Once I'd started considering playing different Firefly characters (as described in my article on my River Tam costume), I needed to give some thought as to how (and if) I might do guns. As mentioned in that other article, in addition to the philsophical issues, there are practical issues with cosplaying weapons. For one thing, you need to be careful that people don't think they're real, especially when you're working with guns.
But, Mal, Jayne, or Zoe from Firefly are fighters--they're kind of hard to do without thir guns. I considered that maybe I could have a realistic holster, but use it to carry a water bottle rather than something gun-like. Or, perhaps there might be some kind of Nerf guns that might serve the purpose.
My initial decision was actually a no-decision. As they say a couple of times in the "Objects in Space" episode, "No touching guns." I decided I wouldn't worry about it until I was actually trying to put together a costume that needed it... if I ever actually did.
Then one day, a woman posted in one of the Browncoat groups I belong to on Facebook, explaining a bit about how she was cosplaying Mal. Instead of a holster and gun, she used a fanny pack--but it wasn't the style I'd always seen before that, where the pack sits mostly horizontally along the belt. On the one she had, the pack part hung vertically off the belt, so it did look quite a bit like a holster for a gun.
I thought that was a great idea! Especially since, when you're walking around at these conventions and stuff, you really need some kind of pack to put your stuff in. So I went poking on Amazon to see if they had something suitable, and sure enough, they did. In fact, they even have some with the leg tie like the Firefly folks have on their holsters, like the one linked at right.
So, even though I wasn't actually working on a costume that
needed a gun just then, I went ahead and
got two different ones, one with the leg tie
and one without. The latter I just really liked the styling
of and figured I could wear any time.
Or, if I decided I wanted a holster without a leg tie.
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