RPGing by Melissa Joy

Hi my name is Melissa Joy but you may know be better as Slim Definition a member of the ‘MCM COMMUNITY’.
I’ve been interested in video-games, particularly RPGs since I was roughly twelve, and started to get into anime around the age of sixteen.
So I’ve gained a fair bit of knowledge about both, my first RPG was actually Phantasy Star IV on the SEGA Mega Drive, I’d bought it from the brother of someone I’m no longer in contact with, and it was that person who sparked it all off.
He introduced me to Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and later, The Legend of Dragoon.

My closest friend then showed me Grandia II, and Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast, but it wasn’t until a couple of years later that I obtained these games on the Playstation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube.

It was the same friend, who told me I should attend the London MCM Expo approximately two weeks before the event in October 2008, but I had no time to make a costume and I also really had no idea what I could do even if I’d had time.
So, I agreed to go on one day, I travelled to London to see my friend, and over that weekend I attended the Expo on the Saturday dressed in renaissance-style pirate attire, his didn’t come close to matching what so many other people were wearing.

Following this event, I became keen to get involved with the world of Cosplay, and thought that it might prove to be a lot of fun, and would also give me plenty of opportunities to meet many new people who shared the same interests and hobbies; this I found to be true.

Although I mainly play RPGs, my first Cosplay project was BloodRayne, which turned out better than I expected, and few people believed it to be my very first costume, but naturally I couldn’t stop there.
After I had made my debut as a cosplayer at London MCM Expo in May 2009, I decided that I wanted to continue the hobby to the best of my ability, since then I have added quite a number of costumes to my planned list, the first three completed have been made by me so far (albeit with a little help from my parents on a few aspects of them).
The second two are Rose, from The Legend of Dragoon, and Hrist Valkyrie from Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, of which both of these games are RPGs that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves this genre of game.
Do note though, that The Legend of Dragoon is fairly rare and you’d need to be willing to pay a fairly high sum for it. It doesn’t usually go cheaply nowadays.
For those people who haven’t yet tried their hand at Cosplaying but want to and don’t know how, my suggestion would be to attend one of the MCM Expo events if you haven’t done so already to gain a bit of inspiration.
After that, think about whom your favourite characters are, and research what they wear.
As for making it look good, I advise you aim for 100% perfection.
You may not reach 100% exactly – I don’t think ‘I’ have personally – but if you aim for that 100% you’ll come pretty close I think, that’s how I work anyway.
On a final note, if you haven’t been to MCM Expo events yet, get yourself there, to say the very least, it’s big, and it’s inspirational.
Till next time, be creative.
Melissa