The Female Cosplay

So before I launch into my rant/post for tonight here is the definition of cosplay for you non-geeks:

(from Wikipedia) short for "costume play", is a performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. 

I have a confession, I'm a geek.  Not just a regular run of the mill- watches a little too much sci-fi geek- but rather a weekly D&D watching, Walking Dead following, sci-fi reading, fantasy writing, Lord of the Rings loving, Star Wars quoting, cosplaying geek.  I live for geeky things!  This obsession with the geek lifestyle started in high school with my love for Star Wars and only progressed from there, well back in 2010-2011 I discovered what is called the 501st Legion (501stlegion.com) it is a charity costuming group that dresses as bad guys from Star Wars and does charity work.  I was SO excited to find something that catered not only to my need to feed the geek but also gave me a chance to serve my fellow man.  I started researching costumes and found the standards you must meet in a costume in order to qualify for membership in the legion is very lengthy and expensive.  Long story short though I did manage to get an Imperial Officer costume made, you know the guys that serve as choking targets for Vader, and got accepted into the legion.  Well fast forward to now.  I have the itch and a major need for a new costume, I got into costume research mode again and found that once again my funding is too short to do armor (i.e. stormtrooper, pilot, Mandalorian, etc...) I started looking at cloth costumes and I must say I'm a tad disappointed.  

Now I know that geeks are generally male but come on guys, can we have a female character who is actually wearing clothes?  This is not just limited to Star Wars costumes either, it spans across all geek genres.  Why is there an ever present need for the female characters to be partially exposed in some fashion?  Not just that but how is a woman supposed to survive in combat when her major organs are exposed?

Original image found here: http://www.gagbay.com/gag/female_rpg_armor-237294/

Plus who wants to fight in an under wire bra?  (Ladies you know I'm right on that one!) Besides I personally would feel very uncomfortable being that exposed in a public place.  My body is my own and I don't think that much of it needs to be shared with the world, giving birth in a hospital with medical staff was intimidating enough. I don't need more bodily scrutiny than that thank you! I know some women are comfortable and okay with it and I don't judge them for that but why can't more female characters be clothed so those of us that want to cosplay can do so in comfort? I say stop the lingerie costumes!  Clothe the women and give them the strength they need to conquer instead of objectifying them, rant over....

Phew, now that I have that out of my system I want to share what I did manage to find that I think will be a good fit for me and my costuming needs.  I present to you Juno Eclipse:

Star Wars character in the games "Force Unleashed".  With some sewing, seam picking, and re-sewing here is the current version of this costume:

I need to fix my dossimeter pockets (the little pen looking things sticking out are called dossimeters), I put the badge on the wrong side (duh!), and I need to get a better tank top for underneath but I want your feedback.  Thoughts?  Ideas? Comments?  Feed the geek!!

P.S. If anyone is interested in funding a set of armor for me my dream costume is Bo Katan:

Something about Mandalorian armor just makes me tingly like a kid on Christmas morning, so if you happen to have a few hundred-ish dollars laying around and want to fund a random project I'd be happy to put it towards a good cause!