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Cosplay Feature: Gray Oranges' Rikku!

Photo by David Ngo I won't ever shy away from writing about cosplays of Rikku's look from Final Fantasy X-2 and Gray Orange did a fantastic job portraying her in both the overall cosplay look PLUS the pose work. Of course I'll get to all that in due time but let's start at the top! It's certainly a cosplay worn for several events and I want to say I first saw this in the overall collection of MAGFest photos back in January of this year. I really love how the multiple braid strands are integrated into the blonde wig for starters. I can't tell if they're either part of the wig itself or the blue headband that's wrapped around. In any case, following this is a red scarf wrapped around Irini's neck before you then get to the yellow bikini top. Here, you can also see orange trim lines as part of the piece. Oh, I forgot to mention that the red scarf actually travels all the way down to her legs. These end points then transition to a yellow/orange gradient!

STRUCK FIRST: Danielle Beaulieu as Tidus!

Photo by New Age. Edited by TEoSB-Cosplay and Photography

Struck First gives you a first look at a cosplay just as it's been debuted/had its first photoshoot. Cosplayers have been kind enough to let me have a first crack at analyzing the cosplay by providing me with brand new pictures.

Danielle Beaulieu continues her quest to gender-bend all the Final Fantasy boys in today's STRUCK FIRST. The latest selection being everyone's favorite crybaby blitzball star Tidus! When I first learned that this was being done for ColossalCon last month I figured that the character was a perfect fit for the water resort setting. The end result had me screaming internally out of excitement since FFX is my all time favorite in the series. The cosplay matches up with Tidus' original design with of course the adjustments made for a female figure. Danielle has a black top that's kept up by suspenders and a belt around the middle of her torso. Small metal X charms can be seen in this area. A small black skirt makes up the bottom area. Here you can see the Zanarkand Abes logo on one side.



Knee high black socks and yellow boots make up the rest of the cosplay. The real fun parts are up at the top which consist of Tidus' trademark design choices. Yellow sleeves starting at around the shoulders and are held in place thanks to the suspenders interacting with them. Whereas one arm is completely naked, the other consists of a sole shoulder piece, gauntlet and whatever the hell is that weird red mesh Tidus has. The shoulder piece is a beautiful shade of blue which looks to have been done in Worbla or foam. The red mesh looks to be just a collection of red straps attached together.


Photo by David Ngo
The gauntlet is done in a forest green shade and goes from her elbow to her fingertips. Yes even the fingers are covered a la Vincent Valentine style. A small chain can be seen just above her fingers. Much like the shoulder piece, the material make up look to be the same. Danielle is sporting a long/messy blonde wig that looks so dang awesome on her. Arguably the stand out piece has to be the Brotherhood sword. Resin was the key part in its construction and is actually pretty heavy to wield according to Danielle. There's also some LED lighting inside its water like look to give a lit up feel. The handle consists of multiple wrappings and fabric at the end of the hilt.

Multiple chains can be seen coming down on Danielle's side. Being connected to the belt up on her torso. There's also a strap on one of her legs with a blue pattern that looks to be armor like done several times. I was aware also that the convention area was fantastic for shoots BUT OH MY GOD THESE SHOTS ARE UNREAL! They highlight all the amazing parts of Danielle's cosplay and are perfect if you're looking for new wallpaper backgrounds. I mayyyy need a print of this cosplay in the future....I have way to many of Danielle already though XD.

Photo by Nick

Photo by Photos-NXS

Photo by Nick

Photo by David Ngo

Photo by Nick

Photo by Nick

It goes without saying that if you enjoy cosplay in any capacity then you NEED to follow Danielle Beaulieu's work. I will ALWAYS have nothing praise for this talented sweetheart. At the time this goes up, she just debuted an incredible cosplay as part of group for Anime Expo this month. You'll be seeing that as its own post too hopefully later this month. In the meantime, check out her FB page and support her Patreon. You won't regret it <3

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