Skull from Persona 5 // Cosplayer : boolprops
I was enamored with P5 when my fiancee and I played through it together, but I decided to cosplay from the series when my sister and cosplay partner @calorline decided to cosplay from the game. I cosplayed Skull to complement her Joker because he’s my favorite Phantom Thief and these two characters are close friends like my sister and me.
The other major reason I cosplayed Skull was to cosplay the game’s user interface (UI), which is almost like its own character in the game. I’m a UX/UI designer, so I spend half my time playing games looking at the user interface/experience. P5’s UI is an inseparable part of the game and reinforces the theming and game “feel” so well I couldn’t resist incorporating it into the costume. Similar to how cosplay can translate character representations in the real world, props can translate graphical game elements into tangible artifacts. I can also easily transfer the UI prop to my sister when we cosplay from P5 and it’s her turn in battle!
For Skull, I bought the base costume from ezcosplay.com and made my own vertebrae pieces for the back out of EVA foam and spray paint. The mask is a gorgeous piece by @detravoid (IG) and the pipe is PVC from Home Depot. The wig is courtesy of Arda Wigs. The battle UI is comprised of a trifold display board, foam board, and construction paper - I’m a walking science fair display. Getting the base “backpack” to fit over the jacket vertebrae without damaging them was tricky, so I made a prototype with an extra board. Once I had a working prototype for the base, I added some adjustable backpack straps, which blend in with the black of the Skull suit, and the UI “wings”.
It made my day seeing how excited people got when they saw me with my sister as a complete P5 cosplay unit. I enjoy sharing our builds because this and many of our other projects are collaborative. It’s extra satisfying to watch a project come together when the result is greater than the sum of its parts and is a testament to teamwork and a shared vision. I’m glad we made people smile and recall the joy of experiencing Persona 5, because that’s what cosplay means to me: expressing yourself and the shared love of meaningful media, stories, and characters.
My one piece of advice is keep learning. Whether you’re picking up a new skill, having difficult conversations, or trying to understand the experiences of others, I think having an open mind and an open heart is really important, for yourself and others. You can learn something from everyone’s story.
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Persona 5 on Amazon https://amzn.to/2CXBgG8
