I can't let you do, that, Dave

One of my biggest tasks for this summer was to build myself a gaming PC. Thankfully, I have friends who have substantially more experience in this area than I do, so I wouldn't be left with a motherboard in one hand and a CPU cooler in the other, flailing around like a nerdy seal, and probably making similar noises, too.

The endeavor started out as planned; my best friend and I made a trip to Micro Center and I spent vastly more money than I expected. (See how I think ahead? I expected to spend more money than I expected to spend. That makes it okay, folks.) I left the store with a big smile on my face and an armload of components in hand. Of course, just when I thought I had everything I needed, my friend thought of something else that it was absolutely imperative that I buy. Fans. Zip ties. Brand new top of the line $500+ graphics card. (I flatly said no to this one. It'll come later, but my GTX 260 will last me for a while.) More fans. 4 McGriddles for him for helping me. (I was not aware it was physically possible to consume 4 McGriddles without immediately suffering a debilitating brain aneurysm, heart attack, and a stroke at the same time. Horizons officially broadened.)

By the time I left, I had enough computer parts to choke an orca whale, had blown my entire paycheck, and had a smiling and greasy best friend still trying to convince me to now purchase a surround sound system.We got back to his house, and began assembling the beast. It took a substantially shorter amount of time than I imagined (perhaps largely due to his proficiency in the area), and before long things were starting to come together. But, of course, as “things” are often wont to do at their first chance of escape, difficulties soon set in. My friend had to leave for work, so I was now on my own. After somehow lugging the computer to my car, and then from my car to the basement of my house, I was ready to start. Before he left, my friend had assured me that all I needed to do was pop in my RAM, install my OS, and I would be good to go. I had naively nodded in acquiescence, when in fact I should have began shaking him violently until he did it himself, because I had forgotten one key fact: MICROSOFT HATES N00BS. Sure enough, upon attempting to install my operating system, I was alerted by a nice, shiny error message that my Product Key had expired. I was not aware that such a thing could even occur. Furthermore, I quickly discovered that one of my sticks of RAM was dead. Well, not COMPLETELY dead. Just mostly dead. But dead enough to necessitate more RAM.

Thankfully, once my RAM and new Windows 7 Product Key arrived, my computer began to behave. It is now functioning as an obedient member of my household, and I intend to put it through its paces today. Furthermore, now that it’s up and running, I can trade my old gaming PC to Inanity in exchange for cosplay wigs. Sounds like a fair trade to me!

I can't help feeling that, every time I have a PC related issue, I'm actually waging my own personal battle against Bill Gates. I have started to develop a bitter animosity towards the man, and for absolutely no justifiable reason. It doesn't help that he has to be all Goody-Two Shoes, "I'm helping kids in Tanzania find good drinking water. What have YOU done today?" all the time either. Well, guess what Bill Gates? Today I thought about planting a tree, and then Googled pictures of giraffes for 2-3 minutes. AND THAT'S AS HUMANITARIAN AS I GET.

Pokemon (and their effects on my sanity)

Everyone needs goals in life, I keep telling myself. So here I am, setting some goals for the summer that don't involve cosplay-for once.

Abomasnow Approves

My summer goal for the pokemon side of my mind is thus: to breed one of each pokemon in OU that I could use on a team (bar the legendaries like Azelf and Celebi. Screw that, I'm not restarting my game, Syncro-catching the dumb things, and then starting over because the nature or IVs are terrible. Patience may be a virtue, but I have little.)

Here's the list of OU pokemon I'll be breeding:

Aerodactyl - I just need to get it from Fire Red.
Blissey - I'm stuck on breeding these, actually.
Breloom
Bronzong
Dragonite
Dusknoir - I might be able to get one from Intrigue.
Electivire
Empoleon
Flygon
Forretress - Got one!
Gengar - Got one!
Gliscor
Gyarados - All finished except moveset. Thanks Intrigue, she rocks!
Heracross - Got stuck breeding these once, but I'll try again.
Hippowdon
Infernape - Got one!
Jolteon
Kingdra
Lucario - Stuck on this one too. Stupid Riolu won't evolve.
Machamp
Magnezone - Intrigue bred these a while ago, I wonder if he has any usable remnants.
Mamoswine - I'm sure I can steal one from Intrigue.
Metagross
Ninjask
Rotom
Salamence - Done, but moveset isn't.
Scizor
Skarmory
Smeargle
Snorlax
Starmie - Got two! One Modest, one Timid.
Swampert
Tentacruel
Togekiss
Tyranitar - Working on it. Working on making one of every Smogon set, actually.
Umbreon
Vaporeon
Weavile

38 total, 32 to go, not counting those Intrigue might have. Good luck to me. This is intimidating.

I figure, with a good pool of pokemon to draw from, I can make diverse teams to keep my team members a secret, even from close friends. I aspire to be like KillerNacho on youtube, who just whips together a team in nothing flat and beats everyone with it.

But I should go, since my stomach is sounding more and more like the neighbor's lawn mower. Did I mention their lawn mower is broken and bubbles out oil? Lovely thought, I know. So maybe I should feed it. Or yell at it. And maybe do those things to my stomach as well.

Salutations, Internet community!

I'm rather unversed in the proper method of correctly addressing large groups of anonymous people, so please bear that in mind as you read through my first clumsy effort at blogging. I recently read an old German proverb that stated something to the effect that "Beauty is the best introduction." So, I've clearly already failed in that department. Let's see if I can salvage what's left.

But I digress. (You caught me, I only said that so I could feel like Blathers from Animal Crossing. I may begin asking you to turn over your fossils and fish later on. Just a heads up.)

At first I thought it would be worthwhile to do some sort of self-introduction, but the more I think about it, the more I realize the best way for you doodz to get to know me is just through my future updates.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

So, I'll start things off right now by discussing E3, which is, as I'm sure some of you are aware, the single greatest week of the year. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, E3 stands for Electronic Entertainment Expo, and it's the largest video game tradeshow of the year. Essentially, it's a massive celebration of everything that I care about, with the climax (for me) being Nintendo's press conference. I'll discuss some of my personal highlights:

Announcement of the 3DS: Seriously, this thing has the potential to be even bigger than its predecessor, if such a thing even bears contemplating. Touch Screen? Check. 3D screen? Check. Graphics that rival the Wii? On a handheld? Check. Announcement of Zelda, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, Star Fox, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Resident Evil, and pretty much every game you could want for the thing? HOLY EFFING CHECK.

Announcement of the new Zelda: This is a shoe-in for almost all "Best of E3" lists, regardless of who you talk to." Before I saw Skyward Sword, I had two main wishes. 1) That it's art style would be more in the line of Wind Waker than Twilight Princess, and 2) It would change the venerable formula of "Dungeon-->Weapon-->Boss-->Overworld quest, wash, rinse, repeat." Miraculously, it seems like both my wishes came true.

Kirby's Epic Yarn: A Kirby game? Yes please. A Kirby game that appears entirely made out of yarn that somehow manages to make Kirby even more adorable than he already is? DAY 1, INTERNET, DAY 1.

There are dozens and dozens of other E3 factoids I could spend the better part of a week discussing, but I'll spare you, since there's more I wish to cover.

PLEASE LET ME SHOW YOU THEM

Inanities beat me to the punch with her Pokemon teams, but not to be outdone, I'd like to go through a team of my own.

When I started competitive Pokemon, I realized that my first goal would simply be raising a fairly well balanced, competitive team of my favorite critters, before I inevitably got sucked into crafting teams with strategy solely in mind. So, here it is:

Lead: Crobat. You know you're talking to some sort of freak when their favorite real life animal is a bat. Perhaps I say too much. Nonetheless, Crobat is a solid lead, and using its speed alongside moves like Brave Bird and Super Fang can leave a dent in even the bulkiest Pokemon it finds itself up against.

Physical Sweeper: Arcanine. Yeah, yeah, I know, Arcanine is vastly outclassed by many other Pokemon as a heavy hitter, but are any of them as awesome looking as Arcanine? Or as loyal? Yeah, I thought not.

Mixed Sweeper: Kingdra. Dang, but I love this thing. With its Swift Swim ability and carrying Rain Dance, get prepared to be hit hard and fast. Regardless of whether you're physically bulky or specially bulky, Kingdra's prepared.

Special Sweeper: Magnezone. One of the few electric types that actually appeals to me, Magnezone occupies a valuable position on my team. It has phenomenal typing that lend it resistances to 13 of the 17 types, and the use of Magnet Rise alleviates its ground type weakness.

Bulk: Umbreon. My single favorite Pokemon in existence, and a considerable threat, too. With my Cursebreon set, I find I am fairly capable of withstanding almost anything that gets thrown at me while taking my time and setting up the Curses I need to decimate the opposition.

Physical Tank: Dusknoir. Awww, yeah. Who doesn't want a big beefy ghost like this on their team? While quite a heavy hitter on his own, I find that the synergy between Dusknoir and Umbreon is not a force to be trifled with. If Umbreon is about to faint, I simply Baton Pass into Dusknoir, who is able to utilize Curse's benefits just as well as Umbreon. Dusknoir's Attack and Defense skyrocket, and the decrease in Speed is not a bother in the least. What's that? Dusknoir is going to attack second? THIS ISN'T NEWS.

Well, I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to those of you who stayed with me to the very end. That's right, all two of you. Now, if you'll excuse me, my poodle is making retching sounds, which means he may have found my Sour Patch Kids again. Until next time!

~Intrigue

Epic Pokemoning Discussion

Aside from all the cosplay I've been doing, I've also been making competitive pokemon teams.

Here are the tools I use:
www.smogon.com-A guide for all things competitive pokemoning. Has a list for all tiers, pokemon, strategies, suggested movesets, suggested natures and their pros/cons, and EV spreads for every strategy.
www.serebii.net-Like a pokedex on steroids. It lists what level pokemon learn every move, methods of evolution, location, egg and move tutor moves, egg groups, EV points given, and all base stats, including pokethlon.
http://pokemon.marriland.com/diamond_pearl/team_builder/-This helps to visualize your team's strengths and weaknesses by type, and can be extremely helpful when trying to choose between two moves for a moveset.
Sometimes I also go on gamefaqs and look for an EV training guide, because they often list EV hotspots.

My buddy and I create teams in a strange way: I do the breeding for correct nature, egg moves, good IVs, and occasionally correct gender. Then I trade all my babies over, and he EV trains them, gives them the agreed upon moveset, and usually gets them leveled up to about 30 or so. Then we split off and each finish leveling on our own, depending on who's using the pokemon. Somehow, each process takes about the same amount of time unless I hit a breeding rut.

I'm currently working on two competitive OU teams and 2 double-battle teams.
One double-battle team was created to combat our friends' Slaking + Victreebel w/Gastro Acid strategy, and the other is a really cool Hail Stall team that's still missing two members.
My OU teams are being made to crush my friend's team. He isn't competitive, really, but that doesn't mean I'm not a tad nervous about losing. I only got into the competitive stuff a few months ago, so I'm crossing my fingers.
I'm not nearly as thorough as Smogon, I'm just giving my opinion on how the listed pokemon work well together and explaining how I use them. For further information on any pokemon or any strange vocabulary I might use, please refer to Smogon first and foremost.

My Pokemon Bring All the Nerds to the Yard

OU Team 1:

Gallade-I've always enjoyed the typing this guy has, and he makes a great anti-lead with extensive coverage from moves like Night Slash, X-Scissor, Close Combat, Ice Punch, and Psycho Cut. For my anti-lead Gallade, however, I added Taunt and Destiny Bond to take out anything using entry hazards, and Shadow Sneak to help against Azelf who resists my STAB move, Close Combat. There isn't a lead in the game that Gallade can't counter with at least Destiny Bond if predicted correctly.

Gliscor-He's usually my dedicated Stealth Rock-er, and with Taunt and Roost, he's just a general annoyance to the opponent. He also has Earthquake for the solid punch it packs against most of the metagame. His typing means he can switch in on several opponents and get a Stealth Rock set up on the switch.

Breloom-I saw the Spore SubPunch moveset, and this entire team was created around it. Something all of my teams invariably have is a pokemon that's so annoying it frustrates the opponent. This is it for this team.

Magnezone-One of the only things I have trouble with is Steel types, and with a Scizor on about 47% of all competitive teams, why not have the best steel-killer in the metagame? Even Steel-types packing Earthquake fear Magnezone, because it can use Magnet Rise and Substitute to stop even Metagross from damaging it significantly. Steel types lacking Shed Shell have to take as many hits as you choose to deal out, and you can choose to switch out whenever you want. He works well with Gliscor, who dodges an EQ aimed at Magnezone and uses its own EQ in retaliation.

Gengar-He's immune to the popular EQ, and has a terrible HP stat, so the SubPain Split set can beat even a stalling Chansey. His access to Shadow Ball and Focus Blast while hiding behind a substitute makes him tough to counter. He blocks Rapid Spin and Explosion for the team. He's just mean all around.

Gyarados-Every team can use a heavy physical hitter, and I've had a Gyarados on nearly every team since my Red version. He has access to a wide range of physical moves, like Waterfall, Bounce, Stone Edge, Ice Fang, Crunch, and EQ, and stats to back them up. However, every Gyarados likes a boost in Attack and Speed. This can be passed to him by another pokemon, but I like to have each pokemon be able to do its thing alone, in case it is alone. So, this Gyarados has his two physical STAB moves, Waterfall and Bounce, and supports itself with Taunt and Dragon Dance.

OU Team 2:

Weavile-Fake Out. Bam, the opposing lead's Sash breaks. From here, I can taunt opponents who want to use entry hazards or set up on Weavile, and take them out with either Night Slash (mostly for Azelf leads) or use Counter after taking a hit from the likes of TTar or Hippowdon.

Togekiss-Remember what I said about using really annoying pokemon? Well, Togekiss with Serene Grace and Air Slash has a 60% chance of causing the opponent to flinch on every single turn. Add in Thunder Wave, Nasty Plot, and Roost, and the opponent may very well give up if they have nothing to counter with.

Lucario-A Swords Dance Lucario is nothing to scoff at, especially after everything's been paralyzed by Togekiss or poisoned by the later-listed Blissey. Close Combat and Ice Punch hit most opponents for massive damage, especially after a Swords Dance or two. Extremespeed rounds off this set with a strong priority move that hits everything bar Ghosts for dependable damage.

Gyarados-Usually I wouldn't have two physical sweepers on one team, but I have a bit of a fire weakness thus far, and opponents don't usually predict more than one physical sweeper on a team.

Blissey-This is actually my Stealth Rock-er for this team. I enjoy throwing off the opponent nearly as much as annoying them, and between Softboiled and Toxic, I can outstall most of the special-based metagame besides. Smogon suggests using Seismic Toss for steady 100 HP damage every turn, but it has to be tutored onto a Chansey in Emerald and traded over. Instead, I'll be using Ice Beam to scare off the dragons and TTar who are overused even in OU.

Salamence-I've always wanted a Mixmence to switch into in tight spots, and this baby is exactly what I need to solidify this team. He covers his Ice weaknesses with Brick Break, has a dependable recovery move in Roost, and can blast away the bulky ground types and fire types I'm fairly weak to with Hydro Pump. Almost no opponent will see that move coming, and even on Salamence, it packs a mighty punch. The last move he has is Draco Meteor, because when the going gets tough, the tough smash the life out of their opponents.

And Now for Something Completely Different

I'd like to talk about Forretress, who is often overlooked. He is possibly my favorite lead, with all three entry hazards available to him as well as Rapid Spin, Explosion, and Payback to counter the ever-present Azelf leads. He's super sturdy, surviving a hit from just about anything that isn't fire, and has a steel type to counter common Azelf counters like TTar and Weavile. Forretress easily lays down Stealth Rock or a layer of spikes on the switch, and can usually take a hit from whatever else switches out.
There is one setup I use so often that I've christened it the "Beatrice" because she was my first Forretress.
Moveset: Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, and Explosion.
Strategy: STEALTH ROCK-TSPIKES-TSPIKES-RAPID SPIN IF NEEDED-EXPLOSION. My teams tend to be slow stall-type teams, so having two layers of Toxic Spikes down is extremely helpful against pokemon who try to outstall me. With this opening setup, we both lose one pokemon, the difference between us being that he has Stealth Rock and 2 layers of Toxic Spikes on his side of the field, and I have an open field and I've only lost something I planned on losing from the start. It's my annoying defensive pokemon, because that's exactly how I play. Even if it doesn't work exactly, I'll still get some entry hazards on the field, and that was the point in the first place.

Spread the bulky bagworm love!

Now, I'm off to win a bet and work on my boots. Keep it real, internets. ...Or something like that.

Cosplay Lists and Progress~

This summer, I'm frantically working on Hetalia cosplays for Anime Iowa. I have three costumes for myself, and I'm helping with five more (three of them being for my buddy who still needs to get on this blog.)
I'm sure you're wondering how this helps anyone. Well, I'd like to point out that I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING MORE THAN CLOSET COSPLAY BEFORE. So if I can do it, then you can do it too.
I'll be constantly taking pictures and documenting progress with tutorials whenever I can, because there's nothing I love more than helping everyone else. I'll add links to anything I can to illustrate what I'm talking about. If anyone who owns the things I've linked to isn't okay with this, I will remove them upon request.

THE LIST OF LISTS

My cosplays for AI:
-Ancient Scandinavia
-Teutonic Knight Prussia (with armor)
-Terminator Maid Austria (based on a fanfiction, and also for the lols)

Cosplays I am helping with for AI:
-Ancient Magyar
-Ancient Gaul
-T-1000 America (to compliment Terminator Austria)
-Rome
-Mafimano (South Italy in a devilish suit)

EXPLANATIONS AND PROGRESS

Ancient Scandinavia: One of my friends cosplays Ancient Rome, and she put together an Ancients group for this year. Unfortunately, our Mongolia and Mama Egypt dropped out, but we still have Rome, Germania, Mama Greece, Scandinavia, Magyar, and Gaul. All applicable characters have been heavily drawn on personality-wise from GreenEyedLady's Outcast, which is an extremely well-written SuFin fanfiction. If you haven't read it and can stomach SuFin, you should check it out here: http://greeneyedlady.livejournal.com/104661.html#cutid1
I'm the group's Scandinavia, and the first problem I noticed after frantically calling dibs on this costume was this: I'm 5'5". Scandinavians are hella tall. So today, I have been designing platform high-heeled boots so I can be about 6'0" (putting me at two inches above our next tallest Ancient, four inches taller than our Denmark, and just three inches short of our Sweden.) I already know I'm gonna die, and I've come to terms with this fact.
I found patterns at my grandparents' house that can be modified for many of his costume pieces. One of my good friends did artwork here: http://xyrenoftwilight.deviantart.com/#/d2rmq5e. I have a pattern for his cloak, jerkin, and gauntlets now. I plan to cheat on his undershirt and just sew tan cotton sleeves to the insides of his jerkin sleeves and a second collar at the top to imply another shirt. I'm also cutting another corner and just wearing a pair of brown pants I already own. Our awesome Sweden is going to try to make me a 4 foot broadsword, and hopefully I'll have enough leather left to make a scabbard. The runes say "Skandinavia" on his scabbard, which I think is a nice touch. And the white fur is either fake fur or rabbit fur, depending on which is more affordable and easier to find. Lastly, our mega-friendly Denmark has promised to lend me his battleaxe if he isn't able to go to AI 2010.

Teutonic Knight Prussia: I'm using a fanmade "Armored Teuton" design that I saw in a youtube video, Viva Gilbert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4F0fptjnIc (at 0:38). The Prussia from the Gilblog happened to have the full picture, which I haven't found anywhere else, and he gave it to me. Then, let's just say that I know some people who know some people who know some leatherworkers from the local Ren Fest. After a quick jaunt to Tandy Leather Factory for some raw materials and Target for some tagboard, my epic Rome and I had patterns made for all of our armor and Rome went home with a completed breastplate (more on the breastplate later.) It's full "limb" armor (meaning I don't have a breastplate) and moves the same way metal armor does. I'll be painting the completed leather armor a silver color with a special leather paint (also at Tandy) to try for that metal sheen. The Ren Fest guards are actually using me as a guinea pig for this, because if they can get away with using lightweight, cooler leather armor rather than heavy fully metal armor, they will. Depending on my time constraints, I might go so far as stippling on black "corrosion" to make my armor look older. The only thing I'm worried about is if I'll have "armor" for my hands and feet. I suppose I can fudge some if I have to. Any suggestions, internet?
Then there's the rest of the costume. I have a pattern for the black jerkin and the long white cape, though I'm not sure what materials to make these out of. Then I'll topstitch a white cross onto the black jerkin, and a black "Iron Cross" onto the bottom right side of the cloak. That should be simple enough.
I can use the same belt and sword as the Scandinavia costume above, but without the scabbard.
I'm working on a coif and cheating a chain mail shirt with black, thin rings. I'll be sewing a ring of chain mail to the bottom of the jerkin and at the ends of the sleeves, because a full mail shirt would be terribly hot, tiring, and a crapload of work. I'll post pictures and a chain mail tutorial when my camera is working again.
Lastly, I have the Gilbird I used at Anime Detour 2010. The same awesome friend who drew Ancient Scandinavia up there said she'd sew my little Gilbird a Teutonic cape to match mine if I ever get him mailed to her.

Terminator Maid Austria: Okay, this one is the nerdiest thing I have ever done in my life, I swear. This happened because of my obsession with Terminator 2 combined with my obsession with Hetalia and my obsession with fanfiction. It also requires explanation (and maybe some defending of my sanity).
If you've seen Terminator 2 (and if you haven't, it's my favorite action movie and I fully recommend it, and everything I'm about to say won't make sense unless you've seen it) then you know that Schwarzenegger is the Terminator (T-800 model, for clarity). Well, Schwarzenegger is also Austrian. My mind very quickly linked the two, and fanfiction was born.
Logically, if Austria is the T-800, then teenage Prussia is the annoying pre-pubescent John Connor, and Hungary is the butt-kicking Sarah Connor (even if they aren't related.) And if Austria has to follow all of Prussia's orders, he'd end up in a maid dress, courtesy of the Bad Friends Trio. Think about it. So really, this cosplay makes perfect sense. I'll link to this fanfiction once I finish it.
This costume has also been drawn by that same amazing friend who did Scandinavia. It's here: http://xyrenoftwilight.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2rhsmg. As you can see, she's really awesome. The dress is based off of this: http://kyocs.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1bk4nf. I commissioned a friend who wants to start her own small, independent cosplay business because I knew this was above my skill level and she'd appreciate it as much as I would. I'm going to be wearing my black combat boots to stay with the style of Terminator (and to make it more obvious that I'm trying to be a man) and I might wear stockings or fishnets, I haven't decided. I'll be wearing black leather gloves as well, but I already own those. I'm going to spray paint a Nerf Scout (seen here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3552/3410787207_cb165d2b68_o.jpg to tuck into my dress-matching thigh holster. I'm also spray painting my Nerf Vulcan http://nerfguns.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nerf-vulcan-blaster.jpg to imitate the T-800's minigun. Depending on how much time I have, I might go crazy with painting on details. I also want to spray paint the lever-action Rapid Fire Rifle http://www.buzzbeetoys.com/USglobal/RSAirBlasters/46300.html and flip-cock it like in the movie. I won't use the clip, because it just sticks out unnecessarily.
Lastly, I'm going to attempt to rig up a glowing Terminator eye for my right eye, complete with exposed silver skull and trauma wounds, like this one: http://actionflickchick.com/superaction/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/term2_2667a.jpg. The makeup will probably be close to just my right eye and cheekbone, however.

Ancient Magyar: My blog-buddy is cosplaying the Uralic grandpa of Hungary, Finland, and Estonia. I'll have the colored lineart (done, once again, by the same awesome friend) up as soon as I've finished coloring it. She did a ton of research for this cosplay, so props and epic points to her.
I guess I'm kinda in charge of putting this together, since it was me who convinced him to do it in the first place. I got modifiable patterns for his overcoat, shirt, and boots today. He's wearing white women's jeans that somehow fit him perfectly for this costume, found at Savers.
He has a ton of weapons: Bow and arrows, short sword, and a spear. I might make him a leather armguard to imply that he keeps raptors for hunting (historically, he'd have a golden eagle). I haven't planned for these just yet.
Lastly, he's getting a long brown wig, because Magyar has a ponytail that hangs about to the middle of his back.

Ancient Gaul: She's also going as casual France to AI, so I figured, why not go as France's mama? This one is still in the making, more information in a later post.

T-1000 America: My blog buddy agreed to compliment my Terminator Austria cosplay with this. We're going the easy and accurate way and ordering him a police uniform. We'll have to dye the shirt black, probably, but I've been told by the girl making my maid dress that this isn't too difficult.
We're also just buying an LAPD badge for him, but we're spicing up the cosplay with silver arm-hooks, aviator sunglasses, and silver shotgun wounds like this cosplayer: http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/spotlights/2008/t1000_500.jpg.
Then he gets an America wig and actually smiles in pictures. Swish!

Rome: She was very very VERY unhappy with her last breastplate, so we made one out of leather. It still needs work, but it's already better than what she had. In her new breastplate, she can sit down, feed herself, and breathe (because she doesn't need to bind her DD cup boobs in it, and you can't tell she isn't flat-chested) all of which were extremely difficult or impossible in the last one. I'll put more information in a later post as we work on it.

Mafimano: My blog-buddy has one last cosplay-Mafia South Italy. This one's pretty easy, he needs a suit anyways, so he's getting one based on this picture: http://alexiel-viii.deviantart.com/art/MAFITALIA-117304009 (and yeah, I know that's North Italy.) He's getting a wig and I'm styling the ahoge, and he might be using my Terminator Austria Nerf pistol.
He'll be using my wrist-length black leather gloves, too. Depending on cost, he might even get a fedora, black with a red band.

I think that's it, internet readers! Any and all comments, suggestions, and criticism will be well-received and much-appreciated!

Welcome to the New Blog!

Just a quick welcome to our new blog, Otaku Asylum. It's aptly named because this is a safe place to discuss all sorts of otaku-type things.
We're just two nerdy kids; fic writers, cosplayers, pokemon masters, video game addicts, and college students. We started this blog to swap information with those of you who are also interested in these things. The two of us are new at everything, but we're quick learners. We know we can learn a lot from you guys, and we can only hope we have something to offer in return.
More information and introductions to come soon!