Worst Costume Experiences?

[Dr Jones Sr]

This thread is wonderful and horrific.

I see shared things like armour, heat, sweat, caustic chemicals... all the things we get into cosplay for!

I'm an old newbie- I started cosplaying in 2015 at age 58- and at my age I want to enjoy myself, so my costumes are comfortable and have minimum makeup.

Not much of a disaster, but at the Phoenix Comic-Con in 2016 it was 115 degrees and due to a glitch there was a delay getting people processed into the Con and we were all queued up outside in the heat.

By the time I got inside the glue that holds the soles onto my shoes had melted and both soles were flopping around as I walked.

I went to the costume triage place and the only thing I could think of was to wrap both shoes in shiny silver Duct Tape.

So all day when people asked to take my picture I said "please don't show my shoes!"

(The photos are all like this! Let your imagination fill in the ridiculous shoes...)

When I left I went straight to a CVS Pharmacy and bought Gorilla Glue and a bag of rubber bands.

My shoes spent the night in the hotel room looking like this

The next day they were fine! But I learned a lesson, and now I always bring two pair of shoes.

 

[Doh2]

Not really a disaster, but at Monsterpalooza a few years ago, it was so hot in Burbank that my Fly mask partially melted onto my shirt! This isn't from that event but does show the mask in question:

 

[propmaster2000]

My costume experience was a few years back while dressed as a Borg (avatar).
I was at a Creation Star Trek convention in Pasadena CA.
The thing about wearing a costume that you can't get in to or out of by yourself, is the restroom visit is out
of the question. You don't eat or drink anything all day and you can't sit down.
Both my hands (arms) were wearing a costume pieces and couldn't be removed without help.
When I wore this costume, I needed a handler to help me put on the costume and remove it at the end of the Con.
When I removed the left arm Borg attachment, condensation had completely drenched the inside.
The hip, crotch and rear portion was all one piece and a bit of a challenge to remove properly.
The white face is not makeup..... and seeing out of one eye made depth perception impossible.
Those were good times when you stood out in the crowd and at the end of the day, it was worth the effort.

 

[oblagon]

I've had a few over the years. Here's a small selection:

1. Wearing 3PO at Dragoncon was difficult; so much so I sold it afterwards.
2. Wore Red Skull and had a guy start screaming at me I was a racist and wanted to kick my ass.
3. I've been harassed by the 501st at a few cons for having the audacity to wear my SW costumes. According to them, I "don't have the right" to wear a costume I paid for. So they would come up and bump into me on purpose, yell at me or ask what gives me the right to wear a SW costume.
4. A few times in the past I've had people come up and tell me my parents must be ashamed of me.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

I've had a few over the years. Here's a small selection:

1. Wearing 3PO at Dragoncon was difficult; so much so I sold it afterwards.
2. Wore Red Skull and had a guy start screaming at me I was a racist and wanted to kick my ass.
3. I've been harassed by the 501st at a few cons for having the audacity to wear my SW costumes. According to them, I "don't have the right" to wear a costume I paid for. So they would come up and bump into me on purpose, yell at me or ask what gives me the right to wear a SW costume.
4. A few times in the past I've had people come up and tell me my parents must be ashamed of me.

Wow, that is awful. On behalf of decent human beings, let me just say sorry for the way you were treated.

 

[joshvanrad]

1. I've been harassed by the 501st at a few cons for having the audacity to wear my SW costumes. According to them, I "don't have the right" to wear a costume I paid for. So they would come up and bump into me on purpose, yell at me or ask what gives me the right to wear a SW costume.
2. A few times in the past I've had people come up and tell me my parents must be ashamed of me.

Good God, man! What are dressing up as? Zombie-Rapist-*****-Buddha?

 

[oblagon]

Good God, man! What are dressing up as? Zombie-Rapist-*****-Buddha?

Close It was a Vader costume

 

[dano]

I donned a Batman suit years ago for a charity event, the next morning when I woke up I'd gone blind. It turned out the cowl hadn't been washed after it's previous outing and the sweat that had soaked into the latex several weeks earlier had created a build up of bacteria. Given it was a really hot day when I was sweating inside the suit the bacteria had found it's way into my eyes. It took me 3 days to fully regain my vision!

 

[Craftynathan]

I donned a Batman suit years ago for a charity event, the next morning when I woke up I'd gone blind. It turned out the cowl hadn't been washed after it's previous outing and the sweat that had soaked into the latex several weeks earlier had created a build up of bacteria. Given it was a really hot day when I was sweating inside the suit the bacteria had found it's way into my eyes. It took me 3 days to fully regain my vision!

Well that is a pretty horrific thing to happen to you, i hope your eyes have gotten better !

I started making props and such when i was quite young, when i was seven i saw cool running for the first time and decided that this was something that i needed. However i live in Ireland and it generally does not snow in Ireland and the skates were made out of cardboard tubes.

Needless to say that plan didn't work out to well. When i was 9 i decided a flamethrower was all that i should need. Unfortunately i made my weapon of destruction from cardboard lighters and spray cans, when the fire alarms started going off, my mother "confiscated" creation as i had destroyed part of my room !

When i was abit olderi decided i wanted a suit of armour (at this point i had not heard of foam or worbla or anything else) what i did have was a large amount of wood and power tools. So i built myself a suit of medieval armour, a chest plate and back plate and nails to hold it together. (Not a great plan) Then overlapping layers of wood as thigh and arm armour. A paper mache helmet, a wooden sword and a shield. The strapping was literally twine and had to be tied by a helper to get the armour onto my body.

I then painted it all pure white and stuck a big red cross on it. (I thought crusaders were cool as hell and the helmet was a crusader helm so i thought this would work). So once it had all been created Halloween arrived and i had to go down to some old friends i once knew before we moved.

Now i was just turning 13 at this time, that weird period where you are no longer a boy and not yet a man but somewhere in between. So when the day came i was wrapped in my armour and discovered i could not sit down so i was loaded in the back of the car lying down, trying to avoid being stabbed by all the nails and rivets in my armour. This trip took over two hours but i was so excited to show off my armour to my old friends.

I got out of the car all dapper in my homemade armour and they laughed at me apparently costumes were not cool anymore. So i ran off and ripped the armour up. never wore it again, it got burned the following winter. Took me 13 years before i started building again.

 

[S1NGULAR1TY]

My experiences as Chewie have mostly been great. I've a had a few screaming kids who's parents insist on getting their photo in spite of the fact that there kid is terrified. Most kids are pretty good and want to hug the big dog-man.

Most adults are good as well, but I've had a few oddball reactions that I will share:

1. At an anime con (yeah I know) one of the teen girls starting licking the Wookiee hair on one of my arms. Suffice to say if she knew how much sweat, rain, engine exhaust (parades) and so on had gotten on that hair, she wouldn't have thought that was a good idea.
2. At DragonCon 09 and 10, I had a football fan guy try to climb me into my arms without asking. Really pissed me off.
3. I was marching in a parade in Seattle in 2006. A drunk tried to climb me from behind. I shook him off and turned around to see what the hell was going on. He was obviously ****faced and two cops were approaching him from behind.
4. A couple of kids tried to sell me a joint at a Make-A-Wish fundraiser that took place in a mall. I was walking back to the dressing room for a break.

I feel out of the loop here. Is football person a term you use for idiots who screw up cosplay with their ignorance? Or ACTUAL football players/fans?

 

[oblagon]

I feel out of the loop here. Is football person a term you use for idiots who screw up cosplay with their ignorance? Or ACTUAL football players/fans?

DragonCon is at the same time as a football game; so you get a lot of football fans coming to DragonCon causing trouble. I went in 2017 and have to say it was the worst time I've ever had. Everything is sanitized and the football fans way outnumbered the costumed people

 

[GotWookiee]

I feel out of the loop here. Is football person a term you use for idiots who screw up cosplay with their ignorance? Or ACTUAL football players/fans?

There are college football games in the area the same weekend. It used to be anyone could enter the convention hotels and only needed a badge for the convention Halls and ballrooms.
The football doods created a lot of problems and it built up over the years until a bunch of incidents of sexual harassment/assault happened and it blew up on live journal.
Since then, you aren't allowed in the hotels without a badge or room key. The football fans have become much less of a problem. There are a few but it's people who can afford to stay in the host hotels, which tends to rule out the early twenties drunken frat boy.

 

[S1NGULAR1TY]

All these stories reminded me of a story from a couple Halloweens ago.

I had been working on a Dark Knight Rises Scarecrow mask, and by the time I got it done, it was about, 3 - 4 days from Halloween. That gave me enough time to run through some thrift stores to find a suit to wear with it. I live in a relatively small town, and we had about one or two shops. (I say had because one shut down.) Anyway, I go into the store, with my mask in my pocket because I need to see how it looked with the suit. So I find one that works, and go into this dressing room to try it on. I get it on, then come out to show my buddy, who was going as the Heath Ledger Joker. The dude who owns the store see's me come out with my mask on, and pulls a SHOTGUN out from underneath the counter and aimed it at me. He thought I was going to rob him. We had to explain what I was doing to him, and show him pictures before he believed us.

I'm pretty sure that store was the one that shut down.

That night, some kid in a Batman costume ran up and hit me in the crotch. When his mom asked him why, he said "It's because he's a bad guy." The mom started apologizing, and we ended up laughing it off. It was so out of nowhere, we couldn't help but laugh. Definitely the weirdest experience I've had. The rest of the night went okay. The mask scared the * out of a bunch of kids. It was a fun night.

 

[sw63]

Last year I made a Hobo Luke costume.
I thought I'd done a pretty good job of it too. Took ages researching, sourcing, hand-stitching, carving the walking stick, etc.
I made it in the winter: thick, woolly jumper, leather coat, waxed canvass poncho, wool puttees - perfect for that time of year (or for hanging-out on Skellig Michael).
Did a Resistance Rey costume for my daughter. We looked awesome!
I was so into it - I grew my hair (normally I have a crew-cut) and my beard. The months of June, July & August were scorching hot - but I persevered with my long hair and beard.
In late August I decided to go to York Comicon in my Hobo Luke costume, with my daughter as Rey. It turned-out to be the hottest day of the year (32 c / 90 f degrees).
We queued for two hours with no shade to get in. I got sunburn on my face.
Finally got inside, only to discover the place was absolutely packed to the rafters and no air-con.
Sweated my nuts off for two hours - then gave-up, bitterly disappointed.
I'd gone through an entire summer of Hell and that day in particular was awful - mainly because everyone kept on coming-up to me and asking, "Are you supposed to be a hobbit?"

 

[Utri]

It was fine for the first 4 hours, but at hour 5 I was sore, and at hour 6 I was in pain. But I just kept going.

That's how it's done! And not an ounce of regret.

 

[back]

First Comic Con out in my GB Gear, standing tall, lookin good, Not realizing how heavy my boots really were, tripping forward onto the train home chipping one of my teeth... Sigh.

 

[micks75au]

Worst expierience which has been a recurring one, has been people who reach out and try to grab off (sometimes succeding) a costume part or piece because they think they can or want to look at it without asking, mainly its been hats masks or accessories in my case. Usually they are drunk and just think they can. Usually grabbing it back quickly and growling works or the sudden appearance of my size 12 boot heel on thier toes stops them.

 

[Sparticle]

Working at a haunt as a dead pirate, I had a great pair of bucket boots. At one point, I stumbled, but was okay (I was NOT okay). That evening, when I took off my boots, my left ankle swelled up like a baseball and I nearly passed out from the pain! I had sprained my ankle so bad I went to the Emergency room. They gave me a brace, but would give me nothing for the pain. I toughed it out on ibuprofen, beer and whip cream flavored vodka shots.

Dressed as King Henry VIII on-stage, they brought up a little girl for a photo, She was maybe 2-years old. She walked over to me and grabbed onto my codpiece, in front of a sizeable crowd...

Dressed as a werewolf (again at a haunt) a huge, muscle-bound man threatened to kick my @ss because his daughter, maybe 15, told him I had said I was going to **** them. I NEVER talk that way!) Quickest way out, I apologized, saying if that's what she thought I said, it was not what I said. I told them to have a good evening and left the area.

 

[Sparticle]

Oh yeah! I dressed as the Devil for Halloween: slicked back hair, red face, horns, pointed ears, fangs, red frilly shirt, black gloves, black faux-leather pants, black boots and a large black cape. We went to a bar having a cash-prize costume contest. A group of six or seven people came in, one wearing a cheap $5.00 devil mask. The group passed the crappy mask around all night. When we were called to the stage, the group sent a woman up with the mask on, no costume. The contest was based on the loudest and longest cheers, so guess who won? Cheapie mask, whick they threw away after pocketing their prize money. They didn't even buy any drinks that night.

The bar was so ashamed, they bought my table a round of drinks.

 

[p51]

Recently I ran into a woman who said she did the slave Liea thing at a con in the 90s. She very much looked the part at the time from the photos she showed me. Problem was, she didn't expect people being more handsy than they were. Women, too.
A woman yanked on her lower part and she had forgotten the underwear she'd modified for underneath. You can imagine the rest. She said she'd gone to nude beaches around that time so she wasn't mortified...
...Until they kicked out of the con. Some lady from the con told her she must have staged it all.