This cosplay outfit is way UNDER 9,000 (yen)!

Our reporter Go Hatori has been a lot of interesting things in his life, including manga artist, employee at one of the leading IT companies on the planet, and head of our Japanese-language sister site’s editorial department. But today he’s decided he wants to be something else.

He wants to be Vegeta.

▼ Vegeta

Now, wishing you were one of the mighty martial artists from the Dragon Ball anime franchise is a pretty common aspiration among young Japanese boys, but it’s one most of them grow out of by the time they become adults. Go, however, has held onto that childhood dream, and he’s now determined to make it come true…or at least to put together a cool Vegeta cosplay outfit. However, as loyal SoraNews24 readers know, our boss is pretty stingy with our cosplay expense accounts. If Go was going to pull this off, he was going to have to really stretch his yen, and so he headed to the best place to shop when your budget is tight: Daiso.

Daiso is most famous for its lineup of 100-yen items, but Go’s cosplay endeavor also required a few of the chain’s premium items. Of course, at Daiso even the “premium” stuff is amazingly affordable, and Go began his transformation into the Saiyan prince with:

● Heat Inner long-sleeved U-neck undershirt (500 yen [US$4.60])
● Leggings (300 yen)
● Camisole (300 yen)
● Socks (200 yen)
● Plastic gloves (100 yen)
● Fabric tape (100 yen)

The first step was to slip on the shirt and leggings, which are both pretty form-fitting, seeing as how they’re actually designed to be innerwear.

You’ll notice that Go made sure to choose dark colors for the shirt and leggings, but white for the camisole, gloves, and socks. That same color contrast is present in Vegeta’s anime outfit, and simply adding those to his costume actually made for a surprisingly cohesive look.

But Vegeta’s armor has extra padding on the shoulders and across the stomach, and that’s where the fabric tape comes in.

With this, Go had completed Stage 1 of his Daiso Vegeta cosplay.

▼ “Fight me, Kakarot!”

However, much like the eminently ambitious Vegeta, Go still had visions of greater glory. See, while Vegeta also has a more impressive set of armor with extra protector plates, like this.

That’s why while Go was at Daiso he also picked up three pairs of slippers (200 yen each) and a U-shaped toiler seat cover (100 yen).

To fabricate Vegeta’s shoulder pads, he took two slippers and slid one under each strap of the camisole, then secured them with tape.

Next, he tied the toilet seat cover around his waist and added three more slippers for extra protection for his hips and crotch. Honestly, any piece of thick, belt-like fabric would have worked, but the toilet seat cover was the best match color-wise out of what was available at Daiso.

At this point, Go had reached Stage 2 of his Vegeta metamorphosis, and was more or less ready for battle. But Vegeta is smart as well strong, and so he often uses a portable device called a Scouter to measure his opponents’ power levels before they start exchanging blows. To put together a Scouter of his own, Go bought a pair of Daiso’s blue light-reduction glasses (100 yen).

He also got an orange marker (100 yen) to simulate the high-tech light-up effect of the Scouter in a thoroughly primitive way.

This method meant that when wearing his Scouter, Go is essentially blind in one eye, but he looks cool!

And with this, Go, in true superpowered anime character style, has revealed his final form!

Filled with a sense of galactic-scale power, he was eager to see if dressing like Vegeta had given him the ability to produce Kamehameha energy blasts…

…but at the last second, he realized that if he had acquired that skill, then he’d be blowing a hole in the wall of his apartment, so he decided to settle for just posing dramatically instead.

With everything added up, Go’s Daiso Vegeta cosplay outfit cost him 2,400 yen (US$22), which isn’t bad at all when you consider it included literally everything he needed to wear. If you’re planning to utilize his template yourself, say for a last-minute Halloween or anime convention costume, you could probably do it with even less out-of-pocket expenditure if you happen to already have some of the materials, such as a long-sleeved T-shirt or tank top.

As for Go, we’re happy that he’s achieved his lifelong dream of becoming Vegeta, but we’re a little worried that his newfound sense of power will go to his head and he’ll try to conquer SoraNews24 headquarters and rule it with an iron fist, so hopefully he’ll get distracted by his giant bubble maker (that he also bought at Daiso) before that happens.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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