#I think I did pretty good on my cosplay all things considered :]

[epaccu]

Small doodle dump plus my Loboto cosplay in Roblox (she in da backrooms)

[jester-lover]

Dorm Leaders with a Girlfriend who wears Suits

Warnings: fluff, very flustered boys, insecurity (not from the reader), talks of gender roles/identity, whoever reads this is so cool, reader is so hot and confident (did I mention she’s so hot)

Riddle Rosehearts

Riddle has grown up in a certain structure, men lead, women follow, women lead, sons follow

When he sees you, dressed to the nines, not a care for the stares of others; something in him snapped

Head over heels

Considering his rule following tendencies, he is immensely attracted to the rebellious flair of a woman in a suit

You tend to notice him staring at you whenever you wear your male uniform

You always wink at him, reminding him you can see him too

Strawberry Riddle

“Um- well I wasn’t staring! It’s just- you look really pretty…”

Leona Kingscholar

Yes.

PLEASE.

His familial structure is very matriarchal, so seeing you, a confident woman just hits something in his soul

Bro, if you wear the male uniform, he will (politely) ask you to model the Savannaclaw uniform

If you do he’s literally on one knee

Girlfriend? I think you mean WIFE

Also he’s a lil afraid of you considering your confidence, you have a lot of power over people

Trying so hard to be all suave and cool and still such a sucker for you it’s funny

“Woah. I didn’t think anyone could make it work better than me.”

Azul Ashengrotto

He definitely thought you were a competitor at first

Who else would have such smooth banter, such playful glances, than an enemy trying to hinder his business!!

You definitely ask him out because he’s so in his own head, when you do, it’s like the wires in his brain connect finally

Also has a staring problem, the way that you walk with complete confidence, absolute disregard for anyone who speaks ill of you; he dreams of being like that

You lovelovelove pulling him in by his tie for a kiss, because he definitely places his hands on your shoulders all startled

“That lipstick suits you… What?! You think it’ll suit me too?! Don’t just s-say things like that!”

Kalim Al-Asim

Wowie!

This is the best combo ever, smiley pretty boy and a woman with endless personality

He literally buys you anything you want, new suit? Down. Makeup perfectly matching a new suit? Amazing! New shoes with a new suit? Take his credit card!

Kalim literally wants you to have anything you could possibly desire, so

Will buy both of you matching suits for galas and other occasions, and if anyone has the GALL to look down in you for your clothes, he’ll just leave along with you.

The public disgrace that would happen to that person for insulting the s/o of a member of the affluent Al-Asim family would be TREMENDOUS

“You look absolutely radiant. We look so cool!”

Vil Shoenheit

Masculine Wife, Feminine Husband.

He is so down you don’t even get it.

You help him out of the car? It’s trending on magicam in seconds.

Put your coat on a puddle so he can walk past without damaging his shoes? The paparazzi is loving it.

He adores your dynamic, the confidence you have matched his, and it contrasts with the opposite fashion you wear

“Dearest, the rose pinned to your lapel is a perfect match for the color of my overcoat, we will look stunning!”

Idia Shroud

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Idia saw you once and he literally froze on the spot, you walked around like you owned the school!

The crisp edges of your suit reminded him of the butler from one of his favorite anime, so he was immediately nervous to talk to you

When you start dating, he begins to wonder what cosplays you would look good in,

Spy, demon butler, vampire princess, the possibilities are endless with your androgynous fashion

This one time, you took off your blazer, so you just wore a button up and slacks, and you looked so domestic, so old Hollywood beautiful, he burst into red flames

“I can’t believe you settled for someone like me. WHAT-what??! Stop calling me handsome! You really mean it? Wow…I- “

Malleus Draconia

Malleus loves this so much

The sheer power you exude, walking into every room and demanding attention, feminine mixed with masculine creating beauty beyond mankind

He’s obviously obsessed

On your nightly walks, he notes how you choose to take off the blazer in preference of a cardigan, he loves looking at little changes in your wardrobe

Mal is an old being, he’s seen fashion evolve, but I love to think he enjoys 40s/50s era fashion, the way that you choose to portray that style, he loves even more

As you grow more comfortable around one another, more affectionate, malleus will enjoy fixing your tie and buttoning your vests, small acts of domesticity feel so meaningful

He is another who will buy you expensive clothes, his future queen deserves the best

“My love, your tie is crooked. Perhaps you simply wanted me to fix it hm? Such a sly move…”

Welcome back to J sucks at dialogue and cries over pretty women.

But honestly I wrote this bc I want to feel more confident, and I want you to feel more confident!!!! I see a good amount of insecure reader posts, which are very good and comforting! But I would love to see more confident reader inserts. Thanks for reading, women in suits are amazing, and goodbye.

[misc-obeyme]

My friend gave me this paper crowns and I was like “man don’t I look good in a crown.”Knows wondering how the brothers react and dateables

Hey there!

Okay so I went with the idea that MC made the crowns for the characters and then gifted it to them. So this is their reactions!

Thank you for the request!

GN!MC gives paper crowns to the characters

Warnings: None!

Lucifer

What is this, MC? You made him a crown? If you give it to him randomly, he's not likely to wear it. Instead, he's going to put it somewhere on his desk where he can see it all the time. Makes some comments about the craftsmanship of it.

If you make one specially for a specific event, he will wear it for a little bit just to make you happy. Doesn't wear it for long, though. He isn't really prone to such frivolity and, honestly, he would rather see one on you.

Probably not too interested in the concept of a crown in general, either. He doesn't consider himself royalty - Lucifer doesn't need something like that to indicate his power and status. Everyone already knows.

He'll keep the crown you make for him. Fascinated by the method with which you created it. Might ask you questions about your technique.

Mammon

Thrilled. You're giving him something you made? Something for him to wear? Does that whole tsundere thing where he acts like he's only doing it to make you happy, but really he's just as happy about it. Wears it immediately and probably for the rest of the day, too.

Make one that matches for yourself and watch him struggle to keep up the act. He really thinks it's pretty cute. Of course ya wanna match with the Great Mammon, MC! No surprise there!

Be careful, though, because you probably put an idea into his head about crowns in general. Mammon wouldn't be likely to actually wear a real one or anything, but aren't crowns usually made of gold and diamonds? Visions of himself swimming in Grimm are flashing through his mind. Starts wondering if Diavolo has a crown somewhere.

Distract him quickly so he doesn't start actually looking for a crown to steal.

Leviathan

What? You made a crown for him? He's so happy about it, he can't think straight. Showers you with praise about how talented you are.

He'll wear it for a little while, mostly because he sees how happy it makes you, but eventually he preserves it in his room. Displays it prominently among his favorite anime figures.

Levi gets all kinds of cosplay ideas. He has so many ideas for you, MC! Won't you help him make some epic cosplay outfits? Together you end up making some crowns out of regular materials that actually look real.

He also prefers to see you in a crown than himself. Asks you to model all the different versions of cosplay crowns and takes a million pictures.

Satan

Surprisingly happy to wear the paper crown you made. Doesn't complain at all or say anything about it. Just accepts it and places it on his head, asking you how he looks.

Asks you questions about how you made it, where you got your materials, etc. He's really impressed, MC. You always surprise him with the things you come up with.

Prepare yourself. Because now he's going to tell you about all the crowns of history. Talks at length about the symbolism of crowns and royalty. It's actually pretty fascinating.

Satan wants you to make smaller ones for the stray cats that live in the garden. He knows they won't wear them for long, but at least he can get some really adorable pictures.

Asmodeus

MC, you're so sweet! He's so happy to wear the crown you made! It looks fabulous on him, too. Settles it into his hair, arranging it just right. Will actually change his outfit to match it if he needs to.

Asmo already has several actual crowns/tiaras that he uses as accessories. Now he wants to do your hair so he can put one of them on you. You'll look stunning and then both of you will have crowns!

Keeps the crown you made in his collection and actually wears it again sometimes.

Makes you a crown in return. Might make one out of paper like you did, but really he could make you one out of anything. Makes sure they match.

Beelzebub

Takes it very carefully and wears it all day. You made it and that alone is enough for him to cherish it.

He doesn't have very strong opinions on crowns in general, but he does like this one. He's another one who thinks it would look better on you than him. Might make you wear it just so he can take a picture of you.

It actually looks kind of tasty… but don't worry, MC, he won't eat it. Though now he's thinking about a crown made of food. What would that even look like? It'd probably be made of donuts. For some reason, that sounds right.

Only make Beel a crown made of food if you don't have any expectations for him to actually wear it.

Belphegor

Whatever you want, MC. He'll wear the crown you made if it makes you happy. He's actually pretty touched that you made it for him at all.

Acts like he doesn't care, but he's secretly into it. Sits up a little straighter rather than his usual sleepy slouch.

Did you know there are a couple of constellations in the human world that are crowns? Belphie learned about them a long time ago, when he used to go to the human world a lot. Will show you any such similar constellations in the Devildom sky.

Stars are a common decoration for crowns, too. If the crown you made has any on it, he'll know you did that on purpose just for him. Won't say anything, but it means a lot to him.

Diavolo

You're giving him a crown you made? He's delighted. Humans are so cute! How fascinating! Do a lot of humans wear crowns? Uses this as an excuse to ask you about human customs. He loves it. Thank you so much, MC!

He will wear it as long as he can. Can't really wear it to important meetings and such, but when he's working alone, he will. Keeps it on his desk forever after that.

He's the only one who might actually wear a crown in real life for a real reason. He's a prince, after all. But he doesn't really need to wear one and he knows it. He's Diavolo. Everyone in the Devildom recognizes him on sight.

Considering how much gold decorates his horns and wings in his demon form, he's basically got a built in crown anyway.

Barbatos

Accepts your gift graciously as always and surprises you by actually wearing it. He's going to comment on how you made it, too. He recognizes whatever technique you used.

Surprises you further by making you one himself. It turns out that Barbatos is really good at making flower crowns. Spends an afternoon in the castle gardens with you, crafting a stunning crown out of various Devildom flora. Teaches you how to do it, too.

Although he wears your paper crown the whole time, he's clearly smitten with the way you look wearing the flower crown he made. He can't keep his eyes off of you.

Saves the crown you made him, keeping it safe in his room. Turns out the flower crowns make pretty good wreaths, too, so you can use yours to decorate your own room. When the flowers inevitably fade, he'll make you a new one without you even needing to ask.

Simeon

Flustered by your gift. Hesitant to wear it at first, but he's easily convinced. Can't believe you went to such trouble for him. You really shouldn't have, MC.

Makes you crown shaped pancakes in return. They're delicious because of course they are.

Although he's a little embarrassed, he's also quite pleased with your gift. He keeps it in his room and puts it on from time to time to look at himself in the mirror. It reminds him of your kindness.

Will wear it when he's having writer's block issues with his novels. Something about it gives him that needed boost of confidence to get him back on track.

Solomon

Accepts the gift with a smile and wears it all day. If you made it with magic, he'll ask you how you did it. If you didn't, he'll show you how you could have done it.

There's a possibility that Solomon wore a crown all the time back in his past. He won't mention it and if you ask, he'll dodge the question. Was he once a king of an ancient land? Maybe. Maybe not. We'll probably never know.

In the present, though, he's more than happy to wear one that you made, MC.

Won't wear it out and about, but will save it. Preserves it in some kind of magical container and keeps it on display where he can see it while he's doing magical experiments.

Luke

Fascinated. Wants you to teach him how to make them, too. So happy to wear the one you made, even takes off his hat so he can wear your crown instead.

You know, MC. He thinks that a crown like this could look really neat as a cake accessory! Asks you to make another one, then bakes a cake just so he can use it as a topper.

Gets more crown related baking ideas. Makes crown shaped cookies. Learns about edible gold so he can make edible crowns with actual gold on them. You've got crown themed pastries for months now.

Keeps the first crown you made him and wears it sometimes because it makes him feel happy. Gives him a little boost in confidence if he's feeling nervous about something.

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[antimony-medusa]

man, just going through and queueing my thousandth emduo fan art and considering my emduo writing I'm doing this evening and with a VOD of an emduo stream open in a tab and with emduo art as my desktop background and I was just struck by a thought:

Undoubtedly this would be kinda weird to see people getting this into your friendships.

Like not even getting into whumping characters or aging them down or shipping or doing deep lore and meta of off-hand comments, just like, just the fact that I have been posting emduo art approximately 12 times a day for the past three years. Not even getting into the fact that one of those creators is dead. Like. That's gonna be a little weird to come across in the abstract, if you are a person with a friendship, seeing this friendship be like someone's blog theme. Multiple blog themes. The hashtag updates hourly.

Like I'm sure fandom is flattering, but also, there is undoubtedly a point where someone is like 'oh wait, so your entire hobby is about these characters that have my name? Like you spend hours a day on this? You have art up?" And then they go Oh Dear.

Which is why I think it's just so much greater for everyone if we keep our little derangement in fandom-specific corners of the internet and do not throw it into the creator's face. At all. Even the harmless stuff! Do not TTS about your fanfic! Sharing fan art and cosplay in the designated fan art channel— awesome. Inviting creators into your fandom group chat— boy. Can we not. As much as I am like man I could probably reach so many people, I probably should not promo fandom events in the philza discord! The actual guy is there, saying "here people can request gifts made for them about you" is gonna be weird.

There's just— there's a thing on twitter right now where this artist was making music and videos in a created world with characters, all very dreamlike and artistic, based in their childhood. And because it's the internet, someone wrote/drew NSFW of these characters. And because the internet is the way it is now, people were finding, searching out NSFW content to send it to the creator, presumably so they could take it down?

And I know these people had good intentions, however much I think that they're wrong, but I would argue that sending someone porn of characters based on you/on your kidfic is pretty close to harassment? Like do not show them that stuff. Come on. But the 'tattle to the creator' mentality was too strong.

And the creator, unsurprisingly, did not deal well with this! And then in what I think is a mistake, they have put together a team of people and a google form so that you can report if you find inappropriate or offensive content with their characters and the team will presumably try to copyright strike it. Which. Uh. Again. Is a whole horrible boundaries discourse, is going to lead to witch hunts, and I'm not sure about the legal success of copyright striking fan art and fanfic ANYWAYS.

But like this could have been avoided if instead of going "the creators need to know about this Bad Stuff" people just blocked and moved on. And I think so much more of modern fandom would take a step towards health if we could put more of a creator/fandom separation in place.

Like when I think back to the heyday of DSMP fandom and how these creators— many of them underage— were getting people sending them porn of themselves/their characters, to tattle. Oh look isn't this dark fic too dark. Look how horrible this gore is. This is borderline shipping. People were sending Phil's mods stuff tagged as QPR, because they couldn't get to Phil but he clearly so desperately needed to know this, so that he could condemn it as too close to shipping? Because that is respectful and a great idea?

And like this ranges from stuff where I'm like bro, he doesn't need to know that (small /neg, about stuff that isn't a big dealt), to bro, he doesn't need to know that (LARGE /neg, stop sending the creators porn), because like, okay, yes, you have correctly identified that this would be weird to have happen to you/to a character based on you. What you are missing here is that unless you want to usher in an era of insane copyright overreach that would make disney's lawyers ascend to a higher plane and also kill transformative fandom, there is effectively very little way to stop most of the bad stuff. Those characters are out there, people get to do what they want with them, no matter how much it's in poor taste. All you're doing when you show creators the bad stuff is making them look at stuff that is going to be unpleasant and they can't stop. So, y'know, harassment?

And even the good stuff— I know how to behave myself and act cool in public spaces the creators are in, but if they were to see the full depths of how much of my brain space is taken up by the blocks, I'm sure they'd kinda be left going hahaha you what????? Tomathy Innit was struck speechless by a single person doing a video essay analyzing L'manberg. I see that energy on the dash from dozens of mutuals every damn DAY.

Just like, man. Fandom is just a lot to shove at creators, and if they want to step in willingly that's fine, but I really think we should be so so so cautious about throwing them in bodily when they didn't ask for it. Do not rec family dynamic fics to tommy in his youtube comments. Do not tell tubbo to scroll his hashtag on tumblr. Stop telling Phil about your fanfiction in TTS. I"M SURE THE POSTING YOU ARE ALL THINKING OF IS FINE IN TERMS OF TECHNICAL WEIRD STUFF, but like— even the good stuff! Even the good stuff is a lot! "I was having a bad day but I watched some videos with the friendship in it and now I'm okay" is just a lot to drop on someone! Can we allow creators/writers/musicians/actors/authors to opt into this stuff, and not shove it at them?

And for the love of all things good stop sending people porn of themselves.

[remimibanana]

Supernova Adelaide 2024 Report!!!!

I didn’t actually spend too long at Supernova though, so this doesn’t exactly count as a whole report technically LOL

Anyhoo!

The last convention of 2024! Time really has flown, hasn’t it?

I cosplayed as Ayase Momo from the hit series Dandadan!! I went with my good friend (@piedivide) who was Okarun from also the hit series Dandadan (go watch/read it NOW).

We had loads of fun doing various things that I wanted to write down! ✌︎('ω')✌︎

All under the cut!

Pre-Con!

I woke up at 8am to get ready, since I wasn't trying to get to the convention early as the other times. I knew it would only take me an hour or two, tops.

I have to be honest here.

I lied in my last report about a certain little aspect…I didn't have time to do a whole cosplay test AGAIN because of university. I had an assignment due the day before I was meant to go to the convention….

This is becoming a trend….

I had no idea how I would look like on the day, and I didn't have high hopes since I messed up the wig a little bit while trying to style it and it didn’t look like much on the actual wig stand.

I cut too much from the front so I wasn't able to do the swoopy parts Momo has in her hair. I also tried teasing for the first time, and that worked way better than I expected...but her hair doesn't have a lot of volume so I probably shouldn't have.

It happens.

While I was getting ready, I felt a little deflated because it didn't really look like anything at the time (despite not being done) but I trusted in the process. I did my usual makeup and…it all came out WAY better than I was expecting!

It wasn't so horrible!

I was really happy with the final look! I really thought I looked like Ayase Momo at the end!

As you may tell, this isn’t exactly the right outfit for Momo. I’m missing the earrings and the skirt is wayyy too long….

I have a simple answer for that.

The cosplay outfit I ordered didn’t come despite ordering it two months in advance to make sure it would be here and that I could actually try it on and whatnot.

Weh.

I ordered from AliExpress for the first time in September since Dandadan wasn’t airing at the time and I thought that they would be the only place who would have it. I ordered the school shoes and the wig from there as well.

The shoes and wig shipped pretty quickly, but not the outfit which shipped in the middle of October apparently???? I think this was my fault, I should have chosen a better shop to order from...I was the first sale...

I didn't even look, I just ordered blindly since the price was decent and it had everything I needed. The tracking hasn't updated since then either...I don’t think it’s going to come at all…

I was in a real pickle since I was meant to cosplay alongside Pie for AnimeGO and Supernova as Momo, and I couldn't be Momo without the outfit! I was seriously considering to do one of my previous cosplays instead as I told Pie.

That is, until he suggested that I should just make the outfit myself since it was pretty simple. I already had a skirt and a top from my Sucrose cosplay from last year that I could use, so it wasn't impossible!

All I needed was a jumper, leg warmers and red ribbon and I would have the outfit!

I couldn't give up that easily when I still had time. I had about a week or so to get everything before Supernova, since we decided not to cosplay for AnimeGO in the end because all of all this.

I ordered some leg warmers online first, then I got a pink jumper from Uniqlo that was the perfect shade (that Pie kindly went to buy for me since I couldn't get to the city, thank you once again!). I did have to buy a new white collared top at the end as Sucrose's had green accents that wouldn't work with Momo.

When I got ready, I headed out!

Fun fact, I hit my head on the car when I got to the station (I take the train to the city and back) and it knocked my wig back and kind of ruined all my pinning LOL

I got on the train which was rather packed much to my dismay. I sat behind these girls who had some rather riverting conversations about jeans and people. I arrived at the station where Pie was waiting for me, all dressed up as Okarun!

I walked over, and then I sped walked over because I felt like I was taking too long to get there LOL

The duo was together once again and ready to storm the convention as always! YOU LOOKED GREAT PIE!!!

Con!

(@/ai_zyu9 as Kangel and @/ztqrrz as Hu Tao on Instagram!!!)

Thanks for the photo!!! You two look amazing and I’m very happy you asked for a photo of us!

We didn't stay too long at Supernova. I think we were only there for an hour or so LOL, but we still had a lot of fun!

Pie and I arrived at the convention, phones out at the ready to scan our tickets. We saw a crowd of people in a certain direction so we went towards them, but man it was confusing. A sign kept pointing towards the food trucks to where we could get our wristbands for some reason.

Unless they gave out wristbands too, I doubt we had to go there.

We went closer to the entrance and we heard immediately that we had to go to the line that was behind us that was so easy to miss since it blended in with the surroundings. Why didn't they make that more clearer????

We got our wristbands at the end and headed in! It didn't look too different to last time, but the layout changed with some new stands and booths! There was a community library this time around that was filled with many manga that you could read and that was heaven to me.

I love manga. Did you know I can read a whole volume in 20min or less?

I am a quick reader. Pie can attest to that.

I uh...went a little crazy with the print buying. I spent wayyyy too much on these....

I couldn't help myself.

I got the Ellen Joe and Nicole Demara prints from Zenless Zone Zero because I love Ellen's design a lot and Nicole's poster looks really cool that I couldn't pass it up. The Bocchi the Rock one is very dynamic and I like the anime so I chose it too!

The Honkai Star Rail one is the print that Pie got me, it's our tradition to buy ourselves one print for each other when we go to a convention! (thank you so much againnnnnnnn).

I got a Tokyo Mew Mew print for myself because it was my first ever anime that I watched and I always wanted a print to reflect that! It's sort of the same case for the DDLC one, I was obsessed with it back in 2017 and I still like the game to this day.

I don't have space for all of these....help. I need to take down all my posters I already have up and start choosing which ones I want to display on my wall and what I want to put away.

The struggles.

I also was meant to have some square prints that I also bought but I didn’t get them at the end which kind of sucks….

After we looked around and bought what we wanted, we decided to eat something since we both skipped breakfast. I think it’s the general cosplayer’s experience to barely eat while at a convention and I don’t think that’s a good thing lol

We got crepes!

It was the only thing I actually ate all day (aside from some Pringles when I got back), which isn't that good for my health in retrospect aha

I got a Nutella and Strawberry one and it was really good and warm! I also managed to spill some on me and had to go down to the bathroom to wash it off because it managed to get on the very bottom of my jumper and I smudged it LOL

I managed to get most of it off with some water, so it was all fine! I should have eaten it facing the table so it wouldn't spill on me, but alas. I shouldn't eat anything Nutella in cosplay as I’ve realised, I will spill it on myself or on my glasses somehow (don’t ask).

Pie and I took some videos together before leaving the convention completely!

We went to a little corner outside of the pavilion and set up my tripod that I bought last year from Kmart! I always struggle getting my phone into the holder so Pie helps me with that...I have noodle arms as I like to call it.

I use TikTok to record! It has many sounds, various filters and a countdown that we can use. The only downside is that I have to post privately before I can download the video without a watermark, which is so stupid in my opinion!

Why did they change that?!

Anyhoo, we stalked TheAnimeMen account for sounds we could use, since they made a Dandadan music video and had recorded some with just Momo and Okarun! There were a few sounds we wanted to do, so we did them!

I kept messing up and I was probably the most silliest out of the both of us while on camera. I feel like I'm more oddly confident for some reason than in person, and I think that can be seen when you watch the videos I make.

(psst, go to @/mikudachii on TikTok to see or click here)

It was a lot of fun though!

At one point, we were scrolling through my saved sounds to see if we could do any of them, but it mostly made us laugh at how stupid some of them where. It also left me wondering why I saved half of them in the first place.

After that, we headed back to the city! We had places to be!

My feet were utterly killing me at that point, those school shoes aren't as comfortable as they look like. I had to sit down and change into my sneakers that I brought with me, knowing that this would probably happen.

My feet still kind of ache now.

Arcade!

We headed to the arcade!

Pie and I have always wanted to go in cosplay, but there weren't any proper ones in the city until rather recently ehe

There are a bunch up north called Timezone that we’ve been to at multiple locations, but it was crazy to think how the actual city itself didn't have a single proper arcade in it.

However, we finally got our chance when the Paradigm Arcade came about! It’s probably my favourite one out of all the ones I’ve been to, and I highly recommend going if you’re in Adelaide!

It is filled with many rhythm games that we enjoy a ton, like Chunithm and Sound Voltex and there's usually barely any people at those machines since no one knows what they are! It's literally the greatest thing ever.

It's perfect.

They recently got DDR that we got to try out! It’s an older version of it that has many different songs on it that we could choose from, including Pomp and Circumstance from Vocaloid??????

I love this song to bits (despite the questionable lyrics and uh…sounds) but I have never seen a rhythm game that had it before until that very moment. I was very overjoyed and immediately chose it without a second thought.

This machine was way more responsive than the newer ones I've tried, but I still suck at DDR so it didn't help as much in the end. They just got Dancerush Stardom and I’m so excited to try it out when I head back to the city!

I got to use gloves for the first time (I bought them the last time I was in the arcade) and it was very helpful for Chunithm since I always struggle with holding the slider, especially if it moves across the screen.

I got Joker Persona 5 and Ann Persona 5 in their dancing outfits, it was very cool!

I recorded many dumb videos for myself while waiting for my turn to play and watching Pie do his thing. I wonder if I’ll ever post any of them for the world to see, although it’s just me vibing in a dark place filled with lights lol

Ky Kiske Guilty Gear is that you????

I love how Pie immediately pointed that out, literally every single blond haired guy with blue eyes is automatically Ky in our brains. I mean…it does kinda look like him….

Guilty Gear is so peak, I highly recommend checking out the story and the wonderful music! You won’t regret it, trust me!

I main Elphelt in Strive and now I’m adding Dizzy to my list of mains! I love her design in this game to bits and her gameplay is fun! For Xrd, I main Jack-O’ and Elphelt! I’m not very good at either of them but it’s fun playing!

Here I go blabbing about Guilty Gear…maybe my brainrot will come back…..

We also played Maimai Fantasy!

It was a version we never played before since the Timezone arcade has Maimai Buddies. It had a whole bunch of things we can do aside from the rhythm game like collecting cheese and spreading honey on trees. It was a bit weird but it was still fun!

This machine is upstairs for some reason, while the rest of the machines are down in the basement floor. You also don’t have much space between the rail and the machine, but it’s okay! You don't complain when its there in the first place.

We were going to try out the Photo Booth before we left, but we ran out of credits so we didn’t bother. You can only recharge downstairs as the machine is there and we didn’t want to go back down again just for that.

We headed out after that!

Karaoke

It’s our tradition to go to karaoke after every convention!

This time around, there were certain Serbian songs I wanted to sing after becoming obsessed with them. My background is Serbian so I can speak it, but I feel like I barely show it off in general. This was my chance to show Pie some more songs!

The first one was Crno I Zlato from Seka Aleksic that I learnt first, the second was Ko Si Ti by Sasa Matic and Aleksandra Prijovic that I put my heart into and the third was Sve Bi Ja I Ti by Sasa Matic that Pie found a banger!

I'm glad I could sing them!

We then sang some sad songs, I did Shine like Rainbows from My Little Pony (the songs are good okay), then we did some songs together for fun! I liked when we did I Threw It On The Ground, a wonderful yet stupid song at the same time.

I think I called Pie stupid at one point by accident LOL (i'm sorry)

At the end, I showed off my epic rap skills but it didn't even have the second part of the song! ( ｡ •`ᴖ´• ｡)

The people working at the karaoke place seemed to have forgotten to turn us off since we had done about two hours and we could still sing, but we left regardless. I had a train to catch and I couldn't be late for that.

Sometimes I wish I lived in the city.

Going Home!

I thought heading home would be uneventful as usual, but I was proven wrong.

I had to change trains and go to a new platform right before I was meant to leave, which has never happened to me before. There was no explanation as to why aside from an announcement that I've never seen or heard in my life.

I found out that there's a tap for water in the station and some kind of lockers in the station this whole time??????

I’ve been in it since I was a kid…

I then had to scan my ticket again in the new train. I took too long getting my card out that I went in and I swear the security person was staring at me and putting me on their mental hit list or something for not scanning it right away LOL

While I was on the train, there was an announcement for ticket checking that I've also never heard before. I don't know why I'm only seeing these now but it's cool that they exist...although it felt like I was lowkey getting kidnapped or something.

Speaking of weird experiences....

As I was walking from the station platform to where I was being picked up by my mum, I could hear this creepy voice suddenly behind me. I swear to everything that I heard it, and it made me feel rather uncomfortable…

It kept talking about a girlfriend and what might happen if something happened to her and to make matters worse, there was a shadow behind me that wasn’t my own when I looked to the side. I didn't dare look back at the voice, but I didn't take my chances either.

Hell NO.

I started speed walking out of there across the tracks, not wanting to be near whoever the hell that was. There wasn't anyone behind me when I looked back (after getting closer to where my mum was), so I sort of filed away the experience as a figment of my imagination and left it at that.

Did I imagine it???? Maybe....

That's it for this report!

Thank you for reading it if you do, I always like making these! It gives me a chance to look back and reminisce about all the fun times I had in the future!

I can't wait for 2025!!! There are many big plans in store so look out!

Thank you for coming with me, Pie!! I always enjoy every time we go together and I know that we’re going to get even better and better at cosplaying!!!

I’m always very grateful that we have this opportunity to go!! :D

-Miku

[hoeratius]

okay, asking this question is maybe the dumbest i've ever felt bc it feels like there should be a straightforward, obvious answer here, but every time i've tried to look it up, i've found nothing but pages upon pages of what feels like people talking in circles and only serving to make me more confused in the end. since you're the most knowledgable person i follow when it comes to the Classics, i figured this might be a good place to ask and maybe get an actual answer? (that being said, it's fine if you don't want to/don't have the time to answer this! obviously!!)

where can i read about the older greek myths? as in pre-trojan war. mostly, i'm interested in theseus but also just pre-trojan war stories in general. i know not everything got the iliad/odyssey treatment and there's probably not any surviving text to point at in a lot of cases, but there must've been something. every time i try to look up where to read about the history of theseus, i'm being directed to a bunch of modern retellings, but google has gotten so bad as a search engine, i literally cannot find anything about the origins of this thing everybody's retelling

from what i understand, theseus was sort of everywhere sticking his nose in everything at all times, so i'm not asking for a comprehensive timeline of his whackass life and everything he ever appeared in or anything, but if you could point me in the direction of anything about him--actual plays or academic texts, anything like that--that's more credible than, like, a self-published, self-described "bold new reimagining" with a stock image of a dude in party city roman cosplay as the cover, it would be MUCH appreciated 😭

(again, sorry about how... basic this question is i guess lol? i'm very new to classics in general and still pretty ignorant about everything, so it's EXTREMELY likely that this is a very dumb question with a very obvious answer, but thank you regardless!)

Hello! What an exciting ask (and apologies for my excited and maybe incoherent answer)!

Since you seem to be most interested in Theseus, I’ll use him as an example but much of this can be applied to other Greek heroes/myths/stories more generally.

As you noted, few get the Iliad/Odyssey treatment. In fact, even Achilles and Odysseus don’t, considering the Iliad spans only 7 weeks or so, and the Odyssey misses out on Odysseus’s actions before and during the Trojan War, and after he came home – and he did a lot after he came home. So where to go to find all the other stories that happened?

Some things to keep in mind:

Writers assumed their audience was familiar with the hero’s greatest deeds already

The big boys – Achilles, Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, Heracles, Oedipus – had their stories shared in many formats. Think of the Parthenon metopes, which show Theseus’s key deeds in sculpture, or vases, hymns, public performances, bedtime stories, etc. People would encounter these often enough that the outlines of these heroes’ stories were known to them from a young age.

One of the Metopes of the Parthenon, showing (probably) Athena and Theseus.

As a result, ancient texts never show the entire story; they select the moment they want to tell and focus in on that. Hence the Iliad focuses on Achilles’s wrath, the Odyssey emphasises his homecoming, and the Argonautica tells the story of the Golden Fleece. Similarly, tragedies will choose a meaningful moment: not all of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra’s struggles, but his return home in the Agamemnon, or the events that lead directly to Pentheus’s dismemberment in the Bakchai.

So finding one text that will give you a useful overview will be hard!

These heroes are often also connected to so many other famous characters, that sometimes they show up as a side character in their stories, so it depends on which stories capture your interest most.

Pre-Homeric texts are few and far between

But this is not to say there aren’t pre-Trojan-War myths!

There are loads! Anything with Heracles or Theseus is pre-Iliadic, and others, like the house of Pelops, link more to the Trojan War but are also separate from it. Plus, there is Hesiod’s Theogony (roughly contemporary with Homer), which tells of the births of the gods and goes all the way back to the start of the universe.

The Ovid situation

Many Greek texts are lost, and we’ve only got allusions to this or that part of the myth in the existing fragments, etc. etc. So how do we still know so much about so many of these stories?

Enter my fave: Ovid.

Far later than Homer (1st century versus 8th century BC), but with access to all the Greek texts and them some, he wrote a lot of fairly comprehensive stories. These include the Heroides, letters written from the perspective of female characters trying to connect to their male lovers, with letter 10 coming from Ariadne to Theseus, and Metamorphoses 8 with parts of Theseus’s story.

If you’re looking for a high-level overview of what was what in ancient myth, starting with the Metamorphoses will give you all the big boys and many of the smaller ones.

Theseus specifically:

I must admit that Theseus is not my strong suit, but sources I’m familiar with that I would recommend:

Hippolytus, by Euripides and Phaedra by Seneca: these both tell of Theseus’s second wife Phaedra falling for his son Hippolytus and causing his death

Catullus 64: A lament from Ariadne after Theseus has abandoned her on Naxos

Metamorphoses 8, 12, by Ovid: Snippets of Theseus’s life, incl the Minotaur

Ones I’m not as familiar with but might be up your street:

Life of Theseus, Plutarch: a historian/scholar’s biography. He had them in pairs, where he compared the two; Theseus is linked to Romulus

The Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodus: Follows Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece; Theseus is one of his heroes

Oedipus at Colonnus, Sophocles: apparently Theseus is a major side character here but I don’t remember!

There is also The King must Die by Mary Renault, a modern retelling from the ‘80s that blew me away. The only book set in ancient Greece I’ve ever read that doesn’t shy away from how alien their culture and values are to us today and doesn’t try to sugarcoat things.

And if you’re looking for more heroes: Wikipedia is your friend!

The Classics-related pages are pretty reliable, and they often mention the main sources per character.  

I hope this gets you started but please do hit me up with more questions, I always love diving into these things!

[0pawprint0]

All the autographs I got! The only person on my list I didn’t get was Matthew. His lines were long throughout the whole con. But I got a picture with him and he complimented my Shaggy cosplay, so I still consider it a win! He was super kind.

The Hazbin gang were all so sweet and talking to them was so much fun! They all seemed to love my Sir Pentious cosplay! Erika even asked for a pic to show Alex. He didn’t respond while I was there, but he’s a very busy person, so I get it completely ^^

I nearly cried when I got to meet Rob. I have looked up to him for so long and it was so amazing to finally meet him. He was as wonderful as you’d expect. It was super hard to choose which poster for him to sign because he plays so many characters I love. I ended up picking Donnie because TMNT 2012 is my favorite version and I never see anything for it. I was telling him about how even some of his super specific roles like Eric from The Little Mermaid 2 have stuck with me and he gave me a hug! He also addressed me in Donnie’s voice and knew how to spell my name without me even needing to tell him! Most people don’t spell it right. He also complimented my cosplay and asked me how to make it and everything (I was Sir Pentious that day). It was such a good time. I would talk with him all day if I could. I unfortunately didn’t get a picture with him because I didn’t have enough money (things tend to go wrong when I’m trying to save money and I had to pay to fix some things the month before fhfhfhdn). But I’m hoping to see him again one day and next time I will get a picture!

Grey was so fun to talk to! She actually had her hair put up with a pin to look like Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender), another character she plays. She excitedly addressed me as Shaggy (the cosplay I was wearing that day), telling my sister and I to "throw Scooby Snacks at any monsters you see!" and told us not to unmask anyone :’) she’s so silly and fun I love herrr! She gave us a hug, too! Frank was super nice and loved the poster my sister brought for him to sign (she got it from an artist at the con) and he even did Scooby’s voice to us!

My sister is a big fan of Cameron Monaghan, so we went to his panel. She was able to get a pic and autograph with him, too! I don’t have the pictures with her because I don’t think she’d want me to post her face here lol.

I didn’t get an autograph from him because of money, but I also got to meet Johnny Yong Bosch! He’s most known for Ichigo from Bleach, but what I was excited for was talking to him about Danganronpa (he is Hajime and Rantaro)!

This is my haul I got from comic con (excluding the things that came with my ticket). I did, indeed, come home with 4 Miku figures. But one was free! Because at that booth it was buy 2, get 1 free.

I also got a Neighthan Rot doll for fairly cheap (they go as high as $70 online). Tbh a Monster High doll is the last thing I expected to get at a con, but I’m pretty down with it lol. Especially because it’s in great condition and still had his journal!

For the Harry Potter sticker and pin, we got those for free at a free Harry Potter trivia we went to because HP is my sister’s favorite book series. She also won a book she doesn’t have! It was like a Dumbledore side story (note: neither of us support or like Rowling as a person. She did not get any money out of us, as this was free).

The mushroom sticker was given to me by an artist as I passed their table! Their info is there on the sticker if you’re interested in their work!

The stickerssss! They make me so happy. There was so many more this artist had that I wanted, but I didn’t have the money for it, unfortunately. I got Ciel, Sebastian, Grell, and Undertaker (Black Butler), Bill, Stan, Wendy, Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles (Gravity Falls - they didn’t have Soos or Ford rip), Craig and Tweek (South Park), Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel), Stolas (Helluva Boss), Rampo (Bungou Stray Dogs), and Amaimon (Blue Exorcist).

This stuff came with my ticket! I LOVE the poster!

I didn’t get these, but I thought they were really funny.

Post 2/2

[trojanteapot]

Infinity Train Boots!

Made these a while back as part of my Simon cosplay, must have been almost a month, but I didn't post the process!

(EDIT: hey I did some fixing up of my cosplay which you can see here in this post!)

Not actually sure if anybody would care because it's so niche, unlike my Spider-Gwen suit, but I did write about how I did the Infinity Train harpoon pack, so I'll discuss this too!

STEP 0: Acquire reference pictures:

Yep, pretty straightforward.

Note that Simon's boots have an extra bar/strap thingy, whereas Ryan and Min-Gi's do not.

I didn't include it because it kinda looks ugly and I didn't know how fragile the strap might be.

NEXT!

STEP 1: Acquire Boots!

I got these MIA boots from Journeys Canada. They only cost around 60 bucks which is a bit pricey for cosplay, but I'm not about to go thrift shopping when I'm in a time crunch and I can just order online and get free delivery within 2 days. (Also these days 60 bucks for boots from a retail store is considered cheap. Inflation is nasty.)

They came with these cardboard thingies inside to keep the structure of the boots. They have "left" and "right" written on them in Chinese which was helpful for me when I got a bit confused about which side was which.

Save those for later. You'll need them.

STEP 2: Paint the soles silver

Literally any acrylic silver paint works. May take several layers. Make sure to put masking tape around the top edge of the soles.

I didn't use a primer on the base but you probably should. Any white acrylic paint or Gesso would do and you wouldn't need like 8 coats of silver. Do as I say not as I do.

And make sure to seal everything with a varnish or mod podge!

Here are also the cut toe caps and some silver craft foam. The craft foam was kind of a mistake I'll get into it soon.

STEP 3: Make toe caps

Here's me making sure the placement is good.

I glued the craft foam onto the cardboard caps, and then I was thinking "well the little bit hanging over it isn't going to be a problem, nope! I'll just glue them down and it'll blend right in!"

HAHAHAHA. WRONG.

STEP 3.1: Fuck up the toe caps because you were winging this and you have no idea how crafting materials work you idiot

GROSS. DISGUSTING. VILE.

The hot glue melted the craft foam and now it's got this weird melty edge all around it that's all goopy and shit. Anyway you dont want your boots to look fucked up, you want them to look smooth like polished steel, or whatever they were made of in the show.

STEP 3.2: Fix toe caps

Everything can be fixed with Model Magic and acrylic paint! (and seal your paint with a sealant again!)

I just took some model magic (a type of lightweight air dry clay from Crayola, the cheapest you can get. Other more legit craft supply brands make similar materials as well), and squished it into the ugly bits, making a mostly seemless transition from craft foam to clay to sole.

TIP: to make model magic smooth before sanding, dab your fingers in some water to smooth it out! This also works for Paperclay as well if you decide to use a more higher end type of air dry clay.

STEP 4: Make the back metal thing that goes around the heel

So I did this kinda in tandem with the toe caps which is why the pics will look a little out of order but essentially, I took the parts of the cardboard that I cut off, and I cut them in half, put some other cardboard in between, and then sandwiched the thing in metallic craft foam.

This time it was a bit more successful because I was able to hide the weird gross melted edges on the inside. Also paint that shit silver!

Now you can glue the "heel caps(?)" directly to your boots, but I decided to use stick-on velcro instead so they're kinda removable, and may be easier to transport or clean or something? ehhh.

STEP 5: Make those handle things

So I also hit a bit of a snag with these. I ordered EVA foam dowels with a semi-circle cross-section as well as a triangular one, but I quickly realized they would be too flimsy sticking out like that unless I put something hard in between them.

So this isn't pictured, but I got some thin crafting wire from Dollarama and just bent them into L shapes, and glued the smaller dowels around them. I also shoved them into the bigger down and glued it down.

You can also see from these pictures that that leaves a weird gap in between the smaller dowels. Again I just used model magic to cover them up. There's probably a better solution but this was the one I went with.

I also lengthened the top "handle" part eventually because it looks better that way. (Please ignore the mess on my desk >_<)

Then I just paint them silver like everything else!

COMPLETE!

The nut and bolts are actual nuts and bolts. Since the base was just craft foam and cardboard, you can poke a hole in them easily and insert the bolt.

Hope you found this helpful! Or are just willing to indulge me and my notes on my silly crafting journey!

[eldaryasharbinger]

Past style contests outfits dump*.⁠✧ 2

Demonic Entity* • Dragon Slayer • Pirate

Sinister Serenade** • Ghost • Dark Rituals***

Vampire • Black Widow • Slimy and Gooey****

Forbidden Forest***** • Witch's Lair • Harbinger of Doom

*For this entry, I tried to cosplay as Annabelle but considering the position I got in the end, I don't think many people recognized her lol 😭🙏🏻 I was expecting it but I didn't want to do the same thing so I did my own just to have fun :') (which is like... the main point I guess...)

**Ok so for this one you have to see the vision... It's a little dark in meaning and rather specific to my own idea but I won't say it out loud, if you get it you get it 😔☝🏻(you can try in the replies and I'll let you know if tou got it right...) I will also be drawing (eventually) this entry with the Grave Digger one I did because they're kind of tied together at this point (I can't believe I'm getting attached to my own style contests entries but like I said... I think about these too hard and they're all oc's at this point 😭🙏🏻)

***Ok so I really hope someone recognized this one! It was inspired by the movie "Midsommar", Not perfect but still pretty good to me! I was really happy with this one, of couse I didn't place anywhere near the podium but I don't mind, at this point I'm used to it so it's fine (I'm only pointing it out to remind others that, as of now, it doesn't really matter how creative you are, so just have fun!!)

****Okay so I didn't know what to do for this one, we don't have many items that ehm... fit that name? So in the end I decided to make a slimy snail girl! It might not be that clear but you can see here and there what I was going for... hopefully...

*****This one doesn't really require and explanation but I still wanted to add my thought process! To make it short: The (old) witch that lives in said forbidden forest! I thought of a story like "oh yeah so this forest is very evil and full of evil things!! Don't go in there! It's... Forbidden..." The witch isn't necessarily evil, she's just minding her own witchy business and chilling in the forest, much like a hermit? I'm also proud because my friend said that this is his favorite entry I did, surprisingly!

Edit because I forgot about this one,,

Twisted Wonderland

As you can guess, It was inspired by the Queen of Hearts! This took me 40 minutes and I wish I was kidding... I just wanted it to be perfect and, believe it or not, the part that I struggled with the most were the sleeves...

----------------------------

It's less than usual, but recently I've either didn't participate because I was busy and forgot to check on some of the themes, or simply didn't save the outfits I made because I wasn't very satisfied with them/felt like they were too similar to one another :(

I also recognize that I've used tons of butterflies and my only excuse is that, since I'd rather not use them for regualr themes, I'm allowing myself some butterflies when the themes are more whimsical/event themed (I also used those to replace the vibes of moths and bats)

Hope you enjoyed this "second" batch and that I gave you some inspiration!!

[dapper-nahrwhale]

Nightcrawler?

Nightcrawler is like one of the MOST popular x men characters, he's so little guy creature and I love that, solid design, I've literally considered cosplaying pirate nightcrawler last minute for a con bcuz I happen to have everything for it, and yet I really don't have much to say about him. I mean I like him, he's cool, a very silly lil guy, I like him in wolverine and the x men and X-Men evolution, I think given everything else (the timelines) his movie adaptations are pretty good, I wish more series brought up that him and rogue are siblings, I like that it was a major thing in evolution and that they brought it up in x men 97, he was great in that, he didn't appear as much in the original series as a main character so it was nice to see him more in that, he's one of the only good things Abt uncanny x men 2012, his first original animated series episode is one of my all time favorites, I will never get over that they retconned Azazel being his father for some reason idk why but like. That's literally you but red idk why they did that why.

[aparticularbandit]

and another rarepair short thing - this time komaru and kirumi!

“So you’re a maid?”  Komaru looks up at her with soft eyes.  “What’s that like?”

Kirumi considers this for a moment before saying, not meeting her eyes, “Fulfilling.”

Komaru’s eyes light up.  “Really?”  She follows behind Kirumi like a baby chick follows its mother, hands clasped in front of her and that megaphone gun hanging at one side.  (Even if she doesn’t need it often anymore, she never leaves it behind.  Who knows when she’ll might need it again?  It’s not good for anything other than the various Monokuma variations anyway, so it’s not like she’s a threat!  (She’s not much of a threat for them, either.  Jack’s far better at that.  But she tries.))  “It’s not weird, is it?”  Her brows furrow together.  “I’ve never been around a real maid.  I mean, I’ve been to maid cafés, and those are real maids, but that’s not really the same, is it?”

“No, it isn’t.”  A small smile lifts the corners of Kirumi’s lips.  “Maid cafés give the illusion of what a true maid does.  Their maids are worthy of their titles, but their roles are specific to that job.  A maid like myself doesn’t have set hours to clock in or clock out; we are at the beck and call of our master at any hour of the day or night.”

“Wow.”  Komaru stops, not even realizing she’s done it.  “That’s a lot!  I don’t think I could do that.”  She suddenly notices she needs to catch up and rushes to do so.  “I thought about getting a job at a maid café once, but Makoto snitched on me.  My parents were so mad.”  She laughs and rubs the back of her neck with one hand, a move oddly reminiscent of her brother.  “Then I told them at least I wasn’t applying to a cosplay café, and they left me alone!”

Kirumi almost laughs.  “Don’t let Tsumugi hear you say that.  She’ll be very offended.”

Komaru blushes.  “Oh, she knows.  I thought she would get the joke, but then she didn’t speak to me for a week.  It was the worst!  I wanted to share my Oshi No Ko theories with someone between episodes, and Toko hates it.  She said I should go talk to Sayaka about it, but the last time I did, she made a face I didn’t even know she could make.”

“And you didn’t speak with Hifumi?”

“No.”  Komaru makes a disgusted face.  “He’s…kind of gross when it comes to Ruby and B-Komachi, and he won’t talk about what Aqua’s doing without giving me huge spoilers.”  She brushes her hair back out of her face.  “He forgets that I haven’t read the manga.  Tsumugi never forgets.”  She pouts.  Then her expression shifts.  “You know, you remind me of Anthy a little bit.  At the beginning of the series, anyway.”

Kirumi pauses.  She straightens, gently pressing her hand into the small of her back.  “That’s an apt comparison, although I choose my masters and don’t take on any request I don’t think I can fulfill.”  Her face grows firm.  “And I don’t take physical abuse from my masters.”

I don’t take it from anyone.

“Then you don’t need an Utena to step in and protect you.”

Kirumi glances over to Komaru and reads her expression before relaxing.  “No,” she says, “I don’t need an Utena to protect me.”

Komaru frowns at this.  “I think you still need one.  So you’re not only obeying your masters all the time.  You have to take a break, you know.  It’s not healthy if you don’t take breaks.  Or have fun.”

“Is that so?”  Kirumi meets Komaru’s eyes.  “Are you suggesting you take on that role?”

“N-no!”  Komaru flushes a bright red and looks away.  “Someone should.  That’s all!”  She bites her lower lip.  “Here, um.  Let me help you with that!”  She reaches over and takes the broom from Kirumi’s hands.  “I’m actually pretty good at this!”

I’m sure you are.

[fairyqueenfleur]

What do you think Ben and Holly’s dynamic and personalities look like?

My opinion:

Ben is usually calm, laid-back and chill and often the only brain cell left in dangerous situations. He is a good observer (in the woodpecker episode when he taught the chicks to fly by mimicking the flying poses despite not knowing how to do it himself), pretty handy and good at fixing things (like all the elves do) and a bit ambitious and a good animal tamer (I’m not sure is it the right term to use, but the successfully ride Speedy the Snail (one of the hardest to be tamed.) and forgives quickly (the elf games). But he can be a teaser (in the elf joke episode, with no ill intent), lose his temper quickly and occasionally dismiss fairies' abilities (such as magic and flying, but he learned from it and never did it as often). And talking about the “Ben’s birthday party” episode, he just asked Holly about his birthday card and either she remembered his birthday (I know the writers used that for plot purposes (reminding Holly to make Ben’s birthday card to get the episode going) but I feel that’s a bit insensitive from Ben’s side, so I would make it his flaw. And he's a bit of a power illusionist (in Superheroes when he cosplayed into Elfman, but his friends just called him Elfboy which is very humourous though)

Holly is outgoing, girly and sometimes pretty bossy. She has a kind personality and is naturally curious about everything (especially elf culture, like she always asks Ben what he’s learning at school or go to his school to experience herself). If she loved someone (familiarly, platonically or possibly romantically), she would be attached to them very much (eg: Nanny Plum, King Thistle, Ben, etc). And in my opinion, she’s one of the smartest fairies in the series (she nearly guessed Barnaby’s fairy disguise (she asked him “Have we ever met you before?” - simple to us the audience but considering how dumb the fairies are, this deserve applause). She compliments other people a lot (especially Ben). However, she is often overconfident of her own abilities (eg: her magical skills and the possibility of it going wrong), sometimes looking down on elven customs (but like Ben she fixed that quickly and may be one of the few fairies in BAHLK treat elves with respect (the other are the fairy kids and Mrs Fig)). She can be cruel with her magic when she’s angry (the elf joke day episode), and has a really scary death glare (the wand factory to Strawberry and to the Wise Wand 3000 in the new wand episodes).

I think both of them are optimistic, love adventure and cared deeply and concern for each other when one of them is in trouble, and treat each other as equals despite of class and race divisions (also deserve another applause)

Regarding to romantic shipping (when they are teens/ adults), they would fit into the “Childhood friends to lovers”, “Interspecies romance” and “Forbidden love” tropes ( considering the class and race difference, segregation and we never see a hybrid or a proper elf and fairy romance in the series )

=> Dynamic: (In the series) Very platonic and sibling-like (Ben and Holly treat each other like siblings that they never had since Ben is an only child and Daisy and Poppy are fucking hell spawns)

@columba1234

[pants-magic-pants]

✧⊹JARETH BALLROOM COAT⊹✧

[This post is part of a series about constructing Jareth's entire masquerade ball costume. Visit the master post here.]

Fabric Selection [Part 2 of 2] The Drama of the Lining

Hello all you fine goblins, goblinettes, masqueraders, bog creatures(?)... I'm back to ramble a lot, and unless you are really into sewing or want to make this coat, this post will probably bore the hell out of you but by all means here it is.

Firstly I want to say that I'm part of a Labyrinth cosplay group now, have a beautiful Sarah waiting for me in just a state above, a masquerade dancer who is already my good friend, and we'd love to do a dreamy photoshoot for everyone at a ballroom or wedding venue somewhere between us. However, I'm financially strained. I'm working extra shifts, offering commissions, etc, but it's only doing so much. If you've made it this far and have been appreciating any of my content, please consider tipping the blog. All the posts have a button that looks like this ($). Please help us unite. Please please, throw a dollar into my guitar case, won't you?

ANYHOO! I'm not good at lining, as I think I've mentioned. There's a lot more I need to learn to get it looking good and structured, and in this case there was so much gravity working against it too. I also am sure you notice that there are ghastly black stitches across the middle of the pleats on the inside... had thought that wouldn't be showing... whoops.

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We’ll start with the creamy, slightly sparkly, crimped(?) fabric that lines the tail first. It doesn’t appear to be lurex/foiled silk or satin, as it seems to be even lighter weight than those fabrics. That’s the first thing that I would say is important about picking this lining: it needs to be something SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT.

The reason being that, at least for the way I did the pleats, there was as much of it needed as the velvet, as it all got folded together. Even if you didn't do it this way, you would only want to add the least amount of extra weight as possible, using something that is still durable and isn't going to blow every which way.

That made the search pretty limiting, as did the fact that it needed to be opaque, flowy, and non-stretchy. Originally when I began searching, I was looking for things like organza or chiffon with crimps/ridges, which looked very pretty, but they were too sheer unless layered, and layering would have made them too stiff. 

After doing further research post-completion of the coat, viscose seems like it would have looked and behaved correctly, since it's soft, light, non-stretchy and not sheer, but apparently it isn't the most environmentally friendly fabric, so it’s something to consider. There's also cupro, though I've never gotten my hands on either of these so it's hard to say that definitively. It’s supposed to have a similar appearance and drape as silk, but it's not quite as shiny. It's opaque, and unless it's mixed with elastane or rayon it's not supposed to be very stretchy either, which leads me to…

What not to use: a stretchy fabric, like for any lining on any project. I already made that clear, but did I follow my own advice? Not this time. I got fed up with fabric drama and settled for a very pretty but stretchy foiled fabric, hell if I know what it was because it was late one evening at Jo-Ann Fabric, and I was Over That Shit™ and suffered a lapse in judgment. The result was slight warping from over-handling, and the entire seam between it and the inner facing was bubbly. I’m still kicking myself. Shoulda’ gone home. Shoulda’ said “no, Jo-Ann.”

Here's what I used. Yeah, it's pretty right? But that's all it is.

Another thing to note is that there are subtle ridges in the bottom lining. Not pleats, but like, crimping? It’s a very similar texture to Sarah’s dress. Searching for terms related to ridges would help find something similar, and as for colors, I searched for mainly creams, or borderline beige. Sometimes “champagne” also yielded good results. It’s definitely not white or even ivory, as white will turn the color scheme of the coat way too cold, stark, and sterile. Ivory (while warm-toned) may have the same effect. 

It helped me to look at a color wheel and decide the most complimentary combination based on the exact shade of blue that my velvet was. The ballroom coat’s actual shade of blue may seem to vary based on the photograph, but after seeing a lot of reference photos, I started to be able to tell which ones had been, em, tweaked, enhanced, etc. and that tended to be the ones that presented it as electric blue or leaning towards turquoise. The true shade seems to be like one shade cooler than true-blue. Am I making sense?

Given that, the lining’s shade of cream would need to be basically a pure cream color, not leaning towards rosy/orange NOR towards green on the color wheel, in order to be complimentary. However, for anyone who’s making the coat who wants to use a warmer shade of blue for the velvet, this is perfectly fine, it just will change just about every other color choice that you make, down to the color of the jewels and buttons. You may find that all your other blues need to be warmer shades, and that a rosier cream lining (champagne) looks best. 

Before moving on to the top lining, I want to mention that there is - strangely – a piece of cream colored tulle in the back? Not sure how that looks if you were to open the coat and look in, and since I couldn’t think of a way to make that look good, I didn’t include it. 

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The top lining! We can’t see what’s in there, so this comes down to intuition and preference. I wanted a fully lined coat that looked good and had an aesthetically pleasing transition from one fabric to another, so I pretty much lined the top as if it was its own mini jacket, and I chose satin in a slightly lighter shade of cool blue. A little too light to be called navy but I’m sure people still would call it that.

I wouldn’t recommend using the same fabric used on the tail for the top because the fabric for the tail seems too textured to be smooth enough to get in and out of without issues. Best to stick with classic lining: silk or satin, in blue or a neutral that would match something else on the coat. Black, cream, maybe even dark/metallic grey or silver? The extra challenge of using a shade of blue is that you’d have to be very discerning about whether or not it matched. I had to take the velvet with me everywhere when making my decisions.

Almost nothing featured here is what I used, but here's me being diligant and bringing my swatches everywhere.

Not only did the color have to match, but the texture and amount of shimmer also mattered. Super matte silks/satins seemed to anchor down the splendor of the sparkling velvet too much. The really shiny fabrics looked best. I settled for something a little more subdued, but okay. It was okayyyy. Again, I was Over It™. 

Well, was that super interesting, or what?

[skellebonez]

Happy (LATE) Birthday Lupin!

So. It took me a little extra time, but I finally got your birthday fic done @lunar-wandering! I hope this is funny, I had way too much fun imagining this in my head.

“We TOLD you this would FUN Red Son!” MK said while letting out a wheezing laugh.

“That depends on your definition of fun, NOODLE BOY,” Red Son said in exasperation, attempting to right his jackal hood from its skewed position. “… but I will admit. This has been an… ENJOYABLE way to spend the weekend thus far.”

“SUCESS!” Mei and MK shouted, unable to resist the urge to jump up and give each other a high five. The day had turned out better than expected, all things considered.

Somehow, by some sheer stroke of luck, MK and Mei had managed to convince Red Son to join them at a local convention that had moved to the city of Wàn Qiān Chéng. They’d always WANTED to come to this convention, but it had been just far enough before MK gained his powers to make it less worth trying to travel to (and asking for a day off from Pigsy). But, of course, immediately after his powers?

Convention moved.

It barely took them half an hour to get to it now, and that was attempting to drive normally! With his staff or cloud or Red Son’s fire it would be trivial. Mei did mention she could fly her jet, but as far as they knew it would be impossible for them to actually land it on the roof of the convention hall.

They’d been a little lost on exactly what to cosplay for a while. They wanted to go a group cosplay, preferably a trio or at least a duo who would be normally seen with the third character (or at least would be HILARIOUS if they were seen together). But that problem was solved pretty quickly when they managed to gain the interest of their friends. While Sandy had to sit the convention out (poor Mo needed to go to the vet), it didn’t take long for Pigsy to show interest in bringing his food truck and for Tang to invite himself along by proxy. Granted, they wouldn’t be joining them inside the con. Unlike…

“I have to admit,” Macaque said with a chuckle. “This has been pretty fun. It’s like putting on a play without all the stress of making sure it goes perfectly.”

“It’s so nice to walk around and have NO ONE know who I am!” Sun Wukong exclaimed with a tired and excited chuckle. “They only know who I’m cosplaying!”

Ah yes. The cosplays.

They’d gone over exceptionally well! To be fair they were cosplaying a group of characters from a very popular game, but they liked to think that people genuinely liked the quality of their cosplays. Who knew Sun Wukong and Macaque were THAT good at sewing? Making the armor and props was easy with Sun Wukong and MK’s powers (and given how complicated their outfits were and the fact they weren’t entering any cosplay competitions they were so grateful for not having to make THOSE), but the monkeys were DETERMINED to at least make the costumes themselves.

And boy did that pay off.

They honestly expected the two of them to be the most popular out of the group, but they really underestimated the power of a popular duo.

Mei and Red Son as Tighnari and Cyno were the spotlight stealers, especially with Mei’s mechanical ears that moved back and forth.

MK was decently popular as Aether, but not as much as the rest of his group. He wasn’t complaining though, this meant that he could act as the hype man for any one of them who was requested for pictures!

Sun Wukong and Macaque were almost as popular as Mei and Red Son, their Neuvillette and Furina cosplays gaining so many requests for Furina to be doing something goofy with Neuvillette looking on in confusion or annoyance. Something VERY easy for the two monkey demons to do!

All in all, it was a fantastic day at the convention.

But damn did they need a break.

That’s how they all found themselves outside the convention all in the garden attached to it. It was less busy than expected outside, probably because of the cold, but everyone except Red Son was pretty got in their costumes and could use the cooling off anyway (and Red was warm enough normally so the exposed midriff of his costume didn’t bother him even a little bit once outside).

They were enjoying a late lunch, separated from everyone in a nice secluded part of the garden surrounded by bushes and some early blooming flowers. Mei had Sun Wukong summon them up a tea set with his hair, insisting they all eat in costume while she filmed them. A slightly odd request, but she had been filming the day for a con vlog she was intending to upload later so it wasn’t THAT odd.

“Can we please take our costumes off for a minute now?” Red Son asked once they had finished their food, stretching so hard they could hear his back pop. “This hood is heavier than it looks and I’d like my scalp to be able to BREATHE for a moment.”

“Just one more thing!” Mei said, giggling wildly as she stood up and practically vibrated in excitement. “There’s this Genshin meme going around and I want us to do it!”

“Oh… Oh my gosh that’s why you had us eat in costume,” Macaque said slowly, piecing everything together. “It’s for the CALM parts of the video and why you had Wukong SAY THAT mid lunch.”

“You’re an evil genius,” Sun Wukong said, staring at the dragon girl in awe. “You tricked me so good! I’m supposed to be the trickster!”

“Hehehe,” Mei chuckled, rubbing her hands together. “You got it! Now, I have a plan for how this is going to go, a few actually, and I’ll edit the video together with the second and third parts based on what goes best. I need all of us to look horrified at Macaque for a moment while Wukong says the next line, then all of us are going to look at Wukong when he says the last one. Then the real fun begins. The first one is going to be Macaque dancing alone, then everyone except Wukong joins in, and then it’s all of us!”

“Oh oh,” MK shouted in excitement, waving his hands. “PLEASE let me break dance, I want to break dance SO BAD.”

“Only if you also moonwalk in at least on of these takes.”

“DONE!”

“What about me?” Macaque asked. “If I’m starting this what I do has to be good.”

“Fortnite default dance.”

“Diabolical, I’m in!”

“I assume I’m not joining in on the dancing until the last one?” Sun Wukong asked.

“Yeah,” Mei agreed with a nod. “Look as horrified at the rest of us as you want, but do whatever funny dance moves you can do for the last one. Maybe the worm.”

“I always wanted to be a worm at least once.”

“I assume I am being dragged into this mess?” Red Son asked with a sigh. “What do you wish for me to do?”

“Hear me out,” Mei said with a shaky chuckle. “I don’t care what you do for the drafts of the second segment. But for the last one, please. PLEASE stand close enough to my phone your feet are cut off so no one can see your fire and use it to slide you across the screen in a T pose as you slowly spin around.”

There was a beat of silence as everyone waited for Red Son to react, staring at him in anxious excitement.

“That… is the dumbest thing I have ever heard,” Red Son said slowly. “I love it.”

“LET’S GOOOOO!” Mei yelled, hurriedly checking her camera to make sure it was still good before sitting down. “Ok, ok, whenever you’re ready Wukong.”

The Monkey King smiled, almost unable to get rid of his smile and take on the neutral face of the character he was dressed as, but slightly more horrified as he looked at Macaque.

“We now turn to the ~Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale~!”

~

“Looks like everyone’s having fun at the convention,” Tang said, slurping up another bite of noodles, the last in his bowl, as he scrolled through Mei’s feed on his phone. “Mei’s posting memes.”

He sat on a stool outside the open back door to Pigsy’s food truck, bowl of the chef’s ever famous noodles sitting on a folding table set out in front of him. They were parked across the street from the convention hall everyone else was inside of, Pigsy working hard inside to prep food while Tang ate an excessively late lunch, right beside a park.

It was almost TOO good, prime real estate for a food truck to be parked in, and they had slightly underestimated how popular they would be compared to the simple ice cream food trucks that seemed to take over all the space at the convention center proper.

… why were there even 6 of those? Well, that didn’t matter.

Apparently when people are extremely hungry, they would actually cross the street for something that looks good.

“I still think you would have had more fun goin in with them,” Pigsy said as he fixed up a new batch of fresh jiaozi for when the next batch of hungry con goers comes up to his food truck. “You’re dressed as that… Piedmon character and you’re not even helping, you’re just eating my food.”

“It’s PAIMON. And I’m free advertising!” Tang protested with a smirk, taking a big slurp of broth to make the point even more clear. Pigsy couldn’t help but snort in both mocking indignation and amusement as he did this. “Who can possibly resist coming to a food truck when someone looks THIS satisfied with the food?”

“People who see the ‘opening at 6 pm’ sign on the closed awning,” Pigsy rebutted with a chuckle. “And since we’re not opening until 6, why don’t you show me what Mei is posting whole I finish folding these up.”

“Oh, it’s GOOD,” Tang said, barely holding in a chuckle as he went over to the open door and held up his phone. “If people knew the adults with the trio were it would blow up even more!” Pigsy stared at the screen, face slowly scrunching up in both amusement and confusion.

“OK, I get the dancing and all, but…”

“But?”

“Why are they asking for judgement from a bird?”

Nothing could have been better advertisement for the food truck than Tang immediately bursting out into laughter, holding his chest as he slowly lowered himself to the ground and started wheezing.

[meowkavian]

Very long and complicated post about Japan and Judaism/Israel ahead. Please read if you can.

A video of a pro-Israel Japanese demonstration kept popping up and it was making me think and gave me a hefty feeling of worry and skepticism.

I shouldn’t have to preface this also by saying I don’t support the decisions of the Israeli government, but people with no nuance on this site love to think Jews are a monolith, and I don’t want to go into the whole “good Jew bad Jew” “dual loyalty” thing because that’s a WHOLE other thing.

I also preface this by saying that I’m not a Japanese citizen. However, I did live and work in Japan and have been traveling there since 2016 for internships. I do not claim to be an expert on Japan or Jewishness. All that follows is what I experienced as a Jewish person that lived in Japan.

Japan is a country with a very little Jewish population (estimated less than 2000, most of which are not legally considered citizens) with a significant lack of knowledge of actual Jewish people or culture, with very few safe spaces for people who are Jewish to have community. More on this later.

There isn’t a lot of knowledge, among young people especially, about the Holocaust, for instance, that hasn’t been watered down at least a bit, in my experience. This isn’t just a problem with Japan’s comfort with Jewish people and Judaism, but with its own lack of accepting and owning up to its own bloody histories especially during World War II. Whitewashing history isn’t just a Japanese problem obviously, but it’s a pretty egregious one Japan has in respect to mistreating indigenous cultures, ethnic Koreans and what is disgustingly called “comfort women”.

While I was working in Japan I assisted in the set up of a peace exhibit which in part, due to my efforts, discussed the atrocities of the Holocaust and the artwork from the children kept in the Terezin concentration camp. I was in touch with one scholar who was essentially the voice on Japanese knowledge of Terezin. I brought up my Jewishness multiple times, but it always had a feeling it was being brushed over.

A lot of the panels lent to us by her mentioned Judaism only from the idea that we were victims, without discussion of anything about our culture or context. Even when the scholar spoke of the atrocities, Judaism was barely mentioned outside of being a descriptor of something banned from schools, or put into ghettos.

So many people who visited the exhibit knew nothing about Terezin, had never heard of it, never knew the extent of the horrible conditions in the camps. Some reacted openly by sobbing and crying out during her speech, proving the lack of knowledge. I was raised alongside the children of Terezin’s pictures as a young Jewish child; I grew up with stories of the Holocaust and pogroms from such an early age I never had a chance not to know it.

The majority of what I experienced as a Jewish person who has lived in Japan for some time exposed me to the fact that the majority of what touts itself to be pro-Jewish resources is Messianic Judaism, which is not Judaism. Many of the Jewish resources other than that are from Chabads, of which there are maybe a handful scattered around Japan. Even less of these are Jewish community centers or synagogues. A multitude of fringe, new and Christianity based religions that lay claim to Israel do have presences here. Many of those religions, including Messianic Judaism are known to appropriate Hebrew as a “sacred language”.

Antisemitism is rampant in Japan, even if it’s not always outright. Nazi symbolism appears in cosplay and decorations and fashion as an image of “counterculture” or “punk.” When it’s not outright, it’s ignorance and the discussions of new world orders. It’s a common thought that there really aren’t any Jews in Japan.

When I saw that pro-Israel demonstration, I looked for any outward display of Judaism. In Japan there’s a strong possibility that by participating in protests or demos you can get your visa revoked and get deported.

In that demo there was no one wearing kippahs, or tallit. They sang in Hebrew but it didn’t make me feel better. It just made me wonder, where is this coming from? Because if your support of Israel really and truly meant your support of Jewish people, it doesn’t seem like it.

[eliyips]

HI HELLO

First of all

*eating your X design for breakfast*

Amazing, beautiful, perfectly dork shaped, love it. (and I did not go though your blog and read every single post you made about him and his design and why you draw him the way you draw, you are imagining things surely/sarcasm)

Secondly AMMA STEAL IT. And Use It. And maybe add some of mine, but DEMN you did sooo good, that's like canon in my head now!

And third thing... You rebuild a part of the dungeon. For a drawing?? And Then painted over it??????? That's insane!!! You are insane??? I mean huge respect, That kind of dedication.... woah

And last thing: *om nom noms all of your art, why so tasty*

HELLO HI :D

Ahhh thank you for the very kind message!!! always makes me so happy to hear that people like my Xisuma design <3 absolutely feel free to steal him, I'm flattered to have people taking inspiration from my designs!

YES, I did rebuild a tiny piece of Decked Out for my drawing! It may sound a little off the walls, but i promise you, it was 100% necessary. /sarcasm

Seriously though, even if it was a bit extra, it was actually pretty easy to build the set, all considered - only took maybe an hour? I wasn't stressed about getting every detail right, so it was honestly pretty relaxing! And I think it was totally worth it for the result I got :D Here's a couple other angles of the set, to give you an idea of what all I did (ft. me, cosplaying as Xisuma)

Honestly, the most difficult part about this was figuring out the lighting! I ended up breaking a hole in the wall I had built around it, to allow the moonlight to illuminate the set, and get that nice blue glow. I had originally planned to use soul lanterns for the blue light, but soul lanterns / campfires glow orange instead of blue in all the shaders I found and liked :')

I took these screenshots with Sidurs Vibrant Shaders. I tried Kappa as well, for the colored lighting, but was pretty dissatisfied with it, besides the colored lights. I usually use BSL Shaders when playing, but I felt like the more saturated look of Sidurs was more appropriate here! :)

Here's something I didn't mention about the screenshots in the original post: something which was super helpful while drawing was having these screenshots of Tango and Xisuma's skins, taken in the same spot on the set where I planned to draw them. It gave me a really good reference point for the base colors, though of course, i had to adjust somewhat to better fit my designs for them :) Makes me curious what I could do if made versions of these skins that better matched my designs. Could be super useful for color reference in future drawings!

Anyways, thanks again for your very kind message!!! <3 hope that my rambling about Minecraft screenshots was of interest :D