Cosplay: Astrid (How to Train Your Dragon 2)

About the character
Name: Astrid Hofferson
Appears in: How To Train Your Dragon
Category: Film

About the costume
Finished: 14 September 2014
First worn: 22 September 2014 at Lenzburg medieval festival
Wiki entry: [Link]






Let me be honest about one thing: although I really loved the first HTTYD movie (even more than HTTYD2), I actually disliked Astrid. I deemed her arrogant and annoying. However, in the second movie, she was completely different; she was kinder and "softer" in her personality, and of course her new appearance was just neat. When I looked at the movie posters before the release I was like "wow, look at all the fur, and the axe and hear hair and yay!" Astrid was now really more like a viking to me.

So I started off by making the gloves out of fabric leftovers from a skirt. The red shirt was next, and it was the horror! I sewed dozens of 5cm burlap stripes onto an elastic top which of course wasn't elastic anymore once all the stripes were added. I had to insert an additional piece of fabric to make sure I would still fit into that shirt, or whatever it was now. As a closure I added about 20 tiny metallic hooks - that alone took me 6 hours or so. I think
the overall process of making the shirt lasted a whole week... The skirt is made of fake fur and fake leather straps. The studs and skulls are made of air-drying modelling clay. I was always so scared of sewing the hood, but it was quite easy (compared to the shirt, at least).
First, I used white fur for the whole costume, but I didn't really like it. I replaced it with brownish/beige fur some months later, and I'm really happy with the new look! Oh, and let's not forget the "pauldrons" (shoulder plates) which are made of Worbla's finest art plus modelling clay. By the way: I did not sew the pants myself, they are bought. But they are NOT jeans, although a lot of people apparently believed this. They are of very thin fabric, sort of like jeggings, with a striped or jeans-like print on them. But they aren't jeans. ;)

The axe was the fun part, of course. I bought two wooden plates (8mm) plus a staff (1m), drew the pattern onto paper (as you can see in the photos, super-cute christmas wrapping paper for kids, so brütal lol) and sawed the "blades". I tried to find a solution for the transport problem, i.e. I wanted to have the blade separate from the staff so I can always disassemble the weapon. So I built a round middle piece between the two blades which fits onto the staff (made of Worbla again). And because I'm such a fan of modelling clay, all the details are made of that. Even though it took me much longer than expected, the whole costume making process was extremely interesting and also instructive. I really did learn a LOT of new things.

I wore the costume the first time at Aki no Matsuri, a small convention in Switzerland. And since I thought it would be funny, I also entered the cosplay contest there. However, some days before the con, I found that something was amiss, something I could need for the contest... I already had the axe, but what about a mascot or something? What about my DRAGON? I went straight into the supermarket, bought a soft foam ball and started off by making the head of my baby Stormfly. Then, I also found that since it was a baby, it probably just hatched, so where is the egg? :D I had some creative "flush" only 1 day before the convention... accordingly, I hardly slept the night before, because I had to tinker around with all the ideas. Finally, I entered the contest, went on stage, and somehow everybody was in awe for that little dragon, even though I think it looks really derpy and not like a baby at all... but oh well... guess what? I made 1st place and won a free trip to Europapark for 2!
I really NEVER expected this, especially because everything was so improvised, finished the night before, etc... and of course, the one coming with me to Europapark will be Juniper, because she was the one who helped me and supported me throughout the whole convention. I would have been impossible without her that day. I'm very proud and grateful, also to the judges and the other participants, the costumes were really really good! You can also watch my little appearance on the stage here ^^'


There are a couple of photos of me as Astrid, some of them taken at cons, some during a small photoshoot with friends... I am also considering having another shoot with someone who might cosplay Hiccup, but nothing is sure yet, so let's see.
 I really like how the costume turned out and it is cool that so many people recognise the character, even at a small medieval market there were kids who pointed at me and shouted "Look, it's the girl from the dragon movie!". So cute... :'3 I'm also looking forward to seeing part 3 of HTTYD! It will be great, I'm sure!

P.S. I have to say THANK YOU to a couple of people who helped me and who were responsible that my Astrid-related plans actually worked! First there's Juniper and Xenia, because they helped me dress up for cons and carried my axe or Stormfly ;) then there's Steini and my sis, they took the first photos, there's my Dad who bought the wood for my axe, haha... and also Neo, I just feel the need to say thank you to him as well.