![\"Mini-Figure](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/minifigs.png\" "\\"Mini-Figure")
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![](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cryp_lbs3_bard1.jpg\" "\\"Lil")
Interesting, interesting, interesting!<\/p>\n
At SDCC 2014, cosplayer Kimi Hughes wanted to join a group that was doing Bombshells<\/i> costumes. But rather than picking an existing character, like everyone else was doing, she opted to be one who had yet to appear in the line: Big Barda. With no specific design, she created her own look that just fit the general vibes of the setting. Well, apparently someone at DC saw her, and liked the look, because when Barda appeared in the books her now-official design was clearly inspired by the cosplay. Too cool! And it was all above-board, too: DC got in touch with Hughes to get permission, and she wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it until the book was out.<\/p>\n
Eventually Barda did make it into the statue line, and she got a new, unique design when she did: a roller derby girl, which isn't exactly a pin-up archetype, and seems to have more in common with ![](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cryp_lbs3_bard2.jpg\" "\\"original")
the early \"rockabilly\" idea they were considering. This Lil Bombshell<\/i> gets the original, cosplay, look, which was some sort of vaguely military-inspired air marshal or something? Even if it's not immediately recognizable as something specific, it does what its creator wanted: it matched the vibe. She's got sturdy boots, short shorts (sometimes a skirt in the comics), a corset belt, and a fitted short-sleeved jacket. She wears a military cap with a small brim, and a pointed, red-and-gold crest on the front that suggests the sort of helmet Barda wears in the normal universe. She's got one hand resting on her hip, and the other holds her usual weapon, the Mega-Rod.<\/p>\n
Barda didn't have much to do in the Bombshells<\/i> story, but knowing that this design is the work of an industrious cosplayer makes it a rather cool little item.<\/p>\n