factor that keeps humans in the fight. Even in Dragon Ball Super this is shown. Roshi and Krillin perform fairly well as fighters in the tournament of power.. (as well as Tenshinhan) because they fight smartly. So the human transformation will allow them to do that.. it will allow them to “evolve”. As such it will trigger in situations of near death.. Like a Zenkai boost.. but before the actual injury! If you are about to die or confronted with death you can “evolve” It can be explained as the reason why women can suddenly move steel beams when trying to save their baby from a burning home, and how people escape from near death situations by the sheer will to survive. Darwinism and the will to live triggers this transformation. So it might not be to much of a surprise that the first human we see transform in the series would be Yamcha.

Step 3: How does it Look, How does it work?!

The transformation will happen during the beginning of the Android Saga, when Dr Gero finds Yamcha and starts draining his life. We flash back to how Yamcha was killed by the Saibaman which now instead of a meme will act like a trigger. Yamcha, Grabbed by Gero finds himself in a fairly similar situation. He is grabbed in a hold and can sense death is coming. However this time his body reacts instinctively. The Dr is draining his Ki but suddenly that Ki begins to take shape. It turns golden and rather than just being a field of energy it takes a shape much closer to Yamcha’s body.. as it forms two extra arms. Golden translucent arms that Yamcha can move as his own.. and he can fire an energy blast with them?! Yamcha uses this ability to escape, damaging Dr Gero, who now is forced to retreat a bit earlier. Goku catches up sensing Yamcha’s Ki rise and the rest of the story would follow the normal trend for a while.. but a surprised Yamcha stands there with an evolved Ki Aura.

***Bodhisattva, the deity of compassion***

Humans adapt… and even in D&D or in most other fiction they are always depicted as a race that is good at fitting in.. at adapting to new environments to overcome new dangers. So since the Ki of other races reacts to their state of being it makes sense that that of a human would be as well. Grounded in the concept of evolution, while it would not evolve the human itself, one skilled enough with Ki to create energy blasts can use their own live energy to evolve their life energy.. to adapt it. These transformations I will base on the Bodhisattva.. the goddess of compassion. The Saiyan transformation has some potential overlap to Chakra and I thought it would be fun to keep a eastern influence to the transformation as well, that works well with the schooling in the Dragon Ball world. Being the voice of compassion and sympathy these transformations do not focus on raw power but allow a fighter to use his own strength to overcome and adapt.

*Tien gets the* more boring transformation but Japan doesn’t like Tien anyway!

Later forms could include a third eye, linking back to Tien’s history and his people never fully closing that off, that unlike Ultra Instinct would work more like Tsuna from Hitman’s Reborn Hyper Intuition allowing you to see when blinded, or allowing you to see enemy weaknesses. A third form could be a flaming aura that could punish an enemy from engaging in Melee too much, which once again seems to be a weakness of the humans. Divine Hands, Divine Eye and Divine Fury could later potentially lead into humans adapting it to god ki and potentially Ultra instinct as well.

***Gohan using all three human transformations***

Best off all.. this would all work on Gohan. When Cell broke his arm when Gohan saved Vegeta from perfect Cell, instead of just learning Super Saiyan 2, he could have learned Divine hands as well..showing Gohan is indeed.. not just like his father he is human as well.. wielding their transformation. Divine Eye he could awaken in his fight with Basil, in the Tournament of Power Exhibition Match. Divine Fury Gohan could learn either during the Buu Arc to shield himself from being absorbed by Majin Buu.. OR during the Tournament of Power when he fights Dyspo.. who mostly relies on Melee attacks.Unlike other transformations, humans can get theirs in random order. Krillin for example would probably Awaken Divine Wrath first, Tien Divine Eye and Yamcha like explained would be the perfect candidate for Divine hands!

***Firing one beam and hitting your opponent with in the back with another seems powerful?!***

Being able to shoot two beams might not seem very powerful, but Humans have the ability to bend their Ki beams, so shooting two could lead to a pincer attack. A Ki beam is always higher than the power level of the human wielding it as was revealed in several magazines. A double Masenko fired at the same target might not do much.. but two bending Kamehameha’s striking from the front and back.. would have HUGe benefits. Looking for a weak spot in an attacking would allow humans to use techniques like the destructo disc or Yamcha spirit ball to be way more precise and effective sealing punches away works great against henchman .. and let’s be honest here, the humans will still be fighting the henchman still!

***The fights during the Moro Arc could be super interesting with transformations!***

A lot of techniques would have implications during the Moro Arc as well, humans could use Divine Eye to work a bit more in an exposition fashion so Beerus and Whis could actually stick to their principals of not meddling. Divine Wrath can be used to shield against the new Android introduced in that arc and Divine hands can help Gohan use his new shield technique.. while also taking potshots at enemies from behind said shield! It will keep humans relevant without changing the power levels to much!

So how would you give humans transformations in Dragon Ball?! Have you ever thought about it? What did you think about my idea? Let me know in the comments! Now I am gonna see if I can develop Divine pillows, so I can take the best naps! Shine on my little lights! Oyasumi!

Five Presents I’d give myself for my Anniversary (Anniversary Day 5)

I have made these type of posts before where I show you a list of stuff I want to buy! Fun gadgets, cute plushies and much more this wonderful world has to offer. I have been wanting to make another wish list for quite some time now but I never could find a theme! …. well Blog Birthday gifts are as good a reason as any so I picked five gifts I’d gift myself.. themed after my blog! It might also help you yesterday’s give away/contest .

For those who haven’t noticed yet , I am a big fan of pink things , that are also bright and bubbly!

Sanrio’s Hello Kitty would make a good mascotte for me if I was not that scared by human girls who actually look like cats. You can blame a certain musical movie for that. So I guess I will stick to Bonbonribbon as my favourite Sanrio mascotte! However that last one doesn’t have this awesome pink cereal dispenser! Why do I need a cereal dispenser anyway? Why for my Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventure posts of course! My blog series where I watch anime as if they are saturday morning Cartoons! Sure it is nice to poor unicorn fruit loops from their box and see the actual unicorn.. but the box is red! This dispenser is PINK! And also slightly geeky! People could walk in my box of a house, see the pink dispenser filled with the soft coloured fruit flavoured loops and be like…. yep that fits her really well!

For some reason these things sell really well though! So I am currently unable to by one but since this weeks is all about hypothetical gifts anyway I’d stay it’s still a legit pick! If I ever have any spare money laying about I might actually get this one for “the memes” but as it is right now I do not actually have space for it in my little apartment! In a slightly bigger house I totally intend to get this though! It’s cute , pink and so me! It’s also very sold out everywhere so I will travel across the lands searching far and white. To pink my house and cute it up, to put cereal inside! A great gift and if I go through the effort of gift wrapping it which I suck at by the way, I bet it would look like a really impressive big box of gift! Yay! Big gifts!

Those who have been following me for most of the year know about my love for plushies and something coming up on that front as well! But the heart always wants more!

Among the Galar pokémon Alcremie turned out to be my absolute favourite, even blowing my expected favourite Galarian Ponyta out of the water. I just fell in love with Whippy my Alcreamie. It might be a contestant from one of my favourite pokémon ever at this point alongside Sylveon and Bulbasaur.. there is just one big difference. I do have a bulbasaur and Sylveon plushie but no Alcremie one! So that should change! While searching for it I stumbled upon this custom made life sized one! It looks so sweet I’d kinda wanna lick it.. but that is probably a bad idea!

Not only do plushies taste terrible this specific store is quite outside my price range as well! A 7 inch Plushie could still go for about $95,- and the life size Appletun.. which by the way is also amazing and I definitely want that as well goes for as much as $250 dollars US. THat is like way way way…..(way) outside my plushie Price-Range. While The Alcremie is not currently in stores I suspect it would cost around $150 dollars based on its size! A normal Alcreamie Plushie would run about $30 dollars and will most likely be the one I actually end up getting. Yet since this is a wishlist I thought I’d add the stupidly pricey one just because it is so much more fun to see! I do not think it’s overpriced either.. because clearly a lot of hours go into this one! I am just pointing out this is something I am not currently able to do! I do believe in the power of dreaming however and if there are people with budget left and a desire to own Pokémon that are custom made for you! Reverse search the image and trough Deviant art you can find a webstore!

This next gift is based on some of the interactions with people i had as a blogger! And of course my general “image”

In my attempt to be a real world anime girl, there are a few items and experiences I need. One of these items is a Phone Strap! I once promised to give Irina one as she would give me one! Yet just like I never actually gave her one.. I doubt she is giving me one! She doesn’t even know where I live! However I have found the perfect phone strap for her! I would present that here! Check to the side! That is perfect for her isn’t it?! I am so good at looking up phone straps!. Perfection! I dare you to disagree! It works on so many levels!

I have found a few good options for myself but I finally encountered something that really spoke to me. I am not sure what it is from but when I saw this picture it just spoke to me. These are apparently called Star Hoppe Chans! It’s like a mascotte that became popular due to phone straps! So it is perfect. I considered getting a pokémon but all the other 893 is Pokémon would be sad they are not my phone strap! A unicorn would also be a cute phone strap but this slime with a lot of sparkly things ..just sings to me! In my research for a cute phone strap I had like 12 options sitting for me and then I saw Hoppe Chan. It symbolises my randomness quite well! As a slime can change shape! The extra elements also seem to have little to do with the slime so we are a match made in heaven!

Now of course this would break one phone strap trope, the anime friends having matching phone straps. Irina’s strap and mine would not look alike! So I looked on but I stepped up my game these had to be a bit weirder. Then I found the Hello Kitty Eco Hime Toilet Sound Blocker. Which is like a Hello Kitty medal thing in pink or purple you plug in your phone or key strap or whatever and when you go to the toilet it drowns your own watering sounds by playing the sound of running water. Think of all the social inconvenience we save with these $45 dollar a piece phone straps! I mean I can almost buy 60 Hoppe Chan’s for that money and like 120 if I get like a Toilet Blocker for me and Rini-Senpai.. but yes.. having the ability to play water sounds while at a toilet sounds… barely useable. Like at a friends house I will just turn on their faucets..or in small bathrooms there usually is a sink! So the only place I could use it in like theme parks or stuff..where 20 other woman are making peeing sounds themselves. I would be like the most relax japanese woman ever if i went to live there. I might just play Pink Fluffy Unicorns to distract people if I really felt awkward but at least this gadget comes in pink!

I am quite obsessed with weirdness, like I would love to have things in my house and people constantly asking. What the heck is that. When they point out at a brown like object next to my tv!

Then I an go like ‘Oh that is my Shouting Vase, it contains my anger’ and then they would be like ‘Nani?’ as I would explain this to them. A shouting vase is like a japanese invention that “absorbs” your screams.. Think of it like screaming into a pillow without hundred of dust mite thingies going inside your body! It your anger is like a pistol, this is your silencer. Then it also has the metaphorical meaning of now containing your anger! Like it got Mafubaad (Evil containment waved..an evil sealing technique from Dragon Ball) into a jar! That is lot better than having the anger float around your house! Many salty gamer should have this one! Playing a lot of retro games that are often quite hard a shouting vase can really come in handy for me.

That isn’t everything though! Since I have started watching Uwe Boll movies I have found myself cursing the guy a lot! He really doesn’t make the greatest movies! Postal was one of the worst movies I ever saw and I really have a destructive review ready for that one. My experience could have definitely used a shouting jar. Social Media also frustrates me sometimes and I say some things that are not very nice about some people I think are not very nice either. I won’t tell you who they are but a certain author is at least among the many more! I try to censor my swears on my blog so I think my potty mouth should belong into pottery as well! With this gadget I can even seem more innocent and pink than I actually am so it is totally on brand!

For my last gift I considered a full batman samurai armor to prove my weebness to the world.. but that would not fit plus at $6500 I would not even buy that with fictional dollars. My second options I considered was a hello Kitty Vacuum cleaner! I really like this one but I could not find out anything about it’s dimensions! It might be for kids and my back is to bad for for such an endeavor also.. my vacuum is mostly hidden from people and I would like people to see the awesome gifts I have gotten.

So instead I settled on candles! I love candles! But what I love more is messing with people’s heads! The company that makes this cup noodle candle makes lots of candles that look like other stuff. So I would like to host a party and put a bowl of cup noodles on fire than Light it like a candle to see the people look surprised. There is also a Miso Soup Bowl one that looks quite amazing. Or like a bowl of nuts one! Yet this one is definitely the best.

It like has an actual cup noodle lid on them you can remove.. the packaging looks genuine and me and my friends love Samurai cup noodles or basicly any japanese noodle commercial noodles! They are amazing things! I really can’t wait to see their stupefied face and think this candle is like the coolest candle they ever saw! I’m vein like that I wish to give them that rabbit hole experience whenever I host something. That’s just me! Even movie watching nights usually have an element of surprise to them! I’d love to do a Action Bollywood Movie Day where we go to an indian place in the middle and where we play indian styled Batsu games with some spicy stuff as punishment! Other times I’d invite them to totally random night.. will we play a game? Will we watch an anime? Will we go out for drinks who knows the dice decides! So yes those candles really we enforce my weirdness! Yet with $19 dollars a money it feels like I am burning a 20 dollar bill.. just kinda slowly! I bet it would start NOT look like cup noodles really fast though.

And those are the gifts that I would give myself now you can use this knowledge to find something you’d think is fitting for me and participate my <Anniversary Week 4>’s Special Give-away! If you haven’t found out about that one yet click here to read all about it!
Respectively all these gifts either depend my flavour as a blogger, my choice in content or events that have been going on on this blog so I think these are all neat gifts to give to myself? What do you think! Don’t forget these are all hypothetical gifts only! I am not buying myself a 150 dollar plushie! What Hypothetical gift would you give me?! Post that in the comment of on the post by clicking on THIS link.. and maybe you win a gift from me instead!
Yay!

Pokémon Cosplay: Four Styles

Greetings little subjects , I have been called into action once more to talk to you about clothes. As a Princess I am sure to have the best opinion and taste on these matters. Today we will talk about the mundane entertainment known as cosplay. Something even I enjoy on occasion. While I could talk ages about MY cosplays as well, we will limited ourselves to strictly Pokémon Cosplay. All images used are random examples avaialbe in public spaces. Feel free to look up who these people are to pay them tribute…after paying tribute to me. I only used generic terms to search for these images. I will never use a cosplay photograph to make fun of it.

Dressing up as a Pokémon

Pokémon Cosplay can happen in about four different ways. You either dress up as a pokémon, dress up as a trainer, dress up as a Gijinka, which is a human rendition of a pokémon and than there is those people who think outside of the box and put al smile on everyone’s faces with a completely original concept. I will tackle these one by one.

The most common cosplay you will see is people dressing up like a Pokémon, frankly spoken this category we can divide into a high effort and low effort group with the latter being ever so present at conventions. Now do not mistake my words little subjects, low effort cosplay is still loads better than no cosplay at all, your expectations should however be different. The low effort group is the one that wears pokémon onesies or kigurumis and sometimes paint their face. This is by far the most found type of pokémon cosplay at conventions. Because they are so common however, it is very unlikely people will want to take a picture with you if you dress in that way. A lot of new cosplayers kind of feel like people will jump on any type of cosplayer to ask them for a photo, but this isn’t the case. Not even if you made your kigurumi yourself. People oftenly can not tell. Girls are a bit luckier in that matter but still it’s not a guarantee to success. If you want to be Pokémon Snapped, do not go basic, a rule which applies to basically every common cosplay, even high effort Harley Quinn’s oftenly go unsnapped because there are just so much of the. Onesies are quite partical though, you can put clothes with lots of storage space underneath or even store a small bag there, they are super easy to pack and great for example a final day where you will stop at a restaurant on the way back, just slip out of the onesie and reveal your outfit underneath, apply plenty of deodorant and if possible a quick wash and boom! Back to glam!
The perfect cosplay if you want to look like you belong on a con, without spending the money or effort on it.

Much like it’s more impressive high effort counterpart however, the Kigurumi has one big flaw. They are incredibly hot to wear. Especially if you wear clothes underneath (and usually with the quality of them .. you better do that) it feels like you are wearing a portable sauna.
While you can still walk through a Dealer Room, going to play DDR in it, in the middle of summer or going outside to hang with your friends, is not a healthy idea. So if you dress up as a Pokémon, make sure to stay hydrated. Lot’s of venues have poor air conditioning at least in certain parts of the Con. Full on body/mascotte suits usually limit you to these rooms. Lobbies, outside areas and the big open spaces are usually a lot harder to cool, but if you wear a mascotte suit you’ll get plenty of attention. If you want to receive some love and get hugs.. this is your way to go. One thing to note is that you are completely and utterly unable to pull this one off by yourself. You will need a buddy along if you want to walk across the convention or sometimes he even has to shout to you what others are saying, fake fur blocks a lot of sound and you are quite blind while walking, so this is a two person cosplay most of the time. If not it’s a very lonely one.

Dressing up as a trainer

Common enough on the convention floor, this one draws little attention as well, at least for those who cosplay Ash, Misty , Jessie or James and even Red will not get you buckets of love. Fans will respond though and go Hey Ash, or Hey Misty so i’d say it’s slightly more interactive than a Onesie. Trainers and Pokémon alike will band together though for fun photo moments.

If you really want some love but still keep your outfit reasonably affordable with no crafting effort (or easy crafting) cosplay famous trainers like Giovanni, Sabrina or honestly even a good Brock might work.. we barely see him..like he barely sees us. While Dragon Trainer Lance, may look super impressive and Blaine is a possible closet cosplay these read a lot harder. Misty and Ash you can pull of without a wig,Lance even with a wig kinda looks like he is a noble from Code Geass and Koga is a ninja… there will be plenty of ninja’s at the convention so it’s hard to tell. To make these clear you will have to use props like plushies, who can get a bit expensive on their own and are very easy to lose.

LT Surge is an easy cosplay.. but you’ll need a Raichu to be fully recognised. Maybe a set of pokéballs will do but most people see you when passing by, they might miss details such as Pokéballs. The clearer your costume is the best reactions you get… unless it’s not very inspirational like Ash or Misty of course. For the last ones go creative… dye your Ash costume grey and play Dead ash from the mewtwo movie or play Misty as a guy and let the girl play Ash. You won’t really get any fans when cosplaying as a trainer but these suits are practical , oftenly fit for most seasons (Misty is not very good for winter) and a fun way to meet other pokéfans. There is room for some appreciation as long as you make sure you have the right props to tell who you are. A lot of trainers look generic so you need context.. whether it be a ! sign or a slew of plushies! Do something to stand out or just have fun in your cosplay on your own! That’s great as well.

Gijinkas

Humanising Pokémon is one of my favorite artforms, I build a D&D campaign based on Gijinkas once and it was great. It is also a very popular cosplay form of the franchise that is mostly seen on stage. These are the cosplayers that want to hone their craft, compete and look good. Of course there are also more casual versions but those still want to be complimented on their costume let’s be honest. While this usually gives you a LOT of love as a cosplayer, especially from the fans of the franchise there are a few risks here with these cosplays. As I am a total klutz myself , everytime I pick up a needle and threat a professor in my head tells my now is not the time and place to use this. So crafting cosplays is out for me.. I tried once.. ended up bleeding all over it, than I glued my pants to the table.. I cried all over it.. ruined a set of towels by accidently dyeing them and I gave up. Gijinka cosplay however is not easily bought. Usually commissions or resales there is some risk in purchasing these. As much as I want to Cosplay a Sylveon Gijinka , I can not afford a proper commission even if I am a princess, my treasury is only filled with make-belief-money! Which does not pay for real life commissions, in my dream though I look adorable. Commissions easily run you in the several hundreds and the resales oftenly have very specific fitting. If you buy , try to pick something that is a size to big for you, worst case scenario .. it will look a bit to big on or you have to pay to have it slightly adjusted near you. With a bit of a brain .. like wearing a thicker under-shirt you can at least be sure you have not wasted money on something that doesn’t fit. Try to Gijinka only if you really have the money for it though.. or of course the ability to craft.

A second risk with the Gijinkas is the recognisability. Gen I is safe..everyone will recognise a human jigglypuff or Venusaur. Human Lucario or Human Darkrai though….tricky. While I personally really dig Darkrai it is a somewhat overlooked legendary. Gijinka Cresselia even more so. Pokémon is a massively loved franchise but a lot of that love is nostalgia. Take this into consideration when you craft. Do you want to make an awesome costume, or do you want people to go like.. oh hey that is Ludicolo from the Pokémon series. If you want people to ‘get ‘ your Gijinka your options are limited or you have to make it very clear. While a Lumineon in human form sounds like it could be an awesome most pokéfans don’t even know the pokémon let alone recognising it when it transformed into a beautiful human being. Masquerain can look super royal but maybe 1% of con-goers will read it as that.

So before you craft determine what you want to do. Do you want to impress people by your awesome crafting skills, or do you want to impress people by interpreting something they know and love and show how you turned it into something else. Gijinka photos purchasable for fans have a bit more liberty of course as they can select them and get them in context.. but at a Con.. there is no context. At least go big when you try to craft something like this, make it something really special and unique , that way people will love you regardless. Unfortunately when it comes to this type of cosplay there is a bit of the rule , go big or go home. The subtle ones can get overlooked quite easily and while .. if you craft, you probably have a group to hang out with anyway that will validate you like always .. the less is more people tend to get lost in the sea of spectacular that is a con.

Original

The best way to success however is to be completely original, think of something that hits the brief but is also one of a kind. These are the things you need to craft but it can be cheap yet still fun. Five dollar cosplay Jinx, Brock with a frying pan or just wear a cardboard actual Pokeball and you are already being eyed by many. Dressing up like a pokémon card or dressing up IN pokémon cards are among your options here as well. Of course this one is quite difficult to go into details about because originality comes from within you or a very rare idea. The more I push ideas the less original they become. It can be as cheap or expensive as you want. In fact.. the pitfall of this one I’d say is that you don’t need to sink more and more money into it for it to show the appreciation it gets. Usually these ideas are too out there to go on the stage so these are usually lobby cosplayers as I call them. They hang out receive a lot of love and vanish from your life when they head out that front door. Some are original again the next year others you don’t really notice anymore. Yet they leave the most powerful memory on those whose life they touch. You will always remember that girl who was dressed as a pokeball that can unfold into a gardevoir ish dress. You will always remember the bloke that dressed like a Pikachu card or the guy who made a playable version of pokémon blue on his costume. with a controller and screen on his back. These are one in a life encounters and that is how they should stay. The guy can not really play a pokémon at the same convention again and the pokémon game people have played isn’t that impressive the second year around. Original cosplays have a very limited life span (at least in a small country like mine) yet in our minds that single weekend cosplay will live on forever…or at least until something does something even more awesome and unique.

Now while I have spoken about the “rules” of cosplay a lot but this is only based on mindset , too often i see a subject who gets disappointed because they had different expectations of how cosplay is viewed at a con. It is easy to get lost between the passion to cosplay and the goal you actually want to reach with it. There is nothing wrong with any of these cosplays as long as YOU want to wear them, but sometimes in our excitement we set ourselves up for disappointment .. or fainting from the heat. So you do you, but do ask yourself why you do you and cosplay accordingly!

The Pinkest Poké Blogger is blasting off again.
XO
Pinkie