Surprise Convention! Boston Comic Con 2014

 Yeah, I know--I was surprised too! Well here you go the third and final post for today. Basically I didn't think I was going to be going to this convention at all because I was going to be getting back from Britain at the end of the week but while in London, my moirail (best friend) messaged me with an idea. She said she could get my ticket early and I could go with her Sunday. My mother (bless her) agreed that I could go so on Sunday we appeared in Boston as Gamzee Makara (me) and Roxy Lalonde (Ana-tama) from Homestuck. The reason we chose these costumes was because they were simple pair (instead of for example, Levi from SnK and Roxy from Homestuck). Now, I personally don't have a lot of floor pictures or Homestcuk meetup and photoshoot pictures so those will appear soon on The Underwater Hemisphere photo creds Ana-tama. My job however was to get pictures of the Costume Contest hosted by Ivy Doomkitty herself so I present them to you now.

And this Warhammer group won best in show. They were incredible but it was really hard to get good pictures of them because they couldn't get onto the stage in their costumes.

This costume was my personal favorite though. "This is Ghostbustas--whadaya want?"

Well, that's it for today. Progress coming soon. MadDog out!

RANDOM UPDATE ON TUESDAY BECAUSE ANA-TAMA UPLOADED THIS VID:

The Making of Harry Potter

And here is the surprise destination! While i was in London for two(ish) short days, I made a trip to The Making of Harry Potter. Now, I am a huge fan of the books and movies because I've simply grown up with them. When I was little I had them read to me as a bedtime story, as i got older i could read them on my own, and I eagerly awaited the opening night of each film. They made me laugh and cry and when that seventh book came out, I was jumping up and down screaming, "YES YES YES!!!" at the poor man who had to deliver mail to my house that day. When the eighth movie finally premiered I was traumatized for months because it was over. And then when Pottermore was released I was one of those idiots up until all hours of the night trying to get an account for the beta testing. No regrets.

I had the opportunity two years ago to go to Orlando, Florida with my marching band to march down Main Street and while we were there we also got to go to Universal and do all the Harry Potter stuff there. It was super fun walking around with my friends and going on all of the rides but that's just it--it's all rides. The Making of Harry Potter was completely different. For any creative person (whether you be interested in costumes, theater, set design, special effects, creature design, etc.) who loves Harry Potter, this place is heaven. You get to walk through the actual sets and see the the costumes up close and personal. The effects are explained with huge moving displays and you can walk through their creature shop. It's incredible. Words cannot explain it and pictures even just don't do it justice. You walk in and so many things are just crammed into every possible corner. The walls are pasted with concept art and props hang from the ceiling while costumes are set up in the still standing sets. It's simply fantastic. I have a few photos (taken by me, my brother, and my mother) which were very hard to narrow down but here they are. It's a brief taste of what the studio is itself but it's all i have to offer.

Where Have You Been?!

Well readers of this odd blog, as you may have noticed I have not actually blogged in quite some time. I now bring you a series of posts however (three in total) to show my apologies and excuses. I know it's THE SUMMER OF COSPLAY! and all so I am sorry a big chunk of it was taken away. For the first half(ish) of my disappearance, I was working endlessly on a summer theater program I was helping out with, which resulted in no free time. I pulled a lot of costumes out of thin air for that show but this is probably not interesting so I will now move on to what I have been doing for the last two weeks. I have been traveling in Great Britain. Hence the Stonehenge at the beginning of the post. Every year i go camping with my family and this year that was where we ended up. I know it's not cosplay related BUT I thought you might like to see some of the top "dorky" things I got to experience because of this trip.

Number Three: The Giant Straw Dalek of Doctor Who

I am not even a part of this fandom (I know--I'm sorry--I prolly will be soon though if that makes you feel any better) but when driving down (the wrong side of) the road minding your own business and suddenly there is a GIANT DALEK?! you pull over to see what the deal is. Basically the people of Snugburys Icecream create a new giant straw sculpture and place it in this field off the highway every year. This being The Year of the Doctor, it was the ideal choice.if you find yourself in the area i suggest you pop in for some darn good ice cream and a surprising sculpture. (This is a picture of my brother with the Dalek because he's a Whovian.)

Number Two: Highclere Castle aka Downton Abbey

My family (my mother in particular) is huge fan of of the popular drama Downton Abbey so Highclere was a resounding "yes!" Highclere is a book-in-advance estate with the exception of a number of tickets the staff will sell to the first lucky walk-ins the day of. We got there early and enjoyed a walk through the rooms and gardens. Although there was not much information available on the castle and the actual family who owns it, in rooms that the show itself was filmed in, there would be photos and descriptions that left us and other fans happily reminiscing.

Number One: Doune Castle an (FREE) Audio Tour Narrated by Terry Jones

Other than the destination that shall be talking about in my next post, this was my favorite "nerdy" spot. If you haven't figured it out yet, Doune Castle is the castle at which many of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail scenes were filmed. It was so much fun wandering around the halls stepping where the Pythons had stepped and shout out to those people from New Hampshire but who were currently living in New York (I think that was what they said) who got the whole castle full of people running around on horseback and clapping like they had coconuts. To make things even better though (just in case they aren't there when you visit) you can pick up an audio tour narrated by Terry Jones himself, one of the members of the Pythons. It made the whole visit to be quite frank. It was informative and hilarious and if you opted for all the extra information, you would find yourself listening to parts of the Holy Grail standing where the specific scene was filmed. Listening to The Knights of the Round Table standing in Camelot (i.e. the great hall--it's only a model) was incredible and listening to the dialogue between the swamp king and one of the worlds worst sentries in the prince's room made me laugh out loud and left me with a wonderful feeling almost like I was visiting old friends. It was amazing. If you are fans of Monty Python it is not to be missed.

So that's it for my recommendations (except for the surprise destination in the next post). I did a ton more nerdy stuff (even show up at a castle to find that it had been turned into an amusement park and went into a small BBC's Merlin exhibit) but those were basically my top choices. If you wanted to see cosplay progress in this post, I apologize once more but in this set of posts I will be making today, there will be no cosplay progress. I've worked a lot but nothing's really ready for it's own post yet. Hopefully however I will have a progress post soon. If you would like to here more about something specific feel free to email or leave a comment with any questions. Although not cosplay, I think I may have other experiences recounted here in the future for nerdy enjoyment. I hope that you enjoyed this long and off the cosplay path post

Daenerys Started!

Well, as you already know, I've started work on my Dany armor. Although she appears to have a sort of leather breastplate, I will be attempting to create it from craft foam and hoping it looks how I want it to. I'm doing this because for my Hajime Ichinose cosplay I will be using craft foam and worbla, and I want to have at least a little bit of knowledge of how to use craft foam before I start attempting her complex outfit. So, all last week I struggled trying to learn the ins and outs of craft foam and now this week things are going by smoothly (mostly because the addition of Phyllis). Here is what I have so far. I'm hoping that over the next few days I can finish the base and get a coat of Gesso on and if all goes well, maybe I'll be painting soon. Wish me luck! MadDog out!

THE SUMMER OF COSPLAY!

• FINISHING MY FRACKING ALOIS TRANCY COSPLAY ONCE AND FOR ALL!
• Completing either my C.C. or Homura Akemi (both of which I have already begun).
• Making my Senior Dress-Up Day costume (which I thought was going to be Zelda but now that I've taken on Hajime she may be off the table. I dunno--we'll see).

1. Figure out what my costume will be.
2. Skirt.
3. Undershirt.
4. Top.
5. Armor.
6. Wig.
7. Shoes.
8. Dragon?

• Starting both a 833 M17UN4 C4P70R (Bee Mituna Captor from Homestuck) and a Trickster Dirk Strider (also from Homestuck).
• Designing and making the shoes, legs, and bodice of my Hajime Ichinose. (Preferably the arms as well but saving the wig, head piece, and skirt for later.)

Just an Update

All last week I struggled with craft foam trying to make armor for Daenerys. My struggle however, proved futile as I didn't have a dress form and it's really hard to see what shapes will actually look like on me without a form simply because I am not a master pattern-maker. Through a series of events I learned that my grandmother had a dress form and no need of it so I picked it up yesterday and now have one. Yay! I'm hoping my armor-making will go by much faster now that I have a form. (Her name is Phyllis. Expect an armor post soonish if all goes well.) And since I feel I must have some actual progress in this seemingly unimportant post... I found some old knee-high socks in my dresser that have these big holes in the bottom. Pretty useless right? WRONG! I stuck my feet though the holes and now have the allusion of thigh-high socks for my Alois. One more thing off my list! MadDog out!

P.S. Anime Boston's 2015 theme is "Kaiju vs. Mecha"--I'M SO EXCITED!!!

THE SUMMER OF COSPLAY!

• FINISHING MY FRACKING ALOIS TRANCY COSPLAY ONCE AND FOR ALL! This involves:

1. Finish the pain in the butt Jacket.
2. Complete the vest.
3. Make some booty shorts.
4. Acquire black, thigh-high socks.
5. Buy a wig.

• Completing either my C.C. or Homura Akemi (both of which I have already begun).
• Making my Senior Dress-Up Day costume (which I thought was going to be Zelda but now that I've taken on Hajime she may be off the table. I dunno--we'll see).
• Starting both a 833 M17UN4 C4P70R (Bee Mituna Captor from Homestuck) and a Trickster Dirk Strider (also from Homestuck).
• Designing and making the shoes, legs, and bodice of my Hajime Ichinose. (Preferably the arms as well but saving the wig, head piece, and skirt for later.)