Though Tyson wouldn’t choose to cosplay on his own volition, he is willing to do so for his nephew, James. Especially in Redemption!Verse, where Tyson’s anxiety is - practically speaking - non-existent and going to events with his nephew is much easier.
The characters that Tyson would agree to dress up as are characters that Tyson likes and that James likes, and specifically requests his uncle to do. The general theme of them are characters that James sees a little of his uncle in, but there is an occasional exception that James simply thinks would be fun to see.
Tyson is a decent sewer and painter, he’s pretty good with makeup, and money is no object when it comes to getting materials. So, the main barrier for Tyson is needing to find the time to create whatever his nephew asks for. It’s easy to justify the time in his mind as good practice for disguises for the web.
Within Tyson’s main universe and Redemption!Verse, these are the characters that James has asked Tyson to do so far. The pieces of those costumes are stored in Tyson’s storage locker on the other side of London, where he keeps his motorbike.
- Garrett Hawke (Mage) - Dragon Age
When James plays Dragon Age 2 as male!Hawke, James always ends up playing him as he imagines his uncle. This began the first time he picked one of the purple/humorous dialogue options and recognised it as exactly what his uncle would say in that situation.
Any time that Tyson has to grow a beard for one of those costumes, Tyson never wants to keep it - to avoid looking even more like his father - but he does prefer the way he looks with facial hair; and the way his nephew’s eyes lit up with glee is worth it every time.
If he could get away with wearing armour every day, Tyson one hundred percent would. He wears particular sets of clothing as armour anyway. The bloodswipe/kaddis on his nose is never perfectly correct, but that’s because James always likes to apply it himself and then to put a matching one on his own face.
- Kaidan Alenko - Mass Effect
Kaidan was chosen for a similar reason as Hawke, though not for the humour part. Kaidan’s awkward seriousness, yet open honesty and gentle understanding is exactly what Tyson always shows his nephew.
James didn’t mention that to Tyson, however. He simply told his uncle that he thought biotics were really cool, which is true. Though Tyson suspects that there is more to it than that, he isn’t going to press his nephew too hard over something that makes him happy.
Tyson finds that costume much easier to wear, it’s not as bulky as Hawke’s armour, and it was easier to make too. He’s gotten pretty good at pitching his voice to match Kaidan’s for James’ amusement.
- The Outsider - Dishonored
James’ reasons for wanting Tyson to dress up as The Outsider are far less profound.
He simply thinks the Outsider is a really cool character and Dishonored is a series that he only ever plays when visiting his uncle, taking turns after every death or getting spotted to do no-kill stealth runs through the game; or various other self-imposed challenges.
The eye makeup is a little bit of a pain, but The Outsider is one of the easier ones for Tyson to do.
- Red Robin/Tim Drake - New 52 DC
Tim Drake is James’ absolutely favourite Robin and DC character overall.
He started reading comic books during the New 52 era of DC, so when James thinks of Tim Drake, he thinks of that version of the costume first. Though James likes Tim’s character more, he wanted to dress up in Damien’s Robin costume and to be a character with a skin tone more like his own.
Tyson is always happy to pull out the two superhero costumes if that’s what James wants, but he really wishes that Bobby would stop standing on the cape and tripping Tyson.
- Adam Jensen - Deus Ex
Though James doesn’t know what Tyson does for a living, he’s not stupid.
He knows that Tyson used to be in the army and that he does something dangerous, something that James’ father doesn’t want him to know about and to James, that means it must be even more dangerous than his father’s job as a police officer.
James knows that for two years, from when he was three until he was five, his uncle disappeared and that he won’t talk about what happened. He’s since read news articles about events around Tyson, but James has also read that Tyson was innocent of that shooting.
He assumes that Tyson has a job like Jensen, just real. Something special ops and important where he had to go undercover, or that he used to and is somehow still involved in that life. Like an informant, perhaps. James keeps that assumption to himself.
On Tyson’s end, the hexagon makeup is a little fiddly, but he’s happy enough to throw on Jensen’s coat and glasses for his nephew’s amusement. Though shaving the scars through Jensen’s facial hair involves a lot of swearing when using a straight razor.
- Rhys - Tales from the Borderlands
James honestly doesn’t know why he thinks of his uncle when playing Rhys. They just seem… similar somehow.
On Tyson’s end, that hits a little too close to home frankly. To where he is in his life now, or where he used to be in Redemption!Verse.
However, Tyson isn’t going to burden his nephew with that knowledge. The paint for the tattoos and makeup for his info-port are a nightmare to do in the mirror, but Tyson will gladly do it for his nephew’s amusement.
It’s as good an excuse as any to play with Nerf guns and calling out attacks as Borderlands damage types.
- Tetsuya Kuroko - Kuroko no Basuke
Dressing up as Kuroko began one Halloween at Rosie’s request. She watches anime with her son and gave the suggestion when it was decided that Tyson would be babysitting James for Halloween.
Tyson is honestly happy for the excuse to have light blue hair again. He likes his normal hair colour the best, but he does have a soft spot for that blue hair as well.
He absolutely hates having to play basketball against Jethro, however.
- Dr Strange - Marvel
It was somewhat inevitable that once Tyson handed James a Marvel comic with the good doctor in it that Tyson would end up having to stitch together a cloak of levitation.
The combination of beard and touch of grey in his hair reminds Tyson all too much of his father, but - as you may have gathered by now - Tyson won’t let his own discomfort get in the way of James’ enjoyment.
He isn’t entirely certain that the comparison to Dr Strange is a good thing, but James seems to mean it in a good way. He loves the things Tyson teaches him and the ways he seems to do magic with animals.