Worn At: Anime Expo 2004

"Stungun" Milly Thompson is a representative of the Bernardelli Insurance Society along with her partner, "Derringer" Meryl Stryfe. These two gun-toting ladies are in charge of keeping Vash the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon, from destroying cities in the anime series, Trigun.

The most troublesome part of Milly's costume is her signature stungun. A shoulder height weapon that she wields with unbelievable ease, it fires cylinders that, upon opening, renders her opponents unconsious. This prop needed to be both detailed, sturdy, and lightweight. More about Milly's stungun here.

With the first appearance of Meryl and Milly on Trigun, Kel and I decided we *had* to do these costumes. They were really interesting characters, there was two of them, and they got to tote big guns (it is not always the boys!). Unfortunately, we didn't quite match the physical types of the characters. While Kel is a couple of inches (Kel's editorial comment: a COUPLE of inches?!?!) taller than me, she had short hair and my light brown hair was the perfect length. (Of course, at Anime Expo, my hair was black due to a bad "temporary" dye experience a couple of months earlier.)

Like all of our costumes, we wanted these to stand out from the crowd. Most Milly costumes are "found" costumes, or existing clothes modified to fit the costume. Usually, a london fog type trench with a green collar added. While there is nothing wrong with found costuming, I wanted to be as accurate to the anime as possible. Milly's coat is pale yellow, with a flat front and two front side seams that end in pockets with black detailing.

The fabric for the cloak was a "sportswear" type cotton poly blend twill that was extremely stiff and heavy. While it would not be the coolest item to wear, it would have the right characteristics of an overcoat. In addition (the most important element), it came in the right colors and was cheap. Why oh why did the makers of Trigun decide to clothe everyone on this desert planet in overcoats? I made the coat by adapting a simple lab coat pattern and extending the lapels to form the straight front. The collar was sloped into a straight center front. The only major design change from the anime was the green duster piece. In the anime, it is extremely fittted around the shoulders, with shoulder seams curved around the shoulders to accomplish this. Unfortunately, if I did that, I wouldn't be able to carry the stungun. So, I cut the duster piece on a circle.