Patron Spotlight: Captain Bleifuss! (Patreon)

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One of my all-time favorite things is when I find a cosplayer, artist, or creator who is making incredible Critical Role fan works, and they tell me that my Jester cosplay got them into the show! This community has so much talent, and knowing that I got to play a part in bringing some more talent into the fold is the absolute best feeling.

That’s why I was so thrilled to hear that Lucien, known online as Captain Bleifuss, got into Critical Role after seeing my cosplay. Lucien, a 24-year-old German nonbinary cosplayer (they/them or he/him), has been cosplaying for about ten years and crafting their own cosplays for four. There are a wide range of characters in their impressive cosplay repertoire, but a high proportion of them are from Critical Role — “This show has taken over my life,” Lucien admits. 

They’ve already cosplayed four characters from Critical Role, and from how it sounds, they’re just getting started! “Keyleth was the first Critical Role cosplay I finished, thought I actually started Caduceus way before,” they tell me. “My crafting process is super chaotic and I jump between projects a lot.” I ask about their upcoming plans, and they’re full of ideas: Level ten Caleb and Caduceus are on the list, as well as wedding Percy.

Out of the costumes they’ve already made, Lucien finds it hard to pick a favorite. “I’m constantly torn between Vax’ildan and Mollymauk. I might lean a little more towards Molly, though. He’s a very important character to me and I met most of my Critical Role friends while wearing him, so there are a lot of fond memories.” Lucien is planning on making some intense upgrades to their Molly cosplay this year, too: “I'm insane enough to embroider even more fabric than his canon design asks for,” they joke when describing the cloak they want to create, “and I'll attempt to make glowing horns and scimitars.” Wearing Molly outside of a convention has also proved to be a lot of fun! “One time I went to a store before a convention, and the person at the register just stared at me blankly, then shouted ‘Oh my god, purple is my favourite colour!! I forgot how this register works!!’ I threw them out of their groove so hard they had to call over a coworker to scan my items.”

Lucien doesn’t just watch others play D&D, though — they also play in their own game! It’s a homebrew campaign based on the Zamonia universe, a German book series by Walter Moers. “I play Ekram Al-Krabas, an eyedeet,” they explain, describing a gnome-like race with multiple brains. “Mine has four.” As for class, Ekram is a bookimist, which is similar to an alchemist, but based on all things books and literature. “He has nine doctorates and loves obscure science,” Lucien says. “He’s super fun to play: A big mad scientist with a heart of gold.” 

One of the things that becomes quickly apparent when you look at Lucien’s recent work is that they don’t allow their cosplay choices to be restricted by gender. “I’ve only recently started to cosplay female characters at all,” they told me when I brought this up. “Before cosplaying Keyleth, I hadn’t worn a dress in over six years.” They tell me that cosplaying female characters are initially very challenging because of their dysphoria, but that they’re glad they took the risk and tried it. “I’m kind of still easing my way into presenting feminine every once in a while,” they say. “I guess right now I’m mostly enjoying experimenting with different kinds of gender expression and allowing myself to try more feminine things.”

If you want to follow along with Lucien’s upcoming work, make sure to follow them on Instagram and Twitter!

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Photo credits: Laura Engelbracht (Molly, Zuko, Keyleth), Sass Photoart (Vax)