Marvel Girl and Other Costumes

         It dawned on me after my nice harsh rant in my last post that I completely forgot to post anything on my Marvel Girl costume!  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to snag a new camera (I will have one before DragonCon, hopefully before Metropolis *crosses fingers*) so that said the only couple of pictures I have are either off my phone, or that someone else took.  (To the Deadpool I was clowning around with, I want those photos!  They have to be hilarious!)  

         And yes, that’s a Paizo Goblin you see with me.  He is now an official part of every costume I wear, and assuming I have time, I’ll dress him up to match me.  Oh hush up I’m a girl, if I want to play dress up with my goblin I will.  

         Now I did say other costumes in this post.  I’m currently working on a Nightwing for Metropolis.  That said I’m afraid Zatanna will probably go on hiatus till next year.  Originally I was going to have her for a DC shoot at Anime Iowa but a friend pointed out FandomFest, and their line up is absolutely stellar!!  So I cancelled my room for Anime Iowa and grabbed one for FandomFest.  I wish they hadn’t have fallen on the same weekend, maybe next year I can do both.  For those of you who are curious I’m not doing the Dick Grayson Nightwing, I’m doing the Cheyenne Freemont version.  Here’s a shot of her costume and how far I am on drafting it.  I really like the look of it but I don’t know how many people will recognize me.  Okay, they will probably recognize me as Nightwing, dunno how many will be able to say its Cheyenne.  

         

         Ok so I said I’m making Cheyenne.  I have an Ash from Army of Darkness in progress for a local Renaissance Faire in progress, plus I have every intention to have Hawkeye done this year for DragonCon.  I am so terrified of using latex, I’m not gonna lie that’s half the reason I haven’t finished her, but I just think it will be so awesome.  :/    I’m also trying to pull together a Rarity for a friends birthday party where she wants everyone as a pony.... yea go ahead and judge me.  That said Rarity is kinda bottom of the list.  I have a costume for G2 Comics I am currently working on.  I can’t really divulge details other then you will probably see it later this year :)   And to top it all off, I’m also working on a wedding dress for a friend.  That I have some time to get done since its a winter wedding, but I think we all know how I am about wanting everything done so I can get going on other projects.  

         

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Updates

Wow my last update was in January, that's really sad because so much has happened since then I really don't know where to begin!  I've been to three conventions, two of them massive ones, I've broken up with a couple guys, picked up my absolute dream job, and met so many fantastic people!
Lets see, good news first shall we?  The job.  It happened totally by accident, I mean they write stories and this is how it happens, the real world isn't this way.  I was a my local comic convention (in Revy) and Eric, who is one of the main writers for G2 Comics, just stopped me and said he had a new series they were going to be launching and he wanted me to be her.  Yea.  Simple as that.  I didn't try out for a part or do anything, I was just at a con being a fan and somehow, magically, landed the job of my dreams.  Of course that lead into me being able to create *another* costume, and then being taken to Wizard World Chicago with them.  I'll have to write a separate post for WWCC because it was an experience in itself and I had so much fun!  Eric, Daniel, I cannot wait to do it again, you both were so much fun!  Best part of it is, they liked me enough that they are taking me to Wizard World Mid-Ohio with them (so if you're gonna be there swing by the G2 Comics booth and say hello!)  And of course since I'm the character, take a look.  G2 Comics, I'm Kross from the upcoming series Kross and Vengeance.  And yes, that's me.  The pics were taken by and edited by Daniel Gracey who is, obviously, insanely talented!  (A few more are on my Flickr if you'd like to see more.)

 But speaking of conventions, I said I've attended three this year and you already know about two.  So drumroll ladies and gentlemen, I finally made it to Dragon*Con.  Oh yea, that's right.  And let me tell you, if you ever get the opportunity to go, do it.  It was an experience I will never forget.  Again it will have to have its own post because the time I was there was just so cram packed I know if I start on it I'll just get sidetracked.  But brief recap, I debuted a new costume, finally found a good Spidy for my Black Cat, met some new friends who I already miss terribly (an yes we're already plotting for next year!) saw so many amazing costumes.  The who thing was just overwhelming but so much fun.  And since I have pictures from that Spidy/Black Cat shoot, I'll share.  All of these were taken by my and Austins (Spiderman) other roommate for the Dragon weekend Brian, who some of you probably know as Brizy from Brizy Comics.  You can check out his coverage of the weekend (and catch a couple glimpses of myself *coughDragonCon10cough*) on his YouTube channel.  And as always more pics are available on my Flickr.

But life hasn't been all good.  I broke up with the guy who I'd been friends with since high school and dated for a year back Feb/March which forced me to move out of the Apt I'd been renting.  Part of me is happier here with my parents again though I'm ready to have some space of my own.  I was missing the animals horribly, and the fact that I could hear people up and moving I could never get used to.  To much of a country girl I suppose.  After that their was a short fling with another guy but alas I'm way to much a free spirit (and apparently 'not clingy enough') and as always that didn't work out.  Seems to be a trend with me.  Ah well, a long time ago I decided I'd probably end up a crazy cat lady.  Their have been a couple guys I've talked to over the summer, but only one of which do I feel any real possible spark with.  Of course I'm about 75% sure he's not digging me quite the same way.  Which again is cool, crazy cat lady ftw!
Well, for the moment I do believe I'm going to sign off, hopefully with being done moving and only one Con left on the horizon my schedule will free up a bit and I can get back in the swing of updating this thing.  But one last parting gift, a couple more pics (sorry the debut costume from Dragon  has yet to show up in pics so I'll leave her for you to guess on!)  Here's a couple more of my Black Cat, first two are with Chris as the Green Arrow at WWCC.  And before you say anything we're well aware I'm Marvel he's DC, we were still asked to pose together, and the others are from the debut of the costume.  Major thanks to my friend at Jon Hensen Photography for the pics!  So here's till next time!

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More costume chatter!

Well let's see where to begin?  The closest con and work my way toward the end of the year you say?  That can be arranged.  As I said in a previous post I have plans to be Soma and Pip is going to be Lau for the Victorian Ball at KawaKon.  Unfortunately both costumes are rather slow moving at the moment.  Partially because my sewing machine is still hiding at my mothers (should be delivered to me tomorrow unless we get more snow) but of course I need fabric before I can bother with the sewing of it.  And when I went to the fabric store I didn't find anything that really suited what I was thinking.  Everything I found that was the right shade had to much of a nap or to much obvious of a weave so I left basically empty handed.  I'm supposed to meet my mom tomorrow and we're going to go see what we can find, she has a bit more impartial (and a lot more experienced) view of things so hopefully they either have new stock in or at least she can find something. 
Now as for Soma's wig, I'm at an impasse.  I wanted purple.  His hair is obviously purple.  But the shade of purple for the wig I want seems very... fake.  Well I mean of course it does its purple, but it doesn't have a natural hue to it.  That still probably isn't making good sense.  If you look at my Kusanagi (now mind you she was a lot more expensive then what Soma's wig will be) she was hand dyed to purple.  She has depth.  I'm somewhat afraid Soma won't have that depth.  Of course I can always add in some lowlights to it right?  Yea lets keep telling myself that.
As for Lau, little progress has been made.  I haven't dyed the frogs I bought yet, partially because I don't want to dye them to dark and the red I buy for the trim not match.  And other then his shoes and wig, which I have managed to find online, that's about all that's been done.  Of course his costume has far less detail on it, so I'm a lot less worried about his.  Here's the wig we're thinking about getting.  I know it had those reddish highlights in it, but I read about this technique, and I think I can dye it a bit darker.  And restyling it to be smoother should be easy.

But I figure I'll wear Revy or V or some other costume again because my list for D*C had exploded and I need to save my pennies and nickles for that.
Let's see here's the list as it stands now.  Belle-Defenders of the Enchanted Kingdom Shoot, Belle- 50's pin up shoot, Belle- swimsuit shoot.  Hawkeye- Marvel group shoot, possibly for Avengers shoot, depends we're trying to not do duplicates and I think I already saw someone signed up, but it could be the male Hawkeye I didn't look that close.  Sailor V for a V/Neptune shoot, other scouts are welcome please e-mail me if your interested!  We're also doing a Princess version of the scouts and need others for that as well!  Madame Mirage, just because I want to.  And a version of Harley for a special shoot with another SCF'er.... of course a lot of these are with her but details, details.  This art is by Northern Banshee and you can find it here on deviantart.  Of course since Harley is DC I'll probably wear this to the group DC shoot as well. 

But I think that's all... all I can think of anyway.  I may have gotten myself in over my head...we'll see.  Pip doesn't have quite as much on his plate, which is good because if I had to make a zillion for him I think I'd cry.  He's been drafted as Shang for the 50's and swimsuit shoot that my Belle is in.  He would be in the Defenders shoot, but its kinda a girls only since no males were included in the original art.  And even though the picture above only shows Harley and Ivy we're adding some more villains, and I believe he's set for Hush.  He gets to steampunk a bunch of stuff so at least I won't be the only one working.  But I should back up and give you a bit of detail about each of these costumes, ne?
Belle I think I have talked about before, but the swimsuit and 50's shoot are newer ideas.  The swimsuit kinda came from the one who is heading up the shoot finding a green swimsuit that she thought Tiana would wear, and since we're slated for the shoot happening at a pool it kinda made since to do a but of an AU shoot.  The 50's thing happened much the same way, kinda us pondering what else we could do with the characters and we're both fans of the pin up look.  I have what I'm planning on wearing to all those shoots either found or a pattern found for it.  Pip and I are still in debate as for what Shang will wear.  I said a gray pair of swimtrunks and a jacket a la this picture.

We'll see what ends up happening.  I have a mild direction for him for the 50's shoot but we'll see if he'll go for it.
Hawkeye I think I've talked to death in previous posts so I'll skip her and move on to the V/Neptune thing.  At the moment its just us, and obviously we have a lot of spaces to fill.  But if no one shows up, or if we have the time we were planning some 'what if' pics.  As some of you probably saw on my flickr, the first time I wore V we ran with the idea that she and Tuxedo Mask had a thing going on before he and moon got together.  All inspired by this particular bit of art.

So V, being the goddess of love... or maybe just a slut is doing the same with Neptune behind Uranus's back.  Of course the problem is how to make it look like that.  If we had a Uranus cosplayer then I can come up with a few shots.  I was thinking maybe have one of our phones show an incoming call from 'Uranus' or have some item of hers there.  Thing with that is nothing comes to mind for Uranus, save her sword, and as good as I am at coming up with 'what if's' I can't seem to make up a reason why either of us would have her sword.  And this is Codename Sailor V we're talking about, not the usual V, so its going to be weird anyway.  And if that's not enough Sailor goodness for you, we're doing the princess versions too.  Now as you fans know, Codename doesn't have a princess dress, so yours truly is designing one for her.  Some of you may remember my sketch for a tango dress for her that never quite managed to be made, well I'm using that as a starting point but I haven't put pen to paper for sketches yet, I'll post them when I do.
Madame Mirage, is the only costume that has seen any real work.  Pip just so happened to have a small, and I mean small airsoft that he got in a two pack when he needed one for his Amun costume.  Funny thing is, that's the exact one the artist must have used for reference when they drew her gun.  So all we have to do is paint the lil bugger and add on some stenciling and we're done.  Fun part is, we can't agree on how to do the stenciling.  I say just paint it on. 

It may not have the depth it has in this picture, but I won't have to worry about damaging an applique when I toss it in a holster.  Now I do agree that something glued on to the barrel will look neat for pictures but I guess I just see something that could go wrong way to easily.   But we have got some work done on painting the gun itself.

It still needs whatever we decide to put on it as a design, and a good coat of poly but the bulk of the work is done.
And last and not least is the Harley.  I've always liked her, never was a big fan I usually strayed to Ivy, Catwoman, and Huntress, and Batwoman if it was the right comic.  But in the animated show I loved her, the mallets and bazooka's were awesome.  Anyway she hit me up the other night about needing a Harley for a photo and when she linked it I fell in love.  I love the almost old west feel of the picture, but we could so easily make it steampunk (which is the idea) that it will be an absolute riot to wear.  And I've already found someplace to buy my hat, mask, wig, and shoes for that outfit.  All I need is the fabric.  ^_^  But since I added Harley I think I'm going to have to put Ghost on the back burner for awhile.  I man we'll see how things go money wise.  If I have the cash to do it and do it right, you can damn well believe I'll be sporting it around.  But since she is one of my favorite characters I want to do it justice so I may have to hold off till next year to wear it.  But as always stay tuned, I'm sure to post if she's a go or not closer to the convention.  

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Finally some costume updates!

Life has been rather wild for quite sometime now, but things are finally smoothing out, and I have a whole plethora of things to prattle on and on about!
First and foremost, costume and convention updates.  We had originally planned on attending InvaderCon, but SADC is holding an event again this year at KawaKon and I felt more compelled to attend a con closer to home then drive all the way to Atlanta for a weekend, no matter how much I love Invader Zim.  That and it is my cosplay group, they do get some precedence.  So my regrets, apologies, and all that but unless I fall into a large sum of money the Victorian/Steampunk Gaz and Professor Membrane will be put on an indefinite hiatus.  But as we will be attending KawaKon again this year we have some new costumes floating around as possibilities.
Unlike last year we're planning on attending for only two of the three days.  From what we noticed last year the Sunday of the convention is mainly a pick up and go home day, so in all truth theirs no need for us to be there.  So you'll be able to find us there Friday and Saturday till sometime late when we decide to drive home.  Friday night is the SADC event, or at least it was last year, and as they always have the rave Sat night it stands to reason.  The theme for this year is "Ciel and Cain's Victorian Social Ball" based off Godchild and Black Butler.  Personally I'm unfamiliar with both but cest la vie I'll give it a shot.  I get to make whatever I want for DragonCon ne?  So in the spirit of the ball I've offered to be Prince Soma and Pip is slated for Lau.  With Lau their isn't much option costume wise, red or black trim is all the variance I've seen when I've googled it, however with Soma I'm going to have a couple options.  The two pictures I've found of Soma are first, followed by Lau. 

The costume on its own is a challenge, an interesting challenge to me.  First and foremost, look at my Revy costume. 

Notice anything?  How about how pale I am?  Now scroll back up and look at Soma.  Personally I have no interest in a tanning bed, I don't tan even with routine use.  I've tried sunless tanners in the past, and I have disliked them.  They smell, they smear on my clothes and all around look bad.  Not only that I don't want to be that brown for my regular life (it would look beyond fake if I did) so that leaves me in an interesting place.  How to make myself that brown for the night, but be able to go back to work Monday and be my usual self.  I may have a solution.  When I was working on my Poison Ivy costume I wanted to paint myself green, or just make my skin have a greenish hue.  When I was looking for ways to do this I ran across a Starfire someone had done and the girl had the perfect orange glow to be Starfire, and she was even nice enough to explain how she did it.  Using Mehron's body paint she mixed it with lotion and slathered it all over.  Now I tried this with the green and it didn't do bad but it wasn't as flawless as I'd liked.  But Mehron sells that stuff in about every color imaginable.  So I'm tempted to buy another bottle or two (I'm eying the Light Egyptian, Amber Tan, or Rich Topaz) and see how well that would work.  It depends on which costume I decide to make.  If its the dark one then that and some good bronzer would pretty much do me cause all that's showing is my face and hands.  But if I do the white then it will have to work because so much more of me is showing.  Of course as much as I like the white I'm not sure how to do it.  I mean crossplaying in and of itself poses new challenges, but to have an open top?  Oy.  That will take some researching and trial and error I'm sure.  But for whatever reason I think I'm more drawn to the white.  *shrug* we'll see. 
As for whatever else I'll wear to KawaKon, I'm still very much up in the air.  I may not make anything else, I may wear Revy or V or something again.  I've toyed around with the idea of Sango from InuYasha, but only if Pip agrees to be Miroku.  Re-L from Ergo Proxy maybe a winner, the costume isn't to wild but she doesn't have may 'action' type shots so that takes the fun out of the photoshoot.  I've pondered on Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop, but not sure I want latex shorts.  Then I went to Batwoman and Black Cat.  But I know I lack the chest to do Black Cat justice and as much as I like Batwoman I'm just not feeling it for that con.  So anyone's ideas or opinions are welcome. 
As for as DragonCon goes, I already have one costume lined up for that as well.  We have a group doing the 'Defenders of Enchanted Realms' artwork.  I'm Belle.  Here's a link to the first and second picture that was done for her, its not my art so I don't want to repost.  And I have a more definate set of costume prospects for that. 

Ghost.  

Yea its been eating away at me to make it.  So she's very much on the top of the list.  Other then that Madame Mirage or Masquerade are sitting pretty high on the list.  I'll keep you posted though, its still quite awhile away. 
Now on to other non costume related things.  I've got my own place, finally.  Well I say my own, Pip and I have our own place.  We're still trying to get everything set up the way we want but its getting there.  Theirs a lot of stuff we're going to need though.  So costumes, travel, hotels, are going to probably going to take a bit of a hit.  On the upside if I'm only making a few a year I'll have more time to fuss with them and make them perfect.  Or so I'm trying to convince myself.

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I live!

Seems like my last post started this way, but apologies for the lack of updating, hopefully I can get myself back into the habit.  Life has been … hectic to put it mildly.

First and foremost I feel like I need to apologize for something else, unfortunately life got in the way and it became unfeasible for me to attend Dragon*Con.  I feel rather bad, guilty to be exact.  I had told a lot of people that I would be there and I feel like I flaked out.  But I was having a severe eczema problem so I would have been probably as un-photogenic as I’ve ever been, my costume that was to debut was not as far along as it needed to be.  Part of that was due to the medication I was taking to try and help my skin which made me very tired, part of that was due to the hours I was working.  Another thing that didn’t aid in our trip was the vehicle we were going to be taking was having a/c problems and I dunno about you, but I had no desire to drive 10+ hours in September weather with no a/c.  Especially to Georgia.  We could have possibly rented something but I know I didn’t really have the spare cash to do that so in the end we opted to stay home and let me get some more R&R in and just enjoy the time off together.  Again I feel terrible I was unable to make it and feel kinda like a failure but theirs nothing that I know to do but apologize and hope that next year we’ll not have any hiccups and we’ll be able to attend without my skin throwing a fit and with a vehicle that won’t double as an oven.  So that said, lets move on to less depressing things.

I suppose I should talk about OMGCon as that’s the last thing I attended.  It was fun, overall.  We weren’t planning on any meet ups or photoshoots with other people which was sorta a bummer but also gave us the time to do some other shoots of our own.  The first would be the more unusual Seras I wore.  Pip opted (at the last minute, at the hotel) to not wear his Pip costume.  (*laughs* that sounds so awkward) so I grabbed his hat and scarf, and went as “Captain Seras” kinda a hybrid idea.  I mean she did eat him and then bring him back later… seems logical that she’d take on a few of his quirks.  Here’s where the photo’s begin.  I still have probably 20 or 30 to edit but hopefully I’ll have them done before the end of the year.

The second day I debuted Revy.  Now I was very self conscious in this costume.  Not because it’s revealing (though I did wish I had heels to make my legs look a little nicer) it was my skin.  I’ve been able to photoshop most the redness out, but I felt it was very noticeable.  And such I had to really concentrate and rely on Pip for pointers for tweaks to my pose.   I still have a LOT of Revy pictures to work on, and as she doesn’t have nearly as many pictures as my Seras I’ll probably work on hers first.  You can take a look at this page if you’re interested in the ones I’ve managed to get uploaded. 

But I did say life has been hectic, here’s a quick rundown.  Two of my close friends got married about a month after OMGCon.  Since Pip was a member of the wedding party I became the photographer, it was a fun role reversal, and an exercise on how hard it is to get a ninja on camera.  I did manage to get some really neat shots, and that’s part of why I don’t have my OMGCon pictures up, I had to get those done and uploaded first.  If you’re interested click on the link to my flickr.  I think it’s the most recent set I’ve created. 

Outside of that, I’ve been working… a lot.  Lots of drama there (as usual).  But drumroll please!  Pip and I are getting an apt!  *squee*  We have one that we looked at the other day that I really like, and another that’s not sending me but it did have a massive living room which did kinda make up for some of the other things I didn’t like.  So I’ll post which we get but cross your fingers for us that its our first pick!  The best part of this will mean I can work on my costumes anytime, currently our spare bedroom doubles as my dad’s room some nights (when Mum is up at 4 am for work you’d sleep in another room too) so I can’t sit up till the sun comes up working on this and that.  That and I’ll finally get to use my dishes, decorate my own place, and best of all get to annoy the holy shit out of Pip whenever I please.  ^_^

On a completely un-related note, I have been working rather hard on one of my fiction pieces.  Not fan fiction for once, one totally in my head.  Unfortunately I don’t have anything really up and available for people to read just yet, I’m still mapping out a lot of things and learning the world.  Yes I know I have to ‘learn’ the world that I made up.  Its not quite that simple.  I see it, I understand it, but even then I don’t always explain so that other people can.  Pip has been privy to a lot of the stuff I’ve read and that’s one thing he’s pointed out, is the world feels small and that he doesn’t understand what drives my main character.  When in fact the world is rather massive and her motives, while not just one thing, should be fairly clear.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get a sample up sometime soon, actually I think I’ll go see if I can find anything that’s been edited and post it.  …

Alright here we go, for those of you who have never had the opportunity to meet his character you can read a bit about here on my fictionpress page.  For those of you who’ve met Camina, well, enjoy.

“    It took hardly a conscious thought to extinguish the flickering candles in the tent.  The guards that had been stationed out front yet remained but were glamored, both would venomously deny seeing the black wraith enter their commanders quarters, and neither would hear the ensuing conversation.  The Paladin’s themselves were hard to glamor, their unyielding faith made fudging fact difficult but fortunately for me, the bulk of the armies they lead lacked that blind of a devotion.
    The tent was large, it was three tents really, interconnected.  High Doyen Daryun’s war room, study, and sleeping quarters.  Of course the leader of the Eshire division of Royal Paladin’s would not fall easily into my influence, but I did not go to harm charm him.  I wanted to meet my enemy, for once this one was competent.  Most tried to use their numbers or their faith as their primary weapon, and we’d developed strategies to deal with their feeble attacks however they came.  But Daryun was smart positioning all of his troops in a perfect formation.  For once my men had been forced to rely on their demonic nature to survive the fight, not waltz though it as we usually did.
    My eyes could see in the void I’d created.  Maps and parchments laid haphazardly across the main table, part of me wanted to pause and take in my enemies tactics, but I wanted the challenge of a fair fight.  To my left I could hear the High Doyens steady breathing.  He was still asleep.  I could kill him where he laid, but that would be no more honorable then killing an infant.
“High Doyen, please wake, we have some things I wish to discuss.” He started awake, grabbing a crossbow and aiming it at the entryway, at me.  He was dead on, if he released the arrow then it would hit me, strange how accurate it was as I knew full well he couldn’t see.
“Who’s there?”
“We have yet to have a proper introduction High Doyen.”  I let the candles light slowly begin to return to their former glow.  Not so much so his eyes could slowly adjust, but for mine.  “Please put the weapon down.”
“How did you get in here?”
“Well I walked by your guards of course... Don’t bother yelling, I’ve gone to some length to ensure our privacy.”
“What do you want?”
“Just a conversation, nothing more.”
“Who are you?”
“I suppose an introduction is in order as I do know of you but not vice versa.  My name is Camina Wistar, daughter of his highness Casimir Wistar, King of Pulsia.  I am his heir and his equal.  He has charged me with the leading of the campaign against the Paladins.”
“Their is no way that a woman, that your a ...”
“Not human?” I smiled.  “I get that a lot.  We come in all sizes and colors High Doyen.  My flesh is meant to mimic the most desirable traits in your kind.  Others are modeled after animals and plants still others seem to have no similarity to anything.”
“You cannot be the one I saw today.  You’re a woman.”
“For us gender does not play the role it does among your kind.  A lioness is at its most fierce when its protecting its cubs.”  He started seeming to take in the information.  “Please, get dressed, let us talk.”
“And why would I want to talk to you?”
“Wouldn't you like to pick the brain of your enemy?”
“Why are you doing this?  What are you up to devil?”
“My reasons are my own High Doyen, but if I didn’t come here to talk look at it this way, I could have killed you in your sleep.”  His eyes narrowed, hearing the challenge.  “I’ll be in the other room.”

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Lots to say

Been awhile since my last update, my apologies, life has been wild.  A combination of being laid off, working on costumes and a commission have taken their toll on my time to post anything.  So lets see if I can get you up to speed.
First, I'm sure you've seen my Motoko Kusanagi pictures, if not here's a link to the set on flickr.  I sent a few to the company I bought the jacket from (Abbyshot) and was featured in their blog.  You can see the article here.  I was floored, both from their compliments and the fact that's the first time any of my costumes have received anything like that. 
I just booked our rooms for InvaderCon next year.  Yes next year, I'm already working on costumes for next year, even when this year isn't finished.  I figure for one day of the con I'll wear a Gaz costume, the other day... well that's a suprise for now, I have plans but I'm still at the planning stage for the moment.  Looks like Pip is going to have a Gir costume for one day and we're still in debate for the other, I'd like to have a full cast of characters, so if anyone is interested shoot me an e-mail and we'll see what we can work out. 
I did attend the local con this year, and got to meet up with a fellow SCF person, actually we met last year but didn't know who each other were, of course I wasn't a member of the site then so its not surprising.  But I do have some pictures from that convention.  Not many of me though, most were of the costume contest.  I didn't have the new version of Ivy done in time so I wore the old classic Ivy costume.  I did find a place where I can get the tights so before Dragon*Con I'll have to grab a pair.  Fun part of the whole thing was after we left the convention Saturday we ran by Pip's so I could change then went out to eat, and ran into the Con Chair for KawaKon.  So we ended up talking with her and her table for quite awhile.  And looks like I'll be seeing her at OMGCon too.  ^_^ 
Speaking of OMGCon, I ended up cutting one of my costumes for it.  I'm just not going to have the time to get my 1st GIG Kusanagi done.  And done right.  Trust me I will have it done, but Revy got very expensive very quickly.  Thankfully Seras just needs some tweaks.  But Revy will be kickass.  I still need to cut her shorts and her top, but her holsters arrived today, real leather.  And yes they are gorgeous.  I will definitely be going to him for any other leather costume related stuff I need.  NyghtCraft Custom LeatherCraft, is the company in case anyone else is needing something made.  Be prepared for a nice price though, he's totally worth it because its the really nice saddle grade leather he uses, but it isn't cheap.  
As for the costumes I'm taking to Dragon*Con, they haven't seem much progress, I've been trying to save a bit of money for OMGCon.  But I did run to Lowes the other day and get a piece of PVC pipe and some paint for Hawkeye's staves.  You know the ones she totally ninja'ed from Mockingbird?  I was asking my dad about how to cut them to size, and wouldn't you know?  He has a special saw for PVC.  I love my Dad.  I just have to figure out how to seal the ends.  It can't be something that is like a cap, so I'm not entirely sure, I have a couple of ideas and PVC piping is only like a dollar or two for a 5 foot section so if I mess up I'm not concerned.  Its not like its gold. 
Now I do have a new costume that will be going to Dragon*Con, at my nagging Pip decided to do Evecutioner for us.  Yea this guy:

I pretty much went 'Honey, look at all the guns, and you get a mask!' and he was !!! OK!  I'm psyched.  First time we've costumed as a hero and villain from the same series.  We usually do the couple thing, Seras and Pip, Revy and Rock.  So this will be a fun change. 
Only other thing I can think of at the moment is how grossly overpowered my Paladin is in WoW.  I mean yes, she has 1 piece of Heirloom but still, she's sick.  Taking on 4 things 2 levels above her and raping them?  Yea I'm OP, and I love it.  Its a big change from how she was when I quit playing her, that was Pre-Litch King but still.  Its just night and day.
Ok at the beginning of this post I was talking about costumes for next year, here's what I have lined up.  No idea which costume I'll wear any of this two but ... Kasumi from Dead or Alive, Pip being Ryu Hayabusa (The Ninja Gaiden version).  Starfire, the animated Teen Titans version, I'm batting the idea of finishing my Nariko costume but I really want a Kai for that.  I know the boys are wanting to make Space Marine (Warhammer) armor, if they do then I'm going to try to find the most dainty, girly costume I can... I'm thinking Princess Aurora from Disney's Sleeping Beauty or maybe Kaylee's pink frilly dress from Firefly.  Not sure yet.  They have to do something other then talk about it before I'm going to dedicate the time to it. 
Someone on the forum was talking they had 30+ costumes they wanted to do, here's my 30+ list, mind you these are in no order then alphebitical.

 

Alice (Resident Evil: Extinction)

Arslan (The Heroic Legend of Arslan) Yes, a male character.

Ayame (Yotoden AKA Wrath of the Ninja)

Black Widow (Black Widow)

Char Aznable (Mobile Suit Gundam)

Columbia (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) This one only really works if I'm going to the movie, and if who I'm going with will dress up with me.

Ed (Fullmetal Alchemist)  I know its been done, but I want an Al that has the suit, so I doubt I'll ever do it.

Farah (The Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones)  Yes the game, not the movie, though I am curious about it.  I'd really like to have a Prince too.

Faye (Cowboy Bebop)

Haruka (FLCL)

Howl (Howl's Moving Castle)  This one is about 90% complete, I just need to finish the jacket and find a Sophie.

Igunis (Jingai Makyo)

Iria (Iria vs Zeriam)

Julia (Cowboy Bebop)

Kagura (InuYasha)

Kurama (YuYu Hakusho)

Lacus Clyne (Gundam SEED)

Leila (Vampire Hunter D)

Lina Inverse (Slayers)

Mireille (Noir)  The costume is acutally almost done, I just need a Kirika.

Queen Emeraldas (Queen Emeraldas)

Rally Vincent (Gunsmith Cats) Need a May for this costume too.  (Anyone noticing a trend?)

Re-L (Ergo Proxy)

Riho (Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective)  Need a Shido for this.

Siryn (Marvel) Very much a possibility as my big costume for D*C next year...

Talho (Eureka Seven)

Tifa (Advent Children)

Violet (Ultraviolet) Yes I have a bit of a crush on Mila Jolovich 

Yuffie (Final Fantasy or Advent Children, not sure)

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