Guest post!! ~ Commercial Lines: Cramping TARDIS Cosplay Style

Those of you who have been around since the beginning of the site know all about our pal, Charity. Well… she has graced us with a guest post!

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As a long-time nerdy convention attendee, I have a lot of respect for cosplayers that make their own costumes.  The time, energy, and creativity often spent on their craft can yield some pretty amazing creations.  While I mostly observe and appreciate cosplay, I’ve had some recent fun dressing up for conventions the last couple years – mostly coinciding with my Halloween costume choices.  I certainly don’t exist anywhere near the ranks of elaborate costuming, tailoring, and concept design and know-how that can often go into cosplaying, but I think it’s important to have fun with it all. 

In 2011, I was a Star Trek Officer with a hand-me-down costume from my sister and I went as Wonder Woman one year with a pre-made/packaged costume in 2012.  These costumes and their variations are pretty readily available for purchase and are actually known outfits that characters wear.  But this past year, I took the time to construct a Tardis Geek Chic costume for Halloween which I roamed around in at 2013’s Wondercon and San Diego Comic-Con – because why not?  With my limited/light skillz (yes – with a “z”), I was more in the frame of mind to creatively repurpose items in making my costume.  I had a basic blue dress, found a thrift store belt and used tape to make it a “Police Public Call Box” belt, and made a fascinator type hat with a headband, felt, string, cardboard, and a battery-operated light.  More costume details here.

So given this costume adventure, when news of a Her Universe Tardis headband popped up on one of my favorite sites, The Mary Sue, I instantly shared it on Facebook with “Hey look – my TARDIS costume has now jumped the shark.”  No, seriously look:

There’s a lot I like about Her Universe – particularly the print based pieces and t-shirts – and I’m very glad that there are more commercially available geek fantastic things (my running total at Thinkgeek.com probably speaks for itself) so my judgey-ness isn’t really about the popularity of geeky things and geeky products.  This is more about what I think is the strength and spirit of cosplay itself: it’s not about being instantaneous.

The one year I was dressed in a pre-made Wonder Woman costume was fun but I didn’t feel much like a cosplayer, just someone in a costume enjoying a setting where I could wear one.  And that’s one of the things I love about geek-friendly conventions, you can geek out all you want – costumes and all!  But the best Wonder Woman costumes I’ve seen take the concept and make it their own.  My favorite so far is the Wonder Woman ballerina – aside from personally being all limbs and awkwardness, I would never have thought up a Wonder Woman ballerina ever and seeing that concept brought to life was really cool.

As a Whovian, I’ve loved seeing all the different types of Doctor Who costumes over the years, primarily how the TARDIS has been interpreted by various people.  It’s a time traveling vehicle disguised as a phone box – the possibilities are endless. Sometimes it’s a phone box; sometimes it’s a mini dress, and other times it’s a ball gown.  They’re made of different materials, in different sizes, and for different ages.  The spectrum in-between all those “sometimes” is also pretty spectacular.  Like a lot of cosplay, there’s definitely a lot of heart that goes into these projects (or two-hearts, given the scenario).  So while I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the mass-produced TARDIS print dress and a TARDIS headband (okay – personally, I think the headband does a look a bit…weird), I think it’s just not quite as fun.  It also just narrows the idea of the TARDIS into this dress-and-headband kit, which is an incomplete thought for me somehow.  Not to mention, often these outfits – especially for women – are only meant to fit certain body types and that’s not only kind of boring and limiting, it’s also no bueno.

The above being said, I am a firm believer in doing your own thing and being satisfied by it – so I hope those that decide to play in the land of costumes ultimately have fun, no matter your costume’s origin story.  However, I will recommend that you make sure to follow some cosplay rules by the Nerdlush Diva herself before you do.

-Charity Tran

Tags: Conventions, CosPlay, Costumes, Friends, Geekery, Guest Post, Intellichick, Nerdtastic Ramblings