Achiyo Kensaki, Paladin of the Warriors of Light from FFXIV, in her traditional semi-formal wear!

I chose to dress Achiyo in a kimono for this cosplay because I cannot create plate armour – and she’s not level 70 so I haven’t even really chosen a final glam for her yet (although the level 40 armour is classic, it looks great (see below)). Also, players cannot wear a kimono in-game yet, not properly – we can wear the level 70 crafting gear, and several inappropriately short “yukata” but no real kimono LIKE THE NPCS GET TO WEAR so I decided to dress her in one irl to fulfill one of her costume designs!

Achiyo Kensaki, for those just joining us, is an Au Ra (draconic humanoid) race from FFXIV, of the Raen (white-horned) variety. Her theme songs are a strong dose of this with a side helping of this.

Spoileriffic backstory: She was born the daughter of a samurai in the Far Eastern land of Hingashi (fantasy Japan), but was orphaned at the age of 8. Bereft of all family and any guardian, she might have been forced into slavery, but was rescued by a wandering Eorzean (Western) mercenary knight. She was raised by the knight, who doesn’t yet have a name, and he taught her to fight Western-style.

Eventually, while she was in her mid-teens, the knight journeyed to Doma (fantasy China) and obtained a job at Lord Kaien’s court, where the court ladies pounced upon her, considering it their bounden duty to train every young, impressionable, noble-born female as a proper lady. Achiyo considered escaping, but came to the conclusion that as a samurai’s daughter, she should behave befitting her family, so stayed and learned what they had to teach.

When she was about 23, her mentor was slain in battle. Orphaned yet again, she wandered the land, attempting to track down his killers and make her living as he had done. Yet Doma under Imperial subjugation was difficult for her to endure alone, and four years later she set sail for Eorzea on the other side of the world.

And then the fanfic began, and she joined the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and became the tank/leader of the A-team of the Warriors of Light, known specifically as the Paladin of the WoL, or sometimes as the Lady of the WoL, and saved Eorzea from the Garlean Empire, the machinations of the Ascians, and the fearsome Ultima Weapon…

I have not yet reached the Heavensward expansion in-game with Achiyo, but [even more spoilers] she becomes immediately entranced by Ser Aymeric of Ishgard… and he with her, despite his second-in-command Lucia’s silent and slightly yandere disapproval. And upon the eve of her return to Doma during the Stormblood expansion, he gives her that massive blue ring in those pictures up there, and she swears to return to him no matter what.

Achiyo is generally quiet and reserved, not shy but demure, voicing her thoughts and opinions softly but firmly; a Yamato Nadeshiko, if you will (she even keeps her hair in a hime cut). She values a right to life, peace, and freedom for all sapient creatures; she is not an overly curious person but once she makes up her mind about something she will follow through with honour. Her affinity is for Water (her Eorzean patron is Nymeia the Spinner, Goddess of Fate, though Achiyo believes more in the kami of her homeland), and her demeanour is tinged with an unconscious air of tragic melancholy; she really only begins to smile and laugh more freely once she becomes close to the other Scions and WoL – and Aymeric. Raised to a life of combat, she is accustomed to charging into danger to defend others, and taking command during chaotic events. She is also accustomed to hardship and living for long periods in the wilderness, and is very patient about most things. It takes a great deal to make her truly angry, to rouse her to hasty action… but if the right buttons are pressed her distant veneer will crack, causing her to swear defiant vows of justice and retribution. She never learned to dance or sing, making her a bit of an anomaly in my stable of characters. She has a fondness for Limsa Lominsa and La Noscea for being her first introduction to Eorzea and for being near the sea.

While she loves her homeland of Hingashi and the land where she was raised, Doma, the problems within them are painful to her, causing her to carry signs of depression, fatalism, and self-doubt. She comes to love Eorzea just as strongly, for the almost abrasive optimism of the people there, for her new friends, and for her adored Aymeric giving her her heart’s reason to live.

Achiyo’s costume took a lot of planning, and it still only came together in the last week because some parts of it were scary.

First off were the contacts and the wig. Contacts: easy, got them from Pinky Paradise again. Wig… not so easy. No one makes silver-green wigs. I initially bought one of mermaid-fairy-Asuna from SAOII, but it was much too blue, of course. So I bought a white-pink one, and spent several months colouring it the correct colour using art markers.

Fun fact: The perfect colour for Achiyo’s wig is the Artist’s Loft Honeydew marker by Michaels. Less fun fact: I bought all the markers in London and had to buy more in Toronto (and still had to fill out some extra using Sea Green) because that particular shade dries up VERY QUICKLY. And they don’t do custom orders, at least not in Canada. Shout out to Steph at the closest Michaels for helping me locate the ones in Toronto before I went!

The clothes I bought imported from Kimono Market Sakura on the internet; at first I was going to get just a kimono, because the pink one was PERFECT, it was exactly what I envisioned for her kimono. But then I decided to also get a yukata, because it wouldn’t add that much more to the total cost and it would be good to have something to wear, say, to work teaching that I wouldn’t fear getting dirty as much. I also bought an obi belt, tabi socks, and geta sandals, and an underwear layer, of course.

The horns, tail, and prosthetics were the real challenge. For the horns and tail, I bought a sheet of Worbla, that fabled heat-sensitive plastic, and a heat gun to use on it. I made a form with floral wire and wrapped it in aluminum foil, then put a layer of Worbla on that. It still took me a few tries to get something resembling the correct shape, and even then the surface looked so bad that I wrapped it in the vinyl fabric that I bought to do the tail with. I attached them to a cheap headband that I wear under the wig. There are additional Worbla pieces to hide my real ears (horns are ears for an Au Ra), but I’m not sure they’re really necessary if I use the wig cap to cover my real ears.

I do not seem to have progress pictures of the tail, but the top and bottom Worbla shapes I cut first out of craft foam, then sandwiched them in Worbla and shaped them a bit using a pencil to carve lines. Then I painted them using Games Workshop paints because I had them handy. The tail body was made of some upholstery foam that my grandma gave me recently by chance, then wrapped in beige textured vinyl upholstery fabric and sewn shut – very tedious, as the vinyl was tough for my needle to pierce. I glued a strip of fabric over the seam to make it less ugly. I still hold out hope of someday redoing the horns and the tail to make them look more realistic. I’m sure it’s possible, I just don’t know how yet.

The prosthetics I left for last even though they were the most time-consuming, because even reading guides on latex prosthetics on the internet, I was afraid to begin. Eventually I carved a model in white Sculpey, with only a pencil for a sculpting tool, cast it in plaster, removed the Sculpey (obviously) and poured liquid latex (you can get it at Party City!) into the mold. Then I painted the result, again obviously using Games Workshop paints.

I made the forehead piece first, then one cheek, then the other cheek, and finally (and in a bit of a rush) a neck piece. I wanted to try both to give myself mobility in the jaw area (a feat I only partially managed) and also to make it easier to use flat prosthetics to cover my 3D face/neck area. The upper pieces perhaps came out a bit thick, I may redo them to be thinner and more flexible. Word of warning: don’t rip prosthetics off your skin; I’ve been warned by YouTube videos and did it anyway because it’s just so temptingly easy. But it also rips the top layer of skin cells off, leaving a sun-burning feeling. Don’t do it! (although I’m concerned how the acrylic paint on the prosthetics will hold up against the alcohol-based spirit gum remover. Have not tried yet.)

The rest of Achiyo’s look and outfit is fairly simple. Upon further research, I determined I needed an obiage and obijime for my obi, so I simply made some. They are probably therefore not 100% accurate, but I feel they’re close enough for the time being. The white outer headband has a clip made entirely of fake peach blossoms superglued together; it adequately resembles the one in the game. The make-up look is exceedingly simple: black eyeshadow, smoked out through the lids, eyeliner applied slightly wide of my actual eye outline to attempt to reshape my eyes to look more like Achiyo’s, and false lashes, because although Achiyo does not really seem to have incredibly long eyelashes if you’re actually looking closely, the impression her eyes give is that of thick sexy lashes. I decided not to try and copy Achiyo’s slightly greenish skintone. Shoutout to my friend Kira who helped me to find both the silver rings for her horns, and Aymeric’s engagment ring!

And finally, a big thank you to Nicole for being my photographer for the day. She’s the one responsible for most of the more interesting poses in this post, and also for fixing my bangs, adding a smidgeon of glimmery highlight and fixing my lip gloss colour.