Now that I've had time to recover from Fanimecon 2013 (did anyone else feel the atmosphere and overall mood of the con was a bit... heavy?), and think over the events prior and after, I've reached a peace and deep understanding of how and why the Thor cosplay didn't come to fruition this time around. My first showcasing of Thor was a success because it was also a very important and personal project, it was also my college graduation project on top of everything else. I planned, blue-printed, worked out, dieted, built and monitored the progress of any outside influence working on my cosplay in person, I never let it out of my sight nor did I ever let myself lose control of its progress.
However, this time around, several aspects of that control changed, partly my fault and partly the fault of those I decided to do a group cosplay build with. To sum up what happened; despite pushing myself to achieve an even greater physical change and wanting to use better materials for the Thor 2.0 build, I relinquished control of it to others who were overwhelmed by what was needed for the basic structure of my cosplay as well as overwhelmed by what was needed for theirs despite reassuring me that they would fulfill their part in the time I needed to do the other construction on it. In the end, none of the cosplays involved in the group build were finished, which breaks my heart but also taught me a valuable lesson; I didn't make this as personal nor as important to me this time around as I had originally despite my efforts to achieve greater physical accuracy to the film version of Thor. It also taught me that if you want something done right, you really have to do it yourself or make sure you are there to over-see that its progress is what you actually want. It also wasn't fare of me to assume that, even though I gave my fellow cosplayers all the materials and templates they needed to fulfill their part, that they would understand how it worked together or could really understand what it is I wanted and needed on their part without me being there but I do wish they communicated with me better.
That aside, it's left me feeling a bit unsure about the future of me cosplaying as Thor. I had planned on retiring the cosplay this year originally but none of my plans have worked out thus far, which leaves me feeling me feeling disappointed and uncertain if I should just let it end here or give it one last try and see it retired the way I want(ed). If I decide to do it again I will not rebuild the first film version, if anything I will insist I do something different and either tackle Avengers 'Thor', or Dark World 'Thor'. Part of my reason for possibly wanting to do a different version is to reconnect with the cosplay and what it may or may not mean to me as well as the physical challenge I might be putting myself through. Either way, I will plan and blue-print out the entire costume before making a decision. With that said, hope everyone is enjoying the start to their summer and I hope plenty of good times are had. ~ Dusty