Fanime 2011 Cosplay Report (Days 587 - 603)

I survived Fanime Con 2011! (Read my full review here.) My lack of updates is due primarily to trying to finish costumes in a panic. Unfortunately, I didn't finish everything on time, but it's didn't greatly impact the weekend.

(Photo by Steven)
Koffing was finished on Day 0 of Fanime, most of the waiting was because my mom said she'd make part of it and then said that I didn't remind her in time, or something to that effect, so she finished it the day-of. Made it in time though. I ended up not getting a hammer for Koffing and opted for a grenade instead, both because a grenade was surprisingly easier to find, and I didn't feel like explaining the hammer to everyone who didn't understand it. My Koffing cosplay is ridiculously comfortable. It's so comfortable that I don't even care that I was only recognized about 10 times the whole weekend while my boyfriend was swarmed by photographers, because I was so comfy and he had to wear a wig and hop/shuffle around all day as Magikarp.

Magikarp was about 99% finished, I only didn't make the side fins/ears, which is probably why more than half of the people that saw him thought that he was a red Gyrados. Whoops. I'll make them before the next time that he wears it, though who knows when that will be. Also, the tail got really dirty from, well, just being on the ground. Luckily, the fabric we used was intended for outdoor furniture, so I should be able to scrub out the dirt and red tanbark gunk that got on it.

Fun fact, my sewing machine broke Wednesday night when I was finishing Magikarp, and I blame that for not finishing the ears. Luckily, my boyfriend's mom let me borrow hers to finish what I could.

(Photo by Branden Kong) Pac-Man and Clyde were already finished, though I need to re-iron the letters on the back of the Pac-Man shirt, probably because my boyfriend always carries the Con Backpack, so the letters got worn off more than the Clyde ones on my shirt. I meant to do that before the convention, but never got to it, unfortunately.

Franziska von Karma still needs some major work, I need to completely remake the cravat (necktie thing), including the gem on it because it just doesn't work, and I always have to hot-glue it together while I'm wearing it or it just doesn't stay up right. I'd still like to get a color-accurate riding crop, but it's money that I just don't have right now. Speaking of the riding crop, a Fanime staffer (actually two of them) who didn't know what they were doing decided to zip-tie my riding crop to my belt loop, even though the forums (and other staff) say that they don't do that. I got it taken care of thanks to my buddy FoxBerry and her boyfriend. Also, my shoes for Franziska are just getting old. I'm considering taking them to the shoe repair shop in my local mall, but it's probably cheaper to get a new pair. And I sat in chocolate in my white Franziska pants. I washed them, but I haven't looked at them since, so I don't even know if it all came out.

I didn't have a cosplay for the Black & White Ball this year, I just had a tradition Chinese dress, and I put on the Magikarp wig because my hair was bleh. I'm actually considering gettng my hair cut like the wig now though, I think it looked cute! I found out that the dress (which I bought at a second-hand shop) is actually home-made, based on a lot of the stitching, and did come apart in one place, which is why it was in the second-hand shop. A dart that should go all the way to the bottom only goes to the waist. It's not horribly noticeable, but I would like to fix it before the next time I wear it (whenever that is).

Overall, Fanime was fun, I was only stopped for photos a ton as Clyde with Pac-Man, so it was a really relaxing weekend, and my only really uncomfortable costume was Franziska, which I only wore for a day.

READ MORE - Fanime 2011 Cosplay Report (Days 587 - 603)

Pac-Man reimagined with Kinect and Unity3D

Pac-Man reimagined with Kinect and Unity3D: "


YouTube user buptkangbo used the Unity3D game engine to develop a sort of 3D version of Pac-Man -- or, at least, a game roughly equivalent to what someone who has never seen Pac-Man would imagine if you had just described it to them. A yellow sphere walks around through a grassy field, collecting mushrooms and throwing them at ghost monsters. That's cool; the 'official' Pac-Man platformers took lots of liberties, too.



What makes this particular version unique is that it's controlled with Kinect, played dolphin-style -- by which we mean the player leans into the camera as if swimming underwater. See for yourself after the break. If the demo actually becomes available for download and you then decide to try it, we suggest having plenty of snack foods handy for the full Pac-Man experience.


Continue reading Pac-Man reimagined with Kinect and Unity3D
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READ MORE - Pac-Man reimagined with Kinect and Unity3D

Holiday Anime Faire (Days 401 - 403)

Note: Holiday Anime Faire was not 3 days, I just haven't updated in that long, and it wasn't good enough to get its own post.

So Holiday Anime Faire was on Saturday, December 4th. My boyfriend and I went as Pacman and Clyde. Response to our costumes was amazing, as always. We even had little girls, whom I didn't think even knew what Pacman was, telling us that they loved our costumes.

We entered the cosplay contest, in hopes of winning free Fanime tickets. We didn't, Fanime tickets weren't even offered as a prize. *sob* There were no "places" in the cosplay contest (1st place, 2nd place, etc.). Instead, there were just six winners, my boyfriend and I being one of them. Among us were Pedobear, The Gorillaz, and Sailor Moon.

Usually, after a con, I feel really inspired to work on my cosplay, but Holiday Anime Faire didn't make me feel that way. I have the mild urge to sew, nothing more. It's really disappointing.

READ MORE - Holiday Anime Faire (Days 401 - 403)

Days 398 - 400

Woo! So nothin'! Got a couple more orders for hats, and made the patterns for a few. But I'm too freaking lazy to actually make any. *sigh*

So Holiday Anime Faire is this Saturday! I shall be there in my Clyde cosplay with my boyfriend as Pacman. I'm looking forward to seeing some of my cosplay buddies again and entering the cosplay contest with some real competition. =D

READ MORE - Days 398 - 400

Day 232

I really would like to start coming up with actual titles for my posts again. I'm getting bored of these numbers.

Anyway, I have yet to work on things! I would have, but I had to go to my boyfriend's house to register for next term's classes (as my home internet is not secure), and I stayed there for dinner and general hanging out.

But since my boyfriend has to do major studying for the next couple of days, I can do some major cosplaying for the next couple of days! Hurrah! Although I really should write that paper for class.

I'll be putting on a performance with my class (Theater Improv) this Sunday, and I'm both excited and nervous about it. I just really, really hope that I don't get stuck with a bad partner for any of the games. I'm not horrible at improv, but I'm not the greatest either, and I know a few people that if I had to perform with them, I'd fail. I hate having to carry the whole performance on my back, especially when I have to set up the jokes and the person I'm working with doesn't pick up on them... Ugh. Rambling. ANYWAY!

Plan for tomorrow! Work on my paper. Paint more of the Pac-Man pants. Complete outside of Hideki jacket. At least start lining of Hideki jacket. Good thing I can work on the jacket while the pants are drying, or this would all take up a ridiculous amount of time...

(And for anyone who cares about my sickness mentioned in yesterday's post, it's much better already thanks to a home remedy, but the first in-office doctor's appointments that I could make aren't until June, so I have a phone appointment for Wednesday =])

READ MORE - Day 232

Day 226, 227, and 228

I'm probably going to post twice today, once for yesterday and the day before and half of today, and one for the rest of today, depending on how it plays out.

I did nothing yesterday, of course. Or the day before. Bleh. But today, I've already painted a little on my boyfriend's Pac-Man pants, and cut out mini ghosties for our Pinky's shirt.

We lost a member of our group yesterday, he has some pretty serious family things going on and will be leaving on the day we were supposed to cosplay together. Of course I'm upset, but I also just want everything to be alright for my friend, and I understand him leaving. In any case, it took a load off of my shoulders, now with only two weeks left to complete two costumes instead of three. And since our skit was rejected anyway, I'm not so dead-set on having a complete group. Also, now I don't have to worry so much about group members possibly not getting along and/or awkwardness at the con. I'm still anticipating one other member dropping out, if not two, which would leave just me and my boyfriend. But the two of us haven't cosplayed alone together at a big con on a major day in about two years, so I wouldn't mind that so much either.

I think we're financially set for Fanime at least, and that puts my mind at ease a lot too. I'd like to go deposit the rest of the money into my checking account so we'll be really ready. Also, the plan for today includes buying fabric for my boyfriend's Hideki (Chobits) jacket and sewing that. I'd love to just get that done and out of the way. Honestly, I think he'd be fine without it, but he really wants to have it. I think it goes back to when we cosplayed Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang together at Fanime 08, my boyfriend didn't have the jacket, and we heard people calling him "a random soldier." I didn't think it bothered my boyfriend, but it must have to some degree, because getting this Hideki jacket seems so important.

READ MORE - Day 226, 227, and 228

Cosplay Group Progress & Drama (Days 221 - 224)

Now I remember why I don't have many close friends; I'm not willing to put up with drama. At all. Maybe I'm just lazy when it comes to it, but when people start causing problems for me, I just cut them out of my life. But now I'm stuck with it. Nothing major, just "high-school" drama.. Out of high school xP BLEH!

Anyway, fabric, hot glue sticks, and a shirt were bought for Blinky, but nothing was done on it because I got sick, and am too lazy to do much since I've been feeling better.

READ MORE - Cosplay Group Progress & Drama (Days 221 - 224)

Cosplay Group & PROGRESS! (Days 219 & 220)

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of our progress, but they'd be pretty ugly anyway, since things are still in the "Skeleton" stage. Soo, four out of five of us got together today. We finished the cardboard parts of two ghosts, Pinky and Inky, and painted another leg of my boyfriend's (Pac-Man) pants. A trip to the fabric store produced another bottle of white Puff paint (because we ran out, surprisingly) and more white iron-on letters, because of course I didn't have enough for Inky, Pinky, and Blinky. How dare they give me only one K. Pfft.

Anyway~! I'm very, very pleased with all of the progress. Next time (whenever that may be) we will cover Pinky, cut out some mini ghosties for shirts, and maybe take another trip to the fabric store and/or mall. =]

A few of us are a little concerned, though. I'll use code names here. I first invited Friend A to the group, and she's cosplay buddies with Friend B, so of course I invited her too. Then, in need of one more, I invited Friend C. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until today that Friend B and Friend C have possibly severely conflicting personalities. Friend C and my boyfriend agree. I haven't discussed this with Friends B or C, but I think I may warn friend C, because I honestly don't think he'll be the problem, I just think that Friend B won't like him. Le sigh. Also, even though I invited Friend b into the group first, I get along better with Friend C, and he's much more reliable, and he's already started on his costume, while Friend B has not, unless she's working on her own, which I doubt. =/

Buuuut, all of my worrying could be nothing and they could get along great xP I already butt heads with Friend B though >_>

READ MORE - Cosplay Group & PROGRESS! (Days 219 & 220)

Hmm... (Day 217)

I've learned to become amused when seemingly perfect plans fall to pieces. Originally, my whole Pac-Man group was supposed to come over today. Then one girl dropped out, one guy dropped out, and then the last girl dropped out, leaving me and my boyfriend to work on my boyfriend's stuff by ourselves.

We did however make considerable progress on his Pac-Man pants. I mean, I messed them up (a lot) but I don't think anyone will be able to tell >_> I messed up on the back, at the bottom, so it shouldn't be too bad. The goal is to get them done in eight days. Seriously, this time. Painting pants should NOT take as long as mine did.

READ MORE - Hmm... (Day 217)

Drifloon, I choose you! (Day 210)

I made a Drifloon hat today for a friend. She's paying me $15 for it, and I'm going to use that to fund several other hats. It took me about 3 hours to finish the hat, including the time it took me to make patterns. It would have taken me less time if my sewing machine didn't jam and I hadn't forgotten how to sew on part. It's not perfect, but it is quite adorable.

However, it's too small. I mean, it kinda fits me, but after about 5 minutes, it starts giving me a headache. Sooo I'll be making another one. I know exactly how and where to make it bigger, so I'll just spend another 3 hours, hopefully less, and sell the smaller one at Kin-Yoobi, marked as "Small" of course.

The same friend has agreed to join my Pac-Man ghostie army as Pinky! Yay~! And, as long as I walk her through it, she'll be making her own costume! Double-yay! I am NOOOT painting any more pants than mine and my boyfriend's (only 'cause I agreed to do his before I knew how much work they were).

With Fanime a little over a month away, I'm getting nervous. I still have a tiny bit to do on Amaterasu to make her more comfortable to wear, I have to finish mine and my boyfriend's pants, I still need contacts for Chi (which looks like it's not happening at this point), I wanted to add more to Chi's dress to make it match Hideki's jacket, I have to make Hideki's jacket, AND (yeah, there's more) I've gotten a friend to agree to teach me to make plushies, and I'd like to have a plushie for Chi (the bunny thing from A City with No People).

Whaa! I'm swamped.

READ MORE - Drifloon, I choose you! (Day 210)

Days 182 - 189

I have pretty much done nothing. I'm really ashamed =[ I kinda painted on my Clyde pants again, but it's getting more and more frustrating. I need to just do it and get it over with. But I went to WonderCon, and that was amazingly awesome. Review can be found on my other blog, here.

READ MORE - Days 182 - 189

Ran Out of Paint! (Day 174 & 175)

In the last two days, I've been working on my Clyde pants. I'll probably be working on them for, oh, forever. I finished one leg (or thought I did) and then got two-thirds of the way finished with the other before running out of blue fabric paint. I bought more paint, and then I decided that I was not done with the first leg, but I decided to fully finish the second first.

My right hand hurts a ridiculous amount from holding and squeezing the tubes of paint. And I've gotten blue paint on my new ironing board cover. That might come off though, since my ironing board cover looks like it has some protective coating on it. I don't know. The cover is supposed to reflect heat, so you can use half the heat you normally do. I haven't really ironed for a while though, not without steam, and my iron has to be on high for the steam to work.

Anyway, painting the pants is a ridiculous amount of work. It takes about an hour just to do one side of one pant leg, not including steaming to puff up the paint, which can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to a half-hour. Also, it's hard to get all of the game grids on the pants to look the same. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's impossible. Some of them look really good, but some of them.. Oy, the shame. They look terrible. However, if somebody's inspecting my pants that closely, we'll have an entirely different set of issues.

So my boyfriend and I are almost certain that we're entering the costume contest at Fanime as Pacman and Clyde. Well, I'm entirely sure we are. He just hasn't accepted it yet. I think we're just going to do a walk-on, possibly with our own music, depending on rules and allowances. There's not really much we can do in those costumes. The heads are bulky and weak in some points, and we'll have limited visibility.

Anyway, that's about it. I took a progress picture today (well my mom took it) of me actually in the costume thus far. But the camera died, so I can't upload anything until it's charged again. Maybe later tonight or some time tomorrow. =]

READ MORE - Ran Out of Paint! (Day 174 & 175)

Pant Painting (Day173)

I started painting my Clyde pants today. Both the Clyde and Pacman pants will just be the Pacman game grid with the dots (no characters or fruits).

Painting the pants is a lot harder than I thought though, very time-consuming and tedious. It made my thumb hurt to be holding and squeezing the tube of paint for that long. I only painted one side of one leg, and that's all I'll be able to do at a time because of the lack of workspace. I'm working on my ironing board so that I can pin the pants down so they lay flat and don't move.

The design starts at the bottom of the pant leg, just above the hem, and repeats three times, so a little below the pocket. On the back, I hope to repeat the pattern four times, to go over the back pockets, and I may actually continue on the front too, depending on how they look when worn.

READ MORE - Pant Painting (Day173)

Pac-Man's Head is Finished! (Day 172)

Yay! I finished Pac-man's head. Except the extra piece on the inside that helps it balance correctly on the shoulders. My boyfriend also bought the pants he needed so that I can paint them. He bought them from a thrift store, so I'm going to wash them, along with the pants I've decided to use, before painting them.

Painting could take as little as one day, or as long as a week. I'm leaning more toward a week. The paint needs four hours to dry before I can put steam on it to puff up the white. with my workspace, I'm thinking I'll be lucky if I can do one pant leg at a time, and I refuse to move them until they dry. Plus, I have to do the front and back of both pairs of pants.

If I get off my butt and clean out the sewing room, I could conceivably have enough room to do one side of each pair of pants at once, wait for them to dry, puff the paint, then flip them over and repeat. Ah well. We all know that won't happen ^-^

READ MORE - Pac-Man's Head is Finished! (Day 172)

Finished Pac-Man Shirt! (Day 171)

I finished my Pac-man shirt! Yay! I sewed on the rest of the fruits and finished ironing on the letters, because they kept peeling.

I also gave up on painting over the box for Pac-man's head. The marker just kept bleeding through. So I set to fabric over it and looked to see what showed through, then removed the fabric and glued printer paper over the marker lines. It worked rather well. =]

Tomorrow, I hope to cover more of the Pac-man head with fleece, if not finish it altogether. I'd really like to get the black jeans I"m wanting so that I can paint them. For some reason, I'm really looking forward to that. I think I just really like the puffy paint. =]

READ MORE - Finished Pac-Man Shirt! (Day 171)

Pretzels Are Not a Fruit! (Day 167)

SO I put a second coat of paint on the side of Pac-man that needs it. It's going to need at least one more, maybe two. Then I started sewing the fruits onto the Pac-man shirt. I hate that pretzel! It was quite possibly the most complex thing I've ever sewn. And it's not even a fruit! Rawr.

I finished sewing on the pretzel and the cherries, and sewed most of the orange (still have to sew the orange leave though). I also got around to cleaning up the sewing room a bit. Only to have my mom trash it seconds later. Ugh. Ah well.

I also tested out the puffy paint that I bought for the white dots that will be on the jeans (you have to wait for it to dry, then activate it with steam). Omg, I love it. They're all puffy and 3D and squishy =D. I also figured out how to use the steam on my iron! Yay! It's not hard, I just never needed it before.

No pictures today, sorry D= Didn't really finish anything, so I didn't feel the need for pictures.

READ MORE - Pretzels Are Not a Fruit! (Day 167)

Waka Waka Waka Waka (Day 165)

After a trip to JoAnn's today, I finally got around to putting Pac-man into his final(ish) stages, or at least catching him up to Clyde. (Some of the pictures are funky colors or odd angles. Sorry D=)

Initially, I was shopping for iron-on letters, because to write both "CLYDE" and "PACMAN" I need two C's. However, I did not want to pay $9.99 for an entire package of letters, just to use one C. While looking at the letters in the store though, I realized that a C is just an O with a chunk cut out. I wish I had thought of that sooner. I still ended up walking out with a roll of fleece (requested by my mom), a bra extender (because I can't find the one my mom bought me, I think she stole it), two tubes of fabric paint (one blue, one white), and of course candy.

When I got home, I had my boyfriend try on the Pac-man shirt so that I could place the fruits, after which I began ironing on the letters to the back. For some reason, they did not want to stay on though. I ended up messing up a couple of them, but overall, it's not too bad..

While waiting for the letters to cool, I finished putting cardboard pieces together for the head and began covering it with fleece. I ran into a little snag though. Turns out yellow fleece is see-through. Who knew? The cardboard on the side I was covering was predominantly white, but had a navy blue oval and lettering on it. Luckily, I was able to cover both seamlessly with a sheet of printer paper cut to fit and hot glued in. Unfortunately, I'm not so lucky with the other side. In the process of making the head, I turned the cardboard into a grid with a black pen, and then drew where I wanted to cut with colored Crayola markers, both of which show through the fabric. Thanks to my mom's suggestion, though, I will be painting over it with white paint. It'll take a few layers though, because the marker bleeds through.

After messing with the lettering some more, I decided I was just making things worse and gave up. It's not like they're going to fall off, I just wish that the corners wouldn't peel so much. I tested out the fabric paint I bough on a piece of scrap fabric, and I rather like how it turned out. The white puffs up with steam, but I have to wait until it dries to test it. My boyfriend and I thought it would would look cool and give it a more intense 3D effect. I like the colors I ended up with too, I was worried that covering an entire pair of pants with an intricate design might be too distracting, but I think the colors are just dark enough to give a subtle effect, without blending into the black.

READ MORE - Waka Waka Waka Waka (Day 165)

Fruit Arangement (Day 160)

I finished making the fruit for Pac-Man's shirt today. I may attach them tonight, but I probably won't until at least tomorrow. I really wanted to put the name on the back of the shirt before putting the fruit on the front, but thinking about it now, I could do it in either order.

It took me a little while to figure out how to organize the fruits on the shirt, since there's seven of them, and I'm a big fan of symmetry, but I think I figured out what works. The image of the left is the felt and fleece fruit I made on the black shirt my boyfriend bought. I personally think it looks like a snapshot of them from the game, but maybe I'm just taking too much pride in my work. ;D The pear looks a little dark in the picture though.

READ MORE - Fruit Arangement (Day 160)

Fruit Galore! (Day 155)

I made almost all of the fruit for Pac-Man's shirt today =] They're really cute! My cousin says I should sell them, haha. But in their current state, they're completely useless and not marketable at all. If I could make a little wristband or something, maybe, but they're really time-consuming. I spent about two hours making five of them. And that's not including the little white pieces I had already cut out.

Anyway, I still have to make a banana and an orange and then I'll be able to sew them on the shirt. I still have to buy more iron-on letters to put on the back of Pac-Man's shirt. See, I didn't really think about it, but to write both PACMAN and CLYDE, I need two C's. Oops. I wish I could buy just one letter, but I can't.. Ah well. Maybe my boyfriend will pay for it >_> It is his shirt after all.

I can't finish the Pac-Man headpiece until my boyfriend comes over so I can fit him into it, and he's been sick a lot lately =[

Tomorrow, I'm going to the mall with a friend, and while I'm there, I plan to visit Hot Toys again to talk to whoever it was I talked to last time (I know his name, but don't want to post it, and I don't know his title). I'm wondering how much I could help out with Hot Toys, because it sounds like something really fun to get involved with. But that's for another time, I suppose.

READ MORE - Fruit Galore! (Day 155)

Clyde's Almost Finished (Day 154)

I finished all I could on Clyde today. I can't do anything else until I buy pants and fabric paint. So I worked on Pac-Man too! I made him 3D basically. Which involves cutting out strips of cardboard and a lot of hot glue. I managed to get glue directly from the gun onto my hand. Not quite as painful as I thought it'd be, but still, ouch.

I took the red ghost off of the shirt and put him in the right spot, then I sewed on the other two ghosts. I also had to re-iron the iron-on letters, but that was pretty easy.

Tomorrow, I plan to put the fabric on Pac-Man and cut out the fruits for Pac-Man's shirt.

READ MORE - Clyde's Almost Finished (Day 154)