It seems like a pretty normal evening in Bidgood Hall Room 365, with all the usual trimmings – calculations left on the board from an accounting lab, seats swung under the desks, projector tucked away against the podium. Oh, and the crisp white set of Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper armor piled on the front table.
Every Thursday at 6 p.m., the room transforms from a common classroom into the headquarters of the Alabama Cosplay Battalion. The 20-odd Clark Kent – UA editions who make up the group are students by day and Supermen (and every other movie, video game, anime and comic character imaginable) by night and weekend.
The group is all about producing, purchasing and wearing outfits to emulate characters from pop culture, a practice called cosplay.
“It’s exactly like Halloween, except we do it every day of the year,” said J.T. Hamiter, a senior majoring in criminal justice and the club’s founder.
The focus of this meeting was a how-to presentation from Cameron Pletcher, a senior majoring in psychology and the group’s vice president, on costume creation, entitled “Vacuuforming and Fiberglass Armor.”
“This is the hard stuff,” Pletcher said, “figuratively and literally.”
Through a series of Powerpoint slides and YouTube videos, Pletcher describes the vacuuforming and fiberglass construction processes, which involve sucking a piece of warm plastic over a mold with a high-powered vacuum and layering fiberglass and resin on a frame, respectively, to the riveted audience.
The aforementioned stormtrooper outfit was produced using vaccuformation, and both processes are popular in the world of cosplay. They are by no means the only methods available or utilized, however. Club members are constantly looking for new uniforms, as well as new ways to create them.
“I think I find something new every week,” said Caitlin Tuten, a senior majoring in fashion and the president of the Battalion. “It’s really an ongoing process.”
Tuten said costumes range from cheaper cloth outfits, which usually can be produced for under $100, to more expensive and involved plastic or metal getups.
“Some people really get into it. The detail that some people put into their costumes is phenomenal,” Hamiter said. “I’ve seen some that cost over $1,000.”
Cosplayers don’t invest all this time and money on these outfits just to hang them in the closet. The primary purpose is to take the outfits for a spin, usually to show them off at conventions geared toward the activity. Club members are currently gearing up for PixelCon, a game culture convention to take place at the University on March 31, and DragonCon, which will be held from Aug. 31 to Sep. 3 in Atlanta, Ga. Such summits usually hold costume contests in which thousands compete for cosplay glory.
“It’s definitely satisfying to put the work into making your own costume, but the conventions are when it all really pays off,” Tuten said. “It really feels good to show off all your hard work and have people admiring how awesome you look.”
Hamiter founded the Battalion in the fall semester of 2009. After transferring to the University, he recognized his hobby’s disconnected niche in the student population and sought to unite it. Club membership has grown steadily ever since.
“There are a lot more cosplayers on campus than I thought,” Hamiter said.
Tuten is confident there is room in the club for a lot more. She encouraged all interested students to come to a meeting and give it a try, regardless of costume-creation experience.
“I knew nothing about this until college,” Tuten said. “I didn’t even know how to sew until freshman year.”
