Next Level Cosplay: FFXIII’s Shiva Sisters

ByPaul Posted on Updated on

This is far and away one of the most complex cosplay costumes I’ve ever seen. Its the Shiva Sisters from Final Fantasy XIII, and I’ll just let the designers explain how they made it:

“I made the jumpsuit in actionwear and attached navy fleece-backed pleather on top. The “wings” are pleather with a wire frames to make they stand up. The armour is mostly made with styrene and lined with foam, camping/yoga mats. The seat is made entirely of foam. The feet are made with styrene and plastic bottles.

Claws are wonderflex. All small detailing were sculpey and light sculpey.  All the chain was made by hand then spray painted gold. The headdress is also made with styrene and foam. It is lined with wire to give it shape. It has a piece of wood along the centre for stability. The handle bars are straws and pixie sticks. The clear top is black sheer vinyl. The wheel is foam, the spokes are wire and straws, and pixie sticks. The headdress is held on by one black strap under the chin.”

Many more photos below, along with the characters that inspired it.

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

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8 Comments

  3. I don’t get cosplay. Is like their contests where the best outfit wins money or something? I mean, I appreciate that it takes a LOT of work…and some of the costumes are AMAZING. I just don’t get the draw for spending all that time, money, and energy just to get gawked at.

    And on a completely personal anecdote about cosplayers, the city were I live on the East Coast has a yearly anime/comics/cosplay thing in our convention center. I’ve never been inside of it but I work in the tourist area of our downtown (bar/waiter gig). Generally terrible tippers in my opinion. Close to lawyer and doctor territory there.

  4. I’ve cosplayed as a different anime character at the local convention for the past three years, I’d love to be able to make something this complex. There’s not much left for these two to do, other than transforming into the bike somehow lol.

  5. To Diablo:
    People who do cosplay are generally two or three things:
    Very enthousiasm about the video/game they cosplay

    OR the design (this coudl be the case here: I don’t like the FF series, but this design is still very interesting). They are often interested about how costuming work

    And they are usually crafty. They LOVE to create things. And with cosplay you do everything: sewing, wig arranging, make-up, and working with wood, foam , and a lot of weird materials.
    Those are just creative people. Who like to make things That`s a hobbie. A pricy one and time consuming one, but that can get someone very proud .And they LIKE making it.

    I saw they.. .because I`m nowhere near the level of those two… but still, that`s how it is.
    And yes, there are contests, but no price money 🙂

  7. me and my sister are planning to make these costumes but we are making them to a higher standard and have power stilts and all. these cosplays inspired us to up our game. i think we will be the first english cosplayers to cosplay nix and styria (correct me if im wrong). anyway these are amazing and i cant wait till i cosplay them. i know our necks are going to kill by the end of it though!

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