AWA 2014: Shore Leave/A Captain in the Park

Both of the two primary versions of my "Monster Maroon" Class-A Officer's Undress uniform ultimately saw use at Anime Weekend Atlanta 2014. This particular photo was taken late in the morning on Saturday, the second day of the convention, as I made my way to the venue.  As always, I'm cosplaying the older Captain Hikaru Sulu of the U.S.S. Excelsior (NCC-2000) from "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," "Flashback (VOY)" and "Shattered Universe," although I seem to have been caught planetside, probably trying to enjoy some hard-earned shore leave.

As expected, the Marco Enterprises uniform, the highest-quality, most accuate one I own, was only used on Friday; I was featured in two photo shoots and absolutely needed to look my best. The next time I used a Monster Maroon was Saturday during the daytime, and this time, I brought my fully upgraded Mark 1 Malaysian-made version back out, paired with a prototype Sestra Phaser-IIB pistol prop made by Casey Sullivan and the propmaking team at Triple-Fiction Productions.

I was rather pleasantly surprised that - given I'd been wearing the far superior Marco Enterprises uniform just a day before, even this version of the uniform still received many compliments and quite a few requests to stop for photos (all of which I granted to the best of my ability, of course - remember, there's some element of performance in good cosplay).

Although it was nowhere near as good in terms of quality and accuracy as the Marco Enterprises version, this uniform still had its advantages. In actual use, it was much lighter, easier to move around in and far more breathable. Its magnetic snaps made it much quicker to put on and take off, and its thinner, stretchier, looser-fitting undershirt collar felt much more comfortable around my neck than the super-stiff collar of the Marco Enterprises undershirt.

Because the Marco Enterprises version ultimately proved to be nearly impossible to dry-clean (almost all dry cleaners in Augusta are just too chicken to even touch it because it was a custom-made tag-less piece), I'm further convinced that the Marco will be largely sidelined, confined to being a museum piece unless I wind up in a situation where show-accuracy is absolutely vital, such as a formal photo shoot.

The upgrades made to this version allow it to continue serving as my primary-use Monster Maroon for most events - including any future trips to AWA.  I don't expect the arrangement to change in the coming year; the Marco Enterprises TWOK will likely still only be used on Friday while I spend the rest of the convention alternating between this one, the Bomber Jacket, and the TWOK Field Coat (a.k.a. the "Day Three" outfit).