Arcade Sona Weapon

Arcade Sona is a skin for a character from League of Legends that was released in August 31, 2012. The character is a support champion that features game-like styles to her attire, from her bright neon colors, to game controller design weapon.

The reason why I chose this character as my first cosplay was because I thought out of all the other League of Legend champions, I thought this would be on the simpler side of cosplays that I could have my hands on trying. Boy was I wrong. As a first attempt on making cosplay, it was just as challenging.

To start off with, I had to do research on what her weapon looked like to get an idea on what I would need. Took a lot of googling to see what artwork and gameplay clips were out there to get an idea on what it all entailed. I also referred to other cosplayers who had done Arcade Sona to see how their cosplays looked.

After that was gathering items to make the outfit. The list of items I used are as followed:

Acrylic paint: https://amzn.to/3ZdtWOu

Base: https://amzn.to/4cUU2sI

For thickness: https://amzn.to/3XGsTpe

Buttons: https://amzn.to/4dWUpnY

For the ball-shape part of the joystick: https://amzn.to/3XFd2Hr

For the stick part of the joystick: https://amzn.to/3TnC0Zi

Now the process to make the weapon took a while, mainly cause I had to redo it at one point due to making it so big that it was as tall as me (for reference I am 5 ft tall).

First it was measuring the weapon against the approximate size it would be around my body. Then I cut the cardboard poster paper to make the base first. After I measure and cut the same measurements off the craft foam to create the depth of the weapon, and glue it on top of the base. After gluing them together, I let them set, while working on shaping the craft foam to get the cut and sand angle between the side of the weapon to the top layer. Once I get the shape done, I move forward with cutting the poster boards again to make the sides and top layer. Before gluing them on top though, I paint them a metallic gray and dark blue.

Moving on to the mini button board, I cut out some cardboard, coat it with poster board, then paint it. Then I paint the buttons and glue them on top of the mini board.

For the joystick I used the craft foam that comes in the ball shape, coat it with primer than paint it with acrylic paint in bright pink. Then I use the sticks and jab it at the bottom of the craft foam, paint it, and allow to dry.

For the minor details on the weapon like the movement buttons, and non-usable buttons, I made it out of cardboard with poster board wrapped around it, and painted with acrylic paint. By making them out of cardboard, I make sure that they have a 3D texture to them that pops up on the weapon while the poster board ensure that the edges are smooth and do not reveal the cardboard inner linings.

Once the parts have dried, its gluing all the parts together and voila! The weapon is complete!

Full picture with the completed cosplay.