How'd you two meet?

<Flexei> Well, we actually met in the arcade at our student union, "The Mountainlair," at West Virginia University. We played each other X-men vs. Street Fighter... she was the only girl down there, and I was the awesome bald guy who kicked everyone's butt. :)

<Flexei> Seriously though.. a friend of mine from high school was friends with her, and we ALL played the game together, and he sort of played match maker. How long have you been into cosplay?

<rogue> I've known about it for a long time, but didn't have the time or money until I, erm...we graduated college. I made our first costumes two months after college for Otakon 2000.

How long have you been married?

<Flexei> Going on two years now, but we've been together for almost 6.

What did you dress as?

<rogue> I wanted to make costumes for years. I was really into comic books and wanted to make a Jubilee forever. I actually did make that costume, but no one except my sister has ever seen it.

<Flexei> Mr. Fugisawa and Miz Mishtal from El Hazard. I wasn't expecting anyone to recognize me and was very surprised when I heard several people yelling, "Fugisawa-sensei!"

Do you often choose obscure characters?

<rogue> We have done a lot of obscure characters. But I like to make costumes of characters I love, not ones that are easily recognized. But being recognized is fun though ^_^

<Flexei> I'm all about "spreading the gospel" for a series, and when we do something obscure, I love telling about all about the game/show when they ask what we're from. If we tend to gravitate to the obscure, it's usually because that's the series we most recently finished watching.

What got you into anime?

<rogue> Comic book conventions. They would always have an anime booth. Also the Sci-Fi channel at 2 o'clock in the morning. Back in the way early 90's, they would have a weekend special for anime. That's where my love for Project A-ko came from.

<Flexei> I got into anime at Sci Fi cons. I was probably like 10 when I first started watching it. They'd have movie rooms with raw "japanamation", and the fans would basically MST3K over it. It was funny as hell.

What are you watching/playing right now?

<rogue> Fruits Basket: Flexei hates this show, but I love it. We cosplayed two characters from it to Flexei’s disliking. Rah Xephon : I really want to cosplay that in the near future. I've been playing Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter like a crack fiend. We just recently cosplayed as Ryu and Lin from that in May.

<Flexei> I recently finished what's available of Gravion. I really enjoyed it. I've also been enjoying Platinumhugen Ordian. Game wise, I just finished Shinobi, which I loved. I'm also playing Guilty Gear XX a bunch, and Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO - don't know if many costumes will come from any of that though... other that Guilty Gear that is.

<rogue> Guilty Gear! How could I forget? I just finished two more costumes for us from Guilty Gear. I have many more plans for Guilty Gear in the future.

You primarily download your episodes or something else?

<rogue> We really prefer to buy our anime. We like to help support American anime companies. But, when something isn’t available here, then we download. Once something gets released here, even if we downloaded it, we tend to buy it.

<Flexei> I'm very bad at downloading everything I can get my hands on... and I rarely watch any of it. Oh.. also watching Stelvia of the Universe. But, when the stuff get licensed we ALWAYS buy everything we would have bought normally.

Is your costuming a round-the-clock sort of production, or do you wait until last minute?

<rogue> Ha, ha, ha....... I'm crazy. I make stuff like two months in advance. I NEVER wait till the last minute. I usually dedicate a whole weekend per costume, and work like a crack fiend until I'm finished. Most costumes take me about 2-3 days to complete. That's with me working about 8-10 hours a day on it. I usually make 3 new costumes a convention, which actually means I have to make 6, 3 costumes apiece.

You guys have tons of costumes - any favorites?

<Flexei> Well, my problem is it sometimes takes a lot of convincing to get Rogue to do costumes from a series only I like. Sadamitsu the Destroyer was my biggest victory so far... I love that show.

<rogue> Favorites: Rhyth from JSRF, Black Rose Wakaba from Utena, my new Baiken from Guilty Gear X, my new Bridget from Guilty Gear XX, and Sarah from Suikoden 3.

<Flexei> My favorite costumes are my Soda from Jet Set Radio Future, Duero and Bart from Vandread, and my Sadamitsu the Destroyer. I'd love to eventually re-wear my Bart costume with my shaved head (he shaves his head in like the 3rd episode of 2nd stage).

Would you classify those as *simple* or *complex* costumes?

<rogue> hmm.....I'd consider all of them medium difficulty. I've made easier, and I've made harder. I seem to always like my medium level costumes the most. They are the most enjoyable to make a wear.

<Flexei> I'd say they're on the complex side, but still hall-friendly which is how we prefer to make our costumes.

<rogue> I get too frustrated when I venture on a difficult costume. The difficulty just drags all the fun out of making it and just makes me cuss instead.

<Flexei> The big costumes are fine if you love the cosplay competitions, but personally, I get more pleasure from hall costuming.

<rogue> I don't need some big fancy costume to make me happy. I like having a "clean", good-looking costume that's easy to wear in the halls.

How do each of you contribute to your costume construction?

<rogue> Well.....I sew everything. I also paint everything. I work on all the shoes. And I contribute about half to making accessories. Flexei is the wig man, he always styles the hair. He does most of the accessory construction. Oh yeah....I'm normally the one that puts out all the cash for the costumes too! :P

<Flexei> I offer criticism.. even though it's rarely appreciated. :)

<rogue> Don't get me started on his so-called criticism

<Flexei> Eh... I could probably be more constructive... usually the problem is I give the criticism WAY WAY too late. :)

So do you have your entire next year's worth of costumes already slated?

<rogue> It will be a total of 7. That's really way over our limit, but........... I don't know why we're going to do so many. I guess it’s my fault. *Must make more costumes, need place to wear them*

<Flexei> We usually firmly plan for the next two cons, with rough ideas for the ones after that. If I had it my way, we'd stick to about 4.

<rogue> I have our costumes finished for the next two conventions. I have ideas for our last convention of the year.

What work do you do?

<rogue> I'm a dental hygienist. I love my job! ^_^ I clean teeth and flick tartar across the room. *yummy*

<Flexei> I’m a computer graphics programmer. I work for WVU's Virtual Environments Lab. Basically VR stuff, but it's only a shotgun away from being video games. :) "Scientific visualization"... but occasionally, I make little games now and then to "research" new openGL techniques. :)

Very cool

<rogue> Ha ha.....everyone thinks my job is disgusting

<Flexei> Computers are way easier to deal with than people. :)

Any sewing tips for fellow Lab members?

<Flexei> Have your wife do it! :)

<rogue> Go to hell Flexei. If it is possible, iron your material a lot. It keeps everything clean, and makes it easier to hem. Use a sewing machine, dear lord don't sew by hand. Always buy extra material. Make things one size bigger; you can always scale it down.

Tips on choosing fabric?

<rogue> Please don't use satin for everything. School uniforms should NOT be made of satin. Don't be afraid of using the cheaper stuff; you'll be amazed just how nice a costume can turn out with it. Watch how your character moves in various shows to get an idea on what type of fabric to use. Poly/Cotton is god! It's cheap, very clean, very colorful, and you can do many great things with it.

<Flexei> I THINK she means satin. SATAN BE GONE!

<rogue> No I mean satan.......well that's what satin can be.