January 13, 2025
There have been many times that I've questioned my decision to cosplay, mostly because I don't have the personality or lifestyle of a typical cosplayer. I don't go to cons because I don't like crowds, I hate most social media, I still haven't even come out of the cosplay closet to anyone I know in real life, and I don't have much time or energy to focus on any of my hobbies nowadays. But I keep going because I love it, and because, every once in a while, I need to dress up and pretend to be someone else for a little while to escape from reality. So on January 13, after months of wanting to do this cosplay so badly, I finally got the chance to set up a makeshift photo booth in the basement and doll myself up for another photoshoot as Rufus.
I really expected this costume to be a lot hotter than it was even in winter, given all the layers, but it wasn't. I managed to avoid breaking into a sweat despite wearing a suit jacket, vest, two button-up shirts, and bandages, plus a tank top and a chest binder underneath. Even so, it was not comfortable, what with the three belts around the waist restricting my movement (and I didn't even tighten them that much!). The outfit looks really cool on him and in photos, but honestly, I think it looks and feels like a mess in real life; it's just too much clothing at once. I can only imagine how bizarre his Remake outfit would look in person, with all those belts and those two layers of pants. It's one thing seeing CGI images of Remake Rufus and photos of cosplayers like this guy, but a whole other matter of seeing—or wearing—such an outfit in real life.
I made the neck bandage too long and too thick—it looks more like a cravat IMO—but I think it looks good despite not being accurate to how it appears in the film. I'd thought it was a brilliant idea taping the head bandage to my wig cap before putting the wig on, but it made the wig fit in a wonky way, and the combs I'd sewn into its hairline really hurt my scalp after only a half hour or so. I tried gluing some of the bangs to my face with a glue stick like I'd seen other cosplayers do, but the hair didn't stick; either I didn't do it the right way or the wig was too high on my head (thanks to the bandages) for the hair to stay stuck. The makeup, however, turned out beautifully. I'm definitely going to be using this look again in future Rufus photos. I didn't airbrush my eye color in these photos like in some of the others on this site, but I may do so at a later date.
Although I didn't go into this shoot knowing what kinds of poses I wanted to do, I quickly decided that I wanted to use two props: a white sheet (which was more of a cream, but close enough) and the Jenova box. Because I hadn't prepared a Jenova box ahead of time, I used an empty Wino Sippers box that was approximately the same size and shape and covered it with the sheet. Only a good son would be able to tell the difference. ;)