Refira

Costume :	Toothless
Variant :	Mascot/Character Costume; Quadsuit
Source :	How to Train Your Dragon
Progress :	Complete
Worn At :	London MCM Expo October 2012

Photos
Information
Comments (50)
To-Do List

Costume Photos

Toothless with his new tail fin!

Toothless resting

Dancing!

Night fury

A dragon in London

Toothless!

Curious dragon

Ready to fly...?

Stomp!

Hi there!

Onwards and Forwards

Toothless, sit!

Costume Information

General
Cost :	Most of my money. XP
Awards :	Eurocosplay 2012 qualifier; Eurocosplay 3rd place runner up.
Time Taken :	February-October on-off work

Description
When I first saw the movie 'How to Train Your Dragon' I loved Toothless the Night Fury - his design, personality, everything - and wanted to make a costume of him. However, I dismissed the idea as I felt he was waaaay to advanced for me to stand a chance at creating anything remotely resembling him. Now, Fast forward to February 2012... the time came for me to pick a character to create a mascot costume head of as part of my second year university project, and the one character I had been wanting to do (but had been a bit scared to attempt until now) seemed like the logical choice - and thus I decided to take the plunge and try and make him; for better or for worse I was comitted to this project - and thus the journey begun. I finished the costume head just on time, and thought that, after all the hard work it would be nice to have a complete costume for the summer con this year - Amecon 2012. Unfortunately, I had to take a few weeks off of working due to ill health, meaning I was far behind where I wanted to be construction-wise. However, I decided to stick with it, and after a few more weeks of hard work, much less sleep than is healthy for me and an unnatural amount of determination, I managed to finish the costume to some degree (with many temporary pieces) just in time for Amecon. He is by far the biggest and most rediculously-sized thing I have made up until this date. XD This costume is very special to me as the costume head was the first piece of work I have ever made that I am actually truely proud of; normally I hate all of my work and can only see faults in it, but this actually came out better than I expected and I accepted it despite its faults. This may not seem like much, but was a big step for me in building up confidence that, for various personal reasons, I had never before had in my own work. ^^ I was very suprised to win the Eurocosplay 2012 qualifier with Toothless, and even more suprised to actually place 3rd overall in the commpetition! After a load of various health problems and personal issues recently this has really, really cheered me up and made me feel like I have finally managed to achieve something worthwile for the first time in a long time. The whole Eurocosplay experience has helped me to gain more confidence in myself, and I must thank you all so much for all of your kind words and support; you're all amazing and it is all of your support and kindness that has helped me get this far and encouraged me to continue making costumes from the start. You're all super. ~ <3 For all who saw it, my Eurcosplay skit (which did not go well... XP) was full of problems due to a malfunctioning head harness which not only made the head of the costume loose (and resulting in it almost falling off onstage) but also pushed the balaclava I was wearing fully over my eyes making me completely blind on stage for the whole thing. I've never been so terrified in a stage performance in all my life as I was then, but although I was devistated that all my hard work planning my skit was wasted and worried that I had dissapointed everyone watching, but am glad I stuck with it and performed something, even if it wasn't anything like what I wanted to do ...This is the kind of thing that always seems to happen to me (life seems to like to prove to me you can't plan every little detail perfectly in advance and something unexpected can happen any time), but has actually had the positive effect of destroying my fear of things going wrong in my stage performences - that was pretty much my worst case scenario, everything I didn't want to happen happened and I still got through it. So I guess there's a positive in everything. ^^ **EDIT: Thank you for the weekly showcase! And for all of your kind words and comments! You're all amazing. ^^ **

Description

When I first saw the movie 'How to Train Your Dragon' I loved Toothless the Night Fury - his design, personality, everything - and wanted to make a costume of him. However, I dismissed the idea as I felt he was waaaay to advanced for me to stand a chance at creating anything remotely resembling him.
Now, Fast forward to February 2012... the time came for me to pick a character to create a mascot costume head of as part of my second year university project, and the one character I had been wanting to do (but had been a bit scared to attempt until now) seemed like the logical choice - and thus I decided to take the plunge and try and make him; for better or for worse I was comitted to this project - and thus the journey begun.

I finished the costume head just on time, and thought that, after all the hard work it would be nice to have a complete costume for the summer con this year - Amecon 2012. Unfortunately, I had to take a few weeks off of working due to ill health, meaning I was far behind where I wanted to be construction-wise. However, I decided to stick with it, and after a few more weeks of hard work, much less sleep than is healthy for me and an unnatural amount of determination, I managed to finish the costume to some degree (with many temporary pieces) just in time for Amecon. He is by far the biggest and most rediculously-sized thing I have made up until this date. XD

This costume is very special to me as the costume head was the first piece of work I have ever made that I am actually truely proud of; normally I hate all of my work and can only see faults in it, but this actually came out better than I expected and I accepted it despite its faults. This may not seem like much, but was a big step for me in building up confidence that, for various personal reasons, I had never before had in my own work. ^^

I was very suprised to win the Eurocosplay 2012 qualifier with Toothless, and even more suprised to actually place 3rd overall in the commpetition! After a load of various health problems and personal issues recently this has really, really cheered me up and made me feel like I have finally managed to achieve something worthwile for the first time in a long time.
The whole Eurocosplay experience has helped me to gain more confidence in myself, and I must thank you all so much for all of your kind words and support; you're all amazing and it is all of your support and kindness that has helped me get this far and encouraged me to continue making costumes from the start. You're all super. ~ <3

For all who saw it, my Eurcosplay skit (which did not go well... XP) was full of problems due to a malfunctioning head harness which not only made the head of the costume loose (and resulting in it almost falling off onstage) but also pushed the balaclava I was wearing fully over my eyes making me completely blind on stage for the whole thing. I've never been so terrified in a stage performance in all my life as I was then, but although I was devistated that all my hard work planning my skit was wasted and worried that I had dissapointed everyone watching, but am glad I stuck with it and performed something, even if it wasn't anything like what I wanted to do ...This is the kind of thing that always seems to happen to me (life seems to like to prove to me you can't plan every little detail perfectly in advance and something unexpected can happen any time), but has actually had the positive effect of destroying my fear of things going wrong in my stage performences - that was pretty much my worst case scenario, everything I didn't want to happen happened and I still got through it. So I guess there's a positive in everything. ^^

****EDIT: Thank you for the weekly showcase! And for all of your kind words and comments! You're all amazing. ^^ ****

Comments

This was amazing ! <3

by Zep on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 21:44

Aaaaww, This is so adorable!

by Stripeycow on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 21:49

This was absolutely amazing and well deserved for the qualifier. Good Luck! :D

by digibrute on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 21:49

Incredible work, he's so cute and perfectly proportioned!
I can't wait to see the final version in October.

by Amy-Lou on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 22:05

Congrats. Can't wait to hopefully see this in person in October. ^_^

by Teacup_Erinyes on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 22:05

This is so amazing...captured the character very well ^_^

by SamanthaKaiba on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 22:14

So adorable!! I'm so happy you're representing us for EuroCos, so well deserved! Everything about the costume is already perfect, I can't wait to see how it'll look in the finals :)

by CrystalNeko on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 22:14

awesome awesome costume good luck at euro cosplay

by yami-no-neko on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 22:22

this was amazing and so hugable ><

by blissfulbanana on Saturday, 18 August, 2012 - 22:31

CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE
Good luck at EuroCosplay!

by Sisceal on Sunday, 19 August, 2012 - 01:15

love it so cute ^o^

by Smallfry0 on Sunday, 19 August, 2012 - 01:16

This was a very interesting costume to see at Ame (I have no idea how you made it!!) Good luck for Euro cosplay!! We'll be there watching you!! ^^

by Afireinsidegirl on Sunday, 19 August, 2012 - 08:38

this is awsome congrats on the eurocosplay qualifier u deserve it

by dan-dan on Sunday, 19 August, 2012 - 11:44

omg adorable!!!

by FuriePhoenix on Sunday, 19 August, 2012 - 14:46

So cute!
Congrats on the EuroCosplay qualifier - good luck for the competition! :)

by Lunar_Kitten on Friday, 24 August, 2012 - 23:19

I think I want to take him, and snuggle him, and love him!

by Silantre on Sunday, 26 August, 2012 - 01:56

I can testify to the awesomeness of this costume, having spent most of the masquerade queuing time petting its adorable head.. Thank you, Jemima, for your most excellent company, and I'll be cheering for you at the EC finals.

by Kei Lin Sama on Tuesday, 28 August, 2012 - 22:32

Loved the beautiful small details on this. You've been making such great things for a long time, it's fantastic to see you get to represent us in Euro. Best of luck, you'll knock them dead with cute!

by KhaosKreator on Wednesday, 29 August, 2012 - 12:14

Thank you everyone. ^^
Not long to go now before I take Toothless to the Eurocosplay finals... I've been working on a few of the weaker components and am well on track towards having him ready in his final form for the end of October.
Thank you for the continued support everyone. I really appreciate it! :)

by Refira on Monday, 24 September, 2012 - 23:01

This was amazing. Well done on being selected for the Eurocosplay final. Best of luck for Oct. Can't wait to see Toothless again ^^.

by Sephirayne on Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 - 12:43

Was great to see this in person and appreciate all the time and effort! Haha, it was funny how the judges all wanted pictures with you after your slot finished XD Congratulations on placing, it was well deserved! :D

by madmazda86 on Sunday, 28 October, 2012 - 09:05

Seriously well done. We were cheering for you at Eurocosplay and you really did us proud. XX

by Teacup_Erinyes on Monday, 29 October, 2012 - 20:38

Well done on winning 3rd at Eurocosplay. Proud of you ^^

by Sephirayne on Tuesday, 30 October, 2012 - 19:04

Wow, I somehow missed you at the expo lol! amahzing cosplay, please go to the may expo so my daughter can meet toothless, shes 6 and loooves the film :) x

by sky-zelda-princess on Wednesday, 31 October, 2012 - 17:34

Thank you! I really am glad people loved the costume; I was really worried people would be dissapointed in me because my skit went very, very wrong and that would overshadow the time and effort I have put into the costume over the last few months. It makes me happy to know that people don't entirely discount my work due to me failing on stage (which is the kind of thing that always happens to me... XD... I'm yet to have a stage performance go completely right, but Toothless was by far the worst fail so far). Oh well, everything still turned out well in the end, and I enjoyed the whole experience, so things like that don't really matter in the long run. ^^

sky-zelda-princess: I would love to take Toothless to Expo again in May, but unfortunately due to how hard he is to travel with (and to store in my small University room) I'm not sure it is possible. I may be taking him to Minamicon (if there is enough interest to justify the inconvenience of travelling him there), but I'm not sure May Expo is easily doable, as much as I'd really love to.

by Refira on Tuesday, 6 November, 2012 - 21:07

Wow! Such an awsome costume. Very well made! Great Job!
I love Toothless<3

by Kiri-Kiri-Kun on Tuesday, 6 November, 2012 - 21:21

So much love for this! I only wish I could have seen it in person at the expo! <3

by Lady Bahamut on Tuesday, 6 November, 2012 - 21:42

So awesome!! So wish I could have seen it in person!

by MissColzyChan on Tuesday, 6 November, 2012 - 23:29

Oh my gosh....just looking at your photos makes me want to cry tears of joy! T__T Lovely!

by sarmander on Wednesday, 7 November, 2012 - 00:02

Congratulations on the 3rd place! Very well deserved, you were so cute onstage and the tail fin sail is a lovely touch! <3

by Freyarule on Wednesday, 7 November, 2012 - 10:36

It was absolutely adorable, probably one of my favorite customes at Ame. Well done of winning third place!

by Carmina on Wednesday, 7 November, 2012 - 14:16

So Adorable! God! Well done!

by Manticore on Wednesday, 7 November, 2012 - 20:18

awww it would be awesome if you could come london expo again, I could have got my brother to cosplay as hiccup as he looks just like him lol x

by sky-zelda-princess on Saturday, 17 November, 2012 - 19:59

perfection!

by mogwai k on Sunday, 17 February, 2013 - 17:39

I saw this at Eurocosplay. It was amazing! So very well done!!

by Yasmia on Sunday, 17 February, 2013 - 22:24

Gratz on the showcase, it's obvious how much love and work went into this wonderful costume!

by Afireinsidegirl on Monday, 18 February, 2013 - 09:02

This cosplay is just so amazing! Congratulations on the showcase!
You really deserved it!

by Littlegeeky on Monday, 18 February, 2013 - 12:29

I love the expression on the face – Toothless looks so happy to be at the Expo

by ArcaneArchery on Monday, 18 February, 2013 - 20:47

So happy that this got a showcase. So well deserved. Congratulations ♥

by Sephirayne on Tuesday, 19 February, 2013 - 13:27

Yay! Congrats on the showcase :D very much deserved!

by neko_riddles on Tuesday, 19 February, 2013 - 15:23

I'm really happy this got a showcase, you looked amazing :)

by Freyarule on Tuesday, 19 February, 2013 - 15:24

Stunning! =]

by Timcanpy55 on Tuesday, 19 February, 2013 - 18:36

Thank you so much everyone! ~ <3
You're all so kind. ^^

by Refira on Tuesday, 19 February, 2013 - 23:29

Incredible... just so incredible. I have no words for how amazing this costume is. *one person standing ovation which totally makes sense*

by MadameLapin on Wednesday, 20 February, 2013 - 01:50

Oh my gosh, this is so amazing! Seriously, if I ever were to meet you when you wear that costume you wouldn't be able to get rid of me, lol. XD

by Caius on Thursday, 21 February, 2013 - 20:56

Blimey you know I saw this when I joined this website. I couldn't leave a comment for the first 72 hours of joining. I can sew historic costumes to a degree, but I could never make anything like this. Do you have a youtube video of your skit as I can't see anything from your info page, so just thought i'd ask. I have only watched the film once but that is all that's needed to remember this cute dragon. WELL DONE!!!!!!!

by Tracy on Friday, 22 February, 2013 - 17:59

OMG OMG OMG OMG OH MY GOSH I love toothless, that is an amazing cosplay. Well done ^^ xxx

by Shewolfxterminater on Wednesday, 13 March, 2013 - 10:32

CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!!

by Spidercoffee on Thursday, 11 April, 2013 - 17:30

Again, thank you to everyone who has commented. I'm glad to hear so many people liked my costume. ^^

@Tracy - the whole of the Eurocosplay show is up on youtube; and there is a specific video of just my skit at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcNTrZzHsDU for anyone who feels like watching me fail on stage. XD
I still think I'm perhaps the only person who could have so much go so epically wrong in a performance in a big international competition. I've never actually had a skit go to plan, that was just by far the worst. Well, guess it gives me an excuse to re-enter Euro in a couple of years time... to finally get a skit right. XD

by Refira on Monday, 22 April, 2013 - 02:19

This is so cute and has totally made my day <3

by TrixieTober on Wednesday, 24 April, 2013 - 21:36

To-Do List

Tail fins	High	Complete
Tail	High	Complete
Costume Head	High	Complete
Wings	High	Complete
Bodysuit	High	Complete
Spikes on back	Medium	Complete
Feet	Medium	Complete
Replacement tail fin	Low	Complete