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Seems like a good thread for this. Video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QLJjb39VrA It's a 1965 Vespa Super Sport 180 from FLCL (fooly cooly)  Last summer I decided to fulfill one of wife's long-standing dreams of having a scooter. She would often talk about wanting a Ruckus or a superbike, but she would more frequently fawn over how cute a classic Vespa looked. She's also a pretty avid cosplayer, the kind of girl who spends hours dying and styling wigs, who has completely taken over the second bedroom of our apartment with rolls of fabric, buckets of resin, and all manner of crafting accessories. I started a secret savings account last July and I've been putting little things into it since. eBay sales, tips from when we use the movie cars as charity limos, stuff like that. In February I reached my goal and started officially looking for a starter body. The SS 180 is a pretty sought-after type of scooter, it's not the rarest or most valuable, but it's really popular. Originally I planned to build a clone by buying a late 70s P-series scooter and swapping out the parts to make it into an comparable look-alike of an SS. At the end of February I lucked out. Someone in Arizona was selling an SS, the exact body type that I needed. The exterior was kind of rough, but mechanically it was sound. The original engine had been removed and replaced with a more powerful, more reliable, and easier to maintain engine from a P200. This made the scooter undesirable for a collector, but ideal for someone who wanted to turn it into a nerdmobile. I guess the meme of "and nothing of value was lost" might apply here! So I made up a story about going snowmobiling across the divide with my brother as a cover to keep my wife from asking too many questions. I grabbed a good friend to tag along and we departed for Flagstaff, Arizona. We drove through the night, planning to sleep in Socorro, but stopped in Albuquerque to visit Walt's car wash from Breaking Bad. That was pretty cool. After leaving Socorro we headed west to another place I've been dying to visit for years, the Very Large Array.  Most famous for it's role as a location in Contact, Terminator: Salvation, and a handful of other films, the VLA is a set of 27 dishes arranged in a Y-shape that act as one large radio telescope. We hit the visitors center, watched the little video and looked at the exhibits, and I picked up some VLA swag for my nerd friends back home. The staff saw the car and got pretty excited (we must have been their only visitors in a while), and they let us drive around the access roads of the facility for some neat photo opportunities. Great people, awesome place. You should go. Near Holbrook, Arizona we came across an old Route 66 Wigwam motel that had classic cars parked in front of each room to add to the atmosphere.  So it looks like Radiator Springs is a real place! After that was Meteor Crater.  Which is pretty goddamn amazing. I was a bit disappointed that it felt like a tourist trap thanks to it being privately owned, but the crater itself is worth seeing. VERY cool.  We arrived in Flagstaff around 4pm and made our way to seller's house. He ran over the details of the scooter, things like modifications, damage, behavior, all the good stuff.  At this point, I had never driven a motorcycle or scooter by myself. Now that I think about it, the only two-wheeled motorized vehicle I'd ever been in control of had been a Segway! He took me around the block on it, gave me a quick lesson, and I tried it myself. It almost got away from me at first (the P200 engine is a goddamn MONSTER for this thing), but I figured it out and took my first ride in a neighborhood in Arizona. We loaded it up into the back of the Magnum, it fit perfectly. This was a huge relief as, eyeballing the space back there, it didn't look like it would fit. The measurements the owner gave me before I left were well within the confines of the car, so I had to trust the math.  The fuel tank was pretty empty, but it still reeked of gasoline, something we'd have to endure for the next 12 hours. We went home by going north through Utah. Moab, Grand Junction, Vail, and back in Denver by 2am, which was pretty good!  After getting it hope and secreting it to a friend's garage for storage away from prying eyes, we stripped it down and got it ready for paint. Kind of sad to see the flat black go, that looked REALLY cool...    A week later it was ready!  Initially I'd planned to get the scooter 100% complete before giving it to my wife. But she is pretty particular about her cosplay stuff, her favorite costumes are the ones she made completely from scratch. For her it's more about making them than wearing them. So I changed my plans and decided to unveil the scooter early so she could be a part of the assembly process, thereby turning it into something she helped make. When she first saw it, she didn't quite understand. She thought it was just someone else's scooter that would be perfect for a Haruko FLCL scooter. When I stated that it was hers, she looked at me confused, shoved me, and started crying. God. drat. Adorable.  We brought the Vespa home and wiggled it into the elevator and up into the apartment. Work started immediately.  And it was all back together a few days later! Immediately after getting it roadworthy, one of the gear selector cables snapped and the scooter was back under my wrench. Installing the bar-end turn signals.  Interestingly enough, bar-end signals were NOT available on original SS 180s. After talking to some scooter mechanics in Englewood for a few hours, we determined that the headpiece of her scooter is an SS180, but that the handlebar "twist grips" are from a 60s or 70s Vespa Rally. I'm sure there's a goon scooter enthusiast that can clarify everything. But it's nice to know that the original "production" Vespa is at least as much a frankenscooter as this one is.  People at anime cons will likely know exactly what the scooter is all about, but it's an obscure-enough cartoon that lots of people probably won't even know what the gently caress, so I made this for her to put next to it.  Vespas are sassy.  Tapping the holes for the fin.  Perfect fit!  The sticker on the leg shield was a placeholder, she applied the final vinyl and pulled it off - the finishing touch!  Things left to do for the scooter: - replace a few gray seals with black ones - replace the legshield beading the original, fatter trim - fix the horn - add the 3D "egg" shape on the side of the fin. - I may or may not add the ignition slot on top of the headpiece. It's rarely drawn on the scooter in the show, and when it is, there usually isn't even a key in it. - create an accurate "5656" license plate. "FLCL" is the current custom plate we're gunning for. Things left to do for us: - motorcycle safety class - gear shopping My wife cosplayed as Haruko back in 2007, so now she's in super go-mode to get that costume back up to her standards so she can wear it on the scooter at the next con! A terribly fun project that will make for a terribly fun summer!       edit: I also plan on mounting a toy robot head to the idle screw on the engine... for accuracy. Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Apr 23, 2012 |
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Apr 23, 2012 08:18
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I'm kind of speechless but I want to say that I don't know what that anime is but it looks incredible. Very, very well done!
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Apr 23, 2012 08:35
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Red Robin Hood posted:I'm kind of speechless but I want to say that I don't know what that anime is but it looks incredible. Very, very well done! Fooly Cooly (FLCL). It's on Netflix, only like 6 episodes long. Lots of punk music, guitars, and super pre-teen angst. Iconic scooter 
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Apr 23, 2012 08:39
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Uggggggh I want that SO BAD. Your wife is now morally obligated to make a Haruhara Haruko costume on my behalf 
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Apr 23, 2012 13:22
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That's an absolutely crazy and amazing thing to do! Kudos on the awesome job!
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Apr 23, 2012 14:23
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It just occurred to me that other than the quick and dirty Effie I haven't posted anything I've made. So...here. Le Chevalier D'Eon for AX last year. I made all of them and only had a couple of months in which to do it (not everyone lives near me for fittings and such), so as a result each costume is missing a few details here and there. Nothing dramatic, but I'm annoyed by it. I'll hopefully have time to finish them all off soon. Trying to find good pics of my ren faire stuff, but I'm always drunk at those things and cameras are forgotten and I'm a lovely photographer, so.
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Apr 23, 2012 23:03
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We never end up with any ren faire photos either, for the same reason. Somewhere there's a picture of me in the Ezio swigging from a hip flask, though...
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Apr 24, 2012 04:07
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Happy to see this thread, I've done some simple costumes for Dragon*Con the last couple years, but this time we've got an opportunity to get something bigger transported down ahead of time and want to seize the day. Last year's costume, I'm the PeeWee on the left. Not like I did anything besides assemble the stuff, but it was great fun. This year's ideas:  Flex Mentallo! The costume itself is easy (I'm working on the muscles, I've got the bodyhair), I'll probably only have to make the bracers and I'm good at leatherwork, but what I really want is to come up with some sort of portable method of pulling off Flex's patented "Hero Halo". Current ideas include some sort of lightbox to project it onto walls, or some sort of banner and lightweight poles/tripods to suspend it behind me. Thoughts?  The big project: Hedonism Bot! Rough plan is to build a rudimentary couch frame and body cavity where I could kneel in the back and be the head and arms. It'd just be stationary, but wherever there is Hedonism the people will flock, so who needs to move?
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Apr 24, 2012 04:10
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The Werle posted:
That is the best idea ever, easily. A lot of that would be insanely easy to build with pink insulation foam. Also, my ridiculous Adventure Time costume is done for AnimeCentral this weekend! I'll post pictures once my group is all dressed up together.
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Apr 24, 2012 04:55
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McPantserton posted:That is the best idea ever, easily. A lot of that would be insanely easy to build with pink insulation foam. Oooh, I hadn't thought of that, but its not like I haven't done it before.
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Apr 24, 2012 05:11
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RazorBunny posted:We never end up with any ren faire photos either, for the same reason. Staggering drunkenly around public places while in period garb quickly became one of my favorite hobbies. In fact, there's a tiny faire happening near the Hoover Dam this weekend. I may have to toddle on over there for some fun photo ops. And a turkey leg.
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Apr 24, 2012 19:05
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I finished my cosplay for ACEN this weekend! I had this cosplay 'finished' last year but after a bunch of refining it looks infinitely better. The photo is less than stellar, but here's the Happy Mask Salesman. 
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Apr 25, 2012 07:08
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HarkToTheLoons posted:I finished my cosplay for ACEN this weekend! I had this cosplay 'finished' last year but after a bunch of refining it looks infinitely better. I'll be there too, adventuring in Adventure Time stuff and also tearing it up in my Warhammer 40k armor. I'll keep an eye out for you!
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Apr 25, 2012 16:22
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Boomerjinks posted:Vespa Holy poo poo. Just wanted to say your wife is the luckiest!
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Apr 25, 2012 17:25
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Ooh! Acen always looked fun its a bit north of me but maybe next year I can set aside time for it. Ramping up stuff for Akon though, as well as Ms. Marvel for Free Comic Book Day. Marvel is a bit of a throw together as I spent so much time working on everyone else's outfit woes that I lost time for my own. I will post some mask prog pics once its cut-able and doesn't look like a black latex blob.
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Apr 26, 2012 01:05
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McPantserton posted:Ha, we're doing the SCIV 2P Yoshimitsu so we could theoretically do a pretty spectacular photoshoot! Well now that I know you are a goon I will have to say hi. I saw the 40k outfits in passing last year and thought they where awesome.
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Apr 26, 2012 05:09
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We're thinking of using a white-on-white asian-style brocade for most of the costume and probably something similar in red for the back banner so it'll have a bit more texture and depth to it.
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McPantserton posted:I'll be there too, adventuring in Adventure Time stuff and also tearing it up in my Warhammer 40k armor. I'll keep an eye out for you! Awesome, I will too. I've seen your armor in a few forums posts, so you'd better believe I want to see it in person. It's amazing.
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Apr 26, 2012 16:43
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Well, Commander Shepard vest is completed! I'm ordering the camo pants now, and there's a few things that need touch-ups, (plus getting the wig), but I'm pretty happy with it. I wish I was more accessory-skilled, so I could replicate the riffle, but I got a friend who says she'll slap together an omni-tool, so we'll see. My other big project for this year is Puella Magika Madoka. My friend is doing Mami, and I'll be doing Homura. Yesterday I finished the blouse and skirt part of the costume.  (that's just bias tape for the ribbon, use your imagination or something until I get a real ribbon  )
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Apr 26, 2012 20:12
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Mucktron posted:My other big project for this year is Puella Magika Madoka. Yes! This is my favorite new anime series in, like, a decade, and I would love to cosplay from it but 1. I don't have any female friends into cosplay and 2. it's insanely overdone right now to the point where there are like, 200 Madoka Magika cosplayers at every con I go to. Are you going to make the 8 million guns? Also have a picture of my favorite (and most disturbing) PMMM cosplay from this year's Katsucon: 
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Apr 26, 2012 21:48
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THIZZFACE KILLA posted:Yes! This is my favorite new anime series in, like, a decade, and I would love to cosplay from it but 1. I don't have any female friends into cosplay and 2. it's insanely overdone right now to the point where there are like, 200 Madoka Magika cosplayers at every con I go to. Well hey, it's just Homura and Mami right now, so if you have any plans to go to Anime Expo, PM me, we totally could use another magical girl in our group. I do agree, any good cosplay work we do will be over-shadowed by 200 other Madoka Magika girls, but the costumes themselves are pretty rad and fit my comfort zone of "Challenging, but not hair-ripping impossible". And I'm doing it for a friend, so hey, why not? Actually, my Mami friend actually swung by yesterday, she picked up two toy guns from the 99 cents store and confessed to me, she was really tempted to purchase 100 of them but thought better of it.
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Apr 27, 2012 03:14
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Mucktron posted:Well hey, it's just Homura and Mami right now, so if you have any plans to go to Anime Expo, PM me, we totally could use another magical girl in our group. Aw I wish I live on the East Coast, or I would totally come be Kyouko, haha.I took some progress shots of the masks for Yoshimitsus 1 and 2 on my cell phone: 1P half masks:  I made the one on the right first and am currently modeling the left one after it.  The missing beard and mustache hair really makes the difference on this one And bonus shot of unfinished Rachel Alucard that I have shelved for the time being (because gently caress wearing winter clothing in July)!  I bought a couple of Immortals masks (from the movie 300) to use as the base for Yoshi's masks, since they have a kabuki-esque proportion to them, and they worked wonders. Thank you x 1000 to whoever recommended Apoxie Sculpt to me, it's amazing! I'm going to use it on every project from now on. I can't wait to finish these masks and start painting them...
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Apr 27, 2012 04:24
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THIZZFACE KILLA posted:Thank you x 1000 to whoever recommended Apoxie Sculpt to me, it's amazing! I'm going to use it on every project from now on.  They're looking really good, Thizz!And I guess I should probably start on my costumes for this year. Uuuugh, I wish costumes didn't cost MONEY. So far I think I've got going a: Fiona - Adventure Time (hubs is going as Marshall Lee) Mistress 9 - Sailor Moon (friend is going as Black Lady and I need to work out my flabby arms  )Natsuki (OZ avatar) - Summer Wars I might bring my Makoto since it's a great backup costume that gets a good reaction every year. 
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Apr 27, 2012 15:02
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You almost make me wish I was going to AX this year, but drat if that wasn't one of the worst cons I'd ever been to. Did anyone here go to that other con that was happening in Anaheim on the same weekend last year?
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Apr 27, 2012 16:23
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What? I love AX. A-kon is the lovely one IMO. We're not even getting a room or going for the whole weekend this year... And what con? I know the Shriners now have Anaheim, which is fine since AX really is doing well downtown (the last time they took over Anaheim and we had to move to Long Beach was awful since we had outgrown it.)
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Apr 27, 2012 17:00
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paisleyfox posted:What? I love AX. For me, compared to Otakon, AX is balls. There wasn't anything I was interested in doing (my fault, I didn't check the schedule) and WTF is up with needing a special ticket to go to the AMV contest screening? The dealer room was small in comparison, too. I almost got thrown out of the Anime Singled Out because one of my friends was asked to be in the show and like hell was I going to let her be in there for hours alone with the super smarmy fucker who ran it, so I kicked up a stink. No decent food within walking distance of the convention center, either. I ended up having every meal at Trader Vic's (THE SCORPION  ) or that ESPN place. All I did was walk around in costume and pose for pictures, and if I'd known that I didn't even need a badge to go in and do that I wouldn't have shelled out the money for one. I had great expectations since it's sort of billed as the "Otakon of the west coast" and it didn't meet those expectations, so I was very disappointed.Also, my hotel sucked despite getting glowing reviews online (massive roaches and dirty-rear end carpet), and I had to pay $30 to park in the hotel garage even though I was staying there.  But that's not the con's fault. It just added to my already poor experience.I've been to about 15 different cons, and AX has been my least favorite. I don't mean to poo poo on it because it IS really popular and lot of people love it, but my experience was less than stellar, and honestly, if I had the choice between driving to AX or flying to Otakon, I'll fly to Otakon. In fact, I flew out there on a whim a few years ago after a six year con dry spell and loving loved it. It got the taste back in my brain only to have it destroyed by AX. Sigh. The other con in Anaheim was a pay-as-you-go kind of thing...I can't remember the name. You didn't have to buy a con badge...you only had to pay for the things you wanted to do there. IIRC last year was its first - the only thing I remember about it was that it had an Iron Cosplay competition that sounded really neat. Edit: For content  Chillin' with some random furries or something in the dealer room. My friend (far right) heard the word "fursona" for the first time and nearly died laughing. Pretty sure she's trying really hard not to crack up there. Me? I can't stand how I look in photos so I make faces. Rufus En Fuego fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Apr 27, 2012 |
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Apr 27, 2012 18:19
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Hell yeah, Otakon  Are you going this year?
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Apr 27, 2012 18:22
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THIZZFACE KILLA posted:Hell yeah, Otakon I hadn't planned on it, but by god I have the itch.
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Apr 27, 2012 18:31
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Well if you decide to go (which you should because I'm sure it will be awesome) and want to have a super mini goonmeet of 2, I'm always down to meet new people. This will be my 10th year going to Otakon!
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Apr 27, 2012 18:50
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Christ, that's dedication. I went from 1999-2002, then stopped for a while, went in 2007 or 2008. Love that place. We've probably seen one another a few times. I went as Chloe from Noir the last year I went. So if you remember a sole Chloe wandering around, that was me. CRAB CAKES AND BEER.
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Apr 27, 2012 19:03
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Rufus En Fuego posted:Aw, that sucks to hear. I dunno if I'm just used to the area or what, but I always find a ton of places to eat and we've had good luck with the Sheraton (right next to a 24 hour Subway, IHOP, and a Walgreens). The trick is if the food you want is not right next to the convention center (and this past year every day had a good handful of "gourmet food trucks" show up) you hop a hotel bus and go that way. CPK and Johnny Rockets and Famima were only a few blocks down from the Nokia theater. Never been to Otakon, though. I can't imagine AX being smaller dealers room wise, it's the largest con in the US.  Then again, this'll be my 11th year going to AX and the first convention I ever went to. Also, the special ticket for the AMVs is lovely, they didn't used to do that, but I guess it just got too big (as well as paying extra for the concerts that also used to be included...) We usually end up going to the AMV re-screening/awards the next day for free.
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Apr 27, 2012 23:47
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paisleyfox posted:What? I love AX. I proposed to my wife by sneaking out from Denver while she was at AX, abducting her mid-con and asking her on the beach near Point Dume. She tries to go every year but has an unfixable scheduling conflict this year. She adores it.
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Apr 28, 2012 00:56
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That FLCL scooter is absolutely bad rear end. Great job on that.
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Apr 28, 2012 04:12
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Rufus En Fuego posted:The other con in Anaheim was a pay-as-you-go kind of thing...I can't remember the name. You didn't have to buy a con badge...you only had to pay for the things you wanted to do there. IIRC last year was its first - the only thing I remember about it was that it had an Iron Cosplay competition that sounded really neat. You're thinking of AM2. It was completely dead last year. I went because my one friend who goes to cons is tired of AX, and we spent the entire time either at the arcade or laughing about how there was absolutely nothing to do. It was its first year of course, so I'm hoping it'll turn into something fun and less industry-centric than AX, but it's nothing to fly out to yet.
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Apr 28, 2012 23:23
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Thanks to the goons who came up and said hi at Acen today!THIZZFACE KILLA posted:Well if you decide to go (which you should because I'm sure it will be awesome) and want to have a super mini goonmeet of 2, I'm always down to meet new people. This will be my 10th year going to Otakon! This'll be my third year at Otakon, and I'm always up for a goonmeet.
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Apr 29, 2012 01:34
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HarkToTheLoons posted:Thanks to the goons who came up and said hi at Acen today! I saw you walking around! My husband went to the Zelda photoshoot and took some photos for me while I manned our table at Artists' Alley. Our friend was there as Anju from Majora's Mask! Here's a few pictures for you--they're the clearest we got of your costume. It turned out really cool, I love the Mario mask on the back.  
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Apr 29, 2012 03:51
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Man, am I glad it wasn't obvious I was holding my phone, wallet and glasses behind Majora's Mask. Note to self: future cosplays must have pockets. What table are you manning in the artists' alley? I won't be cosplaying tomorrow but I'll be sure to pop by and check out what you've got! And thanks a ton for the photos! None of my friends took any.
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Apr 29, 2012 04:18
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HarkToTheLoons posted:Man, am I glad it wasn't obvious I was holding my phone, wallet and glasses behind Majora's Mask. Note to self: future cosplays must have pockets. Hah, I wouldn't have guessed that at all. Pockets are something often forgotten, though. You're welcome for the photos! I have some more from the shoot. If you want I can upload them after the con. I think those are the only two where you're really visible though. We're there as Happy Hatpire, table 147. We're here:  If you look through the booth to the right, that's where you enter the exhibition hall from registration. That picture was taken prior to opening on Friday, it looks significantly more bare now (which is good! But it's so empty looking T___T) but the signs are still there.  Come say hi! I'll likely be throwing a Xacto knife at some paper to try and get a few more boxes done but I still try to pay attention to everyone.
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Apr 29, 2012 04:38
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Mobius 1 posted:
It's all just mounting board,craft foam, and some bondo filler! I don't really use pepakura that much, so I built it up from scratch.  Basic frame of the helmet is made out of some mounting board to scale it.  Building it up!  A bit of paper mache to build up the slope and curved top of the helmet. Helmet's fin has been glued on.  Now for the bondo! I sprayed a coat of primer after this to check for bumps and areas that needed more filler.  Sanding. God, how I hate sanding.  Adding the details on with foam.  One last coat of primer, then the metallic silver paint goes on.  And the final bit of gold paint for the details! And there ya have it. A Sky High helmet from Tiger and Bunny!
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Apr 29, 2012 14:37
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That's pretty rad...
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Apr 29, 2012 16:37
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That is the kind of stuff I find terrifying. I can bolt poo poo together, repaint it, etc etc, molding something from scratch is such a daunting idea to me, which it makes it that much more impressive. Great job! Keep us updated, that's really freaking cool.
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Apr 29, 2012 20:13
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