I have been anxiously looking forward to seeing the completed costumes of everyone who had bought a Klytus mask from me and was just contacted by one such person. He shared some great photos of his adventure (in costume) at the winter London Film and Comic Con. So, I thought this would be a great opportunity quiz him further about his experience at this event.
GLEN: Hi Mark, Thank you so much for sharing some photos of your costume with us. Looks like you had a total blast at this event. Is this the first time you've attended an event like this in costume.?
MARK: The event was a lot of fun! Over the weekend of the Summer London film and comic con I dressed as the joker and then Sheppard from Stargate Atlantis. Before that I attended Destination Star Trek London where I made a lot of new friends, so Im still quite a newbie
G: What made you decide to dress up as General Klytus for the occasion?
M: A group of us decided it would be a good idea to cosplay as characters from the film considering Sam Jones and Brian Blessed would be attending. Having always liked klytus I jumped at the chance. My friend was going to be ming but unfortunately he wasn't able to make it. Still, my other friends came as Prince Baron, Flash Gordon and Dale Arden, so not all was lost.
G: My Klytus gold arm wasn't quite finished in time for this event. I was interested in your solution. Could you explain how you made the gold arm for your costume?
M: I started to watch a lot of youtube videos detailing how to make costume armour from a substance called worbla, its a thermoplastic that can be sculpted into shape using heat from either a heat gun or a hair dryer, basically you insert foam between 2 sheets of worbla, heat it up and bend it into shape, I decided to make an upper and lower arm brace and bought a medieval gauntlet from ebay, I then primed sanded and sprayed the entire thing gold.
G: What is your favourite part of your costume?
M: The costume would be nothing without the mask, so of course there is that. I did like how the arm turned out and also the bead work of the insignia which was hastily completed by my girlfriend the night before the convention. Quite a lot of stress, but a happy result.
G: What is your least favourite part of your costume?
M: I struggled a lot with keeping the hood looking right. I soon realised that whilst walking around the hood would probably blow off my head and leave me looking silly. I had heard that in the movie hooks were used to stop this from happening, however I could find a way to utilise that method so, I mistakenly went for Velcro, the stick on stuff. Suffice to say it didn't hold to the mask which resulted in me constantly having to fix my hood. On a brighter note, I did manage a lot of different looks ;)
G: Were you in costume throughout the entire event, was it comfortable to wear?
M: Yes, as the costume was a last minute rush job with a month to spare, I decided to brave it and wear it throughout the day. Comfort was a problem. I struggled a lot with the heat, this convention had a lot less people attending than the summer one which proved an atmosphere killer of sorts but also a blessing, I think that if the same amount of people had attended this one then I would have had major problems with heat.
G: What did it feel like walking around the event as General Klytus, were you approached by lots of other people.?
M: It felt amazing, (kind of in disguise). I was approached by a lot of people who told me that my costume was "awesome" and wanted photographs with me.
G: Did you receive any comments about your costume, do you have a favourite one.?
M: As I was entering the convention a man stopped me and pointed at me saying,"that my friend...is amazing!" of course I thanked him, it made me feel less nervous and more confident at the same time, I felt accepted :)
G: Did you take part in the Cosplay Masquerade?
M: Yes, me and my friends took part. It was a lot of fun, we didn't rehearse or anything and rather made ideas up on the spot, but it turned out rather funny, I still laugh when I watch and I jump up and down ;)
There's a video of the masquerade on youtube, we feature at about 16:40 into the clip;
G: What was it like meeting Jam Jones (aka - Flash Gordon) and Brian Blessed (aka - Prince Vultan)
M: Flash was one of the first sci fi movies I'd seen and have continued to like it to this day. Meeting two of my favourite people from the movie was a great honour, (I was a little star struck). I was patiently waiting in the queue for my turn and when it was time to have my photograph taken with them Brian turned to look at me he bellows out at the top of his lungs, "A round of applause" as I walked over to them. Everyone in the queue cheered and clapped, I'll never forget that experience.
Q: Will you be planning to dress up a Klytus again?
A: I would love to dress up as Klytus again, especially if I make myself a new hood. You definitely haven't seen the last of this character
G: Finally, lets finish up with some fun questions. Do you have a favourite scene from the Flash Gordon film?
M: My favourite scene has to be the attack at the end, Blessed shouting "Dive!", as the hawkmen swoop down to certain death. Glorious chaos ;)
G: and your favourite quote from this movie?
M: my favourite is "dispatch war rocket ajax and bring me his body" or even perhaps "Bring me the bore worms" ;)
AWESOME!!!
