28 5 / 2012
allegra means happy—and is also my name: I cosplay for myself.
Hi, I am a woman, and I am a cosplayer. Sometimes I wear clothing (costumes or otherwise) that is seen as sexier, more provocative. I’m not doing that because I want you to decide how sexy I am. Maybe I’m doing it because the costume is a technical challenge that I want to conquer, or because this…
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25 5 / 2012
Carth Onasi costume build
Well! Let me say I’ve been wanting to share some of the progress haha — and also because I found out some things along the way and wanted to share the ‘how’. I’m just a) terrible at remembering to take pictures and b) worse at getting them off my camera. But I advanced some leaps and bounds the past day, so here! I’ve been focusing on getting the jacket done, as it’s the main component. I’ve got plastic guns I’m going to customize/modify for the blasters, I’ll make holsters to hook on his belt, and then there’s the knee armour. But for now - the jacket! Challenges have been - choosing a fabric, getting the colour right, and designing the pattern (which I did myself).
I think it’s getting to be really recognizable - between that and my husband’s hair growing out more haha, I’m getting really eager to finish it! We’re aiming to be Revan & Carth at PAX Prime, so I’ve got loooots of time heh.
1. I ended up buying a bunch of really awesome looking faux suede upholstery fabric - not the right colour, but close. I then used diluted acrylic paint and a nail brush to scrub it into the fabric. This served two fold - not only did it get the colour I wanted, it roughed up the fabric and contributed to making it feel like worn, aged suede/pigskin. You can see the colour difference.
2. I debated how to make these for a long time - whether I’d sew a fold, use piping, or whatnot… and finally realized to just cut the strips up and sew them to get the ridges visible on Carth’s shoulder.
3. Debated the cuffs for a long time too - how to get them reasonably stiff anyway. I decided interfacing wouldn’t be enough, and ended up sewing thin crafting foam (black so it’s more easily hidden) to the backs of the cuffs! Next photo shows them, very happy!
4. Where I am now! The shoulder detailing is together, and the cuffs is attached. The arm is closed, but the side is still open.
I still have to cut the collar, and there’s a secondary strap at the top of the shoulder/arm detailing. The sides of the jacket will be the last thing I do, so that I can make it fitted. I’ll be adding a secondary strip of fabric sort of ‘hidden’ down the front, which I’ll attach a zipper to - and I’ve got clasps that I’m going to build up with bondo or something, paint, and use (as per the reference).
So I’m getting close! This has been so gratifying, it’s the first thing that I designed, measured a person, and drew out a pattern for - and so far, it’s been coming together JUST as I hoped it would! Yay! More to come soon :>
Oh wow! I love the effect of the paint on the faux suede!
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24 5 / 2012
My Bethany/Circle mage costume. :D
Aw, you even have the naked Leandra staff :D
Ha! I really want to believe that it’s Andraste…
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22 5 / 2012
DISCLAIMER:
These are some easter-egg type sound files that were buried in the Mark of the Assassin source audio archive. It sounds like a fake movie promo, advertising MotA, but putting the focus on Varric. The person narrating is Nick Boulton (M!Hawke), except for the last line, which is a line of Varric’s that I added in.
I sifted manually through almost 6,000 audio clips to dig out these 21 pieces, and there’s absolutely no way for me to know what order they’re supposed to go in, or if they even go together properly at all. So, this is probably not the correct order, but I did the best I could.
—————————-
TRANSCRIPTION: (each line was a separate clip)
THIS FALL
IN A WORLD
WHERE MEN IN SKIRTS
OPPRESS MEN IN DRESSES
ONE DWARF WILL HAVE THE PLAN
ONE DWARF WILL STAND FOR FREEDOM
ONE BEARDLESS DWARF WILL TEACH THEM ALL HOW IT’S DONE
ONLY ONE DWARF
CAN SAVE THE CHAMPION
CLEAN-SHAVEN
FULLY-COCKED
THIS FALL, VARRIC TETHRAS IS
HARD IN HIGHTOWN 2: SIEGE HARDER
SHARPEN YOUR BLADE THIS FALL
VARRIC TETHRAS IS — GOING ROGUE
THIS OCTOBER
EVILDOERS, MARK YOUR CALENDARS
VARRIC TETHRAS IN
MARK OF THE ASSASSIN
TIME TO MEET YOUR MAKER
TIME TO MEET YOUR MAKER
o m g
(via xogs)
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22 5 / 2012
SHE HAS NO HEAD! – DEAR MARVEL: PLEASE STOP RUINING EVERYTHING
“In a chat afterwards, Joe [Quesada, Chief Creative Officer at Marvel Entertainment] told me that he’d love to make a tentpole [sic] movie with a female lead, but that he really doesn’t think there is an actress right now who could carry it, or a character that would work either.”
Are you fucking kidding me?!?
Read the whole article, it is a much more thorough and coherent rant about this quote than I could come up with right now. Since I am pretty much just sitting here, spluttering with rage.
But, see, Black Widow’s not an A-list hero like Cap or Iron Man! Sure, everyone in the US if not the world knows who she is right now because of the movie, which is more than you can say for higher-profile female Avengers like Scarlet Witch, but if they make movies based on the characters that worked in other movies… why, that’s madness! They’d be forced to admit that the movies are more popular, more culturally relevant, and can do superheroes better than their tired, hidebound, self-referential echo chamber can! Everyone KNOWS the comics are the important part of all this, and the Black Widow comic (um… she has a solo comic title, right? I don’t actually know) isn’t high-profile like Thor or Spider-Man, therefore Black Widow is not a character who would work for an action blockbuster.
I can’t actually get too mad about this - they’re so far gone it’s almost funny instead, to me. For God’s sake, they learned the lesson about “women have money and pay for entertainment” back in the 50s, when romance comics outsold superheroes, and deliberately forgot it. Forgot it so thoroughly that in the mid-2000s I remember reading comics blogs commenting on their obvious flailing as they tried to figure out how to get all these teenage girls who were buying Fruits Basket to buy superhero comics as well, or instead. They couldn’t diversify and also write things girls might read; how they hell would they find people to write that? Some kind of mysterious woman-creature who could understand the minds of girls? No, they had to find some way to turn Spider-man into a shoujo manga. I gather the result was actually readable, but the rationale behind it was ridiculous. Also? Written by men!
Yeah, this is why I consume all my superhero content through media other than comics anymore. Because fuck comic books.
Bolding is mine, because this explains a lot. Clearly I do not understand Joe Quesada, nor am I relevant to him, because I am a mere movie fan who has never read the comics.
UGH! Right? I keep hearing that Black Widow is a C-lister character but so is Thor. How many people knew there was a comic book character named Thor before the movie came out? How about Iron-Man? Was that a character that meant a lot to anyone before RDJ made him cool?
(not really)
These weren’t super popular characters. They were not Superman or even Wolverine.
Black Widow does not have her own book; it’s a short list of Marvel characters who have continuous solo runs. She had a limited (fantastic) solo run, and she has appeared occasionally in Daredevil (LOVE) and the Avengers book, like most second tier Marvel characters. And by second tier, I mean basically everyone who isn’t Spiderman.
Black Widow movie now pls. O.O
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22 5 / 2012
Writing: Why I Write "Strong Female Characters" (via @io9)
Greg Rucka has rocked the worlds of comics and novels for years, including memorable Batman writing, plus the Queen and Country series and the Atticus Kodiak books…
~ ~ ~ ~
It’s a lengthy read, but filled with honest (and refreshing) insight.
Greg Rucka has written a lot of great books, but I remember him best for writing a fantastic Wonder Woman book, which is a rare thing. This article makes me like him even more.
Additional reading: Greg Rucka on women in Hollywood
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22 5 / 2012
SHE HAS NO HEAD! – DEAR MARVEL: PLEASE STOP RUINING EVERYTHING
“In a chat afterwards, Joe [Quesada, Chief Creative Officer at Marvel Entertainment] told me that he’d love to make a tentpole [sic] movie with a female lead, but that he really doesn’t think there is an actress right now who could carry it, or a character that would work either.”
Are you fucking kidding me?!?
Read the whole article, it is a much more thorough and coherent rant about this quote than I could come up with right now. Since I am pretty much just sitting here, spluttering with rage.
Joe Quesada is not the brightest bulb in the box. I stopped reading Marvel comics after he insisted Mary Jane and Peter’s marriage never happened for no reason.
I really hoped Hunger Games would make people remember that women can carry action movies. See also: Alien, Kill Bill, et al. Yet for some reason all Joe Quesada can ever remember is Electra.
(Which was not Jennifer Garner’s fault, btw, she would have been fine if the script hadn’t been terrible)
It’s true a lot of Marvel’s best female superheroes are problematic for Marvel production. There are some good X-Men to turn to, but Fox still owns them and always will. She-Hulk is my favorite, but you’d probably have to introduce her in a Hulk movie first.
But Black Widow seems obvious and easy to sell. Joe Quesada just isn’t very creative.
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22 5 / 2012
Alrighty so, looks like my zombie apocalypse team is shaping up well…
1. Adele. If she can set fire to the rain, we’re doing good. XD
2. Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5) Yeah, like I said, I think I’m safe.
3. Thor. Uh huh, ain’t no bitches gettin’ to me. XDDDDDD
How’s it looking? Good. Very good indeed. lmfao XD!!!!!!!
1. Alice Cooper
2. Kahrin Cousland
3. Captain America
Hmm… this could either go REALLY well, or REALLY poorly.
1. Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. Or all of Smashing Pumpkins. let’s go with that.
2. My Imperial dual wielding assassin from Skyrim! yaaaay
3. …uhhh, I watched Heavenly Creatures yesterday afternoon. :T
- Elton John (I was listening to Road to El Dorado songs)
- I guess that would be my Sajja Shepard, badass engineer?
- I thought the answer to this would be Captain America, and then I realized I watched The Rundown when my roommate put it in while cleaning, so I guess the character that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson played.
Hmmm…
ok normally I don’t reblog these but I got gaga, anja shepard, and tony stark
NOT BAD
1. Gotye… er, we might be in a little trouble
2. Keir, my mage Dragonborn… okay we’re looking a little better
3. Lightning McQueen… huh. Well at least they won’t catch us. :P
(Source: iwouldliketobutteryourmuffin)
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