What’s better than amazing cosplays? How about adorable cats in amazing cosplays? Well here are eleven amazingly hand-crafted cosplays worn by cats. I talked to Freyu, Cat Wrangler of Cat Cosplay, about his amazing work translating these popular characters into cat versions, how it all started, and how in the world he gets his cats to stay in the outfits and sit still. He’s been making costumes for his cats for over six years now, but only started Cat Cosplay a year ago. Remarkably, in that time Freyu has made 45 different cosplays. You can find Cat Cosplay on Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram.
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Vault Kitty (Fallout 4)
Paste: How did Cat Cosplay begin?
Freyu: I suppose it began almost six years ago when I took one of my cats to a Renaissance Fair in a cheap little pirate outfit. I was very unhappy with how crude the store-bought outfit was but everyone loved the cat in The outfit so much... so before the second weekend of the fair I went home and made her a dragon outfit with full metal scales and articulating wings. By the end of that weekend I was hired by a troop of performers to tour Renaissance Fairs in the northwest with the cat in costume as a performer/busker. So I made three to four outfits over the last few years that were Renaissance themed but didn't think too much beyond that until the Reddit spark happened.
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Richard Purr'man (Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks)
Paste: Where did you get the idea for Cat Cosplay?
Freyu: Actually it sparked after sharing some pictures of the cats in football gear on Reddit's NFL subreddit. We developed such a fan base there I made a twitter parody account. Suddenly we had all sorts of people sharing our work and in the quest to keep things fresh I made a couple costumes close to Halloween. The reaction to those made me know I had something.
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Bucky Barnes (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
Paste: Do you have multiple cats?
Freyu: I have two cats and they are both part of it. Nak is our older Calico who has been performing for the last six years. Fawkes is our tuxedo cat, he's a lot younger, and a complete champ at posing.
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Gyarados (Pokémon)
Paste: How do you decide what cosplays to make?
Freyu: Three different ways: First, social relevance. Is something going on that we can join the conversation of with fun pictures. Second, commissioned work for companies for advertising purposes. Last, fan requests. We have a long list of requests from our fans so when number three matches up with the first or second we try to make it happen.
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Grommash Hellscream (World of Warcraft)
Paste: What is your process for transforming a (usually) human character's outfit/design into cat form?
Freyu: There's a lot of trial-and-error whenever I have to build a new pattern. Cats have longer necks and not prominent shoulders which can be problematic considering that humans put a lot into the design of outfits around the shoulder area. So usually there's a bit of adjusting the pattern. The big thing is figuring out what parts of the costume sell the character. You can have some sloppier aspects of the costume as long as you have the few defining traits. It's sort of like theater in that way, people are willing to overlook a few things and suspend their disbelief as long as the photos sell the character.
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Emily Kaldwin (Dishonored 2)
Paste: How do you get your cat to wear the outfits and sit so still for pictures?
Freyu: Quite a bit of training. Usually I will pose them, give them a treat, and snap a few pictures. Then I get them to look in different directions and to react to stimuli in an attempt to get different expressions and action shots. But the big thing is also communicating with them and knowing when they are done or when they need a break. For large photo shoots they get very special dinners afterwards as well.
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Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)
Paste: Which cosplay that you've made is your favorite?
Freyu: It's whatever one I am working on because that is what is fueling my creativity at the moment. So my favorite cosplay is one you haven't seen yet. Although the Jon Snow armor I do absolutely love because I'm one of two people that has made functional cat armor.
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Purr'amid Head (Silent Hill)
Paste: What is your favorite part of Cat Cosplay?
Freyu: The feedback we get from our fan base. On a weekly basis I get notes and messages thanking me for brightening their days or sometimes a heartfelt one from somebody who is going through a tough time. When we started doing this our mission statement was to bring a smile to as many people as possible. That's what we're here to do, to brighten a few people's days and to spread some positivity.
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Vegeta, The Purr'ince of Saiyans (Dragon Ball Z)
Paste: What are some of the challenges you've faced in Cat Cosplay?
Freyu: The two biggest ones are constantly having to learn new materials and practice in order to keep elevating our costuming work. You can definitely see the rise in quality from our early Works a year ago. Of course there is the whole internet troll aspect as well. It's amazing how many people will say horrible things to you.
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Akuma (Street Fighter)
Paste: How long do the cosplays take on average to make?
Freyu: Between 4 and 45+ hours. I separate the costumes into three categories. Light generally only requires a bit of editing work and takes between 3 and 7 hours. Medium is most costumes and generally take between 7 and 25 hours. 25 plus hours is a heavy costume and generally requires a lot of fabrication.