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I feel... strange. I feel... great. ... I have a love hate relationship with Shiro’s new arm bc on the one hand (heh) it’s ridiculous and stupid and ugly, but on the other it is hilarious and ridiculous and perfect for snack fetching. I made this entire costume in around half a week, with the arm put together in a day/a day and a half. The build at least - the electronics were done at @the_cos_n_effect once I touched down in NYC as my soldering iron died at 4.30am on wed, I was due to leave in 30 mins and I hadn’t packed. As a result, the arm is SUPER unrefined and messy, and I have a lot of work to get her looking how I want. But for a rush job? I am v pleased and in the right lighting it looked absolutely perfect. I had a solid game plan in mind from the moment I saw first saw shiro’s new arm but I had no idea if it would work. It did! Another side effect of the rush job is that I have very very few WIP pics and I am SO SORRY for the ones I have. I just really wanted to flip JDS off with love and respect for okaying such a ridiculous design... . . . Everything is made from EVA foam from @poly.props Electronics were from Cool Components. This was my first go at anything that wasn’t plug and play. . . . I made the mistake of throwing this together on my iPad so it might be a little hard to read. I’ll dump it up on twitter, so head there if you have a need! . . . Paladin Shiro - @sitcos 📸 - @bluejaigeyes (Mcm next week and a shoot v soon, so I should.. have some other images... some day...)

Owning who you are is going to make you a better paladin. . . . It’s (inter)#nationalcomingoutday🌈. I think that some of my followers were surprised when I started talking more about queer rep here on insta - I’m more vocal over on the twitter. But in that way, the coming out process never really ends. I’m queer. I’m biromantic demisexual. I’ve always known that I’m queer (thank you, little mermaid) and have the privilege of never having had to explicitly come out. Rather, I’ve been able to just exist and be as I have discovered the language to express who I am. I have the privilege of passing as straight whenever necessary for my own well-being. But even when you’re out and comfortable in your identity, that identity sometimes shifts and you are forced to rediscover who and what you are - shout-out to the partner that repeatedly told me that I was broken and drove me to the journey that led me to accept myself as demisexual. I am openly and proudly out about being bi, but being demi I am constantly having to justify or defend myself, to hide that part of me so I can still be ‘queer enough’. It’s an unending process, and we as people are always in flux and constantly evolving. I hope those of you on your own journeys are able to come out as and when - and if - you are able and safe to do so and to be accepted and welcomed and happy. For those of you finding that maybe you have outgrown your old identities, I hope that you let yourself grow and find the words that let you express fully who you are. I hope you all find the representation that inspires and guides you. It’s difficult, yo, but if we keep going one day kids won’t have to go through the same processes. . . . 📸 @pixelghost (It is ridiculous how few photos I got at NYCC)

Let’s try it my way - wig talk! . . . Over the weekend a fair few people asked me about my wig choices for Lady Shiro given how far away from the show design they seemingly are. There is method! . . . These were my first cosplays with hair! Both wigs are lace fronts from @wigisfashion with hairlines hand ventilated by me using their wefts in white. This was my first time ventilating so it was a bit of a steep learning curve whilst curled up in front of VLD S7! I used The Journey as a hairline and white body ref so that even though the styling would be different to in show, it would be true in volume and lay if Shiro himself whiffed it back. The white wig was dyed a pale silver with a capful of Rit Frosty Grey for around 90 seconds. Given that Shiro is an Action Man Hero I figured that, despite the ridiculous poof, a longer haired genderswap would need to sweep that back for practicality (bc that s what I do at the gym.) I then thought a halfup do to mirror his undercut. I wanted a look that was clearly femme but drew distinct lines from each aspect of his in-show model. I can’t take credit for the amazing styling, tho. I am BAD at styling hair - my hair generally does what it wants so I never have a need. When I arrived in NYC @arrogant_complex kindly offered to style my wigs, and he was immediately was on exactly the same page as me. A braided quiff with a shorter length for og Shiro to create a sharper, cleaner look; a longer length with full on incredible battle braids for Atlas Shiro for an older, warrior-leader Shiro. He nailed exactly what I wanted: capturing the spirit of Shiro in an extremely feminised way that still stayed true to both his role as a hero figure and the ridiculousness of that poof of white.

From here we will spread peace, and together we will hold strong as the defenders of the universe. . . . Friday was such madness that I got very few full shots of my Atlas Shiro Costume (and none At all of my OG Shiro on sat.) pretty much every shot is incredibly awkward bc I didn’t have time to practice poses. In some ways that’s ok: I made 95% of this costume in around half a week so there is a lot of refinement to happen when I get back to London. It also got pretty banged up by the TSA, so I have a hefty list of repairs that’s about as long as my leg. But for a first roll of an untested, essentially unfinished costume I am absolutely delighted by how Lady Shiro turned out and I can’t wait to get her to her very best universe-saving self. I’ll post some progress details of my make when I have a moment! The lack of photos was made up for with how fun it was being asked up on stage pre-panel with some of the other amazing VLD cosplayers and living that good meme-life. I came to NYCC precisely bc it was the final Voltron panel, so getting to actively be a part of that with these brilliant people was incredibly meaningful and a whole lot of fun!

I don’t know what’s more fulfilling that being a paladin. . . . My first NYCC is over! I had a wonderful, super chill weekend filled with cartoons and love and lovely new people! I didn’t get many pics of me in Costume, but this is def one of my absolute faves. . . . I was super trepiditious about going to a huge new con when my life was such a mess, and I was so wrecked physically and emotionally. The voltron panel on Friday was my big big event. I only started watching the show back in July, two weeks before SDCC. I was convinced by @lorna_ka to give the show a go, and I finally did bc that Shiro guy hit my Bucky Barnes sweet spot. Within 48 hours I was working on my og Shiro arm. I immediately loved the careful, considered composure of Shiro, the performativity of calm leadership that occasionally cracked and shattered, only to be painted back up with gold until he is entirely composed of artfully disguised fractures. It was too real. Then the news from SDCC came out that he was both chronically ill and queer and I felt overwhelmingly validated in my identification, my understanding of this character and his journey. Seeing him rise up and shine against all of the odds and against his own body and all expections; transforming the Atlas and being recognised for his strength and power and triumphs.it was a lot and it was everything that I needed as I spent the summer fighting my body, my issues and the fallout of pushing myself too hard and too fast. You don’t expect to find the hardest parts of yourself reflected in a character in your late twenties but there he was. That big damn Shiro. He showed me that no matter how hard and fast you fly, you will fall and you will burn. But that somehow, some way you can get back up. Shiro got back up so I can too. I’m so grateful that this show ploughed into my life at exactly the right moment and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to be a part of the beautiful final panel and meet and be uplifted by so many incredible cosplayers and fans. #ThankYouVLD for being a mad, inspiring, beautifully animated and brilliantly written show exactly when I needed you. . . . Paladin Shiro - @sitcos Photo - @bluejaigeyes

And I’ll form the head! . . . Heading over to the NYCC anime expo for dragon prince fun!

Paladins! Welcome to the fight. . . . On the way to grab the gorgeous VLD vinyl (that I can’t play) someone took a bunch of Polaroid’s of me and let me keep one. I love it? I’m dead on my floaty arm and keeping things low-key, and NYCC has been wonderful so far!

It’s time to *gunshot* *gunshot* *cash register* Form Voltron! . . . Forming Atlas all day at #nycc today! Come say hi! Be blinded by my floaty arm!

Good morning friends! I am at Heathrow waiting for my flight to whisk me away from the tiresome mess that I’ve made of my life and to @lilypond81 and NYCC! This is my first time at NYCC and it’s going to be a Lot. . . . I will be rocking out two shiro looks, and I’m v excited to see how they look as I haven’t tried either of the full looks on all together. It may be excellent, it may be a disaster. Otherwise I’ll be mooching around as my usual space goth self. If you see me, please say hi! (Tho please don’t hug or grab me)

It’s autumn. Time to turn that bubblegum melancholia the fuck up. . . . I’m back! Not back back, but back. It’s been a super rough couple of weeks but fortunately some delightful cartoons kept me going. I’ve got to cram two weeks of work into this weekend and then we’re into that NYCC crunch. . . . Thanks to Tasha at @bleachlondon Brixton for my gorgeous new colour.

Pink carnations for undying love. Peonies for prosperity and romance. Violets for, y’know, *waggles eyebrows* Sappho. A bi-flower crown that I’m actually happy with. . . . Entering the final couple of weeks of my masters, and all I want to be doing is making things. I just need to keep powering on so that I can dive into that con crunch to pull together Atlas!Shiro for NYCC.

You want me to lead voltron? This is how I lead Voltron. . . . Happy giant cat robot weekend! Who else has been cramming Voltron S7 into their eyeballs this weekend?! . . . So I’m working on a Shiro Costume but Suddenly Keith. I love that baby goth with all my heart. My first ever helmet build! I started with a very basic season 1-2 half face helmet pattern by EvilTed that I altered on the fly to be a full face (and more accurate retro bubble shape) helmet. The result of that was a helmet that I couldn’t actually get onto my face, but I decided to go ahead and finish it off as a practice run for a correctly sized (black) helmet and to get an idea of how the faceplate would work. It’s a bit of a mess (aaaand I cracked the faceplate by dropping it just before taking pics bc helmets hate me) but I’m really pleased with how it has turned out for a first attempt! I was also quietly working on a black bayard, and I ended up roughly cleaning up the abandoned first go to paint up to match the red paladin. I’m really enjoying all of these no pressure little projects, and can’t help but marvel at all the new skills I’m learning and have learned over the last year. . . . Everything is made from foam from #polyprops. The faceplate attaches with magnets, and there are magnets embedded in the bayard handles so I can attach them to a belt. Alas I am not a paladin with space magic to materialise props. EL tape for the space glow!

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