Tuxedo Kleen
(Gallery One)
Summer 2000
© 2000 David Ramsay
Original creation. The Tuxedo Kleen costume consists of a modified shop jacket, "shower curtain" cape, Tyvek suit, bow tie, lift belt, top hat, rubber gloves and boots - accented with lemons throughout. The modified shop jacket alone has 12 lemons decorating it, with iron-on lettering: "The Kleen Team" on the back. His lift belt has various cleaning brushes attached, as well as a spray bottle on a retractable line. Tuxedo Kleen is wearing the "Order of the Drain" medal around his neck. The modified top hat also has rubber and lemon accents. A pair of modified shop goggles, with a white foam mask attached to the front, completes the debonair ensemble. Tuxedo Kleen's prop is called "Thor's Plunger"; a modified, hand-painted plunger with glitter accents.
Click on images for a larger view!
We drew our inspiration from many sources.
(Text © Copyright David Ramsay and Kimberly Johnson)
For Comic-Con International 2000, Kimberly and I decided to make some "lemony fresh" costumes. From the rings of Tilex, the saga continues... "The Kleen Team" took it's inspiration from a variety of sources: Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, 50s sentimentality, George Michael's "Outside" music video, "The Hamster Dance" and lemons - to name a few. We planned our performance to be funny, adult-natured and crude; to be performed around a mock bathroom, complete with urinal and swing-door stall. A literal spoof of "squeaky clean" super heroes, who just so happen to clean toilets and prevent the spread of diseases in public restrooms everywhere. A very popular song from the Sailor Moon Musicals "La Soldier", was the inspiration for Kimberly's character: "Sailor La Trine". My character was inspired from the mysterious "Tuxedo Mask" - but "Tuxedo Kleen" had a better ring to it. Sounds wacky enough? We hoped those familiar with George Michael's embarrassing run-in with the law, for being "lewd" in a public restroom, would appreciate our disco elements and bathroom humor.
A little "tinkle" after the performance...
Succumb to the power of Thor's Plunger!
(Thanks to Bryan K. Williams for these photos.)
"Plungee Power!"
Award-winning "Grime Fighters".
Our homemade bathroom "environment", complete working stall door...
... and graffiti.
This was an interesting "convention summer" for us. We no longer compete at anime conventions. It was a decision we made last year, in the Fall of 1999. Regardless whether or not an award would be offered, we no longer feel the need to compete at anime conventions. We have nothing further to prove to the American cosplay community. Kimberly and I thought it was the right thing to do, since we have little, if any, competition that meets or exceeds our skill level. If people consider this honest opinion uppity or arrogant, so be it. I have been costuming for over fifteen years, and to force newbies or the less experienced to compete against me is unfair to all. I no longer wanted to win "by default". Others do not seem to have a problem with this, but that is their moral decision. This year we attended AnimeExpo and Otakon, exhibiting our costumes in the halls where we believe a costumer can receive more attention. Comic-Con International (CCI) welcomes costumers from all genres and different skill levels, including professionals. For years, we have attended CCI and feel comfortable participating at their Masquerades, in this open competition. CCI is a traditional Sci-fi/Western comic book convention at heart. There has always been a token appearance of anime at their Masquerades. However, we noticed in 1998 (the year after we won "Best of Show", and four of the nine industry awards, with our "Z-RAM Bytes the Dust" performance), there was a flood of anime-inspired contestants. Suddenly CCI opened up to anime and it is now the trendy non-anime convention to cosplay at. Our "Kleen Team" costumes and burlesque performance was created especially for CCI. While retaining an anime "look", we knew the audience would be more accepting and would "get" the majority of our subtle jokes and double entendre.
"Lemony fresh" heroes!
For more Juice:
Please select another destination:
This site visited 
times since 4/11/99.
Free counters provided by Honesty Communications.
"Kleen Team", "Tuxedo Kleen" and "Sailor La Trine" Copyright 2000 David Ramsay and Kimberly J. Ramsay.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 1997~2006 David Ramsay and Kimberly J. Ramsay. All rights reserved.
"The Japanese Animation Super Premier Entertainment Review" ,
"the J.A.S.P.E.R." and "theJASPER" logo are trademarks of David Ramsay, 1998~2006.
"theJASPER Cosplay Closet" logo and
"The Cosplay Closet: 'Where Costumes Become Anime-ted' "slogan
are ® Registered Trademarks of David Ramsay, 1999~2001.
David "Z-RAM" Ramsay and Kimberly "Hikaru-chan" J. Ramsay acknowledge the
copyright holders of materials contained herein and do not seek to infringe on their rights.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
