What started as a joke with friends in 2023 turned into a legitimately fun idea. That idea was to cosplay ALL of the Pokemon! I love Pokemon! It’s always been one of my favorite things, ever since I was a kid. Nobody should be gatekeeping certain Pokemon just because they have a personal attachment, we ALL have personal attachments to Pokemon since most of us grew up with it. So for me, this is my way of expressing my love and appreciation for a franchise that my childhood was basically centered around, while simultaneously asserting my right to cosplay whatever I want, whenever I want, as every cosplayer should. :) Part of the fun of gijinka cosplays is seeing how different people interpret different Pokemon and express those ideas. How one cosplayer may interpret Pikachu may be entirely different than how another cosplayer does. It’s awesome to see! What I also enjoy seeing is someone’s personal style across their body of work. What would it look like if a single cosplayer designed unique looks for over 150+ Pokemon? I’m here to find that out, using myself as the guinea pig!

So what am I hoping to accomplish with this project? Over the past few years I’ve learned that I really, really love the process of designing cosplays based on creatures- animals, Pokemon, Digimon, etc. Part of the fun for me is that I can make it as simple or complex as I would like. This project is a challenge for me in all the right ways. A lot of Pokemon are very iconic and are easy to design for- some are not. It is an enjoyable challenge for me to create designs for the creatures that are less straightforward. Even if Pidgey is not my favorite, I can come up with a gijinka design that I enjoy. This project should achieve several things for me personally. 1. Express my interpretation and love for that particular Pokemon, even if it’s not my absolute favorite. I have fond memories of all of them, and therefore appreciation for all of them. 2. Create a design that I find enjoyable to create. Since I am designing every single look, I get to choose exactly what I want it to look like and what methods I will use to create them. Since I am in control of these aspects, I shouldn’t get bored working on the project. If I decide I hate working on a particular aspect of a design, I can change it to something more enjoyable. 3. Pokedex order provides structure and should keep me organized and motivated. I have spent time finalizing designs for every Pokemon just so I don’t get stuck on one and scrap the project. I can just (mostly) go in order and the project should be completed eventually.
4. I want to create a very cohesive showcase of my work, something 8 year old me would be proud of, something that I actually like showing off to people, unlike a lot of my older work that was less inspired, thematic, and thoughtful. Quitting lingerie content really opened up a world of possibility to me creatively, and it is very freeing to design without having to worry about how much skin to show to please an audience that doesn’t even resonate with me. I’m excited to finally pursue all those possibilities without worrying about those factors!

With such a large, daunting project, I’d like to outline my ideas and how I imagine I’m going to execute it.

• The cosplays are all unique FULL BUILDS- meaning I am not reusing the vast majority of wigs/ clothing even within evolutionary families. When I am finished with them, I will keep the ones I love the most, and sell the rest to other cosplayers or fans who want them. I cannot feasibly keep 151 full cosplay builds in my house.

• The cosplays will be cohesive within evolutionary lines. I want to tell a story with each line. Every line is designed so that the evolution LOOKS like evolution of the previous design, and not random. So there are thematic similarities. The Venusaur I have created looks like it could be the elder of the Bulbasaur and Ivysaur I created. Generally speaking, the evolutions are more complex builds than the predecessors.

• There will be a huge amount of variety from evolutionary line to evolutionary line. Many of my designs are fantasy armor, some are gowns, some are casual, some are abstract, and some look like they came straight off of a haute couture runway show. If you are familiar with my other Pokemon cosplays, this is a whole different ballpark because I designed this new project with much more thought, love, and thematic ideas involved. They are more detailed/thematic than what I have done in the past. I will be remaking or upgrading most of my gijinka cosplays to match the vibe of the project, so they don’t feel out of place.

• This is obviously a long term project. I am generally going to go in Pokedex order, I might skip around and simultaneously work on a simpler line while I work on one that takes longer, so there are less long wait periods for the next line. When I am done, I will be making a photo book that has the cosplays, sketches, and backstories available to long term supporters or for donations. I will also be throwing some simpler cannon trainer cosplays in to break up some of the more complex stretches!