Raiden Shogun
Genshin Impact
Photographer
Brian Boling
Why I chose to make this costume:
Another Genshin waifu cosplay! This time, I chose Raiden Shogun / Ei because her design, color scheme, story, powers and vibe appealed to me the most out of probably all of the Genshin characters hahaha. I feel like this is a somewhat predictable cosplay choice for me lol.
How I made this costume:
The costume is sponsored from @dokidokicosplay_official, which also made it super easy for me to go forth with this cosplay.
They also sent me the wig!
I’ve only recently opened my mind to pre-made costumes because I've always been so picky about materials and construction that it was easier for me to make costumes from scratch than to alter existing ones. But the quality of some of the 1/3 Delusions brand costumes that DokiDoki sells are truly impressive, and this Raiden Shogun set came with so many well-made parts and accessories. It took an evening just to piece everything together!
However, with my height and body shape, no pre-made costume fits me out of the box. I spent an entire day altering this costume to fit me better, including shortening the tails so they didn't drag the floor, shortening the obi by a whopping 2.5 inches, taking in the obi and the neckline, re-sewing and reattaching certain accessories.
I also restyled the wig completely and cut/fluffed the bangs.
As for the sword, I had bought a premade Mistsplitter but wasn’t happy with the quality so I bought a 3D print file from Dangerous Ladies and asked my friend Benny to print it for me. Then Brian helped me clean up the prints, assemble it, sand the surface and prime it. I spent a whole day and a half airbrushing and hand painting the sword. Because the 3D print came out in segments, I was also able to make the sword e detachable in the middle so I could get the sword summoning photos without having to shove a full sword down my costume 🙈😂.
(I know she uses a different weapon in game but I like this sword design more)
Thoughts on this costume:
For the Raiden Shogun photoshoot, we got to use the new Japanese set I build to its fullest! I really love the photos we got, even though it was a very tough photoshoot day with lots of mishaps and lighting issues haha.
My favorite photo, the title shot, was actually a misfire without any of the intended flashes going off, but after brightening up the raw file in Lightroom it is one of my favorite images of the shoot!
Always an adventure with cosplay lol.
I really like cosplaying this character because Ei is so elegant, tough, strong yet so vulnerable. I enjoy doing her makeup and posing as her!
