cos(WED): Halo 4 cosplay by Huntress Crafts and Cosplay

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Written by Riri (@lillyums)

Welcome to this week's Cosplay Wednesday. We are featuring a PNW cosplayer, Huntress! She's here to show us her original Halo character created in the Halo 4 game series.  Despite what its title suggests, Halo 4 is actually the 7th installment in the franchise. I know I personally haven't seen a ton of Halo cosplays, so it's great to see this! Check out her Halo cosplay and what she had to say about all the hard work she put into this.

Cosplayer: Huntress Crafts and Cosplay (FB)
Cosplay: Halo 4 Spartan-- Original Multiplayer Character
Photographers: Plainswalker Photography (FB)/Eurobeat Kasumi Photography (FB)

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How long have you been cosplaying?
I've been cosplaying since I was in the 7th grade, my first "official" cosplays were Trinity from The Matrix and the X-Men 3: Last Stand version of Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix. Sadly, no pictures, but it happened, I promise. Back then my costumes were mostly fabric-based.

Why did you choose to cosplay this character?
My best friend, Siren 227 really rekindled my love of Halo when we met. I used to play all the time as a kid, my dad worked for Microsoft and one of the coolest memories was when I got to play Halo 2 for the first time at my house days before it released to the public. I've always been a gamer first and a costumer second, so when Siren started encouraging me to join her in becoming a real-life Spartan, of course I couldn't resist combining my two favorite worlds.

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How long did it take you to complete?
It took me about 3-4 months of constant crafting when I wasn't working at my full-time job or sleeping, and I still have little improvements and tweaks here and there I'm working on. The next step will be putting in an electrical system/LED lights.

Any difficulties when constructing the costume?
 Lack of sleep, lack of time, and impending deadlines. Not going to lie, this was easily the most complicated and involved cosplay I've done. Huntress was also my first foam build, but luckily I had a lot of help from my mentor Evakura Armor. He very generously tutored me and taught me almost everything I know. The biggest constraint was time before Huntress's debut at ECCC 2015, I actually ended up being unable to complete my chest piece on time, but to my surprise my best friend actually had foreseen this obstacle and commissioned me the chest piece for my birthday from BMP Props. He also makes Dragon Skin undersuit parts for Spartans, so I was able to get a sweet neck seal too. The only other thing I did not make was my commmissioned helmet which was a Christmas present to get me started on my build. The cast/visor was by Stony Props and finished by Brian Johnson Arms. I'd like to also give a shout out to Dusty Plastics for my sweet 3-D printed UNSC symbol. All other pieces including the hand-painted designs on the armor were of my own blood, sweat and tears.

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What do you love most about cosplaying this character?
I love how Huntress really has this wow factor at conventions. At ECCC we must have taken hundreds of photos with people just in the hallways alone. My favorite thing was when people would do a double take when seeing me across the room, and little kids getting so excited to take pictures with me and wanting to hold my pistols. I felt like a rockstar and it meant a lot to me to see my hard work make so many people smile. I even got featured on the Halo Channel. You know you're really in love with a costume when you're willing to sacrifice eating, going the restroom, and sitting down for two straight days to share her with people. It was 110% worth it!

Where did you debut this costume? If you haven't... where do you plan to debut?
I debuted this costume at Emerald City Comicon 2015 in Seattle, WA. You can look for me later this year at Rose City Comicon in Portland, OR and Jet City Comicon in Tacoma WA!

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What's next? Cosplay related of course...
Aside from my next two cons, I'll definitely be working on some more cosplay related crafts. My next full costume I have planned is Kameo, the title character from Kameo, Elements of Power - this was one of the original Xbox 360 release games and an old favorite of mine! I'm looking forward to bringing a character to life that hasn't really been done much before. I will also be helping my fiance build his Spartan and working with my best friend Siren on her next Halo concepts. Looking forward to the future and more fun cosplays!

Great job on this cosplay! So much work has been put into this, I wished I was able to run into this cosplay while at RCCC this year!

Interested in submitting to Cosplay Wednesday? Be sure to follow the submission details in the link below!