Cheetara // Thundercats

Completed: August 2012
Worn to: Power-Con/ThunderCon 2012, Long Beach Comic Con 2012

Inspiration

This is one of the first cosplays I was legit over-the-moon excited about. I have vivd memories of watching VHS tapes of Thundercats when I was young and Cheetara was always my favorite. She was mature, wise, and the most competent of the Thundercats by a very wide margin. When I moved to LA, I asked my friend Angi Viper if she’d be interested in cosplaying with me as Pumyra and, while she didn’t know the character, she agreed! We then found out that there would be a Thundercats/Masters of the Universe convention in LA that summer. The timing was just perfect!

Construction

Hard to believe now, considering I have so many leotard-based costumes, but this was my first leotard! I made the pattern myself (based off a Black Milk swimsuit, lol) and then sewed the leotard out of a plastic-coated spandex. I honestly have no idea what the fabric is called, I’ve never seen anything like it. It looks like 4-way wet look spandex, but it’s bright orange. THUS, it was dubbed ‘Orange Condom Fabric.’ I think the slight sheen of the fabric adds a nice touch to the costume – the Thundercats are cat people, but they are also technologically sophisticated aliens. So, when I made the costume, I wanted a mix of ‘tribal’ and ‘sleek.’

The Thundercats logo was cut out of red and black kona cotton, then fused together with double-sided interfacing and top-stitched to the leotard. The sleeve is one leg of an American Apparel tight sewn onto the leotard. The matching tights are also from American Apparel.

The gauntlet is made of craft foam, covered in orange spandex and brown micro-suede.

The boot covers are also made of the same orange fabric and brown micro-suede.

You can see a YouTube video on how I styled the wig on the ConstantineInTokyo channel.