"Workin' hard or hardly workin'? Eh? Hahahahah! Just came up with that! Wow!" - Rhys the Company Man

I love the colorful world of Borderlands so much that when the game "Tales from the Borderlands" came out, I instantly fell in love with the new cast of characters. Rhys to date has been the most demanding costume when it came to crafting. This costume was made before cosplay fabric lines existed and online print shops were more affordable so a lot of the fabric was painted by hand using custom stencils and free handing.

The collared shirt was a lot of fun to make. I sewed a basic men's button up shirt. While cutting the fabric, I painted the pin strips on before sewing everything together using the $1 acrylic paints you can get a Michael's mixed with fabric paint medium. Since Rhys has a tie that has no beginning or end, I sewed red fabric where the buttons would have gone and instead put magnets as the closure. This created the illusion that can be seen in the character that begs to ask the question "what is his tie doing?".

The vest uses the same techniques as the collared shirt. The circles and hexagons were all hand painted on to the fabric before sewing everything together. I used a women's vest pattern to sew the vest. I ran out of time in the end and forgot about the Hyperion logo. That was created by cutting out kids craft foam and super gluing it straight to the vest.

The robot arm is craft foam covered in worbla that was then attached to a long black glove so it slips on and off. The elbow piece is a toilet paper roll covered in worbla. I've had foam props in the past break on me at conventions so adding the worbla layer to it helped it maintain it's shape and take a beating while at con.

The pants and shoes were a Goodwill find that I then painted the pin strips on like I did with the collared shirt. The shoes were sealed so the paint wouldn't crack while wearing.

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• Model is Serenity Discord

• Photography by Aubry Canales Photography

• Wig by Arda Wigs

• Costume by Serenity Discord