Event Report: "The Phantom Menace" 3D Premiere

Small event but worth noting anyway.

Kibiri and I hit up the Episode One 3D premiere at the Pacific Place AMC theater here in Seattle. Peregrinus was with us, but the outfit he was been sewing was just barely not finished in time (seriously, if he had had a couple more hours it would have been done >_<). So guess that just means he'll have to premiere it at ECCC.

Kibiri was there as THE Jodo Kast, and I just went in my force user's smuggler outfit (which will eventually just be a plain old smuggler but I didn't want to rush finishing the chest box or helmet). We had a lot of fun posing for pictures with other patrons and theater staff, plus talking with the other hardcore nerds who were there. Kibiri also had the crowning moment of actually having somebody see his costume and NOT say "Hey, Boba Fett" but instead go "Jodo Kast!?!" lol

Event Report: Ltd. Art Gallery Star Wars Exhibit Close and "Hughes the Force" Screening

Sadly, that's the only picture I have of the event. I was in such a rush to get all of my costume together and make it to the ferry on time that I completely spaced and forgot to grab my camera. So we had to make do with an Iphone. lol

Anyway, on Jan. 28 the Ltd. Art Gallery had the closing reception for it's Star Wars exhibit and had a screening of the fan film "Hughes the Force." This was Terentatek Clan's first real troop as a group, which was kinda awesome.

For those who haven't seen the fan film, you need to. I'm normally pretty picky about my fan films, but I loved this one, especially with it's references to other movies. Despite some technical difficulties, I'm pretty sure the screening was a hit with everybody present. I sadly had to dekit and leave shortly after that so I didn't have any time to spend talking with the creators or the actors, but they seemed nice. (My excuse - my hip had been acting up really bad the night before, so much so that I was worried about making it. It managed to last most of the night but was killing me by the time the movie started.)

Yes, I know this is a really short and kind of sparse report, but there's usually less to talk about when it's small things (no matter how much I enjoy them) than when it's conventions.

It's New Year's Eve Revolutionizing Time!

Well. Not quite. It's well past New Year's Eve, but I do so love Red vs Blue and have been wanting to quote that for a while now. This seemed like a good chance.

I think my biggest goal this year (aside from my usual job hunting which has just sort of become background noise for me it's been going on for so long) is to drop about 40-50 lbs by the end of the year. Not really looking to tone right now (though that would come in time if I had the money to pursue all the activities I used to do), just drop the fat I've gained. Would really like to lose about half that by Celebration 6 so I can look awesome in a mystery costume (no, not the ISB. . .that's long since no longer my mystery costume). I know it can be done; whether or not I achieve it is something else entirely.

I sort of ended this year researching another costume I've wanted to do for a while. The Flame Handmaiden from Episode One. I was curious to see if I could get it done in time for the 3D premiere. The good news is, I could. The bad news is, I could if I had several hundred dollar to throw away in about a months time. :/ The cheapest option for fabric (that looks good, not the crushed stuff that I've seen some use as a cheap way to do it. . .sorry, but I don't think it looks good at all) is about $17 a yard. And I'd need enough to make that whole gown. Plus two different colors of dye since I have to do the yellow fade then the orange fade. That's not even touching the red sash and undershirt/hood. So, it's still on my list, but is definitely not something that is going to get done before the 3D premiere. (On the bright side, I found some shoes that I think will work at Goodwill already.)

Costume work has been very sporadic. I fully admit I've had a hard time getting motivated as of late; I've been far more motivated to clean and sort my stuff (which I did get accomplished, mostly). Plus SWTOR came out, so I've been trying out all the classes. Have to say, I'm really enjoying it so far. It's enough like WoW that it's easy for me to pick up, but enough not like WoW that I can enjoy it without going "man. . this is like WoW" all the time. There are definitely some glitches still, though I'm lucky that all I've encountered are some cinematic glitches. I also keep meaning to get on my alts on other servers and level them for the guilds there, but without fail each time I get ready to get on those servers are either full or heavy. (This internet is tricky enough that I don't trust it on "heavy" servers.)

So, that's pretty much it for the end of the year. I promise I'll try better to keep things updated as we go into the new year.

Event Report: Ltd. Art Gallery, Star Wars Exhibit Opening (12/8/2011)

The Ltd. Art Gallery over in Seattle has a Star Wars art show going until early 2012 (I can't recall the exact date they said so I don't want to misquote), and they sent a request to Garrison Titan to have people show up for it. I, having just spent D*Con wondering why there weren't many art galleries with pop/nerd art, jumped at the chance. And I am so glad I did. The owners are awesome, it was a really fun event (despite the couple of people that almost gave me "drunk late night D*Con" flashbacks lol), and there is so much there I wish I had the money to buy. Really, I think everybody needs to check them out and buy stuff. Because everybody needs more Star Wars art.

Myself, Kibiri Foxx, and Kraysh showed up in our mando gear, and three other 501st people showed up in their kits (I do know their names, but I don't know how they feel about even their forum names being posted in my blog. . .Kibiri and Kraysh can at least find me and swat me upside the head if they want me to remove their names lol).

We had a couple people taking pics, but here are some of the ones I like that Pere took (since he used my camera and I don't like reposting other people's pictures without being able to link back to them.  . .and I've honestly not got those links handy).

Event Report: Portland Comic Book Show 2011

On November 13th I went down to Portland, OR for the Portland Comic Book Show. First troop I'd done since D*Con, and I already had the excuse of going down to visit my brother. *chuckle* 'Sides I figured it'd be fun to go a convention with him since he's had to miss out on a lot due to his helicopter training (btw, he just got CFI certified recently :D ).

It was, in a word, great. I didn't stay kitted up for very long, but that was partially because I realized I couldn't even kneel down to dig through some of the Star Wars action figure boxes several of the vendors had out. XD Seron Clan of the Mandalorian Mercs officially inducted Andy Mangels as an honorary member of the Mandalorian Mercs. I'm glad to have met him, especially as "Twin Engines of Destruction" is probably the only comic that has stuck with me since I was a little kid. (I, um, do feel kind of bad admitting that it initially stuck with me because I saw the cover up on the wall of my local comic shop and it just stuck with me so much that I hunted for that comic cover until I finally found a copy in the back issues section of the same store many, many years later. . .2008 or 2009 actually.)

Pere managed to score a signed trading card of the character based of Andy Mangels thanks to his obsessive encyclopedia mind of Star Wars knowledge. lol Don't have a picture of that, but it was amusing to watch him and the others standing around wracking their brains trying to remember the character in order to get the card.

Anyway, I sadly didn't have my brother's steampunk jetpack done in time (the foam didn't set up at all at first. . it mostly collapsed and didn't get hard until days later so we've got to put some more in before we can finish it). We still had a lot of fun; I picked up a new pin for my SRS sash, a new pin for me in general, and found the K-Mart exclusive Jodo Kast figure for Pere. Afterwards we headed over to Voodoo Donuts since, while I've had donuts from there I'd never been, and I've been telling Pere we needed to take him since, well, pretty much since I moved to this coast. lol (Needless to say, he's now kind of hooked on them.)

So, now that the typey typey is over with, here are some of my favorite pics that Pere took:

Costume updates (with pictures ^_^)

I said I'd do it, so I am. lol

Sith (Armored, TOR era)

Found the inspiration for my soft goods on a picture secret over on LJSecret (like PostSecrets but on LiveJournal). So ignore the blotted out part, that's just from me marking out the secret.

Obviously it won't be as ruffly. (Which is kind of sad because I think that outfit is damn cute.) And I'm not sure just how close I'll be sticking to it, but it's a nice base to work from. I'll be adding a hood which I'm borrowing the style of from Darth Revan. (When I'm wearing the masked version I'll do like Revan's do and have the balaclava on; otherwise it'll just be the hood and probably some make-up and contacts.)

For the armor I'm currently modifying one of the Hasbro Grievous masks and some armor from one of the Narnia costumes. Don't ask me which one, I honestly don't know. I just found the shoulder armor at Goodwill for $1 each. Originally I thought I was going to have to fill in all the filigree deco on the shoulders, but after looking at it and grabbing a screwdriver to pry at things, I discovered the filigree was actually just some rubbery stuff they glued on. So off it came. Have a gem I'm putting in the big gap on the shoulder with the neck guard. I'll also be using the epoxy putty to sclupt some more deco on. The Grievous mask is getting shortened (so it actually fits), having the mouth and ear areas redone (to a degree), and possibly having some changes to the eyes (beyond just a new visor).

I'm still unsure about the rest of the armor, but I'm pretty confident it will work itself out in time.

Kora - Winter Kit

I admit I have no new work done on this. lol Just wanted to say that I'm changing the helmet I'm using to my old red helmet. It needs some serious re-working, but I think it'll do.

Tiika Ruslin - Early Crusader Beast Master Mando

Pulled all my soft goods that I still had out of storage from the first version of this outfit. I'm considering redoing the cape in complete leather rather than leather mixed with faux suede fabric (I don't like the underside of the fabric showing and revealing that it's fabric). Got a new belt that I'm going to attempt to dye darker and see how it goes but not holding my breath. Lucked out and found the horns that I needed (same as the last helmet) at Party City for about $8 so I went ahead and got them so I don't have to worry about factoring shipping. Also think I've decided to build a spear first, rather than the standard axe, so I'm using the staff base from the old kit as the spear haft. Need to figure out something for the spearhead itself.

Misc Steampunk

Using one of my old clock gear pins to make my mom a gear pin for Christmas. Probably just going to add a gem to it and call it done since I haven't got much to get fancy with. (The danger of adding feathers it that our cats will then view it as a fun play toy that they must have. lol) The smaller "top" gears on the larger plastic one are actually some sort of locking nut I believe (I have honestly completely blanked on the actual name but you can find them at Ace and other hardware stores).

And the project I'd like to get done before November 12th: a steampunk jet pack for my brother. He's doing a steampunk aviator, but we're so low on funds that getting him a decent jacket has been a serious hunt. We've come very close on a couple at Goodwill, but the size was usually off. And I definitely couldn't afford the $50 for a vintage WWII aviator jacket at Closet Transfer (which is a shame because that would have been damn awesome). Since I wanted him to have something steampunky in his closet though, I decided I was going to whip up a jet pack his pilot could wear when he doesn't have the jacket on. (Admittedly he probably needs more period shoes/shirt/pants, but that can be cheated for a quick throw together convention costume. At least he has the right hat though sadly we're still missing goggles.)

There are some of the things getting used to, hopefully, whip this project up. Two smaller Sprite bottles, one larger two liter bottle, two faucet caps (don't ask why I had those in my prop box 'cause I honestly don't know), some plastic cap I cut off of something, a renuzit air freshener cone (we're using two but one is in the garage), and the grills I cut off of the Grievous mask. Other doodads will probably be added once I have a chance to go through Pere's greebly boxes. We're making the strapping out of some scrap leather, though I'm still not sure if I have any buckles that will work. Going to reinforce the bottles with some expanding foam, too, so we won't have to worry (as much) about them getting crushed.

So, yes. That's a large chunk of what I'm currently working on. Fingers crossed there will be more pics of at least some of it soon. Tonight or tomorrow I'm taking pics for my costume entry to the Rebelscum costume contest (yes, I know I'm kind of pushing it waiting this long), and tomorrow after we help Pere's dad and stepmom move we're taking the Femprotector into Winslow to see what the Downtown Trick or Treat is like and the Harbor Square Halloween Party.

Well so much for keeping to one post a week lol

Yeah. Sometimes I fail like that. I've been both busy and fighting a horrible bought of depression though, so it's been a struggle to get motivated to do anything. Also, I kept putting off another post until I actually had pictures. Which I do have some of. But because I've got other stuff I need to go do today, this is pretty much just going to be a brief text update, and I'll do a more detailed post with pictures either late tonight or tomorrow.

I should also mention, for those who somehow missed me going on about it on my Facebook, we got a new kitten. He is adorabibble. ^_^ XD We named him Bowie. (Partially after Jim Bowie and partially after David Bowie which is sort of meta given that David Bowie took the last name Bowie from Jim Bowie.)

Got some shoulder armor for my Sith from Goodwill (hell yeah, $1 each ^_^). Found a picture inspiration for the soft goods (though mine will deviate, it's just a nice starting point). My packages from home arrived so I have my lightsabers out here now, too.

Going to wash the old purple paint off my lekku and re-stuff them. Then I want to start figuring out the headband if nothing else. Have my eye on some paints that I want, but, like all the fabric and misc goods for the Jedi, I can't buy until I have the money to spare.

Pere found a Darth Vader Hasbro helmet at Goodwill. He's fixing up the face portion to be accurate and using the helmet part for his custom Sith. I've snagged the chest box to use for my smuggler. May also use the gloves I found for the smuggler rather than the Sith like I've been saying.

Misc. props I've got to work on:
    - Whips for the Beast Master Early Crusader mando. Cut apart my cat o' nine tails and am moving some of those strands into some perfect hilts I found at Goodwill back in TN. Should be a pretty quick prop to make, just need to clear an area where I can use the dremel without getting plastic dust all over everything.
    - Fallout Raider bandoleer. Snagged my brother's NERF ammo belt from home (not the one with the orange holders for darts, the hard case one that came with the Vulcan for feeding the darts in). Going to get rid of the NERF markings and use it for my Fallout costume.
    - Steampunk Jetpack. Doing this up for my brother's steampunk pilot outfit. Still need to find what I'm going to use for the strapping system, which was something I forgot to look for at Goodwill last night. D'oh.
    - Steampunk gear pin. Just something small I'm making for my mom. Already had a gear pin made, but I took the original decoration off after Pere's mom's cat found it and assumed it was a toy for her lol. So I'm doing something different and wrapping it up as a Christmas present.


So, I've got a bit of stuff to work on. And I'm off for now, here's to another blog update soon.