Hall Cosplay Award (Anime Boston 2005)

"I chose to come here,
A cage into which I've locked myself,
And now there's no escape."

Witch Hunter Robin caught my imagination from the first echoing steps of the STN-J team hunting in a dark alley, the atmosphere dark and dank and oppressing. One character instantly stood out, half of the superficially mismatched but truly connected pair of protagonists: the tall, dark, brooding, Amon. Alas, being neither tall nor dark, I did not even consider this cosplay, but was talked into it by a friend as a show of fandom.

The first thing I want to note, because everyone comments on it, is that, the colour of Amon's under-coat is up for debate. I went with the official model sheets which show it as brown (For those who own the second DVD, check out the insert), which makes the costume a bit warmer and more interesting.

As it often happens, the costumes that seem the easiest turn out to be the biggest nightmares and Amon is no exception. Wanting it to be perfect, as I found the others I had seen lacking, I had to draft a pattern for the vest, as it sports some strange and unpractical 90 degree angle seams. Getting the right flare to the sleeves (over the black quilted inserts) also took quite a bit of imagination, and I stumbled onto the solution quite by chance. Sadly I made the coat a bit big and had to add a back seam he does not have which caused me much grief.

The trench coat was an example of laziness, as I already owned one just like it, and simply added the silver details on it. I made the black under-shirt, the orbo (light up and stardard version) and the gun and holster to match. The orbo broke on the way back from the convention, but luckily an official version was released, which has proven quite indestructible. The first version of the orbo gun was lost in the mail, and I hastily put together a second one.

And because I simply had to post it, I will end with an outtake of Amon being eaten alive by Robin's dress.