I recently decided to debut my alternate Ruby Rose cosplay at Oak City… which is only a couple days away!
Luckily, I put the main pieces of the costume together several months ago but… I just decided to build her gun about 2 weeks ago.
Man, what was I thinking?
I’ve never done anything like this before. My scythe? The one I used with my last cosplay, well, my husband made that. And he did a wonderful job. But I couldn’t ask him for help this time. He’s been busy creating armor for a cosplay that he plans on debuting at Animazement. (Pics to come!)
So… well… I simply started measuring pieces, painting, stripping a nerf gun. I have a few more things to do and paint but I’m almost done (which is such a relief!).
(My dog wanted to say hello!)
I’m hoping to finish up no later than Thursday. Especially since I think I just decided to make a new cape…
Scream Queens has been renewed for a second season!
As most of you already know, I really enjoyed the first season and recommended it to anyone looking for the slightly humorous side of horror. Brought you by the producers of American Horror Story and Glee, it is the perfect marriage of gore and lightheartedness.
There is much speculation over what the 2nd season will bring, and if it is anything like American Horror Story, I expect to see Emma Watson – among other recurring actors from American Horror Story.
This time, instead of taking place on a college campus, Scream Queens will take place inside of a mental hospital and will explore the conditions and experiments being performed.
*Spoiler Alert* This is the same mental hospital where not only did the main killers grow up, but where the surviving sorority sisters were sentenced after being convicted – something which wouldn’t have happened if they would have just kept their mouths shut and not insulted the jury. (Sorry to anyone that might not have watched the first season yet. But if you haven’t, well, what are you waiting for?)
Personally, I’m really, really looking forward to watching it!
I’ve been working on a female cosplay for Jack Skellington (from Nightmare before Christmas) and things have been going great. I have almost all the pieces in place (pics coming soon – I promise!) and was so excited that I would debut this at the Oak City Comic Show on April 16th.
Now I have to decide: do I A. complete my Jack Skellington costume and go as Jack for both cons or B. finally wear my alternate Ruby Rose (from RWBY) costume to one and go as Jack to the other.
Decisions, decisions, decisions…
Frankly, I’m leaning as going as Ruby to Oak City and Jack to Animazement. Last year, I went as a flawed Ruby to Animazement but was able to fix my cosplay in time for Cosplay America (for those of you who don’t know, I encountered some unforeseen issues heading towards Animazement).
After both conventions were done, I decided to put together a Ruby inspired by this pic (one that I have yet to wear to any convention):
Now, I’ve also decided to build a new weapon. I love my scythe but because of its size, I’m generally not allowed to carry it into the dealers room – which is ok, because it’s really crowded and I don’t want to damage it any more than I already have. But that means I either have to leave it in my car or in an unsecure room so that I can shop.
Ehh… no thank you?
Instead, I’ve decided to build Ruby’s gun. It’s really sweet and doesn’t get nearly as much love.
I started last night and have already cut out a couple of pieces out of foam board. I’m going to spray paint them and let them dry while I work on the rest. (The pieces don’t look like much yet, but they will soon.)
If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Would you go as Jack to one and Ruby to the other? Would you go as Jack to both Con’s? Or would you try to create 2 completely different cosplays so that you could go as a Jack to one but someone completely different character to the other?
For those of you who have yet to watch the final installment of the Hunger Games movie series, let me warn you, this post contains a few spoilers.
The Hunger Games was one of those series that I was hesitant to get into. I enjoy dystopian -fantasy-drama-love stories as much as the next person, but I was afraid that the novels and movies would not live up to the hype.
Reading the novels, I was completely enthralled. The Capital was twisted, sadistic. The Districts beat down and hopeless.
Then the unimaginable happens: one person stands against tradition. One person refuses to kill everyone. One person forms bonds with the other Tributes. One person says that the Capital can’t control her. And thus, Katniss became the Mockingjay.
I loved the first two novels – how the story unfolded. The details and layers. The fighting scenes. The wrestling of conscious. But then I came to the end of the third.
When Suzanne Collins (the author) wrote the scene – the most shocking scene in a series full of shocking events – where sweet Prim dyes while trying to rush in and save people – I wanted to throw the book. It was devastating. As an author, a storyteller, your job is not only to present a realistic story but to give your hero a reason to continue on. You do not destroy the entire reason for EVERYTHING.
I know most of us hoped that the movie would veer away from this unnecessary darkness but it didn’t. For once, Hollywood followed the script laid out in the book.
To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement.
Even worse than the fact that Prim died, was the fact that Hollywood did it in a manner that barely allowed the audience to feel its impact. This should have been the most heart wrenching scene in the entire movie. It should have been dramatic. Her reaction emphasized. Her devastation apparent.
Because here’s the truth of the matter: if not for Katniss’s love for her sister, she would have never been a part of the Hunger Games. She would have never became the Mockingjay.
It was like spitting in the face of everyone – all the characters, deaths, and pain was for naught. The journey broke Katniss and in the novel she became whiny and weak and I was glad the movie didn’t have enough time to show that side of her. But what it did show left me disappointed and wanting to walk out of the theater.
Unfortunately, the final installment of the Hunger Games didn’t go out with a *Bang* but a really slow-building *Poof*
So…. you’re telling me that all I have to do to enter is donate $10 for the Boys N Girls club via this link? And I’ll really be entered into a chance to tour the set of Guardians of the Galaxy 2? Not only will I meet the cast (including our star, Chris Pratt) but I’ll also get to have lunch with them?
So, I’ve been preparing to do a fem version of Jack Skellington (from Nightmare Before Christmas) at the Oak City Comic Show next month. I decided to look up some tutorials on his face paint.
Here are my two favorites (so far):
(I’m not sure that I will go with either one, as I’ve honestly not decided on just how I want my face to look yet. But I’ll post pics of my costume pieces soon.)
I’m so excited!!! I can’t wait to cosplay as one of my most favorite characters ever!!!
I just watched the trailer for the Ghostbusters remake. Personally, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to watching the movie.
But scrolling through the Youtube comments, I must say, there was A LOT of hate.
I don’t get it. Why the hate? Because the remake features women instead of men? Really? Are we that shallow as a society that we can’t gender swap some roles?
Ancient society did it all the time. Are we less evolved than they?
It saddens me. Really.
Personally, I don’t care about a person’s gender / sexual preference or identity / religious affiliation / ethnicity or anything else like that. And as far as the movie is concerned: it’s just that.
It is a movie. Period.
It is not based in reality. This is not biographical. It is a fictional comedy. And I will watch it and laugh and hope that they don’t show all the best scenes in the trailers.
But if you don’t like the trailer or want to watch the movie, that’s fine, as long as it’s not because of the gender of the characters. Because to me, this is no different than being upset over there being a black Spiderman or a Muslim superhero (Ms. Marvel).
If you look at the history of comic books, you will realize that they have always tackled issues larger than their imagined worlds. (For a great documentary showcasing this, check out: With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story.)
Besides, I rarely hear anyone complain when cosplayers do it.
After a 10-year-plus hiatus, it was announced late last year that Samurai Jack is coming back!
Every week since seeing the announcement, I have religiously checked for updates. As most of you already know, Jack is my first anime love.
I’ve even knocked around the idea of doing a female cosplay of Jack or Aku – possibly from the episode when Aku pretended to be a female companion to Jack. As of yet, I’ve not been able to decide how exactly to make my costume, but I’m sure that one day, I will.
Here’s some wonderful fan art that I’ve stared at for quite a while of the fem versions of our two main characters:
I’m hoping that with the series being reborn that I will find inspiration or be able to pick just who to cosplay.
Until that day when Cartoon Network finally airs new episodes, all I can do is wait, keep checking, and hope they don’t change their minds. As of today, this is not the case – even though nothing outside of a very sparse press release has come out.
For those of you unfamiliar with the storyline, it’s really quite simple: a bad-ass samurai (Jack) has been hurled back in time by the evil, shape-shifting demon (Aku). In order to defeat Aku and save the world from his reign of terror, Jack needs to find a magic portal and travel back in time to defeat him. This is the only way to, “Stop the future that is Aku.”
Cinematically, Samurai Jack is a work of art, has sparse dialogue, and a myriad of characters that add depth and dimension. And I’m truly hoping that at least some of them (including the Scotsman) make it back as well.
Thankfully, the original creator, Genndy Tartakovsky is on the job, so many of our wishes just may come true.
With any luck, this will be the first of many shows brought back to life.
I have a short (long) list of shows I would one day like to see again. But that’s a post for another day.
I normally only watch translated anime’s – not because I don’t enjoy the Japanese voices but because I am short on time. I actually prefer the inflection and intensity of Japanese voice actors over English speaking ones. There are times when English just can’t do a situation justice. (Personally, I can’t place the same amount of derision in my voice when calling someone an “idiot” in English as I can when I do it in Japanese. Say it out loud with me: Ugh, idiot. Vs. Baka (pronounced: baaaaka) See? Wasn’t that more fun?)
But One Punch Man is so intense and enjoyable that I couldn’t wait until it was translated to watch it.
At first glance, the main character, Saitama, is almost comically drawn: bald head, yellow pajamas, cape with red gloves. He always appears bored. But not without reason: he’s too powerful.
Regardless of what opponent he encounters, Saitama is able to easily beat them. It doesn’t matter how many others fall before him, because for him, the opponent (normally a monster of sorts) is not a challenge.
But this is what fuels the storyline. He lives in the fictional City Z and works not only to protect it but to become its main hero. In a world where there are professional heroes, you would think that he would be the most revered. But this is not the case.
Why?
Because no one is ever around when he destroys the monster. No one ever sees that he is the only thing that stood between the citizens and utter disaster.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention he has a handsome sidekick that is less powerful but is ranked as a higher hero than him?
One Punch Man is comically absurd but an anime that I enjoyed every moment of. Rumor has it that Season 2 is already underway and personally, I can’t wait. This is not an anime where the storyline and characters need to evolve. This is an anime that needs to stay true to itself. And all it has to do is keep pumping out epic fight scenes without excessive dialog (just a quick jab at Dragon Ball Z). As long as it does, One Punch Man will have a fan base. And I’ll be a part of it.
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the March 2016 Convention Calendar has been posted! As always, if anyone knows of any conventions in their area that they would like added to the calendar, please send me a quick comment or email and I will add them.
Sorry for the prolonged silence, but my husband and I wanted to take a step back from working towards opening a fandom store. We’ve had a couple of rocky months fraught with medical issues, but now that most of those have been resolved, we’re going to resume our original path of spreading fandom in all its glory.
For my first post back, I’d like to simply invite everyone who has yet to check out the newest (anti) superhero movie: DeadPool.
DeadPool: everyone’s favoritest anti-hero.
DeadPool: the role Ryan Reynold’s was born to play.
DeadPool: a morally ambiguous assassin turned, well, assassin.
DeadPool: a self-aware character that’s able to poke fun at not only himself but at pop-culture in general.
DeadPool: the best kind of love story.
DeadPool: the hero that wears an Adventure Time watch and is obsessed with Voltron.
DeadPool: the cosplay that will dominate this summer.
We went to see it opening day, and let me say, the theater was absolutely packed. The movie was everything that we had hoped for and more. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I will wait a few weeks to further review it, so all I really want to say is that seeing this in theaters is worth every penny. (I can’t wait for the sequel to come out – which they are already working on.)
Oh yeah, it’s not child-friendly. Like, at all. If I had young kids, this is not a movie I would take them to see. If I didn’t know DeadPool’s personality, I would probably think otherwise. But this movie is like none other. There’s explicit, gratuitous violence, partial nudity, and well, Stan Lee pops up – in a strip club. Need I say more?
The next movie that I really can’t wait to see: Suicide Squad. Now that’s going to be a ride.
As always, thanks for coming along on this journey. I can’t wait to see where it leads.
Last quick note: I’ll have the Upcoming Conventions updated soon. Sorry for the delay.
Now that Halloween has passed, I can finally share what took weeks of preparation. In a previous post, I explained that Halloween is a HUGE deal at my job.
Each department has the opportunity to record a video or do a live production on any topic they want. This can be inspired by current events, movies, music, or anything else the mind can conceive. Truly, the possibilities are endless!
This was my first year here and I thought it would be great if we did a haunted cruise ship (yes, based off a similar premise as Ghost Ship). Luckily, everyone agreed with me.
My department transformed our entire floor into a ship. We had a pool deck (using kiddie pools), built a bar, had cabin doors (I made portholes out of Styrofoam and thumbtacks), and had several decorated rooms, including a dining hall, kitchen, casino, and infirmary.
But the best part: I got to scare the bejezus out of people.
For my role, I chose to be the quintessential scary child. Because I’m short (remember, 4”8’) this was an easy feat. I donned a pale pink nightgown that I smeared with dark eye shadow, smeared fake blood on my legs, remained barefoot (all day long), wore a long black wig, and painted my face with blue tinted makeup. The finishing touches: large dark circles around my eyes with cracked black lipstick. Oh yeah, and I held a porcelain doll with missing eyeballs.
It was epic.
The day started with the judges and a group of guests coming through. When I appeared from behind a hanging black curtain, a child that was a mere foot away from me started crying and screaming. The mom had to remove her. But she wasn’t the only kid to cry when they saw me.
Word quickly got out to the guests and tour groups that our sketch was not child friendly.
Even at the end of the day, when we all gathered for the award ceremony, children still started crying at the sight of me. Needless to say, my department won Best Overall Performance.
My throat still hurts from screaming, and people keep randomly coming up to me to ask if I was the person that scared the shit out of them, but it was so worth it.
Hopefully, I’ll have some more pics or videos to post in the next couple of days.
And I did enter the pumpkin carving contest with my Donald Trumpkin but I lost to Tina Turner. I still think I did well for my first time really carving a pumpkin.
I can’t believe that Halloween is almost here! Which means it’s a great time to watch some classic horror movies.
My first pick is Jeepers Creepers. My husband prefers the sequel, Jeepers Creepers 2, but I prefer the 1st movie. The premise of the movie is quite simple: 2 young adults are driving through the middle of nowhere on their way home from college, when a truck driver scares the mess out of them by being overly aggressive. The driver is none other than the monster. He uses fear to sniff out any body parts he wants. The rest of the movie is spent with him pursuing said body parts.
The sequel is extremely similar, except instead of the focus being on 2 people, it’s on a bus full of teenagers. Both movies are well done, not overly bloody, and full of suspense. It’s one that I would watch today. (If you’re a fan of the movies, a 3rd one is set to begin filming early next year.)
My second pick is Room 1408. This is an adaptation of a short story by Stephen King. The movie is about a gentleman named Mike that is an expert at debunking haunted places. He receives an invention for a prestigious hotel and decides to go. The concierge tries to convince him not to stay in room 1408, the room supposedly haunted, but Mike insists. What follows is a traumatizing night that made me jump and scream. Definitely worth watching.
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My last pick of the day is Ghost Ship. This is one of my favorites. The movie opens with the guests on the deck of a luxury cruise ship. A wire snaps, and well, let’s say, it gets a little bloody. Years pass, and a salvage crew makes their way out to the ship to raid its treasure. The dead passengers and crew are bound to the ship and torment the salvagers. The movie doesn’t rely on gore or shock value in order to scare you – which is creative and wonderful. (But be warned, some scenes are brutal, but I don’t think they go over the top – like the Saw movies do.)
Those are some of my top horror movie picks, what are yours?
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