My very, very first cosplay, all the way back in 2013, was Gaige the Mechromancer from Borderlands 2! I was obsessed with the game at the time – a funny thing because I usually hate First Person Shooters. I’m more of an RPG girl, I get so turned around in first person mode, and I don’t have great aim.
But Gaige was perfect – she just summons her giant robot of death, and the robot does all the hard work so I could just run around playing loot simulator! Plus, she’s probably my favorite sort of character – quirky, kind of unhinged, but bubbly and cute? Yes please.
So when I first got into cosplay, she was my first choice! It was the first time I had ever sewed anything other than a quilt, my first time styling a wig, and building the props like her metal arm and her belt accessories was a really fun project!
I owe a lot to what I learned while making her, and I went back in 2015 and redid a lot of the costume – a better vest, better tights… I’ve moved on from Borderlands since then (BL3 didn’t have a character with a giant robot… so I never played it!) But Gaige will always have a place in my heart as my first ever cosplay.
