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themes, Kabbalah and kick-ass female mecha jockeys to the
table. Coolly competent and terminally pretty pilots Rei Ayanami
and Asuka Soryu showed mech-head fanboys that piloting a
skyscraper-tall killing machine was woman’s work.
For professional Canadian cosplayer Riki LeCotey, aka Riddle,
Evangelion was one of the first series that got her into anime:
“Up until Eva, I had only experienced fun, light-hearted anime.
Between the designs, music and complex story, I was hooked.
”Riddle also has a soft spot for Rei – particularly her work
clothes. “I have always loved the design of the plugsuits!” Riddle
told Cosplay Culture. “Rei’s personality is mysterious, but pivotal
to the series, struggling with her own feelings and who she is as
her own individual.”
In addition to being one of the most sought-after professional
cosplayers in the world, Riddle is the founder of the charity group,
Cosplay for a Cause. She has raised over $50,000 for charities
worldwide. This year, one hundred percent of the group’s sales of
a cosplay calendar are going to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Giant walking tank love reached critical level in 2000. It was then
when Cartoon Network began airing Gundam Wing – the tenth
installment in the Mobile Suit Gundam series, but the first to hit
U.S. cable television. Ben Albert, like many high school students
at the time, was bitten by the mecha bug. A decade of collecting
Gundam models, toys, games, DVDs, books and other items
culminated in his first cosplay from the series, an RX-78 Gundam.
It took Albert, aka Ubers Cosplay, five months and a broad
palette of materials to craft his ground type Gundam.
“The majority of the armor parts are made with 1mm Sintra®,”
the south Florida resident explained. “Certain sections that
need more flexibility like the thighs, biceps, and waist are made
with rubber coated EVA foam. The container backpack is made
from foam core board in an effort to keep it as lightweight as
possible. The torso is reinforced with fiberglass to better support
the weight of the shoulders and backpack.”
Anime fans don’t award ambulatory tanks points for subtlety,
and Albert doesn’t disappoint. He has been known to rig a
motion controlled sound system to make mechanical stomping
noises from the speaker in his costume’s chest. That, plus the
machine gun sound effects from his arm and the Christmas
lights and LEDs which illuminate his cosplay from within and
without, make finding room in the costume for battery storage a
real issue.
The biggest challenge for Albert, however, was figuring out how
to get the whole magilla to and from conventions. In cosplay,
Gundam mobile suits aren’t all that mobile. Albert solved his
transport issues with some adroit design.
“The torso is able to completely split in half by just removing two
Photo by NGO Photography
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