I Have Been Productive, Otherwise Known as "the Apocalypse"

Long time no see, intertubeland! I haven't updated for at least two weeks, have I? Whoops, my bad.
Well, I have much news for you follower-types. I have been working on my leatherwork like freaking crazy for the past two months, and I'm nearly done with both Teutonic Knight Prussia's suit of armor, and Ancient Rome's breastplate. I really just have three more bracers left to create, as far as I know: two for Ancient Scandinavia, one for Ancient Magyar. Rome's medallions are next on my list, followed by the two belts that rest on the bottom of the breastplate near the piece we affectionately call the "Crotch Protector."

I'll put a tutorial on basic leatherworking here once I can use the camera. Heck, I might make a whole new post just for talking about that breastplate. I remade the entire thing, and it is fantabulous, if I do say so myself.

Now that I know how to work with leather, I started asking around to see if anyone worked with plate metal. As it turns out, a friend or two of mine does work with plate, and is willing to teach me. Soon, I'll be making my own suits of steel armor just for the heck of it.
...That's pretty cool, I think.

I got purple contacts for Austria (and by extension, my planned Norway and Finland cosplays) and they look really cool! For those of you who are interested, I got a pair of quality colored contacts from this site, http://www.youknowit.com/ , for about $25. Their selection is fairly good, but for the random colors you just have to have but can't find, there's also this site: http://www.cosplaylab.com/proshop/cosmeticlens.asp . They sell every natural and slightly unnatural eye color under the sun, every pair for just $35. While the first site doesn't require a prescription, the second site does, even for lenses without a prescription. Beautify your eyes for the cost of a wig! Correctly-colored eyes really brings life to an already good cosplay.

Next up is the Terminator eye I'm slowly assembling. I still need to head to Axman (or is it Axeman? I don't remember) to pick up a switch and a battery case that can hold 2 AA batteries. That's right, after blowing up one LED with a 9v battery, I discovered that LEDs can run off of 2 AA batteries. My next step, after grabbing the switch and case, is to go out and find a skull mask and a ping pong ball.

I will try to put in a tutorial here after I have all the pieces and, once again, have the use of a camera.

Mafimano's cosplay is very nearly done, he just needs his hair curl (a la weft and sewing) and a cigar to wave around like a rich hitman. I also still need to spray paint his Nerf pistol (still, Inanity, still?) and attach a red feather to his black fedora. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do that. He's got his black suit with red shirt and thin black tie, his black leather gloves he's borrowing for me (I'm confused as to how they can fit him, since his hands are twice the size of mine, but hey, I won't ask questions if it works), and I taught him simple cosplay makeup.
Guys, do not be ashamed of wearing light costume makeup to a convention. You actually look more professional, and less blotchy and oily, especially in photographs. It's like being in a theatre production: even the men wear some makeup.

I bought about 60% of my fabric last Monday, and I managed to save almost $40 on polar fleece by picking it up during a 50% off sale at Hancock Fabrics. It's more navy than slate, but it looks very nice against the blue and brown of my tunic fabric. I also picked up a cloak pattern while I was there, and the tissue is now all over my living room floor. Washing the fabric was interesting as well; I was given two old bedsheets to use however I wanted, and I decided to try to make my Teutonic Knight cloak and Rome's under-manskirt out of it. It has a few blotches on it, but I can just cut around those, right? I bleached the crap out of that thing, and still, these little orange stains persist. As soon as the pattern is all cut out, I'll have to pin it down to these sheets and make sure I'm not going to have to buy a million more yards of white fabric for my cloak.
Tip for buying fabric: bring tons of reference pictures to make sure you are getting exactly the color you want.

A friend of mine from Anime Detour 2010 found me on Skype yesterday to tell me he's making me a 4 foot broadsword and several knives for my cosplays. I found it quite comical when he asked "How long do you want these knives? Is two feet long enough?" I nearly died, because seriously, the man cosplays scary Sweden without even needing to try, and he's so freaking nice! But two foot knives? My mouth flapped open and closed a few times, and then I said "...Anywhere between 6 and 8 inches is plenty long, thank you" because I try not to be a jerk. >>;
Anyways, he's letting me paint them, too, so i can put pretty little details onto the hilt all I want! I'll be using Cynical Pie's tutorial here: http://cynicalpie.blogspot.com/2010/07/pen-is-mightier-than-sword.html to try to make my paint job look as professional as hers.

Tomorrow, my amazing friend Paige (whom I commissioned my Austria maid dress from) will be coming to my house to help me pick out some overcoat fabric for Magyar and also help me cut everything out. Then on Wednesday, my wonderful grandmother (who's helped me on every other cosplay, it seems) will be helping me sew everything. I'm going to try to run over to Tandy Leather Factory on Thursday and do all of my leather painting/staining/sheening that day, and then do acrylics on Friday morning. If all goes as planned, I will be done with all of my cosplays by the pool party on Saturday, save for minor painting and a few props.
And really? The only thing I'm worried about is boots. Maybe I'll go diagram those suckers out today. Right after I carve some leather medallions and finish those lower breastplate belts.
And find that darn camera to make some tutorials.

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.

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!