ghostismybbygorl

[ghostismybbygorl]

It’s a five-minute walk from my house to the pub.

It’s a thirty-five minute walk from the pub to my house.

The difference is staggering.

[ghostismybbygorl]

So a couple days ago, some folks braved my long-dormant social media accounts to make sure I’d seen this tweet:

And after getting over my initial (rather emotional) response, I wanted to reply properly, and explain just why that hit me so hard.

So back around twenty years ago, the internet cosplay and costuming scene was very different from today. The older generation of sci-fi convention costumers was made up of experienced, dedicated individuals who had been honing their craft for years.  These were people who took masquerade competitions seriously, and earning your journeyman or master costuming badge was an important thing.  They had a lot of knowledge, but – here’s the important bit – a lot of them didn’t share it.  It’s not just that they weren’t internet-savvy enough to share it, or didn’t have the time to write up tutorials – no, literally if you asked how they did something or what material they used, they would refuse to tell you. Some of them came from professional backgrounds where this knowledge literally was a trade secret, others just wanted to decrease the chances of their rivals in competitions, but for whatever reason it was like getting a door slammed in your face.  Now, that’s a generalization – there were definitely some lovely and kind and helpful old-school costumers – but they tended to advise more one-on-one, and the idea of just putting detailed knowledge out there for random strangers to use wasn’t much of a thing.  And then what information did get out there was coming from people with the freedom and budget to do things like invest in all the tools and materials to create authentic leather hauberks, or build a vac-form setup to make stormtrooper armor, etc.  NOT beginner friendly, is what I’m saying.

Then, around 2000 or so, two particular things happened: anime and manga began to be widely accessible in resulting in a boom in anime conventions and cosplay culture, and a new wave of costume-filled franchises (notably the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings movies) hit the theatres.  What those brought into the convention and costuming arena was a new wave of enthusiastic fans who wanted to make costumes, and though a lot of the anime fans were much younger, some of them, and a lot of the movie franchise fans, were in their 20s and 30s, young enough to use the internet to its (then) full potential, old enough to have autonomy and a little money, and above all, overwhelmingly female.  I think that latter is particularly important because that meant they had a lifetime of dealing with gatekeepers under our belts, and we weren’t inclined to deal with yet another one.  They looked at the old dragons carefully hoarding their knowledge, keeping out anyone who might be unworthy, or (even worse) competition, and they said NO.  If secrets were going to be kept, they were going to figure things out for ourselves, and then they were going to share it with everyone.  Those old-school costumers may have done us a favor in the long run, because not knowing those old secrets meant that we had to find new methods, and we were trying – and succeeding with – materials that “serious” costumers would never have considered.   I was one of those costumers, but there were many more – I was more on the movie side of things, so JediElfQueen and PadawansGuide immediately spring to mind, but there were so many others, on YahooGroups and Livejournal and our own hand-coded webpages, analyzing and testing and experimenting and swapping ideas and sharing, sharing, sharing.  

I’m not saying that to make it sound like we were the noble knights of cosplay, riding in heroically with tutorials for all.  I’m saying that a group of people, individually and as a collective, made the conscious decision that sharing was a Good Things that would improve the community as a whole.  That wasn’t necessarily an easy decision to make, either. I know I thought long and hard before I posted that tutorial; the reaction I had gotten when I wore that armor to a con told me that I had hit on something new, something that gave me an edge, and if I didn’t share that info I could probably hang on to that edge for a year, or two, or three.  And I thought about it, and I was briefly tempted, but again, there were all of these others around me sharing what they knew, and I had seen for myself what I could do when I borrowed and adapted some of their ideas, and I felt the power of what could happen when a group of people came together and gave their creativity to the world.

And it changed the face of costuming.  People who had been intimidated by the sci-fi competition circuit suddenly found the confidence to try it themselves, and brought in their own ideas and discoveries.  And then the next wave of younger costumers took those ideas and ran, and built on them, and branched out off of them, and the wave after that had their own innovations, and suddenly here we are, with Youtube videos and Tumblr tutorials and Etsy patterns and step-by-step how-to books, and I am just so, so proud.  

So yeah, seeing appreciation for a 17-year-old technique I figured out on my dining-room table (and bless it, doesn’t that page just scream “I learned how to code on Geocities!”), and having it embraced as a springboard for newer and better things warms this fandom-old’s heart.  This is our legacy, and a legacy the current group of cosplayers is still creating, and it’s a good one.  

(Oh, and for anyone wondering: yes, I’m over 40 now, and yes, I’m still making costumes. And that armor is still in great shape after 17 years in a hot attic!)  

[ghostismybbygorl]

Yknow how people say they picture senshi and it helps them cook? I think I’m doing something wrong (DO NOT DO THIS)

[ghostismybbygorl]

The birth of elf senshi, colorized

[ghostismybbygorl]

This is pretty much how it played out for me in my game. I just embellished a few details here and there for the sake of the story. Thanks for reading yet another one of my silly fancomics! To banish Withers head over to my Patreon to view for free!

[ghostismybbygorl]

remember how young and scared we were?

[ghostismybbygorl]

Hello yes i have falling into the bottomless pit of baulders gate so heres a tav x gale fic in my mext post

[ghostismybbygorl]

Gaz and ghost enjoying their morning tea together

Soap in the distance: AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Gaz: 👀 is soap alright?

Ghost sipping on his tea: yeah he just woke up

Gaz: is that normal

Ghost: pretty much

[ghostismybbygorl]

Spooky season is here so let me feed you some werewolf soap headcannons

DOG THINGS THAT SOAP DOES BUT DOESNT RELIZE IT UNTIL ITS POINTED OUT

P U P P Y E Y E S

He whole ass will tilt his head and widen his eyes with his ears back

Ill use my dog for examle

He does the dog yawn where he shakes his head at the end

He'll follow you into the bathroom and just sit there talking to you

HE BEGS FOR FOOD. He takes advantage of those puppy eyes

His tail wags vigorously when hes happy pr eating

Does the nose boops

He growls when he doesnt want to be bothered or when he's asleep

RUNS IN HIS SLEEP

He does the thing where he'll bring you something when he's excited

HE PLAYS FETCH ALL THE TIME

The team made a bet to see if he would return things if they threw it at him. Lets just say he brought a whole dead tree to them excitedly wagging his tail.

[ghostismybbygorl]

Johnny held simon in his arms playing with his golden locks in between his fingers gently scratching at his scalp. Simon let out a deep sign sqeezing him tighter nuzzling into his neck whispering a soft "i love you"

It was mornings like these where the two men too exhausted to do anything but lay together in a puddle of limbs relaxed in each others presence.

[ghostismybbygorl]

happy werewolf transgenderism wednesday

[ghostismybbygorl]

How 141 reacts to getting woken up

Ghost

G R U M P Y

He will probably tell you to fuck off

Will throw a pillow if you persist on waking him up

If your his partner he'll just groan and turn his back to you with a angry "noooo" he'll end up pulling you in bed for cuddles

Soap

Inaudible Scottish grumbling with this face

Hes a drama queen waking up he'll wail and moan that he doesnt want to get up.

Has the be bribed food to get out of bed

Price

"HUH wWHAT?"

He jumps like ten feet when hes woken up.

"What are you waking me up for"

He immediately will get out of bed and get redy for the day

Gaz

Hes done with your bullshit already

"No" and then he'll cover his head with the blanket and flick you off

He'll just glare at you until you leave and then lie back down and scroll on his phone until the last minute

[ghostismybbygorl]

[ghostismybbygorl]

a few trans soap thoughts for the soul:

1: relatively inspired by a tiktok I saw saying soap loves his Mohawk and feels genuinely hurt when people make fun of it - he totally just cut his hair like that the day he transitioned and has not changed his cut since

2: he used to be insecure about his voice until he'd been on T for awhile and realized it became the sexy-gruff-deep voice we know and love and that's why he doesn't shut up ever

there r more but the rest r going into a fic but these were little brain worms I NEEDED to get out

[ghostismybbygorl]

Raw ramen

Just a silly little story i thought of today

Gaz and soap sat in the kitchen writing out their last minute reports.

Soap got up with a small grunt and walked over to the pantry where he pulled out a pack of ramen staring at gaz with a michevious look

"Dont you fucking dare" gaz said staring at him

Soap open the packet of ramen slowly dramatically, taking the seasoning out. Gaz glared at him closing his laptop.

"I swear to God, John"

Soap ripped the seasoning packet open sprinkling it over the Ramen .

"Jonathan Scott "soap" MacTavish the second!" Gaz yelled

Soap let out a low giggle, breaking up the Ramen and shaking the packaging to fully season it

"please for the sake of the queen soap don't fucking do it"

Just then soap reached into the packet, grabbing a piece of the Raman, and started munching on it with a loud "omnomnomnom"

Gaz let out a loud groan

"how! That's so disgusting!"

Soap let out another maniacal giggle

"Aw come on mate it's not that bad" he shook the bag towards Gaz "have a taste"

Gaz shooed the bag away in disgust

"Hell no bro!"

Soap shrugged, grabbing another piece and munching on it

"I'm telling you it's good"

Suddenly ghost ventured into the kitchen, spotting the two sergeants

"Sergeants" he said, with a quick nod

He reached into the pantry, grabbing a packet of ramen, opening it

He then turned the kettle on to boil the water

"See now that's how you do it" gaz pointed at his Lieutenant

"Aye but it's the crunch that makes it so good.!" Soap, replied

The kettle went off and ghost turned it off. He took the seasoning packet out, opened it and poured it onto the counter. Soap and Gaz looked at him with utter confusion.

He then proceeded to pull out his credit card, and make lines out of the seasoning

"oh, no" soap whispered

Ghost, then pulled up his mask, took a bite out of the ramen, poured the boiling hot water in his mouth, started to chew, then snorted the seasoning. He then put everything down And walked out of the room.

Soap and gas stared at the mess that ghost left, then stared at each other, dumbfounded

"did he just?"

" aye he did."

Meanwhile, ghost walked up to price reaching his hand out

"I think you owe me, Captain"

Price let out a low chuckle and handed him 50 quid

"Didn't think you do it son" he laughed

"Trust me, I've had way worse done to me, then snort a pack of Ramen seasoning"

Price shook his head and walked away while ghost grabbed a tissue from his pocket and blew his nose, grumbling

"Im never fuckin doin that again"

[ghostismybbygorl]

Hey my friend Jack is transitioning and he could really use help! Please signal boost and donate if you can 🥺🥺🥺

[ghostismybbygorl]

This photo but with soap and all of his sisters plus laswell and her wife