Cosplay: Joan of Arc (Bladestorm - The 100 Years War)

About the character
Name: Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc)
Appears in: Bladestorm - The 100 Years war; Warriors Orochi 3, Bladestorm - Nightmare
Category: Videogame

About the costume
Finished: 23.5.2014
First worn: 24.5.14 at JapAniManga-Night (CH)
Wiki entry: [Link]



I especially love this character not only because I admire female knights in general, but because Joan of Arc is also a historical person I'm highly interested in. Already as a child I've loved the stories of Joan and her military effort, strength, courage, power of will, and how she always followed her belief until the end. Her death was tragic and unjust (she died as a martyr at the stake), and I still can't really understand how it took the church 500 years to saint her...
Joan is the main character in the videogame Bladestorm: The 100 Years War, but she is also a playable character in Warriors Orochi 3. I immediately fell in love with her appearance and character, and I wondered why she gained hardly any attention... I had already bought 3 XL sheets of Worbla which were originally intended for a Uriel (Darksiders) cosplay, but then I decided to cancel this plan and make Joan's armor instead.


The costume 

For the whole armor I needed about 1 XL Worbla sheet, as well as some white and blue fabric, silvery and golden paint, and that was it - more or less. Thus, regarding the level of complexity, Joan's armor was rather easy to make. However, it was my first time working with Worbla...! I didn't know how flexible this material will be, how heavy, what the surface will be like, how to make the single pieces fit/join, etc. etc... so there was a lot of experimenting, try & error, creating and recreating. I was quite astonished how quickly the armor building progressed compared to the papermaché technique (which is extremely time-consuming). My aim was to build some parts of the armor in such a way that they function similar to a real knight's armor or that they are practical (to wear, put on/off, and transport). For example, the shoes are covered two distinct Worbla parts which can be (dis-)assembled via push-buttons and velcro strips. I made a video to show you how I solved that (see below^^) Also, the armor covering the knee has some sort of joints which keeps it free to move. The knee part is jointed with the upper leg part with an extra middle part in between, so when I bend my knees the everything will move with it, just like a medieval armor.

The costume was quite fun to create since I had nice little helpers now and then :) (I'm used to making everything alone down in the cellar *foreveralone*) My sister helped me make the white tunic Joan wears below the armor. It's not a particularily difficult thing to do, but when it comes to savvy or sense of proportion, I can be such a jerk, haha! My sister's boyfriend helped me a lot as well. Without him, the lance/flag would never have been realized. So he popped around some day with his auger and ta-daa, I had two wooden sticks which I can easily put together and apart (same for Hilde's spear, btw!).

It may not look this way, but Joan's costume has a lot of hidden details which were quite tricky to make. For example: the leather straps on the legs, the small belt-buckles, or the back of the armor. These details, but also the pennant, were extremely time-consuming. I even planned to finish it for the Polymanga in April, but I just didn't make it because of all this time I had lost... But apart from that, it was a fun process - tried out new techniques and materials, such as threaded bars, press-studs, or brass fasteners. Everything goes together with velcro strips, and when I put on the costume for the first time, it was rather irritating because there are all those loud rustling noises coming from the velcro... x'D

 I am quite happy with the costume considering it was my first made with Worbla. I'm rather proud on how the pennant turned out, and I also like the golden ornaments everywhere on the armor. However, I guess it's obvious which parts were made with more patience and time investment and which ones are just botched due to lack of time (*cough* shoulders * cough* waist). The shape of the armor pieces are okay, but sometimes I didn't manage to get a smooth surface. Especially the corslet's surface is too craggy, even though I covered it into all these layers of putty, wood glue, and paint... at times I found it very difficult to heat up Worbla without getting blisters all over it... but probably that's something I just have to practice more :( The vambraces were the very first Worbla pieces I've ever made, so they turned out quite crappy as well - too tight, uncomfortable, not the right shape etc. I had always been scared of building the corslet, but in hindsight, the shoulders were way more difficult, and I'm not quite happy with them to be honest.

Now, to answer some frequently asked questions:
- Not everything is made of Worbla, some smaller parts are made of craft foam
- Ornaments are made of modelling clay, Worbla leftovers, and window colors
- The gloves are not handmade, they are bought and then painted brown (they're the same gloves I used for Hilde)
- The whole armor making process lasted 1 month, but the "trouble-shooting" and the details took me some 1-2 more weeks
- Yes, I can move and walk rather easily in the costume. But it's impossible to sit, kneel, or bend over! >.<
- The lily on the flag is painted, not sewn


On the stage

I wore Joan's costume the first time at the JapAniManga-Night 2014, a convention in Switzerland and participated in the cosplay contest. I carried all my stuff in my car and I needed the help of a buddy to put everything on, the process lasted almost an hour... There are always some difficulties, e.g. the upper leg armor didn't stay in place and was sliding down a little with every step I took, so they were attached with fixing pins - which was not a very beautiful solution. When it was finally the moment to go on the stage I realized that I didn't consider everything when I was making the costume: I forgot there could be stairs. And of course there were stairs. When I climbed up, one of the velcroes on my upper leg armor snapped. The back of the armor was now basically floating in midair, with it's ugly orange-colored side out. I called one of the organizer for help, but he was too busy and he didn't manage to close the velcro, so I just had to do it like this. It was not bad, most of the people didn't see this orange thing hanging there, but the front rows must have seen it, including the judges, and I was afraid the whole leg armor could just slide down to the floor. Fortunately, nothing happened, and the people actually liked my performance. I admit, it was highly improvised. It is difficult to move swiftly in the costume, so the movements looked quite clumsy.
 I also wanted to include some "real" historical parts in the skit, so I decided to add flames in the video, and use the pennant as a pyre staff (or something like that) behind my back at the end of the skit. If you want to see what my performance looked like, click here for a YouTube video. Beware: low recording quality and as I said, I am not happy with what I did there on the stage, it was more improvised than anything else, haha...

Overall, I can say it was rather exhausting to be on stage. I have already been on stage at a contest in Destination Tokyo in 2013, but even if the convention was smaller, it was better organized and we had changing rooms. After my performance as Joan, I was dead tired and starving (I had slept only 2-3 hours the night before and no breakfast or anything since then... plus it was 25+ degrees or something). So I just wanted to undress and get out of this bulky armor. We took a few photos (thank you Neo) and that was it. After the first time wearing the costume, several parts broke or fell apart. The spur on one shoe is gone forever, the other spur lost a couple of spikes. The vambraces need new velcro strips and so do the shoes. At some points on the armor, the paint is "threadbare"... stuff like that. I am thinking of wearing it again in a convention in autumn, when it's not so hot anymore, and when I have fixed all the broken parts. It would also be nice to have a photoshooting and take some photos with an accurate background, and when I don't look so tired and have better make-up etc... ^^



P.S. some background info - the flower that Joan wears in her hair and also appears on the flag is a lily. Lilies symbolized purity and innocence in christendom. Joan's historical coat of arms includes two lilies as well .



Photo shoot

Neo from Neo Photographie already took some photos at the JAN. Some months later I and Gil Schneeberger decided to have another one shoot, this time with a fitting background and a bit more time. And this time with a wig that actually fits and looked the way I expected it to! ^^ The temperatures were freezing, nevertheless it was much fun and laughter. Everyone was so kind and helped me when my armor pieces did strange things again... *sigh* still some broken parts that need to be fixed....
Some days later, the official Facebook-page of KOEI Europe actually posted one of the photos ! I was amazed o_O At this point of time, the next volume of Bladestorm is announced: Nightmare! I am really looking forward to playing this game!