If you've taken a look at my Instagram, you'll notice this beautiful girl lots since I've become such a fan of her work. Solely based on how much we love Kingdom Hearts and that Riku is one of our favorite characters. Not to mention that Karli has become an important friend along with being so supportive of my own work. Last month Disney held their annual D23 Expo. Karli was in the process of making a dream outfit of hers which was Replica Riku from Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories. I fangirl about Karli a lot, so this outfit had me excited to such an insane level! PLUS, she was making Namine for the convention as well. ALL THE KINGDOM HEARTS LOVE! If it's all right with you guys, I wanted to full on gush about how amazing these cosplays were to me!
Let's start of course with everyone's favorite brooding hero of the darkness! For Replica Riku, Karli went with decorating/painting on a pre-made black bodysuit (if I'm remembering correctly) and the purple color scheme with the Heartless symbol looks amazing. The bodysuit itself is outlined with silver lines throughout every piece. The Heartless symbol is perfect and dead centered as well! For her waist, Karli has multiple belts around (traditional with all Tetsuya Nomura character designs) and little frills on her sides. These were done with chiffon material and it looks freaking AMAZING!
For the legs, Karli has purple coverings with white lines forming a triangle for each leg. Silver hair seriously looks beautiful on her so using the same wig as her genderbend Riku was a no brainer! The keyblade (which has hinted design to what'll eventually become Way to Dawn) is red and black in color scheme. I think Karli went the foam route here and it looks absolutely incredible. Don't even get me started on the poses. KARLI YOU'RE GORGEOUS <3, all the poses have her make this alluring stare. Some of which have her holding the keyblade in different areas. I got to see progress pics for this outfit and I couldn't be more proud of her. She did such an amazing job on her dream cosplay!
Moving on to Namine, a much more simpler cosplay, Karli has a gorgeous blonde wig alongside the character's white dress. In addition, Karli had blue heels on decorated with yellow stars on them in certain areas. I really loved how she really stayed in character with bringing along a sketchbook. With it, she made little doodles to anyone she met, be it fellow fan or new friends! The photos for Namine look much more serene and peaceful. Karli looks either down or off into the distance in a mysterious manner. The added pencil in some of the photos is a sweet touch too. There's not much else to say about this cosplay aside from how beautiful Karli looks overall. I NEEDS TO MEET THIS GIRL! Kingdom Hearts Riku photoshoot is A MUST!
Majority of Photos taken by NELSPHOTO!
Please look into checking out Karlibra's cosplay work! She's got a FB Page alongside her Instagram where she mainly posts. Thanks for being an incredible friend Karli! Look forward to an interview with her very soon too! <3
