#I used the cosplay guide as reference as well :3

[artem1sc0re]

Feeding you guys headcanons whilst I work on something. Anyway..

Josh Sauchak headcanons‼️‼️

(Take this figure of him I made the other day but forgot to show as well)

(Headcanons that are marked with ‘established relationship’ mean that it’s in the event that it’s with a lover!)

- PARALLEL PLAY PARALLEL PLAY PARALLEL PLAY‼️‼️ IT IS ABSOLUTELY ONE OF HIS LOVE LANGUAGES‼️ Sometimes hangouts will usually involve the indulgence of hobbies within the vicinity of who he’s hanging out with.

- (Established relationship hc) At the start of the relationship or when you instigate physical affection with him, he tends to tense up and at times even shift and give a little bit of space between you two. Upon talking the whole ordeal out, he’ll try to be more open to receiving physical affection such as letting you put your head on his shoulder.

- (Established relationship hc) Observant of your feelings and behaviour. Later on in the relationship, it gets to a point where he can pick up patterns in your conversations with him.

(E.g my partner picked up on a pattern with me anytime I yapped to him about Aiden Pearce. In his words: “Aiden is so Interesting to analyse :3!!!”, “Am I overanalysing a mediocre game character from a mediocre franchise.”, “I LOVE AIDEN PEARCE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥”).

Sometimes the observant behaviour isn’t all that positive, as with this he jumps to conclusions in situations that you are under distress.

- Penguin pebbling. At random occasions he can gift a trinket to those he’s fond of, whether it be a random feather or stone, a scrap circuit board that he turned into a keychain, a piece of leftover scrap metal from building with a texture that he’s fond of, etc.

- Goes quiet when someone vents to him but contributes a word or two every so often as he feels bad not giving an answer

- Emotionally unpredictable. His resting face and tone makes it hard to tell how he feels, and at times can go quiet minutes after being talkative, which can leave you with a mixed bag of whether or not he’s pissed, neutral, happy or just wanting to be quiet.

- On a rare occasion or two will show physical affection to you or to those he’s close to without going tense. It can involve hand holding, hugging, playing with one’s face (tugging at your cheek, squeezing them or just simple caresses), resting his head on one’s shoulder & playing with their hair. But it’s only when he’s the one giving it.

- Had a habit of hoarding things like plushies or figures when he was a kid, and usually kept them in a space where it was an unorganised chaos that only he was able to transcribe. He was able to learn to let go of the hoarding habit, but still does it on an occasion or two.

- Give him a new pair of shoes that he’s comfortable with and months later they will look messy and well worn (e.g. white trainers? Nah those things are coming back slightly dirty and a bit yellowed)

- When any figures or display collectibles arrive, he has a specific ritual that he remembers off by heart and has been doing it since childhood, in which he’d rearrange his space, clean his hands and put on a set of gloves to delicately place and display the figure as to not damage it or ruin it

- An absolute sucker for chewing things when he’s bored. When he was a kid he chewed on packaging peanuts because the texture stimulated him. He eventually learned to drop the habit for more better alternatives like sweets or chewelry.

- At one point was really bad at keeping his room clean due to his hoarding habit that when he saw his friend’s room that was tidy and organised looking, he got envious and proceeded to clean his room; ranting from his shelves, floor, bed, tables and desk.

- Secretly likes to cook but is scared of what the other dedsec members might think of it as he isn’t the type of person to add seasoning.

- (Continuing from previous) Likes to ease out of his comfort zone with flavour slowly by researching, then proceeding to season the food he makes with the stuff he currently has at home.

- Had a special interest in glitch wars that lasted for 2 years. (Glitch wars as in the videogame in the in-game universe)

- (Established relationship hc) Sometimes will randomly approach you and declare that he wishes to squeeze your skull affectionately.

- (Established relationship hc) one time you made a specific food item for dinner. He fell in love with it. Only thing is he will only eat that specific food item if you make it, because he only likes it that way. Any other form it is made he will immediately decline it, even if it’s from a restaurant.

[rozcdust]

Waste it on me

Pairing: Takeomi Akashi x f!reader

Genre: Crack, SMAU

Word count: 1.4k

Warnings: Canon divergent, profanity, ooc, sugar daddy/ sugar baby relationship, age gap (both are consenting adults), suggestive, mentions of drug abuse, mentions of alcohol abuse, unsafe use of firearms

pt. 1 | previous | pt. 21 | next|playlist | backstory

“Bad!” You yelled, laying upside down on the couch in Bonten’s meeting room, shooting in the general direction of the projection screen displaying Rindou’s paperwork.

It hit no one, and you pouted.

“Who gave her a gun?” Takeomi’s face was in his hands, exhausted.

“I thought it’d be funny.” Mikey shrugged, munching on his Pocky.

“Honey, you have to move a bit more to the left- a bit more right now- yes, exactly there. Now shoot.” Kakucho guided from his seat, ignoring Takeomi’s muttered ‘Don’t support her!’, nodding in satisfaction when you hit the projector screen right in the middle.

“Is my life a fucking joke to you?” Rindou’s eye twitched.

“Mostly, yeah.” Kakucho replied, taking the gun from you to change the magazine to a full one.

You accepted it, flipped your body upright, kneeling on the couch.

“Close your legs.” Rindou grumbled, looking away from your skirt riding up, blushing.

You stared him right in the eye as you spread your legs apart as far as human physiology allowed.

“Pluck your eyes out. That is the shittiest document I have ever seen. Are you even literate?”

“Ye-“

“IT DOESN’T SEEM SO!”

“Aren’t you like, a paralegal? Shouldn’t you be against this shit?” Ran asked, spinning his chair to look at you.

You scoffed.

“Dude, I go to law school. I am as moral as an average gerbil.”

Kokonoi analysed over Rindou’s documenrs, tapping his pen on his cheek, deep in thought.

“You’re right, our percentages should be lowered so we can write more of the drug money to casinos and clubs.”

“Bingo.” You nodded, frowning as you scanned over the document again, “And decrease heroin import, no one takes that anymore. Increase amphetamines.”

Kokonoi raised an eyebrow, turning his head to look at you.

“Source?”

Sticking your tongue out at the corner of your mouth, you aim the gun straight at his head.

“Trust me.”

“So you understand this, but not inflation?”

“Actually, what you keep referring to is hyperinflation, companies consider inflation beneficial at a rate of about 3% per year, but I don’t feel like explaining that to you.”

Kokonoi looked as if he wanted to throttle you.

“Why give her a gun?!”

“Hello, may I get a vodka soda? And, my friend asked me to meet up here? Buff, dark blue hair, allergic to shirts, took cosplaying Harry Potter way too seriously?”

The bartender raised an eyebrow at you, looking up from their phone.

“He’s up in the V.I.P.” They nodded their head to the right, “Stairs that way. At the end of the hallway. Someone will bring you your drink.”

Offering them a thumbs up, you headed up, eyes scanning over the bodies moving underneath you, just a small pang of jealousy piercing the space right between your spine and collar bones.

You liked that carelessly once too.

Since then, a bitch with pepper and salt hair and too many frowns waltzed in your life, holding you too softly for your liking and with just a bit of a mean streak.

Asshole.

Carefully creaking the doors open, you found only Kakucho in the huge room that was the V.I.P. lounge, slumped on one of the multiple couches with numerous bottles in front of him.

As expected, he was not wearing a shirt.

Whore.

“Shit, you look like someone sucked all life out of you.” You slipped next to him, leaning on the couch to face him, folding your legs by your side, raising an eyebrow at his disheveled state, a cigarette dangling from his fingers with a bottle of liquor all too expensive gripped tight in his hand.

“No shit.” He muttered, taking a swing from the bottle.

“Well, what happened Kaku? Talk to me.”

He sighed, burying his face in the palm of his hand as he brought the other to take the last drag of the cigarette, extinguishing it and lighting up another right after.

You frowned, distinctly remembering him lecturing both you and Takeomi about chain-smoking.

“I wish Ran and I had whatever the fuck Takeomi and you have.” He mumbled, taking another swing.

You quirked an eyebrow.

“Fucking for money? Aren’t you loaded already?”

“No, I mean… Like, the way he looks at you. Like you’re the best thing in the world. The way he gets pissed whenever someone says something bad about you.”

You stared at Kakucho, confused.

“What the hell are you talking about? He doesn’t do any of that. He likes me for sex.”

Kakucho looked at you through half-lidded eyes as if you were stupid.

“He’s into you beyond that. I’ve seen him have plenty of flings, he never looked or spoke about anyone like that. He’s, like, in love with you… Or whatever the hell people call that.”

You scowled.

“You’re drunk.”

“Y/n, you can say what you want. All I know, Takeomi adores you, and I wish I had that with Ran.”

You rubbed the back of your neck, processing his words.

Doubt crept in the back of your mind, you never truly had a relationship, too busy with self-destruction or school or trying to fix yourself after Shi left.

But Takeomi did always hold you softer than most.

You’ll have to ponder over it later, your homie looked one minor inconvenience away from trying heroin.

“What happened with Ran?”

“I talked to him about… My feelings or whatever.” He groaned, sinking further into the couch.

“Your emotional constipation is more than mildly concerning, but okay.”

“It didn’t go well.”

You inhaled through your teeth.

“Shit. What’d he say? Did he get pissed?”

“He laughed.”

You stopped fidgeting with the end of your skirt to stare at Kakucho.

You didn’t know Ran that well, or well at all, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t expect more of him.

“What the fuck.”

Kakucho laughed humourlessly.

“I know.”

“And you’re over here sulking?” You scoffed, unfolding your legs.

He looked up at you, surprise and hurt mixing in his eyes.

Your gaze was firm and cold.

“You’re seriously depressed over a man? You’re this fucking hot, and here getting shit-faced over some bitch who, quite honestly, looks like someone pulled human skin over a broom?”

“Y/n-“

“Get up.” You grabbed his forearm, thankful he wasn’t as drunk as you expected.

“Where are we going?” He asked, frowning but letting you drag him down the stairs and out of the club, clearly not giving a fuck if he paid for his drinks or not.

You gave him an annoyed look as you stopped a cab.

“Where do you think? To be productive and wreck his shit.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“You’re a fucking criminal, act like it.” You scoffed, fiddling with the lock to the Haitani residence, carefully listening for the number of clicks so you could pinpoint exactly when to twist the pick.

“Why do you have a picklock set on you?”

You stopped what you were doing to give him an annoyed look.

“Y/n, how do you know how to pick locks? Y/n, what are you doing with that knife? Y/n, why did you break into our mechanic shop in the middle of the night?” Your voice was mocking and exaggerated as you worked the lock, “Ask me how I’m so hot and sexy and still alive despite almost getting scurvy, maybe then you’ll get an answer.”

“You had scurvy?”

“Not the point, Kakucho.”

The lock clicked, and you pushed the door open, just a tad surprised at the fact that was their only lock.

Expected, but disappointing non the less.

“Wait here.”

He raised his hands in a ‘I’m not even doing anything’ motion, slumping by the entrance like a good puppy.

Rindou stared at you, stunned and shirtless, his glasses almost slipping off his nose as he stood in the kitchen.

“The fuck are you doing up at 3 a.m.? You’re a growing boy.” You scolded him, folding your arms over your chest.

“Why are you in my house? How did you get in here?”

You rolled your eyes.

“Details. Where does your brother keep his wallet?”

Rindou stared at you as if you were insane.

“Why would I ever tell you?”

“Your brother is a bitch and fucked up?”

“Oh. It’s in his coat pocket, on the hook to your left.”

Twisting your body, you dug around the coats, flipping the wallet open once you found it to confirm it to be Ran’s.

“Thanks!”

“Have fun.” Rindou mumbled over his cup of coffee, waving at you as you closed the doors.

Kakucho looked up at you, quirking an eyebrow as you victoriously held up Ran’s wallet.

“What will you do with that?”

“You’ll see after we hotwire and crash his car.”

“How will we get into his car?”

“Smash the window, duh. Keep up.”

“Couldn’t you have grabbed his car keys when you were in there?”

You scoffed as you pulled him up to his feet by the neck.

“Kakucho, you mentally ill slug, this is way more fun.”

Ran stumbled into the living room, awakened by the sound of a car alarm going off, finding Rindou standing by the window, holding a mug.

“What was that?”

Rindou took a sip of his coffee.

“Nothing.”

A couple of hours later, Ran was woken up again, this time in the morning, by the sound of his phone.

He groaned as he rolled over, grabbing it off the nightstand.

“Ye-“

He got quickly interrupted.

It was Kokonoi on the other line.

And he sounded pissed.

“YOU SPENT A BILLION YEN ON FURSUITS AND FORTNIGHT?”

Ran shot up in his bed.

“What?!”

🔖Taglist (closed):

@1818cigarettes @babu-haitani @dilf-city @wakasa-wifey @rinsie @kisekihany @missarabellla @bajifairyy @cryszus @r-xochitl @emilywaters @dinve @levistiddies @bxnten @spookykoko @graythecoffeebean @yukihime-mikeys-girl @mukounisuru-gashadokuro @sunahyejin @crybabylisa @yamaguccitadashi @minoozi @gigibobigi @trashmemebitch @frogtits1 @sup-zfam @whydohumansss @xashiui @bontens-whore @nqctre @kennyb0y @chaoticyuna @haitanihime @adeptiixiao @denkis-slut @wakasagurl @dontfollowmelol @yukimaniac @marrymemanjiro @bajitorasprincess @somniari-94 @haikyuu-simps-assemble @gulfkfl @the-invincible-mikey @lumi-does-some-stuff @hana-patata @snowyseungs @sanzuswh0re @itsyournumber1whore @lem0nsquizy (second taglist in the comments! please let me know if i forgot to tag you 💕

[odekiisu]

Basic Guide to Clone Trooper Armour

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a hard time keeping the terms for various parts of clone armour straight in my mind. So, I decided to make this Guide To Armour, to make my life easier for those times I’m drawing or writing stuff and need to reference what this, that or the other piece is called, how it’s put on or taken off. (I’ve also tried to include/come up with some casual or slang terms for some parts because you cannot seriously expect these guys to use the Right Proper Terminology for everything all of the time.)

This is based on the Clone Wars cartoons, because that’s what I know best. Also, this is just the standard armour of regular troopers; if y’all want something about the possible additions/variations that you could have then lmk and I’ll see what I can put together I guess?

Note: a lot of this terminology is taken from medieval knights’ armour. Many terms are originally French; alternative names provided where possible. I did do a bit of research on medieval plate armour, which is the closest thing I can think of to clone armour, but I am by no means an expert so if you have any input or corrections feel free to @ me. Likewise, if you’ve cosplayed as a clone trooper or stormtrooper, I’d very much like to hear about your experience wearing this stuff, how it moves and how it might be similar or different to the “real thing” so to speak.

Figure 1: Clone trooper armour, front view. Kix got chosen for this because he’s a vain little bastard and loves to be painted. (ETA: this diagram now comes with a second, funnier version.)

(long post under cut)

Figure 2: Back view of armour.

According to Wookieepedia: The armour is produced on Kamino and has UV spectrum markings visible to Kaminoans. It is made of plastoid-alloy composite, and the plates are attached to the bodysuit via magnatomic gription panels. In general, Phase II armour is lighter, stronger and more ergonomic than Phase I, which has been described as heavy and uncomfortable (Wookieepedia also says that it weighs ‘just under forty kilograms’ which sounds like way too much but eh, I’ll roll with it.)

Body glove/bodysuit – the stuff worn under the armour. Provides thermoregulation, some level of protection from things like blasterfire, vacuum, etc. AKA: blacks.

Helmet – The Bucket. Stuffed full of various tech: tracking device, display screen, comlink… Phase I helmets also have life support capabilities, while Phase II helmets do not, requiring an external oxygen supply*. Helmet crest contains comlink antenna. AKA: bucket, I think Rex once called them sun-bonnets, etc… this is the piece likely to have the most slang terms associated with it. Go wild.

* this is according to Wookieepedia; I’m a bit sceptical but I haven’t yet seen the episode it refers to. I headcanon that Phase II is capable of limited life support for emergency situations, but extended missions require external respirators.

Cuirass – there is some conflicting information on whether this refers to just the front chest armour or both front and back. If both, it consists of breastplate and backplate, joined at the sides and shoulders. Shoulder connections appear to be different for Phase I and Phase II: Phase I has a separate piece covering the shoulder seam, implying that it can be opened, whereas Phase II looks like it has an integrated flexible band; it may or may not be possible to disconnect. Either way, the front and back pieces must be able to separate in order to get the whole thing on.

Plackart – belly piece, wraps around the back to protect kidneys as well. Probably flexible to some extent, has been seen to slide down under belt, as demonstrated by Jesse in Figure 3. Might also have to have at least one open-able seam in it in order for troopers to get into it efficiently.

Figure 3: I have no idea how the lower edge of this isn’t stabbing him in the crotch, but *shrug*.

Spaulder/shoulder bell – also known as pauldrons irl, but that term refers to a different item this context (the pauldrons that commanders, captains and ARC troopers wear), so I feel like it might be better to differentiate between them with different terms to avoid confusion. That’s just my opinion though, you feel free to do as you wish.

Rerebrace – bicep plate. Phase I has cutouts in the back to fit pointy elbows (see below); Phase II does not.

Couter – elbow plate. Pointy elbows in Phase I, unpointy elbows in Phase II, as shown on Figure 4. In Phase I appear to be attached to vambraces in the animated version, Phase II is more mobile. I admit, I’m not a huge fan of this word, I kinda prefer elbow plates.

Figure 4: Phase I and II elbows. Am I getting way too into this that it’s gotten to the point of studying clone elbows? *shrug* who knows.

Vambrace – forearm armour. Has wrist-mounted comlink (see below).

Gauntlet plate – covers back of hand. The 212th absolutely calls these “droid-punchers”, no you cannot convince me otherwise. I think I’ve seen fanon that some troopers sharpen the front edge of this plate to do more damage when punching. Decide for yourself if plastoid alloy would do more damage to the metal of a droid’s chassis if sharpened or unsharpened (and therefore sturdier).

Codpiece/crotch plate – covers the front hip and crotch area. Possible slang term, courtesy of @mockingjay34​: cockblock

Skidplate – covers butt and back hip. A lot of troopers probably just call this piece their shebs, and once again you cannot convince me otherwise. Note that in the clone wars cartoon, Phase I armour is triangular in the back and has a sort of erm… diaper shape, in that the codpiece and skidplate are connected in the crotch (I cannot imagine that being comfortable in any situation, but then again, I have Thicc™ Thighs. Do clones have thigh gaps? Also, I would not want to get pinched by the armour joint between crotch and thigh plates).

Figure 5: Sniper Butts! (Featuring Echo and Fives in quite possibly the only comfortable position in this armour.)

In Phase II the crotch and butt pieces are separated, which sounds a lot more sensible, as well as having better butt coverage – think cheeky panties vs full briefs.

Figure 6: Hardcase kindly demonstrating the new crotch plate alongside some significant gaps in his armour… please get yourself some bigger shoulder bells my dude!

I’d imagine that, given the amount of time these guys spend fully armoured, there should be some way of conveniently opening some of this up or removing individual plates for practical reasons (and if any particular trooper wanted to use this feature for… other things, well, that’s their own business).

Cuisse/Thigh plate – covers thighs. Phase I and II have different shapes in the back to account for skidplate shape, with Phase II having significantly less coverage in the upper thigh/butt area, but I guess better range of motion.

Figure 7: Troopers Hardcase and Dogma demonstrating the Butt Cutouts, or Buttouts.

Poleyn/knee plate/knee pad – important for maintaining kneecap integrity. Like elbow plates, appears to be integrated into greaves in Phase I, but moving freely in Phase II.

Greaves – cover shins, nothing fancy.

Boots – boots. Do not appear to be armoured, are soft enough to bend your toes for walking/kneeling/whatever you need bendy toes for.

Belt pouches/boxes/compartments – A place to keep your stuff when out & about. I’m assuming this is a Pocket Substitute. Clones deserve pockets too!

Comlink – Generally four large square buttons and one smaller one (live action has more buttons). They also have comlinks in their helmets. Wookieepedia mentioned that they used wrist comms in the show so that the audience could clearly see when characters were talking to each other. Possibly used for long-range communication, whereas the ones in the buckets could be for shorter range?

Life support/those box things on their back – I have no idea what they’re actually called but these also have different designs for Phase I and II. On stormtroopers they contain a power pack and a small oxygen supply, and I guess it’s reasonable to assume that they have the same life support function for clone troopers. Also read somewhere that they have comlink scanner for long-range communication?

Thermal detonator – why would they all have bombs on their back? Seems unsafe. Also I don’t think I’ve ever seen one used? Idk. These things confuse me.

[aqua-dan]

70 Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Asks

There was definitely an old version of Xenoblade asks, but now that the remake is coming out, I thought it might be fun to make an updated version! Reblog so people can send you some asks too!

About Definitive Edition

1. How do you feel about the new art style of the remake in comparison to the original?

2. Do you think the new epilogue story will be good and tie into the game well? And for after the game is released, what do you think of it?

3. In which ways do you think the ending will be edited to match the other games in the series? And for after the game is released, what did you end up thinking of how it was edited?

4. What would be the worse thing, in your opinion, for the developers to add to the game?

5. What are some improvements or changes you’d like to see in Definitive Edition?

6.  What smaller changes do you think the game developers are likely to make?

7. Are you feeling excited about the remake?

8. Which part of the visual improvements are you most excited about?

9. Do you have a favorite scene from the game that you’re now extra excited about?

10. What things do you think could have still used improvement?

Fandom

11. How long have you been part of the Xenoblade Chronicles fandom?

12. Have you ever created art/writing for the Xenoblade fandom? Show it off!

13. Do you hope the fandom grows with the release of Definitive Edition?

14. What kind of content do you hope to see more of from the fandom?

15. Is there any content creator you’d like to give a shout-out to? Do it!

Characters

16. Who is your favorite character overall?

17. Who do you find most useful/worth it to play as?

18. Which character has your favorite story arc?

19. Which character has your least favorite story arc?

20. What do you think of Metal Face as a villain? 

21. What is your overall opinion on Zanza?

22. What are your thoughts on Shulk as the protagonist of the story?

23. Are there any characters you truly hate?

24. Which character do you think has the best voice acting?

25. Which character do you think has the worst voice acting?

26. Who is your favorite minor character?

27. Do you have a specific favorite NPC?

28. All told, who’s story line do you think holds the most emotional weight?

29. Are there any characters you feel deserved more recognition or spotlight?

30. What are your thoughts and feelings on Juju?

Gameplay

31. Favorite in-game race? (Homs, Nopon, High Entia, Machina)

32. Favorite party combo?

33. Do you equip armor based on stats or based on looks?

34. Do you put characters in swimwear for stats boosts, or do you prefer not to because of how it looks in cut scenes?

35. Do you like equipping anyone in heavy armor?

36. Do you have a favorite armor set?

37. How often do you equip gems?

38. Which Unique Monster did you struggle the most in taking down?

39. What was your favorite area of the game to explore?

40. How many hours in total have you played Xenoblade?

Achievements

41. Have you defeated all five superbosses?

42. Have you ever completed all of the in-game achievements?

43. Have you completed the quest log?

44. Have you filled out the entire collectopaedia?

45. Have you ever 100% the game?

Other

46. Did any scenes in the game bring you to tears?

47. Which lore in the game would you like to see expanded on?

48. Do you have a favorite song on the OST?

49. Do you have a least favorite song on the OST?

50. Do you think there’s any tracks that are overrated or underrated?

51. Is there any lore in the game that just doesn’t make sense to you at all?

52. Do you read the item descriptions for collectibles and/or materials?

53. Do you have a favorite heart-to-heart?

54. In general, do you prefer playing during the daytime or the nighttime?

55. Do you enjoy the miniature story line involving Red Pollen Orbs

56. Is there any enemy that you find yourself really liking?

57. Is there any enemy that you find particularly disturbing? 

58. Is there any part of the game you’re really excited to play?

59. Is there any part of the game you’re not too thrilled to play?

60. Do you enjoy the ending theme, “Beyond the Sky?”

Personal

61. Do you own any Xenoblade merch?

62. Have you ever made your own custom Xenoblade merch?

63.  Did you pre-order Definitive Edition? How about the collector’s set?

64. Have you ever cosplayed from Xenoblade Chronicles? 

65. Xenoblade has a LOT of plot twists. Did you guess any of them before they happened?

66. Do you have a favorite line from the game?

67. Do you reference Xenoblade in real life?

68. Have you played any other games in the Xeno-series?

69. Did you play the game blind, or with a guide?

70. How were you introduced to Xenoblade?

[aurorajay]

I love making costumes but I always feel bad about my skill level being far below everyone else’s. Even though I love making costumes they never look good quality. Any advice?

It's easier to answer specific questions about a project vs. a general "how to be good”, but I'm gonna give it my best shot.

First off, go easy on yourself, you're learning! I know I'm still learning. Hell, the seasoned pro of 3 decades is still learning! Every fuck up and mediocrity is a step of improvement. I won't tell you that practice makes perfect, because it doesn't. It will make you better, great even. But it won't make you perfect. No one ever achieves perfection. And that's okay! Literally every single piece I've ever made has multiples elements I would change if i could. Even the ones that look good, like the now-popular moth cape. I will do lots of things differently when i make my next one.

Also, I know from experience how hard it is to avoid comparing yourself to others, especially online. So when we (inevitably) do, I think it's important to remember that there can be a BIG difference between in person and photos. That cool looking cosplay armour? Upon closer inspection it might be held together by hot glue. That pretty formal gown? It might have a real shitty fraying seam down the back. All we see is a carefully curated version of reality.

It's hard offering practical tips without more info to go on, but hopefully some of this will help. I think what makes a good looking costume can be broken down into 4 basic elements, so here’s what I think are the most important things to consider

Design: This is the part that people seem to have the easiest time with, and I can help the least with. Coming up with the idea. And when you’re costuming just for the pure enjoyment of it, there are no bad ideas! Now everyone approaches this differently, whether it's sketches, moodboards, or diagrams. Unless someone else is executing the concept, it doesn't even need to look remotely good! As long as you understand what the design is supposed to be, it works.

I will say to design with practical considerations in mind though. Think about where, how, and why it will be worn. Plan for things like zippers and buttons to get in and out, the weather where it will be worn, how much movement will be required, etc. You don’t want to end up sweaty and stuck in a polyester bodysuit that can only be opened with the help of two assistants in say, an outdoor summer event in LA.

Materials: This can be tricky, because it’s dependant on your resources. Materials are expensive, and quality ones even more so. But researching options and picking the best fit for your project is important. Making a historical piece? Stick to natural fibers. Cosplaying a superhero? You're gonna need spandex.

If you're short on funds, going through second hand stores can be real handy. Bigger ones will sometimes have actual yardage, but you can find sheets, curtains, saris, and all sorts of things to take apart and use. Get familiar with the properties and names of different textiles. You'll eventually develop a skill for spotting the nice stuff.

More specialized tools/materials like say fosshape or sewing machine attachments are harder to stumble across, but there will be online sales. If i find something good for cheap I buy it and hang onto it for later projects. If possible, take advantage of sales and rare finds while you can. You're a dragon and materials are your hoard!

Construction: Obviously you want your costume to be well-made, but this means knowing and mastering different techniques. It's a slow process, but one everyone is capable of undetaking! Firstly, you need to familiarize yourself with technical terms to make finding the actual tutorials easier. One of my go-to resources for this is The Sewing Book, by Reader's Digest. (There’s also a newer version available, I’ll include it below). It covers a wide variety of techniques, materials, etc. and has fantastic diagrams. Can’t recommend it enough

Companies that sell specialized stuff like thermoplastics or casting resin often have tutorials on their websites which can be indispensable to learning to use them properly. As well as very important safety precautions. They will also sometimes list external how-to sources or sell instructional books.

Take a close look at clothes and costumes you own to understand how they are put together. Figure out what techniques are appropriate to use where. A flat fell seam is great for jeans and french seam is perfect for chiffon, but try the reverse and it will be a pain. Take pictures and make sketches of interesting details that catch your eye. You can come back to them for ideas later.

I try and incorporate at least 1 new technique into every project I make, that way I'm always learning. But don't jump straight to trying it out on the final piece! Always make a sample (or several) beforehand. And keep the samples for later reference! I'm trying to amass a big scrapbook-style binder of samples, which is sooo so handy to come back to when it's been a while since you've done something.

Fit: This is the final, and possibly most difficult element of costuming. No matter how cool the design, how fancy the materials, and how good the construction, if something doesn’t fit right it’s going to look and feel wrong. Most of us here are making costumes for ourselves, which means you're going to need help. Measuring and fitting clothes on yourself is a nightmare, so enlist a friend or family member to give you a hand.

The other thing you can do it is to get a dress form/mannequin. These are pricey, and will probably need to be customized with padding and such anyways, so I recommend you DIY it. Again, you will need a helper, because the easiest way to get a custom dress form it to just straight up duct tape yourself into a crappy old shirt, cut it off, then stuff it. There’s tons of tutorials online for this, it’s a tried and true cheap method.

I highly recommend learning some basic pattern drafting, and that’s honestly the hardest part. You can rely on store bought patterns, but they are extremely variable in quality, and unless you’re in the rare minority who are a sample size, it will need some altering to fit you right. They can be a good starting point, but ultimately I think pattern drafting from scratch is much faster and more adaptable, if you're able to learn it. This is where you will need some good books or video instructions. I don’t have one single resource to recommend for this, but I will list some books at the end. If you personally know ANYONE with this skill, try and get them to teach you everything they know, because they are worth their weight on gold.

It’s important to note that some pattern drafting is easier than others, Stretch fabrics are MUCH more forgiving in this area, and that’s how i got started. Because the fabric will accommodate your form, the pattern requires fewer parts and darts, and there’s more leeway for mistakes. The one downside is that stretches can be more difficult to sew. Personally, I feel like they more than make up for it by being simplicity of drafting. The resources I’ve linked are geared toward drafting for non-stretch, but if you’re not following a similar tutorial i recommend stretch.

One last thing in regards to fit. ALWAYS MAKE A MOCKUP. You can work out so many fit issues just by making your costume in crappy material first, taking note of the fit issues, and adjusting them with pins, marking them with a sharpie, etc. Then you can change your pattern accordingly. Whether it’s a breastplate made of cardstock or a dress done in old sheets, you should always make a mockup. Sometimes several! The material doesn’t matter as long as it behaves roughly like the good stuff you plan on using. Don’t use a heavy blanket for if your costume is going to be a gauzy nymph robe, for example. But it doesn’t have to look nice. It just has to be wearable.

Resources:

*These are mostly tailored towards women’s garments. A lot of the same principles apply, but making men’s costumes will have some separate considerations not covered here. Just something to keep in mind if you want to draft for guys. These are all just starting points anyhow. There’s tons more out there

https://www.amazon.ca/Sewing-Book-Alison-Smith-2014-02-03/dp/B01JXQQ9Y2

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Sewing-Step-Step/dp/1606522086

https://www.handimania.com/diy/your-own-shape-sewing-mannequin.html

https://www.fearlessmakers.com/measurements-for-pattern-making/

https://opensourcestitches.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/pattern-drafting-101-drafting-the-basic-bodice-block/

https://opensourcestitches.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/pattern-drafting-101-the-mens-shirt-block/

http://isntthatsew.org/pattern-making-101/

https://sewing.wonderhowto.com/how-to/draft-basic-pant-pattern-0126850/

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/063206501X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[khrrarepairweek]

Frequently Asked Questions

I’m curious, what is this week all about?

KHR Rarepair Week is a fanweek dedicated to the many rare ships of our beloved manga/anime series, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Awesome! So what exactly do I have to do?

Anything you can think of! As long as it is your original work, it will be gladly accepted.

Do you like writing? Fanfiction is the air we breathe!

You’re savvy with editing? Gifs/graphics are a delight.

You’re an amazing artist? Fanart is our lifeblood!

Perhaps you have a lot of ideas, or maybe a list of songs that remind you of a certain rare pair? Headcanons and fanmixes or AMV’s are always welcome! So are songs, cosplay, moodboards and any kind of other fanworks!

Again, as long as it is original (not reposted… that’s a no-no, tsk tsk), then anything under the sun is possible.

However, if a certain post happened to inspire you, then we say go for it! Just remember to credit the original poster, and please do make sure that the inspired work is an original one as well.

Alright, let’s do this! *has completely no idea what to do/is overwhelmed with a lot of ideas* Uhmm, help?

Fear not, dear one! We try to provide a list of prompts that might help guide your creativity. .

Next to that, if you have no idea what pairing to write for, we have a list of suggestions right here: x  (Please note: this list was compiled in 2018, please cross-reference this with our list of the current top 10 AO3 pairings before starting to write. The top ten changes from time to time).

Remember: The prompts are just your guides, and doesn’t have to be followed to a T. If you’re inspired by something else, then go for it! Everything is also subject to your own interpretation, so have fun playing with them.

Aw, bummer. I don’t think I’ll be able to do all of them. Is it alright if I skip a day or just choose a particular day?

It is most certainly alright! Don’t worry, it’s a lot of days and a lot of prompts too! No need to feel pressured.

Just Keep Calm and Rarepair On!

(Alternately) I want to do all of them, but I won’t be able to post it on the day itself! Can I submit/post it beforehand?

As much as possible, we are encouraging creators to post on the day of the given prompt, in their most convenient time. Also, Tumblr has this nifty little thing called ‘queue’, which lets you schedule a post, so you might want to consider that option. But, if both are not feasible, then please tell us so, and we’ll make accommodations. However, please know that we will post it on the day the chosen prompt was scheduled.

But I love both of the prompts! Can I submit more than one work a day?

Of course! The more KHR rarepair content, the better! Just make sure to label/tag/link properly so we’re not reblogging duplicates. We suggest including the prompt used in the body of the post, so we can also identify where it’s supposed to go in the blog’s tagging system. Feel free to do multiple pieces for one day/prompt!

Are NSFW entries allowed?

We accept NSFW submissions, but as we want to make this blog and this week accessible to all parties, we won’t directly be reblogging these submissions. Instead, we’ll post a list of all NSFW submissions made to each prompt at the end of the day. You are, of course, strongly urged to post your work to the AO3 collection, regardless of whether or not your works are SFW.

Please make it a point to label/tag NSFW and trigger-warnings appropriately.

(This is to ensure that no one accesses NSFW content without knowing exactly what they’re walking into. Or accidentally reads any work with content that could potentially trigger/upset them.)

I have my own blog though. Can’t I just post it there?

It’s your work, so of course you can post it there, silly goose! Then we are going to reblog it from there.

The purpose of this blog is just to collate all the works, so fans would have a go-to place if they want to see/check out the works again.

Basically, this blog exists for archiving and posterity’s sake.

*squints eyes* Are you sure you’re going to reblog it?

We will, promise. Scout’s Honor! We have to ask you to follow the tagging guidelines properly though.

Our tracked tag is #khrrarepairweek2020 (or, in case of a mini-event, the appropriate mini-event tag mentioned on the prompt post), so please make sure that they are within the first five tags of your work.

You may also link the blog directly, in the body of your post.

But, should it happen that we missed your post for some reasons, then feel free to send us a message, and maybe a link so we can reblog it.

But what about me? I’m too shy to post it in my own blog (>_<) Can I submit directly here instead?

Sure! The submission box is open just for that. :)

This is all so interesting, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to fully participate, but I really do support your cause. What can I do to help?

Thank you for the interest! Reblogging the announcement post whenever you come across it would be very helpful in spreading the word and recruiting more people to join our cause. Please help us signal boost as much as you can!

What counts as a rarepair?

As we only accept rare pairings, it’s logical this would come up! Our definition of rare pairing is as follows: any pairing not in the top ten pairings on AO3. That means we do not accept entries with these pairings:

Gokudera Hayato/Yamamoto Takeshi

Reborn/Sawada Tsunayoshi

Superbi Squalo/Xanxus

Hibari Kyouya/Sawada Tsunayoshi

Gokudera Hayato/Sawada Tsunayoshi

Dino/Hibari Kyouya

Hibari Kyouya/Rokudou Mukuro

Sawada Tsunayoshi/Xanxus

Rokudou Mukuro/Sawada Tsunayoshi

Reborn & Sawada Tsunayoshi

Everything else, however, is fair game.

Do threesomes count or are you just accepting "pair" pairs?

Threesomes are fine and so is poly and/or harem!

I was just wondering for this rare pair does it have to be romantic ships or can it be like platonic ships as well?

We accept all kinds of ships for this event, including platonic and aromantic! The content we’re attempting to generate aims at fics that have interaction between characters who don’t always interact with each other, so all kinds of interaction are lovely. How explicit, inexplicit, ship-py or not you want to make this interaction is up to you.

If I already have a work in progress, can I add it to the collection regardless of how long I posted it on AO3? Or does it have to be a brand new work for the rarepair week?

This is a perfectly valid question, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to say no. Mostly because, while we’d love to have your work, this week was started because all of us wanted to generate more content for rare pairs in the fandom. Meaning linking works that have already been posted or are WIPs defeats the purpose.

However, we’re happy to have offshoots of a previously published work, or a WIP! Meaning, if you’d like to write and submit a separate one-shot set in the same ‘verse as your WIP for the week, we’d be glad to have it.

I’m writing fic for my entries, are there any word count restrictions? 

No, entries can be however long you want. You could have a multi-chaptered fic, or write one-shots, whatever you like! The goal of the KHR rarepair week is creating more content, so don’t feel the need to set the bar high if you don’t feel like it! A 100-word drabble? More than enough if that’s what you want to do!

On the Topic of OC Ships In the 2018 event, we allowed Canon Character/OC ships. At the time, there was no definite conclusion that us mods could come to so we decided to allow OC ships and would revisit it at a later time. We mods have finally come to answer.

We have chosen to define the following:

Rarepair – a pairing between canonical characters that is not popular.

Popular – in the top ten relationship tags on archiveofourown.org

Canonical Characters – a character we know at least the following 1) their name, 2) their appearance 3) the tiniest bits of personality and ideally 4) history. A loose rule of thumb: Can you google them and find canonical information? If yes, then you’re good.

Based on the definitions above, we regret to say that OC Ships are not allowed. And as always, crossover ships are allowed. (Crossover characters fit our canonical character definition, despite them not being from KHR)

We hope you’ve learned enough about the event! If you still have questions, just hit the ask box and we’ll get back to you as soon as the mods are able! :)

We would like to thank the lovely mods of @kurodai-week​ for allowing us to use their FAQ as a base!

[similianonyme]

KH3 Sora’s jacket construction process

Hi everyone! This is Tory, the most talkative one behind Simili Anonyme! Yeah, I know, we’ve both been preeeetty quiet lately. What can I say, we are busy people. Anyway, I made this thread on Twitter (@floracoquelicot) and I thought it could be cool to share this here as well since Tumblr makes it easier to find old posts, and this might be helpful!

So Salt (ShioOuji) and I did and art trade lately, which led me to the making of Sora’s jacket. I will detail the process as much as I can right here. Feel free to DM me if you need any other information :D

***

Teaser :

***

Costume : Sora (Kingdom Hearts III)

Time elapsed : ~65 hours (spread on 8 days)

Yelling and saying I will give up : none this time (yay!)

***

Step 1 : Gathering your references.

So you wanna cosplay Sora, right? Good! What you first need to do is getting to know the clothes you’re willing to make. I’m going to focus on the jacket here, and trust me, depending on which reference you’re using, it’s going to look different.

On the first picture, the jacket looks like it’s mostly made of leather/pleather. On the second one, it looks a lot more this the usual mysterious Nomura Fabric that I feel looks like a lot like neoprene. You can see two flaps with plaid fabric, going around the zipper ; this means they are sewn behind the zipper. The jacket is lines with black fabric, it has some pretty big pockets and golden buttons. Only one zipper, of a very respectable size, which is almost surprising, and the sleeves are bicolor. I must say, knowing Nomura’s love for ridiculous outfits, this one looks pretty normal.

The reference I used the most, though, is one from @art-antonioalvz giving a whole look at the jacket (as well as the trousers for y’all artists) https://art-antonioalvz.tumblr.com/post/159503686722/i-made-a-cosplay-reference-guide-for-soras-kh3 (even though I am crediting and linking it, if you feel like that’s just reposting feel free to message me and I’ll remove the pic, it just felt clearer for the explanations!)

This picture is incredibly helpful mostly because you get to see the sides, which is not something you’ll easily find in your reference pictures quest.

Got all your references ready? Let’s move onto stage 2!

-----

Step 2 : chosing your fabrics

I have worked with 9 different fabrics for this jacket. Here is how I broke down the jacket:

Main shape (black)

Pocket (grey)

Pocket bias tape (white)

Horizontal band (white)

Horizontal band -  Vertical band - Sleeves band (red)

Middle of sleeves (grey)

Plaid fabric (Black & Red)

Bias tape (grey)

Lining (black)

Picking the right shade might sometimes be a bit tricky, so make sure to get samples to compare them, as they might look different from what you see on screen!

Just look at all these shades and swatches!

Now, about the fabrics I used: the idea behind this jacket was that it wasn’t made to be a costume, but something to be worn IRL. So instead of trying to be completely accurate with my fabrics, I picked something more casual, comfy, warm, that would feel great to wear. And who doesn’t love a good jersey? (I sure do). Jersey is stretchy, thick, and not too hard to use. Make sure you own some Stretch needles for your sewing machine though!

The red, black and sleeve grey fabrics are jersey fabric. I did not keep track of where I bought them, but they are pretty thick with a fluffy, plushy side on the wrong side. My white bias tape is some leftover stretch bias tape I bought at my local fabric store. The white fabric I used for the bottom line is a very thick neoprene fabric. The pocket fabric is some dark grey neoprene. The lining is a thin black cotton, really soft on the skin. The plaid fabric is something I designed using Spoonflower. You can get it here(click!) if you’d like. Add 6 buttons of your liking (I used bronze snaps, will explain later why), a silver/grey/black zipper, and you’re good to go!

Okay, so now we’ve know what we want and we know what we’ll be using to make it. What are we missing now?

---

Step 3 : The pattern

There are different ways to use a pattern for a costume.

You might never use patterns. If you are really comfortable with draping and are used to understand and draw shapes just by looking at them, this step might be useless for you and you can jump to step 4.

You can make patterns based on clothes you own. Turn the outfit inside out and draw the shape of each piece on paper, following the seams. Don’t forget about the seam allowance! You will need to cut bigger pieces to sew along the lines.

You can use pre-made patterns. That’s the option I chose. I’m really bad with sleeves and not really used to hoods, so I decided to buy a pattern made for this costume.

Here’s the one I got.

This pattern was made by Anh Cosplay, and you can buy it here(clic). It includes a PDF for the jacket and the trousers in different sizes, explanations on how to sew them, costs $9 and is super helpful. Anh also sells many other pattern on her shop so make sure to have a look!

And now we’re good to go!

---

Step 4 : Making the costume.

Okay, now everyone works differently. I will explain how I worked, but by no means this is the best or the only way.

The first thing I did was, using the pattern, making the lining. Some people like to make mockups first with a cheaper fabric to make sure the size is right. That’s somehow what I did with my lining - I had a lot of that cotton and I could redo things if I didn’t like them.

I cut the pieces, pinned them, tried it on, stitched them together with some lose stitches, tried it on again, readjusted a few things until I was satisfied, and then sewed them together. And tried it on. Never enough checking that everything’s fine!

Alright! Now that we have our jacket lining done, it is time to work on the outside. The process is the exact same, and I would suggest following the pattern instruction if you bought it.

As I said, trying things on will help make decisions. What you can see here was my first try for the plaid, which I didn’t like very much. I also felt like the flaps from Anh’s pattern were too big and didn’t fit the proportions I wanted to achieve. This is why I resulted to design my own fabric, using Spoonflower.

Designing isn’t always right from the first time, and it actually took me a few tries to get what I wanted ;)

As I mentioned before, this one is made for casual wear. Which means I wanted it as convenient as possible. There are many options for the buttons (that, while not being oversized, are still kind of big), but I went for snaps for a practical reason : that way, you can fold the flaps inside the jacket and can zip the jacket aaaall the way up!

When the flaps are inside the jacket, you can zip it up. Convenient when you’re cold!

Make sure to sew the pockets and the buttons-snaps-whatever before adding the lining! Same thing if you want to add inner pockets or anything you’d like ; once the lining and the outside are sewn together, there is no going back. (I mean, there is, but it’s a hassle)

The flaps are sandwiched between the zipper and the lining. From the picture above, you have your layers like this : Red-Zipper-Flaps-Lining.

I handsewed a few pieces :

Stitching the top (white) of the pockets to the black fabric, and the bottom red line to the lining.

Sora has some decorative horizontal stitching on some pieces (the white one and the red ones) but I didn’t trust myself to get lines straight enough to look good, so I didn’t do them.

And voilà!

We have a lovely jacket, a bit heavy (it is just under 900g) but oh so comfy. I cannot wait so send it out to the Saltdom where I know it will be loved and well taken care of <3

I hope this was at least a bit interesting! My DMs are always open if needed. Now it is time for me to fall back into Oblivion! (which is apparently where I live, housemates are a bit weird but they’re okay)

(and if you ever wanna see more cosplays by me, you can find me on Facebook as Tory Cosplay(click!) :DDD )

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

mystery punk girl

alright fellas i gotta make sure i don’t embarrass myself this time, we got like, stakes and shit now. SO *breaks fingers* let’s make a masterpost of theories

aka i heard someone was interested in some mystery punk girl theories and decided to collect all the one’s i’ve gotten so far

tl;dr: mystery punk girl could literally be anything/anyone. we go over a few theories, notably ones that paint her as a younger sibling to the Calypso twins (Tyreen = First Sister). we also have one where she is a fraternal twin to Ava and mirrors Troy as the non-Siren-twin of a relationship. we also talk about why she hasn’t been getting a lot of cultist worship, like maybe she’s gone missing, or died. also that she may betray the twins (if! she was ever on their side to begin with! 👀) because her color scheme is one of a friend and tbh the twins seem suuuper close and she doesn’t seem to be getting any recognition from the cult.

from the numskull pin page, also where we learned she’s listed as ‘Punk Girl’

so to get to the point, the most obvious theory is that mystery masked girl is the younger (est?) sibling to the twins.

when mouthpiece talks in the beginning of the HBC demo, he calls Tyreen the ‘first sister’. I mention that in a post here (during my live post spamming of the event lol)

it’s mostly interesting because when you refer to someone as ‘the first’, usually the second part of that is what you’re referring to. 

@sugar-high-viking​ brought this to my attention as well when the pins dropped, and also made a great point that she might be either a half-sibling (different colored hair), OR, to tie into my atlas theory about the twins, a similar experiment, but not blood-related (that part is in the notes of said post, i copied it here for easier reading)

which i adore because atlas twins is my favorite theory that’s probably never going to happen. (also hi if you’re reading this, sorry for the tag! i wanted to give credit because that was brilliant)

we do have a biiiit more stuff to go over.

take the mask of mayhem (yes im still working on that analysis, i promise!! i do like a facet a day if im not working on other stuff)

the whole backdrop thing feels to me like an order of importance.

we have the God Queen at the very top and in the middle. 

on her left is the vault hunters, who of course are going to have a prominent role in the story.

on her right is Troy, her right-hand man (ala the cosplay guide) 

and below Troy we have Mystery Punk Girl. can i call her MPG? i feel like i’m allowed to call her MPG

So her and Troy are about the same level as the Vault Hunters.

We can’t really infer that Tyreen is the oldest sibling (First Sister, with Troy possibly being the Second Brother? Or, Troy is the First Brother, Tyreen is the First Sister, and MPG is the Second Sister. i’d imagine the latter is correct because the former would have to use First Sibling to be correct) but we can guess that things on top are ordered in terms of importance.

And considering we haven’t seen NPG in ANY promo material or trailers yet? yeah i imagine she’s not shown off like the twins are, which would explain her lower level. now if that’s because she’s too important for them to be flashy with her, or if because they don’t think she’s worthy, or they want to protect her, or whatever, I wouldn’t be able to say.

Furthermore, we can also guess she’s not in an Angel-type situation. It’s heavily implied Ava is the Siren successor to Maya (but not officially stated). We know she has feathers on her outfit, but as I found out a bit ago, those (likely) aren’t meant to represent the wings that Tyreen and Lilith have on the MoM. They’re part of the clothing some cultists wear (possibly to emulate her looks like they do with Troy and Tyreen).

pictures for proof:

again, none of this is proven, as Ava nor Maya have wings on the MoM, but it is interesting to note. Also, if Ava does end up being a Siren (say her tattoos take a while to grow big enough for us to see, or they appear after her powers come in, fixing the Angel w/ no tattoos on jack’s desk “plot hole” we see in tps) then there’s no way for Punk Girl to have been a Siren.

unless.

ohohohoh...

okay, we know for a fact Troy’s red tattoos aren’t there because of Lilith. 

As of right now, we have officially sourced stuff showing him with his red tattoos during the HBC (on the hologram), which we’ve proven takes place before the Sanc-III scene where Lilith gets her powers stolen.

there are plenty of theories as to why he’s got those tattoos then: because the twins were conjoined, they got the powers from a vault (the one shown on the walls of the HBC), they were experiments, they were experiments because they were conjoined twins, they’re fake Sirens, fake Sirens due to the experiments, etc, etc. i could go on for ages, but im not gonna, cause we’re not here for this.

im going to take the ‘the twins were conjoined’ theory and run with it for a secco. we had that interview where paul sage said at one point either in the development cycle OR in the timeline (the wording is not clear), the twins were conjoined twins. We’ve also seen that the spanish (i believe!) translation of the Calypso Twins yields the version that says they’re conjoined, not just normal twins. so we’re going to hope it’s the right theory.

we know there can only be 6 sirens in the universe. if tyreen was chosen but was still conjoined with her brother, it’s possible he could’ve been messed up by the magic or advanced tech or whatever it is that picks Sirens, and that’s where the red tattoos come from.

So what if MPG is the same way? twin to Ava, ended up not being the one who got the Siren power, rebelled and joined the CoV in hopes of getting her own powers, maybe even to get Tyreen to heal her since it’s possible having a twin with Siren powers can cause an affliction to the other twin. 

It’d be really interesting if the two were abandoned at a young age and it ended up being that Ava was picked up by the Order of the Impending Storm and MPG wasn’t, as Ava was a Siren (like Maya) and MPG wasn’t, so she turns to the cult for help/support/whatever and the twins take a shine to her and basically adopt her as their little sibling. 

(awww maaan i still gotta do my Maya masterpost. hmmm so much to do, so little time...)

tho, that’s 100% unfounded and me spitballing into the void. mostly cause i think she’s gonna end up looking a lot older in game than she does in the MoM. though, in defense, she is titled ‘Punk Girl’, not ‘ Punk Lady’ or ‘Punk Woman’ or whatever. so there’s that, and it seems wild they’d be introducing 2 young girls around the same age and NOT have them be related in some way. even if they’re just storyline parallels to each other (Ava having everything because she’s a Siren and MPG not)

A better theory, is that she’s the 3rd leader/sibling/figurehead of the cult. The game revolves around the number 3, it’s even acknowledged in universe.

cover art of a high-ranking cultist (the one with the rakk wings on the MoM, im assuming)

which is referenced in actual in-game art

we see it in the background of the behind closed doors intro

and i imagine there must be an in-universe reason for this very important cultist (TM) to be signalling the number three, right?

there’s certainly more than 3 Vaults. More than 3 opened at the time too. 

3 pieces to the Vault Map? but the twins got that in its entirety. no reason to look for all three parts.

once lily gets her powers removed, there are 3 Sirens in play (that we know are 100% confirmed atm) Tyreen, Maya, Amara.

yeah, i think the most reasonable answer is that the number 3 is tied to the cult in some way.

while i find it hard to believe she’s something as prominent in the cult as a third figurehead (lack of statues, posters, acknowledge at all whatsoever), i could 100% see her being a third sibling, however.

So why isn’t she being worshipped like the twins? Maybe they’re keeping her out of the light for a reason. 

Maybe she’s sick, like Troy, but Ty can’t heal her right away for some reason, or she picked Troy over her or smth (we’re told troy is the smart one, afterall, maybe Ty decided to pick the sibling she’d get the most use out of. or the one she’s closer to, being twins and all). 

I had that dumb theory that Tyreen is Demeter (Troy is Demophon) and MPG is Persephone, taken away by the Vaults/Eridians/whatever in the twins’ attempt to heal her and either it locked her away somewhere, or it killed her. (Her being sick could also explain the ventilator she’s wearing, but i have another theory about that in just a secco.) And her being missing/dead is part of the reason Tyreen and Troy are trying to get the ultimate power, they’re trying to bring her back to life/heal her. And it could explain why she isn’t being referenced at all in most worship art, maybe the twins banned it or whatever. but if she is sick, i wonder why she wasn’t just miraculously healed by the Guardians (the Watcher specifically?) like whatsherface in TPS.

She could also be something like their secret weapon, maybe she has knowledge about something we don’t yet- be it warp travel, eridium testing, Sirens, Vaults, Eridians, etc, that’s giving the twins the better edge. Eridium testing could explain the ventilator, plus we see a giant waterfall of somethin’ glowing purple and i would bet it’s slag/eridium. 

plus you know im a strong believer of my ‘the twins are using the chemical sludge of elpis to give their followers superpowers’ theory. i mean, if they actually are teleporting the moon (and NOT blowing it up), then it could almost make sense if they want their source of superjuice near their new base of operations/vault/whatever. mostly because we haven’t yet seen Ty give anyone Lily’s powers. As far as we know right now, she’s the sole holder of Lilith’s powers. at the very least, they’re mutating them with eridium/slag. but i wanna believe! so maybe MPG is their way of doing that. giving them insider knowledge of the chemical sludge on the moon, doing tests on it, subjecting the cultists to it, etc. We do see the big boy cultist smack dab in the middle of the mask with rakk wings, which are kind of a corruption of the angel wings we see the Sirens have. and since the Lost Legion Eternal basically have knockoff Siren/Guardian powers due to the chemical sludge on elpis, it would make sense.

she COULD also be our way into the cult. we know nothing about the gal, maybe she’s going to provide us a way to get insider knowledge. im sure whatever the twins post they’re fine with their cultists seeing, so we’d need someone higher up in the proverbial ladder to give us the good info. i do think it’s interesting she does not match the Twins’ colorscheme at ALL. she’s gray and black, yeah, but she’s also pink and orange (yellow?). 

compare these two

to this:

it seems off that, if we are to consider them a unit, their colors clash so hard. (seriously, red and pink? oh my god!) I could almost see it as their way of hinting that she’s not 100% conforming to the twins.

I could also kinda see her being jealous of the relationship her older siblings have, how they’re so close because they’re twins and they share this bond over the Siren tattoos/starting a cult together. I could see her betraying them at some point because she’s sick of being pushed into the background. the pink and orange is a nice color combo compared to the reds and blacks. she certainly looks designed to be a friend.

anyway, that’s all i wrote today. im kinda tied, might add onto this later as i keep wrackin’ my brain trying to think of more theories.

[chasma-cos]

Raven Branwen’s Sword: Omen

So I’ve finally got around to posting how I made an Omen prop for my Raven Branwen cosplay (from RWBY)

Details under the cut! (will be fairly long and pic-heavy)

For materials I used foam core, paper towel rolls, corrugated cardboard, 3mm craft foam, a length of baseboard, jewellery wire, masking tape, high-temperature hot glue, plasti-dip/flexidip, metallic red and silver spray paint, a semi-gloss clear sealer and various colours of acrylic paint for details and weathering.

Tools used were a high-temperature hot glue gun, a belt sander, a heat gun, a utility knife to cut the foam core, and a scalpel to cut the craft foam.

All craft foam used in this project is 3mm thick, and all glue is high-temp hot glue.

I started out with a screenshot taken from RWBY that I (tried) to edit into a semi-decent profile for Raven’s weapon. I then scaled it up to the size I wanted it to be in real life and printed it out to use as a proportion guide.

I then traced the pattern out onto foam core (foam board) and cut out all the pieces, angling (beveling) any edges so I would have a “seamless” fit when assembled. I then test fit the pieces together with some masking tape to make sure everything lined up correctly. I then glued one side together with high-temp hot glue, while leaving one face off so I could later add in the “rotary chamber” part, as well as taped any open foam edges with masking tape.

(sorry for the tall pictures) For the rotary part, a pop can ended up being the perfect reference size, so I took two paper towel rolls, cut them to the correct length, and then cut a slit down one side of each of the paper towel rolls, so I could interlock them. I taped them together and slid a pop can through to make sure I had the correct circumference, and then Very Carefully glued them together with hot glue to make a single cylinder.

 I then measured out where I wanted the dips to be on the rotary chamber, and cut out some 3mm craft foam and glued that on with hot glue. The dust cartridge part (the coloured part on the chamber in the next photo) is a strip of corrugated cardboard with the top layer of paper cut off so you could see the corrugations.

I then sealed the rotary part with plasti-dip, and then painted the dust cartridge part with acrylic paint and dry-brushed silver paint on the edges to weather it.

The blade is made from a piece of baseboard I got from a local hardware store. I used a belt sander clamped into a workbench to sand down the baseboard until I got the blade shape that I wanted. 

I then measured and cut out some 3mm craft foam, test-fit it around the wood using masking tape, and then glued it (with hot glue) around where I wanted the hilt to be.

(I painted the inside of the sheath black just in case you would be able to see inside but it turned out that it probably wouldn’t have mattered much)

The hilt was measured and patterned out in relation to the sheath, so that the faces would match when the sword is sheathed. I cut out each panel out of foam core, and then test fit the pieces together with masking tape, angling any edges that needed to be angled to achieve a nice fit. I then glued it together with hot glue.

By this point the rotary piece was fully dry, so I was able to glue it in place inside the sheath, and then glue the other side of the sheath closed. I also finished off the pommel on the hilt of the blade. On both the sheath and the cross-guard I taped any edges where the foam from the foam core was showing with masking tape.

Adding the finishing pieces. The “trigger” part on the hilt of the blade is a piece of thick jewellery wire covered in craft foam, and then poked into the cross-guard and glued in place. 

The handle on the sheath is 3 pieces of foam core cut out and stacked together. I covered the top of the handle with a piece of craft foam, and the bottom with masking tape. It was then glued on with hot glue.

The flat end covers for the rotary chamber are an almost-semi-circle piece of foam core with a strip of craft foam and glued in place. The curved end caps were a bit more difficult. I used the top of a plastic toy baseball bat I found (that just happened to be the perfect size) to pattern out a rounded end cap. I then cut the pattern out of craft foam, and glued it together, and then glued it to the sheath.

The little cone shaped part on the end is some craft foam shaped into a cone with a circle foam core glued onto the end, filled with hot glue, and then glued on.

The rectangular panels on the top and bottom of the sheath are strips of craft foam that are glued on.

(I don’t have as many photos of the painting process, as I was a little rushed while doing this part especially) Time for sealing! After heat sealing the foam parts with a heat gun, I masked off the rotary part since it was already painted, and then sprayed everything with multiple layers of FlexiDip, which I ended up not liking how it was reacting to some parts of the build, so I then switched to plasti-dip. 

Once everything was sealed, I very lightly misted the black sheath and hilt of the sword with silver spray paint. I then masked off the hilt of the sword, and painted the blade with the red metallic spray paint. I also masked off the sheath and painted the panels on the top and bottom and the little cone on the end with silver metallic spray paint.

After the paint dried, I weathered the sheath and hilt with silver acrylic paint on the black parts, and black acrylic paint on the silver parts. Then I gave everything a couple coats of clear coat.

Overall I took me about a week to make this, mostly because I left it until the week before the convention to finish it. Here’s some more photos:

[helloasha]

How I draft my patterns.

***DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL SEAMSTRESS. I DID NOT GO TO FASHION SCHOOL. SEWING IS A FAMILY TRADE THAT HAS BEEN TAUGHT TO ME.***

I am writing this post because often friends ask how i draft my patterns. This is a step by step guide of my process. Basically I use clothes i already have to help with design and sizing. Today's example will be my new pattern for my Raven cosplay that I am working on.

So why might one draft their own pattern.

For me it was simply dollars and cents. I started cosplaying in high school and I didn't have alot of extra income and i still don't. While i am frugal when buying commerical patters I soon started spending more money on patterns than fabrics and to be honest I'd rather buy better fabrics than spend $20 on a pattern that I'll only use 1 or 2 pieces from.

Also truth be told sometimes you cant find what you need in a commercial pattern. I mean have you seen some of those costumes in our favorite anime and mangas.

Let's get started

Step 1 Find quality reference photos

This is essential for any cosplay. I often try to find character sketches with the subject in various poses. At least showing head on, profile, 3/4 and back. This allows you to see their whole outfit so you can see how their clothes fit their body. Take time to then raid your closet because odds are that you have a few articles of clothing that can be pieced together to get the shape you're looking for. For this Raven cosplay I found a t-shirt that fits me well with a higher neck line and a pair of booty shorts that will create the bottom.

Step 2 Gather Materials

Large news print roll or old news papers

The clothes you'll use as your template

Scissors

Pencils, Pens, Markers

Ruler

Good music because this maybe a long process

Step 3 Know your measurements

Plain and simple if you are going to sew anything it is helpful to have this handy. While sewing you may have to tweak the pattern as you go.

Step 4 Layout

After you've analyzed your characters outfit and chosen clothes from your closet now it's time to layout your clothes to create your pattern. This example I am doing today is a perfect example because I have to take 2 clothing items to make 1 leotard. If I had a one piece swimsuit or dance leotard with me then it would be easier. Yet this makes a better example for you. Here if you look at the picture of my clothing layout. You can easily see what I am going for based on the photo of Raven's bodysuit.

Step 5 Trace and modify

As noted above if I were to trace this layout as is it would not give me the desired result. Take note of all the differences between your clothes and the desired out come as you get ready to trace things in PENCIL FIRST please please trace in pencil first, you will thank me later. Now trace the clothing on the paper and it's general outline. I tried to take a picture of this but the pencil lines didn't show on camera. So here's the result after some tweaking.

Take a look at the things I modified

I cut (not literally) the short sleeves off my top making it a tank top.

Next instead of tracing the scoop neck line I created a higher neckline.

Also I lined the top up with the shorts

These are all simple adjustments that anyone can do. When making adjustments refer to your measurements to ensure you are not modifying to much.

For example for this body suit i made sure to note my measurements from my neck line to crotch to ensure the body suit would be long enough and not cut too high. I also measured how long I wanted the shorts hem to fall on this bodysuit.

Step 6 Use a ruler to straighten lines and darken them with a marker.

There isn't too much explaining to do. Use your ruler to even up your lines a bit. Make sure the straight lines are straight and the curved ones a little smoother. This just makes it easier to cut out of fabric later.

Now you're pretty much done

Keep doing the same process with other pieces of clothing until you have all the pieces you need for you cosplay.

Then label the crap out of everything! If you think it needs a label then put one on it. Trust me you'll probably forget. Especially in the middle of con crunch and it's 12am and you're trying to finish.

I would recommend looking up reference pictures of patterns if you are stuck on how to draw something. You'd be surprised what you could find and sometimes it is helpful to have a jumping off point.

The last picture is of my pattern. The sleeves arent finalize because I needed help measuring my arm.

But i hope you find it helpful. I will post more about this cosplay as I continue to work on it.

Good luck and happy cosplaying!

[shidiand]

How do you imagine Tenco's Story ending in your head?

that is a GREAT but UNEXPECTED QUESTION freshlybaked "spider" bread and i'm really happy to have the opportunity to try and answer this ageless question that has burned within all of us in the tenco's story iv waiting room community since 2013. it is an incredible coincidence (or is it? 👀) that i was just talking to Risa about tenco's this (edit: yesterday) morning so i am extra double super in the mood to talk about Tenco's Story today. so excellent of a coincidence is this that i am tempted to refer you to them in case you wanted to hear their thoughts on the matter that would probably turn out super cool, but that is neither here nor there; let us talk Tenco's Story.

i of course must mention my unadvertised and modestly detailed commentary on tenco's i-iii at https://shidiand.tumblr.com/tencos, presenting slightly interesting facts in an unwieldy and difficult-to-use format, but as it dates back to june 2017, i want to take some time to understand my feelings about the series once more.

tenco's story is a series that has a lot of meaning to me.

i took on my current name of shidiand in november of 2013. i was still in 11th grade at the time, 4th year of high school, and a very socially isolated person. i should say i was introduced to touhou in 7th grade, 2010, so i was still working through a 3 years-strong phase of trying to simultaneously both find an outlet for and bottle up an endless wellspring of awkward weeaboo-gamer nerd energy at the time.

i had my first real foray onto the internet in 2010, tried out twitter, followed some RPers and other people who had Cool Touhou Usernames. didn't really go anywhere. i had maybe 50 followers, i dont really know the count but it was definitely a) double digits and b) pretty low. didn't know what to tweet about. didn't know how to hit it off with others. i think there was basically maybe only 3 other people i ever properly interacted with. oh shit i was playing league of legends at the time. oh my god. i really did play league of .. oh my god. let's move on.

aw shit im super digressing amn't i. well.

this is just how it goes when i write essays on tumblr.com.

i'm afraid you're just along for the ride at this point so please do your best to enjoy it.

i got kind of tired of twitter at the time because i didnt know what to do with it. didnt know how to interact with people and didnt find the people i was following interesting, so i ghosted on out of there by the end of 2012. didnt deactivate it until like 2015 but at that point that was just burning away my dark history. anyways. november 2013.

--im taking a lot of time here trawling through old files on my computer, my tumblr blog, notification emails still lying around in my gmail inbox from twitter, the dropbox i didn't actually use but it had several tenco's story pictures on it but i deleted them so this was useless, ... to trace the timeline of this story and im really seeing a lot of remnants of dark history here you know? did you know i wrote a letter to a girl i had a crush on valentine's day 2014, slipped it into her locker, and anxiously hung around nearby at lunchtime to see how she reacted at lunchtime? i certainly didn't, or at least i made darn ass sure to forget about this incredible virgin incident and not remember it, ever, until i came across the records of it that i thoughtfully preserved for the me of 5 years later today. ok well now i have to read the letter to see if it was as bad as it just sounded there brb

ok so the good news is that it was actually very focused on being positive and full of admiration for the cool things she did instead of being a confession letter so i am very glad i was able to be a respectful chad 5 years ago, but the bad news is that the jokes, the actual sentences i put together. oh my god. but i mean. well. at least i got the spirit. its certainly a step up from this other person in my grade, WEEABOO ANDREW, YOU MAY RECALL THIS STORY AND HIS NAME FROM PREVIOUS STORYTIMES, THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND who came to school on halloween once cosplaying kirito from sword art online and got very possessive about people asking if they could hold his black replica plastic sword, and probably worse, dropped a "will you be my girlfriend" letter into the locker of my homie and fellow trombonist samantha, who was a little bit nerdy, hung out with the anime-likers who were actually sociable and fun to be around so you can imagine why weeaboo andrew was into her, which had i) a direct quotation from SAO chapter 16.5 (origin of the famous "glopping noise" line), and ii) a condom. jesus christ. i dont want to talk about this any more. next topic.

i also put this drawing of iku nagae and her skarmory (actually an albinoss from 18 DRAGONS) on the other side of the letter because it was the coolest thing i could think of drawing at the time. and i completely agree with 2014 me because it IS super fucking cool. hell fuckin yeah

https://shidiand.tumblr.com/post/76301993387/iku-nagae-ft-that-thing-that-supposedly-is-a

alright that was a fun little trip down memory lane but lets get back on track. november 2013. i started anew as shidiand. still awkward, still learning how to express myself and looking for my place among others. i followed some touhou bloggers, hung around r/touhou a lot as well. in december i got my first tablet for christmas, a wacom bamboo splash. i still use this thing! the usb cable disconnects if you bump it so i have to find just the perfect position to sit in whenever i want to draw, but its served me well. anyways. i was just starting to play around with digital art but i remember, probably just before new years, for some reason i wanted to find out more about tenshi hinanawi (i don't remember why. tenshi wasn't even one of my favourite characters at the time) so i went googling and right there on zerochan i found this:

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=23525572

this was during my dark souls phase so i just went BANANAS at the sight of this. this was literally the coolest image i had ever seen in my internet life. That image alone made me want to draw in hopes that I could make something as cool as that someday.

it wasn't immediately after but i soon discovered tenco's story, and it was love. kannnu was my very first artistic inspiration, and for a long time, my only one. i absolutely idolized them at the time. since then, ive found other artists to look up to, in a more healthy manner, but to this day i still look up to kannnu, still admire their work a lot.

i played around with drawing, followed the lives of people on tumblr, started reading touhou fanfiction, made a new twitter. i met a lot of new people along the way. some people i havent stuck with, some i cut ties with, and some people i still keep in contact with today. over those long 5 years of being shidiand, i found a name (i used to use shidian and then shid, but someone called me shidi once and i realized that was a lot better), how to reach out to others, how to express myself, places that i could feel included in. this is why i owe a blood debt to evelyn, who permitted me to kneel at her throne and was like "yea ok you can join my discord server u seem cool". evelyn, if you were confused by me ominously mentioning this blood debt/blood oath in a tumblr reply 1-2 years ago, this is the context. those 5 years were like a coming of age of sorts, that i never had when i was in high school.

and my love for tenco's story, that inspired me to draw that day, has been with me since almost the very beginning of my time as shidiand. from the beginning, i have always encouraged people to READ TENCO'S STORY, like the kin of those who cry PLAY MELTY or WATCH SYMPHOGEAR. i think my very first sidebar description was something akin to a prayer, written in very choral language, hoping for the day tenco's story iv was completed, ..., "meanwhile, furious shitposting". kannnu's work, finding delight in whatever they chose to draw, has been at my side, all along. my true mentor, my guiding moonlight...

so that's why i still to this day love tenco's story so much.

let's talk about tenco's story.

tenco's story is a story told through single pictures. the plot is vague, and details are sparse. dialogue is rare. we only know what has happened; we seldom know why. furthermore, there are many gaps between scenes that the reader is left to fill in for themselves; we see only snapshots that form an hazy outline of the events that occurred, and must imagine the rest. motivations and explanations fail me. but even with a barebones plot, tenco's story has themes, and if nothing else, those have to be carried through.

the main theme, of course, is journey and travel, but there are also other ideas, too. i actually think they start to change as the series goes on:

book i, where tenshi runs away from home, is about striking out on your own. it's a very fun and unpredictable journey, together with a friend.

book ii, where tenshi and iku are separated, forces tenshi to find and rely on companions of her own even more. but they do so, and they are able overcome hardships, and there is food and festival.

book iii marks a climax, reasserting tenshi's goal of finding the sword of hisou. i feel like the journey shifts from a travel (visiting) to a path forwards (making your way through). perhaps this is just something i get from knowing the locations from dark souls (Anor Londo, New Londo Ruins, the Great Hollow), but the locations start to give more of a sense of verticality, like they're emphasizing tenshi's climb to the summit. the hardships and enemies are the greatest they've been yet, and right when they near the top, tenshi and iku start to bleed. the book ends on an uncertain note.

if i had to describe the type of journey and travel that tenshi and iku undertake, there's this sense of wonder at discovering new places, wandering from vista to vista in delight, but also a sense of conquering, making it through a difficult patch. the sequence from pages 2-44 to 2-51, taken together, convey this sense of overcoming the best. it's one of my favourite parts. again, although the tone definitely starts to lean towards struggle in book iii, i think tenco's sense of wonder really is the heart of the series. there's no map of the world, no predicting where tenshi and iku will end up next. and through their travels, though they come across many enemies, they also find friends -- places of refuge, places full of life, people who will look after them for a few days, companions who will stay with them for the rest of the journey. at the end of book iii, we see a long haired tenshi with purple hair being impaled by the sword of hisou (3-33, see also this extra illustration that risa pointed out to me http://sinnnkai.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-195.html), and regular short haired tenshi continuing on her journey (3-42). if we ignore the out-of-story images where tenshi has the sword of hisou, tenshi has actually only ever used her sunlight blade (2-24, 3-26, etc), so i think that the long haired tenshi on 3-33 is a different person altogether. (if i had to guess, she might be the purple haired woman in the top left of https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=35443328 as we have never seen that woman appear anywhere.) she probably has something to do with the flashbacks at the end of book ii and she might somehow be short-haired tenshi at the same time, but this is just speculation.

however, in 3-43, tenshi's hair is rather blue, so i don't know if this is the purple haired woman or not. if it is, tenshi is probably still fine and closing in on the summit, but if it isn't, then it's very worrying to see a picture of tenshi without any of her companions. it's very ominous.

meanwhile, iku, while climbing the red carpeted corridor, is stabbed, and disappears for a few pages. there's a black page, a shot of a shrine that strongly resembles the hakurei shrine, and a picture of iku standing behind someone in a tux, with the line "In the past, I was saved by the lady I was serving, you see?". and then iku wakes up in a field of flowers.

i think what this scene makes clear is a theme that has continued to appear and reappear throughout every book of "being saved, being aided by someone's kindness".

i think another theme that is implied and has to be addressed by this story of running away from home is "return". something im imagining is that the reason tenshi makes finding the sword of hisou her goal is because she wants to have something to prove herself with, to vindicate her when she comes home. but i don't think she needs to prove anything, and i ultimately think that she would be happier spending the rest of her life exploring.

so i think this should be what happens in the ending.

open on iku's journey, and give her a long sequence of travel without seeing tenshi. underline her newfound resolve. she climbs to the summit with albinoss, and finds the rest of tenshi's companions fallen. and in the last room is sword of hisou tenshi, who has lost herself, and it comes down to iku to bring her back. after a difficult battle, when both of them are on their last legs, iku is unable to stand any longer. but at this moment tenshi sees her companions struggling to get back up and reach her, and that's what brings her to her senses. and iku gets to see how many friends tenshi's been able to make on her own, and they finally and properly reunite. together, tenshi and iku carry each other out of the last room.

i don't think it's necessary to return to heaven. as a conclusion, dedicate some time to tenshi and iku travelling together. they're on their way back, revisiting old friends who helped them along the way, enjoying the journey. their last stop is the house of the elderly nawis (1-42). tenshi shows off the sword of hisou; she decided to keep it not as a trophy to show her family but as proof of the bonds of her companions. surrounded by friends, tenshi and iku decide to part ways with each other, knowing that the other will be alright. iku drifts among the clouds once more, and tenshi sets off for the horizon.

that's the plot that i'd write/just wrote. i don't really expect tenco's story iv to ever come out, though. i mentioned my first sidebar description earlier in this essay, but of course, you can see that it's been changed. 2 years ago, i read my hopeful prayer once more and was struck with a terrible melancholy, so now it reads this: "having come to terms with the fact that tenco's story iv will never be released, i can still live, knowing that the spirit of the journey will live on through kannnu's original works [...] meanwhile, furious shitposting".

on one level, tenco's story is a story, but in the process of following it, i came to think of the work itself as a journey too. you can constantly see kannnu's improvement between and even within each book. they have always drawn whatever they liked; what plot matters in the face of "I wanted to draw a beautiful sky." "I wanted to draw a fantastic battle." "I wanted to draw Dark Souls and Monster Hunter and Pokemon and Brave Fencer Musashi and Bokura no Taiyou and Touhou."

its not really kannnu's style to go back and tie up old ends. they just draw whatever makes them happy. so as i watch them continue to draw beautiful places and fantastic creatures, new characters heading out on journeys of their own or just enjoying their everyday lives, it's as if tenco's story never ended. the limits and consistency of that world ignored, and a new one springs up; in a way, the world of tenco's, which had such thin boundaries, just gets bigger.

but even so, having said all that, i still see them draw that short-haired tenshi from time to time. it makes me happy to see them remember tenco's story with such fondness. often crossing over with orion or roar or elweiss, you can see tenshi on another journey.

[therealeagal]

Go Team Lucifer.

That’s not a reference to the show, by the way. It’s a coincidence. Tom Welling isn’t important here. Not Tom Welling. The other one. Ellis? That sounds right. Tom Ellis isn’t important here either.

Being an internet philosopher (or fauxlosopher as I like to call us) is hard work, you know. You think I just come up with this stuff in the spur of the moment? Well, actually I usually do, but then I take a while to post them. Adding some stuff. Taking out others. Weighing the odds of testing the waters and potentially stirring the ire of the in-crowd, whose talent for outrage beggars the imagination.

I work hard to stimulate your minds with only the most sophisticated and classy material.

BOOOOBIIIIEEEESSSS

Only the best of content for you, my children.

Decide for yourselves whether my words have meaning or if they are just the ravings of a madman. Whichever you decide, don’t @ me, bro, as the kids are saying these days. I’m not here to debate, I’m just here to philosophize. Or fauxlosophize, as the case may be.

Let’s begin.

I think we’ve established in our years together that the only right side is my side.

This is especially true in regards to U.S. politics, which I have a profound disinterest in. If shit goes down, shit will go down with or without my involvement, so why bother? Fuck it. I’d rather be playing Yugioh.

I don’t want to brag or anything, but I think my Predaplant deck is pretty good. Ah, Predaplant Chimerafflesia, dark flower that blooms in my heart, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

“But Eagal!” I hear you say. “What if everyone thought the way you do?”

”But Eagal!” I hear you say. “Even if you’re not interested in politics they are still interested in you!”

"But Eagal!” I hear you say. “Something something something orange man bad!"

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Oh sorry, you bored me to sleep. Tell you what. You prove to me that my decision will affect the outcome and then I’ll consider voting.

And I’m not talking about some “every vote matters” nonsense, I mean specifically my vote.

If my single personal vote can measurably determine the outcome, such that without my single personal vote the side I wasn’t going to vote for would demonstrably win, then I’ll think about it.

And before I cast my vote you will throw me a parade honoring my actions and give me a presidential medal for valorous service to the country and also I get a Nobel Peace Prize. And also, all previous winners will be stripped of their titles for being inferior to my accomplishments. So hop to it.

But I digress.

American politics is like the eternal clash between the forces of order and chaos in Shin Megami Tensei. Whichever side you choose, everyone dies horribly and the only way to win is to either aim for the bad ending early so that you can unlock new game plus and thereby remove the annoying level cap for fusing demons, or not take a side at all.

Perhaps not coincidentally, as far as those factions are concerned, not taking a side is the same as taking the wrong side.

Well, if one is forced to choose between one or the other, chaos is usually the more tolerable of the two. Comparatively speaking.

So go Team Lucifer. Anarchy is better than totalitarianism, right? A fighting chance is better than no chance, I suppose. Lucifer usually knows the score.

Regardless of my disinterest in politics, it behooves me - as a benevolent supreme overlord of all that I behold - to bow to the will of the people. It’s what a good leader would do.

So if the American people want to continue the on-going crime against humanity that is their failure to elect me as their president via mass write-in votes, then I must support them.

Seeing how this is the case, I’ll root for Team Lucifer and support Joe Biden in his bid to become next president of these United States.

Talk about burying the lede.

I support Joe with or without (preferably with, but it’s not a deal-breaker) the condition that he immediately abdicate his position and install me as his successor. He’s who all the cool kids like and I do want to hang out with the cool kids. They’re just so cool!

Go Joe! A real American hero.

Get it? Like G.I. Joe. Truly, my wit surpasses all others.

Mind you, I’m still not voting.

Voting for the next president in America is a lot like gambling, except that even in the unlikely event that you win, whether you receive the prize you’re playing for or not is determined by a dude standing outside consulting the flight patterns of birds. And also you’re in Antarctica.

I’ve got better things to do than test my luck against an outcome whose certainty is not fixed. I get enough of that nonsense trying to get Vyr’s Proud Pauldrons from that asshole Kadala.

And that’s completely aside from the fact that he-who-shall-not-be-named is going to ignore the vote and stay in power anyway.

Personally I feel my time would be better spent playing Diablo 3. My least favorite class is Crusader. Good for clearing out lots of weaklings, terrible against single strong opponents. Or maybe I’m just not playing her right.

As for my favorite, I’m leaning Wizard. Witch Doctor is a close second.

Wanna talk about cruel irony. No sooner did I collect my Firebird set from the Seasonal rewards than did I start getting drops from the very same set. Complete bullshit. I could have gotten the Monk set instead, but noooooooo. I just had to get the Wizard set. Some bullshit.

Either way, I’m having a hell of a time clearing greater rifts past the last 30s. Not helping is that all the guides online require specific set pieces AND NOTHING EVER FUCKING DROPS SET PIECES 99.999999999999999999% OF THE TIME. And then there’s the agony of collecting like 5 of the 6 pieces and you keep picking up other pieces of the set that you already have AND THE FREAKING KANAI’S CUBE NEVER FREAKING REROLLS INTO THE PIECE I FREAKING NEED AND I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH FREAKING FORGOTTEN SOULS TO WASTE ON THIS BULLSHIT.

What were we talking about? Oh yes, well, I’m rooting for you, Odds and Evens Joe, reigning Sonic Rush Adventure speedrun world champion. I’m sure you’ll get the popular vote, what little good it will do you.

As for you, my legions of wonderful followers, vote Biden, or don’t. It’s all the same in the end. But there’s probably other stuff you can vote for where your votes won’t be a complete waste of time. Probably like mayors or some shit. Governors and district attorneys and shit. I don’t know. Look it up yourself.

I don’t know how he-who-shall-not-be-named’s prospective Caesar cosplay will affect those outcomes, but your chances are probably better in those cases. Can’t be worse.

So get out there and vote in...I wanna say November? Just not for POTUS. Unless you really want to.

I’d be more inclined to go along with it if I could reload an older save when I don’t get the result I want, in case there are better things to do before the dark lord destroys the universe or whatever. Worst case scenario, we could use the extra time to recruit a ragtag group of misfits and start grinding so we can rescue the princess from the castle.

I don’t know who the princess is in this analogy.

In closing, please accept this picture of Merkabah and Lucifer with Trump and Biden’s heads copy-pasted onto them. I couldn’t use the ones from Apocalypse since Merkabah’s always flashin' dose nips.

Go Team Lucifer, am I right? Am I right or am I right? I’m right, right?

TTFN.

[magpiescholar]

(What the “conference” I just attended would like us to believe is) The State of Tolkien Scholarship Today

keynote speaker asks for hands of those under forty.  Is delighted that this is much of the room.  Enthuses that “With luck, you could be the Tolkien scholars of the future!” 28-year-old and 37-year-old Actual Scholars, who accepted a specific invitation on behalf of their meh-prestigious department at a highly prestigious research university, to attend conference after having just finished writing their abstracts for a national conference on mythic/elemental themes in children’s literature AND an international conference on sf and fantasy, discuss whether to get up and leave. ultimately decide against.

As my wife pointed out, this is less “You kids get off my lawn” than “You kids, who just sowed all this grass seed with your two hands: did you know that one day this will be GRASS? and on that day, maybe you will be worthy to contemplate it”

no people of color in the room.  one accessible bathroom carefully hidden behind the tech booth, where TP is behind one’s shoulder requiring a full twist at the waist to reach.  Use of fog machine, flashing lights to set the mood.

I have been to a number of Christian Youth Conferences in my misspent adolescence, and this was clearly based on religious conference activities. However, the language in the program is all “sessions” and “mythos” and clearly trying to be an academic conference but doesn’t understand how they work at all.  Universities within an hour’s driving distance where someone would have gladly helped them with this: 3.

if you ever decide to run an acafan conference, sweet Varda’s star-studded fanny, you’ve got to tell people the content of the programming.  “We’ve got lots of great stuff coming!” will fly at a tent revival where everyone is assumed to have personal interest in everything, or at a corporate training where people are paid to be there, but in basically any other conference setting that comes across as deeply disrespectful of attendees’ time

four slides about how Tolkien is a Christian.  One slide about how Really these are Universal Themes, and speaker is not going to give a talk that exclusively speaks to Christians, but is accessible to people of all faiths.  Thirty slides and 1 full hour about Tolkien’s use of coincidence as a plot device, conclusion of all of these: “There’s some kind of personally interested, guiding invisible hand that is invested in Bilbo’s personal journey, What Would We Call That.”  broad wink thankfully remains implied.

Specific references to Tolkien as Catholic; speaker is obviously from a Protestant tradition (university is Wesleyan apparently) and unprepared to grapple with notions like: sainthood

in argument for the presence of a personally invested deity in Tolkien’s work, no mention is made of Eru Illuvatar; Gandalf comes up repeatedly without his minor-deity status being so much as alluded to; whether speaker has read The Silmarillion before accepting presumably-significant speaker honorarium as a Tolkien scholar looks like a no; whether speaker has glanced at the Tolkien Gateway wiki before accepting presumably-significant speaker honorarium as a Tolkien scholar also probably a no

indication that said personally invested deity has ensured that all the free peoples of Middle-Earth can be happy there also suggests that speaker has missed the trajectory of the entire story of the Eldar, even within LOTR

at end of talk, we are told “you’re dismissed.”  ?  ?!?

6 of 8 speakers in the program bios reference their theology degrees, their religious nonprofits, or their PR work for well-known evangelical revivalists

personally invested deity guy isn’t one of the 6

there was an excellent comedian softening up the room tho, 9/10 would laugh at again

conference organizer told a really cute story about his son and the power of storytelling to change hearts, that part was nice

also shoutout to the guy who posed the Thorin Oakenshield cutout so it was holding Saruman’s staff in an aggressive manner

Conclusion: staying home and reading The Discourse on the blue hellsite: more intellectual use of time.  I teach at a reasonably well-known university and I approve this message.  Suggested topics for meta:

the mix of indebtedness to and disdain for the PJ films in spaces where it’s Fashionable to talk about which character was most screwed over by the narrative, but all the cosplay is proudly movie-accurate and the exhibit room is full of cardboard cutouts and cast photos, including a disconcerting number of slightly faded Legolii

intense apparent need to believe that Tolkien was frowning on Bilbo’s desire to not have dwarves wreck his house. Uncritical acceptance of Gandalf as the voice of the narrator? 

a specific kind of (usually white, usually male) fan who simultaneously talks about how every member of the Fellowship grows and changes on the journey and that’s just, deep, man, but also insists that Aragorn CANNOT have a character arc that was not sliding from the womb with sword in hand speaking in glib couplets about safeguarding his kingly legacy, and/or (usually or) Faramir CANNOT have a character arc that was not calmly refusing all forms of power while still in diapers

seriously you can tell a lot about people by which character is allowed to experience personal development and which one is their personal wish fulfillment vehicle that Papa Tolkien wrote for them alone

this is by NO MEANS every fan but dear god the ones who are like this are LOUD while other people are trying to have a nice conversation about sad elves over their scones and juice

[saintgale]

Hey, if you don't mind me asking, what materials did you use to make your Starscream cosplay? My friend and I want to do a transformers cosplay and it'll be my first time working on armor-like pieces.

Hi there! :D I don’t mind at all, thank you for asking and for your interest in the costume! He’s mostly made out of craft foam (sheets of various thicknesses depending on the part of the armor–also sometimes several pieces layered on top of each other for really thick parts or to help shape things), foam board (wings), canvas, and paper (that has been layered together and sealed). The colors are done with mostly spray paint, and the detailing/wear done with silver sharpie markers.

I wish you and your friend good luck with your Transformers costumes, I’ll also include here some tips for TF cosplay in general or things throughout the process that I learned that I think might be useful? They may or may not be relevant to your interests, but just in case! ♥I hope you both have fun! And if you have any questions about anything else or need clarification on something, please feel free to ask!

(Disclaimer: I don’t claim to be an expert on this, and this certainly isn’t an end-all-be-all guide or anything like that! These are just some things I had to think about in the making and wearing phases and thought would be worth sharing! They are in no particular order, under the cut~)

1) Plan in advance–this goes from everything big and small!

For example, if you want some particular part to move/be able to move with you as you walk around, you need to draft this from the beginning. If you want a particular part to be very solid and/or used as a place to anchor stuff or as a base, same thing. You’ll want to think about each part of your costume in the long run: for example: can I go up and down stairs, or will I need to use an escalator/elevator? Will I be able to see? Will I be able to sit down? How many pieces am I able to take on/off myself, or will I need assistance getting in and out of my costume? (Think: restroom breaks, eating food, drinking water, etc.) Something you really want to consider is how heavy the entire thing is going to be, and how you are going to transport it/how the pieces can be taken apart and put back together again. To carry mine, it took two large laundry bags for all the armor pieces, a grocery-kind of plastic bag for the shoes and mask (and the wings wouldn’t fit in anything and had to be carried on their own).

I spent a lot of time trying to re-proportion the character to fit my body–I would highly recommend doing this before you start working on any physical pieces, just so that you can try to match things the way you want to fit yourself! Transformers in general have humanoid body shapes, but definitely not exactly human in their proportions–ex: really small heads, exaggerated limbs and features. Some things are going to require extra work to try to scale to something that is wearable; for example, I’m 5′4″ and weigh around 104 lbs, something that presented a bigger problem was the shoulders, since they had to be built up a lot on either side to be more accurate. Starscream’s also very thin and has a much longer torso, so trying to fit the chest plate and all the pieces between there and his waist into a human shape was also a challenge.

To try to re-scale things to fit my body, I just took some pictures of myself in a mirror (front-facing, profile view, from the back), and then washed out the image a lot (you can do this by just loading the pictures into Microsoft Word or a similar software and just upping the brightness a lot and playing with the contrast, or using a photo editing software like Photoshop), printing out pictures (or using a tablet to draw directly ontop of them is fine too), and then drawing over top of them with pencil. I also made color-coded reference sheets on Photoshop for all of the armor pieces (views from each angle, etc.) as a jumping-off point, to give a starting place and rough idea.

Give yourself plenty of time to do this if you can! From start to finish, Starscream took about 6 months, all the way from the drafting stages to the finished product. It not might take you as long (I’d never done something like this before and had generally no idea how to go about it), but I wouldn’t suggest leaving anything until the last moment! (This becomes particularly important if you want to have time to try things on/get a feel for your costume.)

I would definitely recommend that if you are going to make a mask/helmet, that you make it easy to take on and off by yourself. They can get hot/stuffy really quickly, and you want to be able to breathe and to be able to get a sense of your surroundings/check up on what’s around you! Just a quick flip up of the mask or taking it partially off and having a look around can help a ton with your spacial awareness, and also if you need to take a break to catch some fresh air.

And of course, be safe and take the necessary precautions when making your costume, including but not limited to: cutting away from yourself if you’re using something like a knife to slice up materials, not breathing in fumes from paint and glue, etc. (Speaking of glue, my costume has a variety of glues depending on what was being glued together and how: hot glue gun, rubber cement, wood glue, gorilla glue were all in there somewhere. The hot glue gun was the hero of the costume hands-down–it’s strong, it has good mass and hold all on it’s own, and it dries really quickly and sets in place so you can continue working, rather than having to wait long periods of time for the glue to dry.)

2) Create a mock-up if you can.

I’d suggest this just to get an idea for how many pieces you’ll have/how it’s all going to fit together. You can just cardboard boxes and cartons and things that were going to be recycled/thrown away, even like milk/juice boxes and stuff like that (if you can find cheap rolls of parchment paper or that throw-away stuff for spreading over tables, that can work too, and is especially helpful for bendy bits/pieces that have to curve–my costume ended up using this stuff in the final version too) and made a rough draft of the armor. You don’t need to do all the details at this point, it’s just to see what goes where and how it fits and if it works or not. Some pieces may take more work or trial-and-error than others (for Starscream, the shoulder pads were really hard to try to figure out how to balance with the rest of the costume).

The sky is the limit when picking your materials! Stuff like warbla was far too expensive for me, so again my costume is mostly made up of craft foam (lots of the armor) and foam board (wings), canvas, and that throw-away paper stuff. I again recommend a mock-up before hand so that you don’t end up wasting or messing up the actual materials you’re going to be working with, especially if you have the time and resources (stuff you’re going to throw away anyway is a really good bet, it helps keep the costs down and is easy to dispose of/recycle afterwards).

3) Practice your poses.

In the long-run, you aren’t going to be able to control what angles people take your picture from and that’s fine, but it’s nice to have a few poses in mind and an idea of how to position yourself initially regardless. You’ll want to know your costume, what angles look good, what angles don’t look so good, and how to really showcase the detail and different parts. Also it’ll help you get a sense of how mobile you are, how far you can raise your arms, if you can cross them, how much you can bend your knee, if you can bend over, etc.

This is not only useful for really bringing out your character in pictures, but knowing how much room you need for photos. You don’t want to accidentally bump into someone or create a safety hazard for the people around you.

I had one primary pose that I used when stopped for pictures, and several other poses I’d practiced for my character as go-tos, including if I had to change poses or if people wanted multiple poses. Holding one pose, especially for a long period of time or over and over again, is not such a good idea (especially in heavy armor, even moreso for this one because I was also in heels)–my knee actually nearly gave out on me the first day because of the weight and strain I was putting on it. Changing up poses every so often or cycling through might be a good idea to try to avoid over-stressing certain parts of your body.

I wasn’t able to practice my poses in full costume because of spacial restraints (even having the shoulders on made my maneuvering room very tight in front of the mirror), but was still able to get a good idea of how to pose. Even if you can practice with some key pieces of your costume, it can be very beneficial for photoshoots or for that extra wow factor when posing!

4) Get a feel for your costume before-hand.

I really can’t stress this enough, especially for safety reasons! These things can be big and bulky, and it’s hard to get a grasp for your surroundings, especially if you are wearing a mask or have lots of bits and pieces sticking out from your costume or blocking your periphery vision. Know where your blind spots are, know your general range of motion for your head, your arms, legs, etc., and how much room your costume takes up. (For example, I know I am not able to see that well to either side of myself because of the mask and the shoulder pads, and cannot see about ¼ to 1/3 of the area below me, including from my chest down to my feet, when my head is held straight in my Starscream costume. If I want to look down, I have to bend over and turn my head sideways–doing this requires pitching forward, so I have to recognize that the wing tips are going to move down and forward, and that the pointy bits in the back/my elbows could very well change position when I do this. One of the reasons knowing this is really important is because sometimes, little kids would want a photo with me, and oftentimes they would stand next to me in one of, or be walking through, my blind spots, and I didn’t want to accidentally bump into them. Also if I was using an escalator or going up and down stairs!)

Try not to make any sudden movements–this is for your safety, and for the safety of those around you. Motions which would generally be okay out of costume can cover a much larger space and swing bits of the costume that other people aren’t necessarily looking out for/going to consider/might be hard to see and avoid (ex: wings, claws, doors, horns, etc.).

Blunt the edges of any of these pointy things. Even then, you still might want to cover them or make sure extra precautions are in place. For example, I put rubber caps on the ends of the elbows of my costume even after they were blunted (there are long, slender, pointy bits that stick far out from Starscream’s elbows that kind of resemble pile-bunkers). You can use the rubber ends of coat hangars, putty, hot glue, etc. to make edges and points softer. You might be able to take stuff like this (ex: rubber caps) off for photoshoots but I really value safety over any kind of aesthetic appearance, so I left them on the whole time. Check behind/around you (slowly) when you stop and start walking, are asked for pictures, and before you pose. A lot of conventions have rules about props/costumes too that involve sharp edges or anything that could potentially cut/poke someone, so if you are planning on wearing your cosplays to events like this, check the rules and guidelines so you know how to incorporate that into making things like armor.

Re: you want to know how heavy it is–if at all possible you want to spend at least a consecutive hour in your costume before the convention/wearing it for a long period of time, walk around, try to do some basic tasks, etc. I did a “trial” like this for three consecutive days before Otakon itself, wearing the costume for about an hour each time, and walking around outside in the summer. Having on something heavy/restricting your movement or ability to walk, see, etc., may be fine for a little while, but you will want to know how it affects you and what it feels like for a long period of time. Other things to consider–are you going to be in stilts, heels, or any other sort of non-typical footwear? (I already have experience being in heels all day, am comfortable walking/standing in them, etc., but if there is any aspect of your costume similar to this, you are going to want to practice.) Are you wearing gloves/finger extensions? (Can you pick things up and hold them such as a convention badge, can you write with a pen or pencil, can you pull/push open or hold open doors? Remember to be aware of these extensions especially when pointing, waving, etc., you don’t want to poke someone in the face by accident!)

5) If possible, travel with a handler.

This person can not only help you in and out of costume, but will be invaluable for helping you get around! Your handler can guide you from place to place and give you a heads-up if you are about to collide with an obstacle or person! Even if you have practiced walking around in your costume and have a good sense of spacial awareness, you can’t control what other people around you are going to do. I had several cases where someone would try to short-cut behind me or dash really quickly by, probably way too close for comfort (conventions can be packed spaces!). Sometimes, I caught them out of the corner of my eye and could freeze/move out of their way, but sometimes I couldn’t see them coming at all, and my handler could tell me to move, and where to move to.

For this reason, among others, I recommend having callouts (or signals) with your handler. Things like “clear,” and “freeze” are quick and easy to say/hear, or if you need to, you can coordinate hand signals or something of the like for the both of you. (Just be careful if you have your own signals that you aren’t going to accidentally stab/run into someone).

Again, you want to be wary of your surroundings and the people around you. If you have large pieces sticking up on your back, out the side, etc, or any sharp/pointy bits, you need to be careful about where you are, and who and what is around you. Move slowly, give yourself space away from objects and people when at all possible, and if someone stops you for a photo at a convention or something, move out of the way of traffic/getting in the way of others. You may want to practice or have a brief discussion with your handler about how to approach situations like this, and how you are going to get around.

Be honest with yourself and with your handler about how you are feeling! If you need to take a break, if you need water or a few minutes to cool down, if you need to remove part of the costume, etc. Walking around when your skin isn’t able to breathe and your body is under stress is not a good idea.

6) Keep yourself hydrated, cool, and safe!

I also really want to stress this one for safety reasons. I got pretty hot in mine pretty fast, and the time frame shortens if walking around and the temperature/humidity is high. To prevent yourself from overheating, take breaks and allow your body to rest and cool down. There’s no shame in taking off a mask (especially if you have trouble breathing) or parts of the costume (even the whole thing, if you need to–I had to do this at various stages throughout the convention).

I would highly recommend bringing one of those portable battery-powered fans (with the soft, non-hazardous blades–you can get them for pretty cheap), especially if you are wearing a mask/helmet/something that’s covering your head. I’ve upgraded my mask so that there is a small cooling fan on the inside (I did not have this initially), which will help with keeping my face/head comfortable and with fogging up of the mask/stop it from getting too sweaty and gross.

A very nice individual I met at the convention suggested to me that investing in a zentai suit to wear underneath your costume rather than regular clothing (I was wearing leggings and a long-sleeve shirt) can help tremendously with the overheating problem, and that the suits help to pull the sweat off your body. I haven’t tried this myself yet but I feel it’s an important piece of advice to include!

[attract-mode-collective]

It’s Still (Pixelated) Hot Dog Legs Season

Fall should officially be in full swing by now, yet here in NYC (and many other parts of the US), it still feels like summer. Which I’m not thrilled about, though at the very least, I don’t feel so bad for sharing the above (by Robert Penney) so late into September.

On that note, time for a way overdue game culture round up! It’s been a while, and a LOT been going on. And not to be a downer, but the chaotic weather has been in the news, obviously.

Here’s a pic from Gamer Geek Nation on Facebook, who shared the aftermath of the Hurricane Harvey, along with: “… This is a time when we collectors need to remind ourselves that ultimately, this is just stuff, and our lives are more important. And make sure your collection is insured properly.”

Elsewhere in the world, the Tokyo Game Show just wrapped up, and not to repeat the obvious, but yes… the biggest, most exciting news was the Sonic X Hooters collab…

Though the one between Hello Kitty and Game Center CX is far, far better (photo courtesy of Kotaku)…

You also have this comically large Rockman doll, which apparently was available on Amazon but is now out of stock…

Though I mostly wished I had been there to pick up some primo looking attire, like this Mega Drive track jacket that miki800 gave the heads up on before show time (there was also a Dreamcast hoodie that I personally don’t think looks as nice, hence why I’m skipping it)…

I also really like this Pac-Man shirt…

This Galaga shirt as well…

Also taking place in Japan was an exhibition held by the JARGA (Japan Retro Game Association); miki800 was there and captured some interesting bits of hardware, with the highlight being (IMHO) this Mega Drive clone that resembles a perfect mix of the model 1 MD and the original Wondermega…

There’s no preview of the music yet, though may as well share the recently unveiled cover to the third (and final) installment of 8 BIT MUSIC POWER…

Meanwhile, according to Original Sound Version, Mitch Murder has released yet another soundtrack to another game that never existed. In this it didn’t come out for the Mega CD and doesn’t involve mecha…

Remember that Jet Set Radio figure I showed a while ago? Well, it's finally available for pre-order! Alas, it's not cheap, at least over at Big Bad Toy Store...

BTW, videogamesdensetsu shares with us what Beat looks like, sans-cel shading…

Sticking with VCD for a tad bit; here’s what Pulseman looked originally looked like, and he sure was cute!

Whereas NiGHTS looked goofier… as well as more menacing….

Am confident most people will not give a rat’s ass about seeing hand drawn Virtua Racing track designs, but as a massive fan of the series, oh man, oh man, oh man...

Two never before seen Saturn prototypes that must be: “[taken] with a grain of salt!”

Apparently Looney Tunes X The Matrix was actually a thing? Somehow this does not surprise me…

The work of Hideaki Kodama was recently highlighted, which was also recently auctioned; I wonder how much this painting of various PC Engine hardware went for?

Yet another Kickstarter mention? Yup. And this one is Jed Henry's third crowdfunding campaign: this particular variant of the Ukiyo-e Heroes concentrates on boss battles, with perhaps my fave piece being his depiction from The Breath of the Wild...

Am particularly fond of this image from the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary art book that grease-howard spotted, of old Chun Li chumming it up with her younger self...

Any and all BoJack Horseman fans out there may want to pick up this piece by Jude Buffum...

legendofnes reminds of that time Batman visited New Donk City…

It's just a bunch of cyber kids, all just hanging around, by sanigo...

Speaking of the gang, here we have the kids from Persona 5, by @aranciart…

Apparently, if Jedah (from Darkstalkers) ran a juice stand, it wouldn’t be the best, according to dreaminerryday…

The individual who runs SPLENDID LAND describes SLN-003 Gacha Man as a: "vendor robot who dispenses toys. even he doesn’t know what’s inside the capsules, so he always gets excited to find out"...

Meanwhile, here’s official artwork of Mario and Peach, courtesy of the thevideogameartarchive’s catalogue of the Mario Golf N64 manual; am pretty sure I’ve seen images of Mario looking distressed, though never to this degree…

The above is something Super Mario Broth would normally deliver, and speaking of, may as well share some recent faves on that end! Like these photos from a promotional campaign with a Japanese sports drink when promoting Mario Sports Superstars…

Instructions found on the arcade cabinet for Vs. Super Mario Bros (which I remember so distinctly, and fondly)…

From some Japanese video guide for the same game (am assuming the home Famicom version this time)…

A greeting card (am assuming a Valentine’s)...

Mario without his hat, as he appears in a Game Boy controller test cart that Nintendo service reps used to calibrate buttons on a the handheld…

And he we have a shortcut in SMB3 that I had no idea existed, and it’s a safe bet that most don’t either: “In Super Mario Bros. 3, the rock between the path to the first fortress in World 4 and the Spade Panel can be destroyed with a Hammer item, allowing the player to bypass the fortress. There is no obvious indication that this rock is destructible, as it is surrounded by decorative rocks. In fact, many guides for Super Mario Bros. 3 do not mention this shortcut.”

As for Super Mario Broth’s counterpart, Sonic the Hedgeblog has seen plenty of action as well… largely pinpointing all the obscure references found in Sonic Mania, So head over for that if that sounds like fun to you! Otherwise, there’s also the Mario Bros having a Sonic Panic…

A reminder of how Sonic looked at one point as he was being prepped for the Dreamcast; it would appear that at a certain point, in Sonic Adventure, he was going to look a lot more realistic…

And this issue with EGM featuring a sneak preview of Sonic 2 is the very first video game magazine that I ever picked up!

Meanwhile, oldgamemags recently posted a page from an issue of GamePro, circa 2000, on a peripheral that allowed the Game Boy to play mp3s. Am sharing it cuz I really want a GB-looking mp3 player…

So someone on Twitter (who has since protected his account, so I’ll have to refer to nintendolife they snagged the pic before it was locked down) cracked open a electrocardiogram measurement instrument and found... a GBA? It’s theorized: “perhaps earlier revisions of the unit had different screens, and once the supply chain dried up MiE was forced to source the next best thing?”

vice-s-assistant sez: "OK Guys, I’m ready to hack."

According to bunney: "i was working at a convention arcade this weekend and some guy cosplaying ryu was playing street fighter with a blunt in his mouth"...

Can anyone tell what's being played here? At the very least, it's a nice shot (via rekall)...

Much like Arcade Crusade, I have no idea what’s going on, and I agree that whatever it is, it looks intense...

If you’ve ever wanted an artist’s rendering of the Raspberry Pi, then look no further than the work of retronator…

rasec-wizzlbang states: “those square cross sections of the human skin layers you always see in biology books but as like, a minecraft block”…

Courtesy of Arcade Crusade once again comes a very tender moment…

Is it just me or does this promo image for Food Fight sure does look like a Norman Rockwell painting? As seen on thedoteaters...

Here we have a flyer for a really old SNK arcade game (we’re talking really old; almost a decade before the Neo Geo was a thing) that looks like it was made with today’s sensibilities, doesn’t it?

Also via obscurevideogames is a moment of pathos from Hacchake Ayayo-san 4 - Sexy Olympics - Ayayo’s Live Affection. It’s… pretty obscure alright…

Yup, that's Hieronymus Bosch-styled Tetris all right (via freeindiega.me)...

crashcarnival presents: "true facts of the Ice Age"...

Hey, it’s the Ninja Turtles playing Pong (via rewind01)…

Behold, Fighters Megamix version 2017 (via lonelyfrontier)…

Yup, that is definitely a Chu Chu Rocket skirt  (via radicalhelmet)...

For those who have ever wondered what their Sonic character’s political leanings are, in relation to the rest of the crew (and can’t be bothered to sift through DeviantArt; via erratticusfinch)…

Face to face (via futureisfailed)…

It’s been out for a while, though it’s not too late to pick up this Xenogears tribute zine, right?

Just a friendly reminder of how bat-sh*t insane Sin & Punishment is (via n64thstreet)...

Zimmerit.moe has everything you need to know about a game by Square involving mecha that you’ve probably never heard of. And no, am not talking about Thexder; it’s even more obscure than that (am talking about Cruise Chaser Blassty BTW/FYI)...

Meanwhile, Michael “Kayin” O’Reilly discusses the “Barrel Distortion” look that emulators use to recreate the look of playing something on a CRT display and why it’s total crap…

And… that’s  it! You’ve made it to the end! Enjoy a cool, refreshing drink with Pac-Man (on the behalf of arcade-crusade)...

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.

[lamentedsorcerer]

So this is nitpicky but this post is about Pidge's shirt and cosplaying. I see alot of cosplay shirts that are 11/10 awesome but don't fit in the right areas or does not match that person's proportions. Unlike most people want you to believe everyone is proportioned differently; I have high hips ( and low hopes) and my sister has bigger shoulders etc. So I have some pictures of Pidge (they're crappy screenshots I know). One thing I see in Pidge cosplay shirts is people not separating the sleeve from the rest of the shirt, just one big piece. I think making them separate pieces that matches your shoulder really matters to the way the shirt fits overall. When you raise your arms you don't want it to look baggy. In the pictures above you can see Pidge's shirt has the shirt and sleeves separate pieces that are sewn together which gives a tighter fit. I have gathered so many, so so many, screenshots of Pidge for my cosplay references and one thing I've noticed is that the shirt is actually pretty fitted. It's not as baggy as most cosplayers make it. Also not as short eighter. I have two pictures of my own sleeves, the black shirt is a more fitted shirt where the sleeve is closer to my arm and body and the white shirt is how I normally wear my shirts. Who can really see the difference if you follow my skinny little arm line. Anyway on to the proportions. I've done a little diagram thing where I drew lines in important body areas. Pidge's collar bone, shoulder bone (not the edge of the shoulder but the little pointy guy on top), elbow, chest area (nipple zone), waist (smallest part), belly button, hips, and the blue in the wrist. [These are all approximations based on my years of figure drawing] Then I did my own picture (my waist and belly button is actually about an inch higher than that line, also I'm not standing straight so it distorts my proportions a bit). So based on my personal proportions is where the little green areas will go as well as the bottom of the shirt which I folded into the correct position. You can use this guide to help make individual patterns for yourself and to get the best fit for you if adjusting a pattern. [**Works with all body types** use Your proportions and line the pieces up in the same areas as Pidge] Notes: -Pidge's shirt is fitted well in the arm pit zone where the sleeves are sewn in -at the elbow of their sleeve it tapers out a bit -at their waist it tapers out a bit - the bottom of their shirt is about 2 inches above their wrist give or take -the bottom green square lines up mostly with their belly button -the edge of the green on the front lines up with their nipple zone -the green on their sleeve is around 3 inches from their elbow and around 2.5 inches longer then the one on the front of the shirt -the sides of the grey strip lines up mostly with their collar bone (As well as the top inside edge of that square) -that grey square is like at the top of the sternum (the circley bit called the manubrium - the square rests on top of that) -orange cuff is about 2 inches Also I marked where the knee and ankle is for shorts and shoes reference. ~ Thanks for reading I hope this helps and again this works for all body types, line the green lines up with Your belly button and Your nipple zone so it looks good for You. I'll make another post on their shorts, hair, shoes, and glasses another time too. Google the sternum and manubrium if you don't know where that is