Taichi "Tai" Yagami from Digimon Adventure

Character Name: Taichi "Tai" Yagami
Series: Digimon Adventure
Specifics: main outfit
Cost: $150
Time: ~60 hours
Started: sometime 2000?
Completed: May 2006
Debuted: Anime North 2006


References




Gallery



Thanks to Elemental, Kevin, Solartempest, Sheena, Ian, orenji_mint, chicken_lover, thstudios, Sha, and spotlighttoronto for the photos!


Costume Information

Once upon a time, Taichi was my favorite anime character. I wanted to make this costume since the first Digimon anime came out. For Anime North 2006, I decided to finally make this costume. I make everything from scratch.

I didn't know how to make t-shirts when I made it so I made up a pattern as I went along. Same for the shorts. And pretty much every part of this costume, LOL.

Tai's gloves were a challenge, seeing as they were the first pair of gloves I ever made. I wanted to make him over-sized gloves, since Digimon character's have oversized hands. I cut up a pair of winter gloves for a pattern. At first, I tried to make the gloves out of regular white fabric, but they looked horrible. A couple of attempts later, I made them out of white fleece. They're warm to wear in the summer, but at least they look good.

Tai's socks were also made out of polar fleece. They're actually fake socks, since they don't cover my feet. Instead, there's an elastic that goes around the bottom of my foot to keep them in place. They have elastics in the tops of them to keep them up. His socks were the easiest part of this costume.

His shoes are made out of an old pair of running shoes I painted with white vinyl spray-paint and white acrylic paint. I patterned out pieces for the details on the shoes. I then made the pieces out of fabric and I glued them on. Sadly, I suck at making shoes, so these shoes are the suckiest part of the costume.

His wig was tricky. It started out as a Punky XL wig from Dani's Cosplay Supplies. I grouped the hair into sections so I could get it to take the shape of Tai's hair, and then I basically attacked it with Got2Be Glued hairspray and scissors. After adding in some white glue, it looked like it does now.

I made the blue headband out of the same material I used for his t-shirt and hand-sewed black felt on it for the black stripe. The goggles are made of model magic that I painted white. There are actually little piece of plastic in them to make them look more like goggles. I originally wanted the goggles to be larger, but then I realized they'd look a little silly if they were actually to scale.


Taichi, Sora and Yamato

Since I helped with Sora and Yamato's costumes, this is a mini-section dedicated to them. :3

In June of 2008, I wanted to re-wear my Taichi costume to the Toronto Cosplay Picnic. For the picnic, I originally planned to finally make my Sora costume and dress up my friend Becky. To my surprise, my friend Sakura volunteered to make Sora's costume with me. We're both Taiora fans, so it worked out. Since I had all the materials and the wig for Sora, she only needed to purchase a new yellow fabric for the shirt. I provided the pants and gloves, patterned the hat, and made the shoes.

As for Yamato, a week before the picnic, we called our friend, Becky, and asked her if she was interested. Becky and I got together one afternoon and made Yamato's costume in a record-breaking five hours. We cheated a bit. Like Sora, the pants for Yamato are mine. The boots and gloves are re-used from my Van costume. We were going to make the shirt out of a stretch cotton, but we couldn't find the right color. We ended up salvaging fabric from a long-sleeved shirt we found at a used clothing store. I altered it into Yamato's turtleneck. As for Yamato's wig, Becky has an old blond wig lying around that she allowed me to cut up and spike into Yamato's hair.

Sora and Yamato's costumes were a group effort and they turned out wonderfully. They really suit the characters and it was great to cosplay with Sakura and Becky again.

So long story short, I've achieved my dream Digimon cosplay group! I'm so happy~ X3

And as an added bonus, our friend Kevin brought his Joe costume to the picnic, so the four of us Digimoned-it-up together!

Before I forget: our tags and crests were made for us by the talented Hikari Light~



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