Cosplay 2013.biz

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

The Walking Dead's Chandler Riggs - cosplay character profile

The Walking Dead -

Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes

Character's name - Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes

Featured In - Walking Dead, TV series about a virus that takes over Earth and causes people to become human-eating Zombies. Carl Grimes is played by Chandler Riggs. Chandler Riggs attended the 2013 Florida SuperCon.  Riggs was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Gina Ann (Carlton) and William Riggs.

He started working on The Walking Dead at the tender age of 10.  In 2012 and 2013, he was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor for his role on the show.

As well as The Walking Dead his other roles include:
Home Invasion (2014) - currently in filming about a family who become imprisoned in their own home by intruders who play a life-and-death game in which the mysterious rules become clear as the night unfolds.
Mercy (2014) - about a single mom and her two boys help take care of their grandmother with mystical powers.
Terminus (2011) - On a journey through post-apocalyptic Atlanta, a young woman struggles to protect her brother while coping with her father's death.
The Wronged Man (2010) - about Janet Gregory, a single mother with a haunting past, is a paralegal struggling to overcome doubts about Calvin Willis, an African-American husband and father wrongfully accused of raping a neighbourhood girl.
Get Low (2009) - A movie spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about the mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who famously threw his own rollicking funeral party... while he was still alive.
Jesus H. Zombie (2006) - 4 years before TWD Chandler Riggs has this role:

Throwback Thursday - Jesus H. Zombie

...obviously in training for TWD!

He also featured in a documentary Hollywood Ramblings at TFW (Texas Frightmare Weekend) 2013.

A brief interview back in May 2013 below states his career started after he attended community theatre with his parents. Since his career took over - he has been home schooled.

The trailer for Terminus:

Weapons - His weapon of choice is a pistol with a silencer. The Beretta 92FS with the aluminium baseball bat silencer/suppressor, and the Browning BDA he took from Daryl's motorcycle.

The Beretta with silencer is Carl's primary weapon, used when stealth is required. Carl doesn't have a holster for this pistol. He just carries it.

The silencer is roughly handmade - simply used to muffle gunshots so as not to alert walkers. For the purposes for cosplay - it simply has to look genuine.

Carl Grimes' revolver taken from the RV

Carl Grimes' Browning PDA pistol

Carl Grimes' Beretta 92FS with baseball bat silencer

Carl Grimes' Beretta 92FS without the silencer

The Browning BDA is Carl's backup weapon. Carl keeps the Browning with him at all times. Carl carries the pistol in a tactical holster similar to this Blackhawk Omega VI Ultra Holster.

He also took a revolver from the RV (they used a mould from a Bruni Olympic 6 revolver as he was very young during filming). He did not keep it.

(get an autographed Chandler Riggs "Carl Grimes" Beretta 92FS)

Hair - brown hair, a mussed up layered pageboy style with a side fringe.

Eyes - I'm pretty sure he has blue eyes, although sometimes they look green.
Costume - Carl Grimes wears a Science Dog t-shirt along with an open plaid western shirt. Normally he's wearing brown trousers or a pair of demin jeans. He wears the CDH calvary hat with fobs. You could use any brown cowboy hat and modify it.

Carl Grimes / Chandler Riggs - The Walking Dead

Carl Grimes maroon hoodie

Carl Grimes cosplay

(a popular t-shirt! I hope they print some more! An alternative is this Stooble Walking Dog t-shirt. It has no cuffs and has a blood splatter on the graphic)

(Over time Carl has worn a few different outfits. I guess depending on what clothes he finds out scavenging. The medal featured on his maroon hoodie is a NATO Iraqi Sudan Afganistan mini medal)

Personality and background - Carl is Lori and Rick Grimes' son and Judith's elder brother. Upon learning of his father's shooting days before the outbreak, he is devastated. When the outbreak begins, Shane and Lori take him to the supposed safe zone in Atlanta. On the way there, he is told that his father is dead, and he gradually began to accept it.

In season one, after they set up camp with other survivors on the outskirts of Atlanta, Carl begins to look at Shane as a father figure, as he does various activities with him such as fishing. Carl appears to be oblivious to Shane and Lori's ongoing sexual relationship. When Rick returns, Carl is overjoyed and Lori restricts Carl's interactions with Shane. After walkers overrun the campsite, killing and injuring many quarry survivors, Carl and the group travel to the CDC, where they enjoy the facility's amenities. Following the CDC's destruction, they start traveling again.

In season two, Carl is shown to be yearning for more responsibility within the group, such as helping to scavenge for supplies. While searching for the missing Sophia, he is shot and wounded by a man named Otis, who leads them to a nearby farm. The owner, Hershel Greene, operates and saves his life. While in recovery, he begins to develop a colder mindset, which worries Lori. This new mindset continues to develop following the reveal of Sophia as a walker. He denies the idea of heaven and shows disrespect towards his elders. In the season's penultimate episode, Carl saves his father by shooting Shane, who had become a walker. His gunshot attracts a horde of walkers and so the group is ultimately driven off the farm.

In season three, six to seven months later, Carl has evolved into a child soldier of sorts; he has grown more proficient with weapons, and has adapted a more mature demeanor, as well as a more responsible role within the group. He has grown distant from Lori and shows a developing crush on Hershel's seventeen-year-old daughter, Beth. After watching his mother die while giving birth via C-section, a distraught Carl shoots her per her request to prevent reanimation. While Rick, Oscar, Daryl and Michonne head out to attack Woodbury, Carl is left in charge of protecting the others inside of the prison. Upon the arrival of Tyreese's group, he takes the initiative to lock them all out of his cell block.

Carl kills a teenage boy

In the finale, Carl kills a teenage member of The Governor's army, who failed to drop his gun, despite professing to surrender, when the boy stepped closer to Carl, Hershel (who was unarmed), and infant Judith. Carl tells Rick he did not want to take his chances by letting someone else live who could potentially kill someone in their group; he brings up how he did not kill the walker on the farm that killed Dale and how Rick's decision to not kill Andrew and The Governor resulted in the deaths of Lori and Merle, respectively. Carl also appears angered by Rick's decision to take in Woodbury's remaining survivors, who generally appear to be less able-bodied. In season 4 Carl has turned to farming along with his father, Rick tries to encourage Carl to be a kid, but Carl hardened by what he's seen and done is reluctant to do so.

Carole at Storytime

He does go to "Storytime" that is hosted by Carol which turned out to be teaching the kids how to use weapons when needed. He tells his father. After an infection breaks out in the prison Rick lets him carry a gun again. In the mid season finale he tells Daryl he has a clear shot on The Governor, but Daryl tells him to not take the shot as a firefight would break out. During the fight he saves his father before finding his sister's carrier empty and bloody. Devastated Rick and Carl leave the prison as walkers invade with Rick telling Carl, "Don't look back."

Rick and Carl leave the prison behind "Don't look back"

After the attack, Rick and Carl found a house in a neighborhood. Carl feels like he doesn't need Rick anymore and starts scolding him about how he wanted to plant vegetables and hide while The Governor knew where they were. He goes on to state that he never forgot how to survive while it happened. He is later seen luring 2 walkers away from the house to kill them somewhere where noise won't attract other walkers. He successfully lures them away but encounters a third walker and nearly gets killed. He goes to a house and discovers another walker in one of the rooms. The walker nearly kills him but Carl gets away losing his shoe in the process. He eats pudding he found in the house while sitting on the roof. He later returns to the house and Rick rises from a couch being used to block the door from walkers. Thinking that Rick is dead, he raises his gun at Rick, only to cry saying that he is scared. The next day, as they are sitting near the couch, they hear a knock on the door. It is revealed to be Michonne after she found the pudding that Carl ate the day before. Rick looks at the door and says it's for Carl.

Carl lures walkers, gets into strife

Pudding on the roof

While Rick stays back at the house to recover, Carl and Michonne set out on a supply run where they further their bond, and Carl learns that Michonne once mothered a son. They return from their supply run to find Rick fleeing the house due to it becoming occupied by a hostile group of men. Carl accompanies Rick and Michonne on foot until they come by a train car with a sign attached which points out a sanctuary known as Terminus. Rick decides to travel towards it. On the way there, they are confronted by the hostile group who now have Daryl in their employ. Daryl retaliates against the hostile group, and the confrontation quickly escalates. During the ensuing fight, a man attempts to rape Carl, but is stopped and killed by Rick.

Man attempts to rape Carl

Carl, Rick, Daryl and Michonne continue to follow the tracks, eventually reaching Terminus. Rick decides to have his group sneak into the compound to avoid detection, remaining cautious of its current residents. They find the Terminus members in a broadcasting room, and are greeted by Gareth, the apparent leader. Gareth escorts Rick's group to the courtyard where other Terminus members are situated. Rick notices a Terminus resident in possession of Glenn's watch and quickly deduces that something is wrong. He draws his weapon and demands to know where Glenn and the other people from the prison are. Gareth has his men open fire on Rick's group and strategically rounds them up to a train car. Rick, Carl, Michonne and Daryl are forced to drop their weapons and step into the train car where they are held prisoner. Inside, they are reunited with prison group survivors - Glenn, Maggie and Sasha, along with new group members - Tara, Abraham, Eugene and Rosita.

Arrive at Terminus

Reunited inside a container at Terminus

I am so excited for Season 5! Here is an interesting video about the Season 5 cast and storyline predictions:

Happy Cosplaying!

Monday, 12 May 2014

Australian band Sheppard's music video Geronimo features Cosplay

Creative Cardboard Clad Conquerors

Australian band Sheppard's newly released music video Geronimo features two tribes clad in cardboard armour. A cardboard monster. In fact the entire set is cardboard. It kinda reminds me of Frankenstein. Anyway the monster is revered. I think it's about dating, breaking up, reuniting. What's your interpretation?

Sheppard comprises of vocalist George Sheppard and his sisters Amy and Emma Sheppard. Amy has the green hair, Emma plays the bass. The girls add amazing background vocals to their Indie style music. Other band members are lead guitarist Michael Butler and drummer Dean Gordon along with Jay Bovino.

In 2009 - Sheppard started out as a duo of George and Amy initially as a hobby. Later in 2011 they realised their songwriting potential. Their musical influences include Fleetwood Mac, Beatles, Paul Simon and Cat Stevens.

The Sheppard children were brought up in Papua New Guinea and attended a multi-culture school that "focussed heavily on the arts. Drama, music, dance, they had it all. We had a brilliant music teacher, by the name of Buruka Tau, who is a legendary musician who has played with the likes of Yothu Yindi and Madonna".

Their single Geronimo has been sitting at No.1 on the Australian music charts. Their next single is an upbeat catchy tune about freedom of speech. About politics and media. Awesome video.

Get your download of Geronimo on iTunes.

Happy Cosplaying!

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

7 cool Minecraft Youtube songs

1. New World - a Minecraft parody

New World, a Minecraft parody of Coldplay's "Paradise" song was published Nov 2013 and has almost 30 million views on Youtube! Since Feb 2011 Skydoesminecraft has run a very successful Youtube channel promoting minecraft, minecraft mod reviews and now collaborates with other 'miners' to make awesome minecraft songs. At Minecon 2013 he performed this song live.

2. Apex - a Minecraft song

Appropriate song title as the word Apex refers to the point end or tip of something. In the video Steve picks up his pickaxe and proceeds to mine, and build his house. Later that night is attacked by zombies. He makes a run for it with his pet pig. Wakes up and realises his house is destroyed. He picks up his pickaxe again and builds another, better house. Again that night the zombies come back, so this time he defends his house by using his pickaxe against the zombies. The sun rises and he and his house survive for another day.

3. Creeper Rap (Boom, Boom, Boom)

This is an awesome Creeper Rap video by Dan Bull. "Boom Boom Boom, I can't stop singing this bloody tune, tune, tune" LOL, I was still singing this damn song long after I watched it. Very catchy. You can try and sing along as it has the words karaoke-style in the vid. The lead Creeper has rapper style bling - a glowing necklace with a pendant. The Creeper has a TNT heart that explodes so this song is the Bomb!

4. Revenge - a Minecraft parody

Revenge (Minecraft Creeper Song) is a parody of Usher's DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love. The thing I notice the most about these Minecraft songs is these guys (and gals) can actually sing. Crafted using Noteblocks this is a very well made video. Uploaded August 2011, the video has had 130 million views. Sick of being tormented by the Creeper at night, Steve crafts some armor and a Diamond Sword to get his revenge and kill the Creepers.

5. Let's Have Some Fun in Minecraft

Let's Have Some Fun in Minecraft is a parody of When Can I See You Again. My interpretation of the song is that anything is possible in Minecraft. Whatever fantasy, or dream you have - you can create your own parallel existence in Minecraft on your own or with others. There are tools you can craft like the "butter hoe". Don't let the Creepers, Enderman, Skeletons or Zombies defeat you. Credit to Einshine, Fredisaal Animations, vocals by Skydoesminecraft!

6. Wrecking Mob - a Minecraft parody

Wrecking Mob is a parody of (yep - you guessed it) The Miley Cyrus song Wrecking Ball. This is another awesome video. Mainly about miners being harassed by Creepers. But then the last laughs on the Miner who gets his own stock of TNT and blows the Creepers to smithereens (or does he?).

7. Diamond Sword - a Minecraft parody

Another great Minecraft song. Fresh onto the scene this video was uploaded Feb 2014. You have to hand it to these guys man! The talent that goes into making these videos is epic. World class animation and great vocals.

"You make me wanna act like a Noob, throw my pick and wear no gear. You make me so crazy and I can't touch your ore.." He's so defensive he makes a diamond sword and builds a diamond block.

If you enjoy these videos, please support the artists on iTunes so you can see more.

For some awesome Minecraft merchandise head to Cosplay2013.biz

Happy Cosplaying!

Monday, 17 March 2014

Babymetal, J-Pop and metal fuse

Babymetal - Japan's newest music explosion

Introducing Babymetal

Suzuka Nakamoto, Moa Kikuchi and Yui Mizuno are three wee cuties who dress in Harajuku and sing over heavy rock/metal background music. It is the perfect combination!

The music has the thumping bass and rippling guitar riffs that bare a strong resemblance to thrash metal, but - there is a sweet overtone of harmony bringing metal music bang up to date (in my opinion). And instead of some screeching tattooed head-banger fore-fronting the band - your eyes are pleasantly feasted with the sweet singing trio.

The accompanying band wear skeleton bodysuits to add even extra zing to complete the package.

Babymetal's first indie CD single, titled "BabyMetal × Kiba of Akiba", ranked 3rd in the Oricon weekly indie chart and number one in the Tower Records Shibuya weekly indie ranking. The band's major debut single "Ijime, Dame, Zettai" sold 19,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number 6 in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. The group released its next single, titled "Megitsune" on Wednesday, June 19. On November 20, 2013 Babymetal released their first live DVD/Blu-ray. The Blu-ray version debuted at seventh place in the weekly Oricon Blu-ray charts (and at the second place among music Blu-rays). The disc contained three different concerts.

Babymetal attended the "Summer Sonic 2013" rock festival which was held in Tokyo and Osaka on August 10 and 11, 2013. It was their second time performing at the festival; in 2012, they became the youngest artists ever (with the average age of 12) to perform there. Later, in October 2013, Babymetal became also the youngest artists ever to perform at the Heavy Metal Music Festival, Loud Park. In November 2013, Babymetal released a promo video for the Japanese premiere of Metallica's movie Through the Never.
The group held a two-day live concert at Budokan, on March 1 and 2, 2014.
Their first album has been released on February 26, 2014.

Musical style

Their record label defines the band's style as "kawaii metal" ("cute metal") and clarifies that it means "a mix of J-pop idol [music] and heavy metal".^[1]^[16]
Patrick St. Michel from MTV 81 praises the "pure, headbang-inducing energy" of the group's live performances and describes their style like this:

The teenage trio merge the seemingly disparate sounds of heavy metal and idol pop, creating music anchored both by throat-mauling screeches and cuddly choruses.

—Headbanging with BABYMETAL at Rock In Japan 2013

Enrico Ahlig from the German magazine Metal Hammer wrote:

Their recipe for success: short skirts, schoolgirl charm, and high-pitched peepy voices — just like in the manga comics.
But they mix it all with metal. Slams, breaks, and solos are fiercely thrown into a pot of squeaky techno tunes. It sounds weird, but it is so.

—Babymetal: Crazy metal trend from Japan

Get Babymetal on iTunes

Get Babymetal style

Happy Cosplaying!

Monday, 10 March 2014

Cosplay @ Armageddon Expo 2014

Armageddon Expo Christchurch 2014

On Saturday 8th March and Sunday 9th March 2014 the Christchurch Stables room at the Addington Raceway came to life with the bustling and shuffling of literally 1,000s of people pushing their way through. Gamers, geeks, cosplayers, families and people from all over came to view what was on offer as far as Gaming and Anime was concerned. On offer were Madman anime screenings along with their anime stall. There were many stalls and my son was thrilled to get his hands on a Plush Plants vs Zombies zombie. "mmmm...Brainz!"

Exactly like this one:

Gaming @ Armageddon Expo

The latest in Gaming was on show featuring the new virtual reality gaming. Bringing a whole new level of gameplay. Gamers were testing out the new Alienware gameware.