Convention debuted at: Anime North 2005 (This version of it was debuted at Anime North 2006).

Retired: Yes

Upcoming appearances: N/A

     This was my second costume, and has been revised many times since the first attempt.  The top is just a regular sport tank top that I bought, and the base for the pants is a pair of black jeans.  The chaps on the jeans are made from a heavy brown fabric, and are secured to the pants by hidden snaps.  For the belts, I folded winter scarves in half and then used a stencil to paint yellow stars onto them.  In order to attach them to the pants, I cut out black triangle pieces, sewed them to the belts, and then used snaps to attach them.  The cuff around the bottom of the pants is made out of felt with the circles that say 'Hao' made out of a sturdier type of felt.

     For the main belt on the pants, I used a black belt that had a square buckle attached to it.  I cut a piece of felt and painted a silver star onto it, then glued it onto the belt buckle.  The boxes on the belt were made out of a sturdy felt and folded into 3-D boxes.  The circles were also made out of the same felt, and were glued onto the boxes.  On the back of them, there are two flaps of regular felt that fold over and snap shut; keeping them on the belt.

      The base for the gloves was a pair of stretchy winter gloves that I cut the fingers off of.  For the boxes on the gloves, I used the same materials and method as the ones on the belt, aside from the face that they are glued on and not held on by snaps.  Around the finger tips, I sewed pieces of felt to prevent the gloves from fraying.  The patch on the gloves was made from a piece of red fabric with a silver star painted on, then glued onto the gloves.  The back part of the gloves was cut out from a piece of red fabric, and the brown trim around the back was made from the same material as the chaps.  The backs are joined to the gloves by small pieces of Velcro running around the gloves, and then by a piece running along the backs (to keep them closed).   

     The Spirit of Fire plushie is made out of felt as well.  I cut out the basic shape for it, sewed it together, and stuffed it with 100% Polyester FiberFill.  I did the same thing with the horns and then sewed them on top.  I cut the eyes and the symbol on its head out of fabric and just glued them on.  I then attached a piece of Velcro to the plushie and the shirt so that it would stay on.

     The cloak is made out of two layers of beige fabric that were glued together.  The collar was made by folding over a layer of fabric numerous times to give it stability, and then sewing it to the back part of the cloak.  I gave it the wrinkled appearance by squishing it in a ball.

     The shoes were made from a pair of black loafers.  I just wrapped felt around the front and back, and stapled it to the shoes.  The circles were cut out of a hard felt, and then glued onto the front.

     I used a pair of silver, circle clip on earrings for the base of the earrings.  I cut out two circles from white Bristol board, colored them red and black with a silver star, and then put them on a string which hangs from the earring. 

In order to make the fireball, I just bought a Styrofoam ball and wrapped orange tissue paper around it.  I bunched it up near the top and cut the ends to make it resemble fire.

     For the Spirit of Fire sword (I didn't take it to Anime North; hence why it's not in the picture) I made a base out of cardboard and then used paper mache to cover it.  Once it had dried, I used masking tape to mark off the different sections, and then I started painting.  After it was dry, I outlined everything in black Sharpie marker.  Then I wrapped black hockey tape around the base so that it would have a grip.

Interesting tidbit: There are a total of 59 stars on the entire costume (54 on the belts, 2 on the earrings 2 on the gloves, and 1 on the main belt).

If you want to see more pictures, you can go here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v392/taojun7/Hao%20Cosplay/