Diary of an Otaku Madwoman

Otaku House Competition

2011-04-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

I recently entered a "Cosplay Idol" competition put on by Otaku House. Long, long ago, my picture got lost in the shuffle of endless amazing cosplays. Despite that sad truth, I have been really enjoying the talent that has been showcased in this contest! There are a lot of amazing pictures. Of course I'm a little biased, and tend to spend my "likes" on the ones that say they're homemade, but no matter what, most of these entries legit look the parts they are playing. I've decided to post links to some of my favorite contestants. Since there are hundreds and hundreds of them, It's difficult to even pick which ones I want to post, but I'll do my best to narrow them down. I'm only going include my favorites from the first 200 entries. I'll post the rest later, so be watching for them. Beware, not only will I be posting pictures I think are awesome, I will also be shamelessly promoting my friends who have entered the competition. So vote for them or die!

I'll include the link to the page where their entries are located, so that if you have facebook you can vote for them by clicking "like" on Otaku House's page, then "like" the picture you are voting for.

This Jenova is a buddy of mine who attends local cons often, and makes bomb awesome hats.

LinkinSpirit is one of my favorite Link cosplayers, ever. Fullstop.

Melanie, another con-going friend of mine, is the most convincing Winry I have ever seen!

As far as Gijinka's go, this really is one of the best human representations of Red XIII I've seen in a while.

Hannah makes a super cute sexy-jutsu Naruto

That's a good looking Greed!

Raiden from Metal Gear Solid. I love armored cosplays.

An amazing Assassin's Creed cosplay, with some good looking leather work.

Bahaha! Ryuk!

Not familiar with what this is from (Granado Espada) But this outfit is downright amazing.

Midna from Twilight Princess, Just WOW. I love this costume.

Another friend of mine, with a great homemade Roy Mustang uniform

Xiao Qiao - I love Dynasty Warriors Cosplays

Yoko is a cosplay friend of mine who does amazing work. Her Shampoo is simply adorable.

Another Friend of mine, Wes, who is the coolest Dante ever

Another friend, Akemi, dressed as an adorable Akiyama Mio from K-on!

Without a doubt the best Sally Jupiter I've seen

One of my Sailor Moon cosplaying friends, Akiko, in her Uranus costume

Jacob, cosplaying Gender Bender Pluto - another one of my Sailor Moon buddies.

Melissa makes a great Mikuru from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"

Hm, that Bellatrix looks familiar, I wonder who she is!?

Meredith does a wonderful Gunner Yuna from X-2

WoW cosplay. No really, Wow.

Medusa from Petshop of Horrors. PSOH is not something that gets cosplayed too often, but it should be. This is superb.

Props on the Prop, Dark Knight Rikku. Amazing job.

I'm really impressed with some of the cosplayers representing North America in this competition, there really is a lot of talent around our country. May the best one win!

Phew! Glad that's over. Oh wait, it isn't even close. I'll be going through the other North American entries later, and I will post a blog about the next set of 200 and so on.

DMC Group Pics!

2011-02-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

KAMI-CON WAS AWESOME. Why? This is why:

That's right. Johnny Yong Bosch and Eyeshine. My life is complete.

I posted a review on our group blog, so check it out here

Some friends and I did a Devil May Cry Cosplay Group. We ran a panel about DMC and followed it up with a photoshoot outside. Here are the spectacular results. (photos taken by Shawn Hunt)

Photos Taken By Brad Sargent:

I had so much fun cosplaying Lady. Why? Because she has a gigantic gun. Everyone was more excited about the Gun than any other part of my costume. Who could blame them? Giant Bazookas win every time. Even got props from Eyeshine for my giant gun. I nearly passed out.

Sukoshicon January

2011-01-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

Our January Meetup at Sukoshicon Birmingham was a BLAST!

The morning started out with a few fun panels and mini photoshoots with a few members. Everyone else spread out to the game rooms and vendor's areas.

Excerpts from our mini shoots!

One of the most notable panels of the day was done by one of our members, Yoko. It was a photography and modeling panel with special photographer guest Michael Smith from Emerald Coast Models. After the panel, there was a photoshoot outside with Michael and with Shawn Hunt (additional photographer) Even though IT WAS COLD Just about everyone with a good cosplay showed up for the pics. Here's the album on facebook.

Also, the contest was filled with Jedigami members! Sloth and Greed (Myself and Sasuke) both won an award, as well as Seth (the glove master) for his Gene (Outlaw Star) Cosplay.

Another incredibly fun panel was the "Iron Cosplay" panel. (Another one by Yoko) The competitors were instructed to construct an outfit from scrap fabric, hot glue, safety pins, belts, etc. They had to include the "secret ingredient", fit the theme of "Super hero", and be done in 30 minutes. Here's what my group (Myself, Emily, Liz and Michelle)came up with (and landed a total victory!)

Abmiki Sukoshi - Defender of Love and Justice with super awesome, heart changing, lightning powers!

Of course we can't forget about the rave at the end of the night, during which everyone danced their cares away in a mass of blurriness and lights xD

Needless to say, Sukoshicon was yet again a success, which marks another awesome meetup for the Jedigami. Our next meetup is going to be held at Kami-Con in Tuscaloosa - a super fun FREE con. Everyone loves free :)

Let it Snow

2011-01-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

In Alabama, Snow is a big freaking deal. Since we never usually get it, the fact that we've had snow covered grounds TWICE in the past 2 months is completely unheard of. And this time around, Snowpocalypse 2011, we got a solid layer of ice which has not even begun to think about melting....which is also unheard of. In 'Bama if it takes the time to snow, it's usually back to dirt and grass within hours. But since this time around has given us a lovely blanket of white, I can't stop thinking of it as a perfect cosplay background!

Since I didn't prepare myself with any costumes specific to snow/ice, I just tossed on a kimono and went outside.

Partly because I didn't have anything else prepared, but also because kimono was really the only idea in my head. I tried to google ice/snow characters, or characters that live in icy climates, and the answers were so sparse that I just sort of gave up. That's why this blog post is going to consist of a semi-long list of characters that one can cosplay in snowy situations. If you are like me, and want to brave the elements for good photos, this list should be of interest to you.

First I will start with the obvious ones, then I'll go into some anime/manga/game/movie/comic characters that I found by scouring google and picking the brains of friends.

Katara and Sokka
Avatar: The Last Airbender

Both characters live in the South Pole. Sokka cannot manipulate the ice, but Katara is the only waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe. She can bend water and snow as she so pleases - Making these two perfect candidates for a snowy backdrop.

Princess Yue
Avatar the Last Airbender

Another airbender character that looks amazing in snowy climate is the princess of the Northern Water Tribe. She's the daughter of the chief, and Sokka thinks she's a hottie. Her hair is snowy white, thanks to the fact that the moon spirit granted her it's power when she was born nearly dead. Thanks moon spirit, you rock for that.

Mr Freeze
Batman

A DC Comics Supervillian, and enemy of Batman, I think he'd be one of the most obviousl snow cosplay characters. Freeze is a scientist who must wear a cryogenic suit in order to survive, and bases his crimes around a "cold" or "ice" theme, complete with a "cold gun" that freezes its targets solid.

Toshiro Hitsugaya
Bleach

Hitsugaya's thing is ice. Hyōrinmaru is the strongest of all ice/snow Zanpaku-tō in the Soul Society.Hyōrinmaru's spirit is a winged Chinese dragon made of ice. The dragon flies at opponents and instantly freezes anything it touches. The chain-blade also freezes anything Hitsugaya traps with it.

Rukia Kuchiki
Bleach

Rukia has an ice attack as well, the Sode no Shirayuki. Each "dance" the blade performs produces a different ice based attack. In its released state the blade becomes completely white and a ribbon forms from the pommel, earning it the recognition as the most beautiful Zanpakuto in Soul Society.

Or, you can cosplay Sode No Shirayuki herself, since she's super gorgeous.

Oren Ishii
Kill Bill

Speaking of pretty Asian ladies wearing white kimono in the snow, how about cosplaying Oren Ishii? The Entire final battle between Beatrix Kiddo and Oren Ishii was outside in the snow.

Ur and Gray Fullbuster
Fairy Tail

Either character would be appropriate for snow, since they are Ice Mages. Ice Make Master is a form of alchemy magic that creates shapes or objects out of ice. In Gray's case, he uses Static ice magic, meaning he can shape his ice into weapons or attacks. Ur was Gray's teacher in the magic of the Ice arts.

And Cosplaying Gray is easy because he practically never wears clothing.

Lyon Bastia
Fairy Tail

Like Gray, Lyon practices the ice magic, Ice Make. Which allows him to form any type of object from ice. Unlike Gray whose version is static (which allows him to create weapons), Lyon´s Ice Make is Living (aka Dynamic), which means most of his creations are animal familiars made from ice.

Cygnus Saint - Hyoga
Saint Seiya / Knights of the Zodiac

As a Saint born under the Cygnus constellation, Hyoga is able to control and manipulate ice and snow as he pleases. By increasing his Cosmo, Hyoga can freeze objects and people. Hyoga is another perfect character for an icy photoshoot.

Crystal Saint
Saint Seiya / Knights of the Zodiac

The Crystal Saint is Hyoga's master in the anime adaptation. His Cloth resembles a snowflake when not being worn. His home is Siberia, and his constellation is Corona Borealis.

Haku
Naruto

He was a villager from the Land of Water and a member of the Yuki Clan. He later became a Ninja after meeting
Zabuza. Haku's most noticeable power was the utilization of water and wind chakra to create ice. His power over ice granted him special techniques, like the Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors and Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death.

One could probably also cosplay Zabuza in the snow, even though he focuses on Water techniques. Since he's always with Haku, I would still say he'd be a good one to consider having a snowy backdrop

Evangeline
Negima

As a dark mage and vampire, Evangeline specializes in ice-based spells and dark magic, and is shown to be incredibly powerful once in her full capacities. she is still a very skilled fighter and can effortlessly take down a man twice her size, largely due to her mastery of the Japanese martial art Aikido.

Nobara Ibaragi
Gakuen Alice

Nobara is a middle school student in Gakuen Alice. She is in the Dangerous Ability class, and the only known female member. She appears only in the manga, possesses the Ice Alice and has multiple personalities. Complimenting her Alice, her appearance somewhat relates to the depiction of "Yuki Onna" (lit. Snow Woman).

HoroHoro
Shaman King

His guardian ghost is Kororo (losely meaning Ice) Horohoro mainly uses his oversoul to freeze water vapor into ice and use it to attack his opponents.

November 11 / Jack Simon
Darker Than Black

MI6's top agent, and a field leader whose civilian alias is Jack Simon. November's ability enables him to freeze liquids, including blood. He is able to shape water into projectiles by freezing it and subsequently hurl them with lethal precision. He can also create protective shields out of frozen water.

Aidou Hanabusa
Vampire Knight

Aidou is known among the Night Class as "Kaname-sama's right hand" and has a fierce admiration for Kaname that borders on jealousness. Aidou is a noble-class vampire and possesses the ability to freeze matter.

Sailor Mercury
Sailor Moon

In Japanese, the name for the planet Mercury is Suisei (水星), the first kanji meaning 'water' and the second indicating a celestial object. Sailor Mercury's abilities are water-based due to this aspect of Japanese mythology. As she grows stronger, Sailor Mercury gains additional powers - mostly improving their strength with the addition of "Freezing" or "Snow"

Vexen
Kingdom Hearts

Vexen is the nobody of Even and is Rank IV within Organization XIII. He controls ice and uses it to command storms and blizzards, freezing his opponents solid, while defending himself with his massive shield.

Kula Diamond
King of Fighters

Kula has an impressive control over ice. When using her powers, Kula's hair becomes blue. As the Anti-K', her fighting style is primarily based on K's, but adapted to her ice-based powers. She also fights using her ice skates.

Mizore Shirayuki
Rosario + Vampire

Shirayuki Mizore is a Yuki-Onna. Keeping in line with Japanese mythological monster, she has the ability to control the element of ice at will, and can form clones composed of said element.

Sub Zero
Mortal Kombat

When he first appeared in the first Mortal Kombat, Sub-Zero featured only two special moves: his ice blast and sliding kick. These moves have become Sub-Zero's trademark since then, being featured in every game he has appeared in.

Olivier Mira Armstrong
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong is Alex Louis Armstrong's older sister. She is in charge of Briggs, the northern military border. Due to the extreme cold at the Drachma border, Olivier Milla Armstrong and her men appear in heavy coats with shoulder pads to denote their respective ranks. Armstrong's men have done extensive research into designing new equipment that will work in the subzero tempetures. She is called "Ice Queen"

Iceman
X-men

Iceman possesses the power to radically decrease the temperature of ambient water vapor in his immediate environment, thereby freezing it into ice. In this manner he is able to quickly form a great variety of ice structures, including projectiles, shields, ladders, baseball bats, etc.

Have fun figuring out how to cosplay this guy.

Ice Master Card
Yu Gi Oh!

Although it's less of a character and more of a trading card, you can't deny the cool costume this could be.

Snow
M.A.R.

The only princess heir to the crown of Lestava. She is a user of ice-themed ÄRMs, and later water-themed.

Fai D. Flourite
Tsubasa

Fai is a powerful magician from the country of Seresu. Fai appears to be happy-go-lucky and good-natured, and acts very carefree. He is very often (nearly always) depicted with Ice and Snow covered scenery.

Although I'm sure there are TONS of characters I didn't cover, I feel like I got the most important ones. I'll probably come back to this list often to add to it, because I'm sure later I'll be like..."ZOMG So-And-So TOTES BELONGS ON THIS LIST" So check back for updates :)

In the meantime, go brave the ice and snow and get those amazing cosplay shots you dream about.

Cosplay Review 2010

2011-01-02T10:50:00.000-08:00

It's the beginning of a new year! 2010 was FILLED with cosplay for me. It was probably my busiest costume year to date. Due to work, I was only able to attend a few cons, but I still stayed super busy with crafting and sewing. I owe this increase in craft to the formation of our cosplay group, Jedigami. Ever since the group began, I've made it my personal goal to wear something different to each meetup, even if I was only to attend the meetup for a few hours. It keeps me busy, on task, and I enjoy the challenge of getting new costumes together in short periods of time.

This post is basically a review of cos-crap I've done all year. Pics of my finished work, and some of my faves I've taken of other's outfits and our group cosplays at cons and meetups.

Probably the first photoshoot I did in'10 was the kimono shoot I did with my two japanese-enthusiast friends, Sheridan and Vicki. I only own a few kimono and obi selections at the moment, so Vicki graciously ( or somewhat graciously) lent her kitsuke services and obi selection to us for the shoot.

Vicki stops to smell the flowers. Or at least pose with them.

Sheridan with fan in hand. And that fan was used generously througout the day, because it was HOT.

Basically anime and steampunk cosplay all started with May (Imagicon). I started cos-work for Imagicon in January, and STILL found myself stressing at the last minute to finish the costumes in time.

The first huge project of the year was the steampunk white rabbit, Mostly made for the Imagicon promo at the Alice in Wonderland premier, but used again at the actual con. This group was a huge hit, which was great, since it was my first steampunk endeavor ever.

Sheridan as Alice, Vicki as the hatter, and myself as the rabbit,

Who says Boba Fett can't be in Wonderland?

Another group endeavor we tried out was Fullmetal Alchemist. I have to say, this group turned out pretty well. Although my dress was supremely hard to walk in, the costume I made for my husband as Greed remains my favorite of his costumes to date. I feel like he was pretty much a dead ringer for Greed.

Sheridan, Vicki, Myself, Sasuke, and Gavin don our FMA attire.

Pretty much the only picture I actually liked of myself in this costume xD

Probably the best cosplay picture of my husband of all time.

Now onto the most uncomfortable costume ever made in existence of all time EVAR. Sephiroth.

I love the way it turned out, but mess was hard to make and even more difficult to wear. It was at least over 9000 degress in this outfit, and the wing kept wanting to fall down, thus forcing us to create a strange tie off system to keep it pointed up. The shoulder armor was incredibly hard to move my arms in, and I can't count the amount of times I smacked them into things. However, the big pick-me-up of this mini photoshoot was the fact that my husband's costume was pretty epic. I worked my butt off on making his buster sword and it photographed like a charm.

Pics taken before we gave up for fear of heat stroke...

Steampunk was HUGE at Imagicon in 2010. Luckily I found a magnificent dress and jacket just before the con, so I began work on my Vampire/Huntress Adella Stride.

We also did some Kimono stuff throughout the weekend, because let's face it, it was the coolest thing we could wear that wasn't a bikini. Need I remind you, it was HOT.

Sheridan sports the blue

Vicki in a lovely brown ensemble.

And myself in my white kimono, the thinnest one I own, mind you.

After Imagicon, we all started having cosplay withdrawals. So thank GOD our fearless leader Wes decided to form a cosplay group, bound for meetups every month. Dare I say, this is possibly one of the best things to ever happen to Birmingham's cosplay community.

In somewhat chronolocial order, or as much so as my memory serves me.

Videl Satan. Because I was just watching DBZ for the first time, and I fippin' love this character. I decided two days beforehand that this was who I wanted to be at the first meetup, so I threw this together.

Meetup number 2 - Sheridan in a super cute wa-loli and myself as Umbreon Gijinka.

Sukoshi-con was our third meetup *I think....* It was Sukoshi-con's first Birmingham 1 day con, and it was so much fun.

Myself in Wa-loli

Orihime Liz and Wa-Loli Sheridan

Dante Wes...

And Loli-Gijinka-Umbreon Sam

September meetup was swimming at Oak Mtn!

I went as Videl Satan.

Sasuke and Gavin duke it out as Gohan and Naruto

Liz sneaks around in her awesome Darth Lydia outfit

October was the Botanical Gardens cosplay photoshoot, and also our 5th meetup at Jeff State Park. Sheridan and I decided on Bleach Characters (Nemu and Momo) and met up with a few other Bleach fans while taking our pics.

More friends in cosplay -

Nicole and Melanie - Happy Kagura and Disgruntled Kyo

KJ in an epic Cammy cosplay

Also in October was Halloween (as it usually is...) So I fashioned a Rambo chick costume and a Fork-attack Zombie.

Had to show off Sheridan's awesome Halloween Witch Costume.

November was Sukoshi-con's Huntsville con. It was a lot of fun, as per usual, and we were able to take photos in front of the space and rocket center, which rocked hard.

Melissa Mao, from Full metal Panic

Rocket~!

Pretty picture of Luna / Liz in the fall leaves.

And we can't forget about the Harry Potter movie premier...

So Bellatrix made her way out of the costume closet.

And our Thanksgiving meetup at Ryan's.

Closet cosplay Knives Chau.

December was SO BUSY. Thanks to Christmas, it was a pretty stressful month, but I got through it and still turned out two costumes. We had our Jedigami Christmas party at my house this year, which was such a great time. I definitely want to make it an anual event.

Cait Sith steals sushi...

The party featured a mini costume contest - and the winners were Pikachu and Naruto (complete with tails)

Honorable mention to the super cute Christmas girls xD

Last but not least, To close out the year with a bang, Myself and 4 friends made a formal Sailor Moon troupe (complete with Moonlight Knight!)

Liz as Jupiter, Sam as Saturn, Seth as Moonlight Knight, Myself as Pluto, and Formal Venus

Sorry for the crazy image heavy post this time. On second thought, I'm not really that sorry.

2010 was filled with cosplay fun and cosplay fails. Here's to hoping '11 is the best costume year yet :D

Plans for 2011?

Lady from DMC
Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann
Anya from Code Geass
Sailor Pluto
Sailor Saturn
Eruka Frog from Soul Eater
Tifa from FFVII

and whatever else I feel like throwing together. Can't wait to get started!

Hiatus Over?

2010-12-07T21:09:00.001-08:00

Because I've been insanely, horridly busy, I've been on a blogging hiatus for a while. For some reason I am actually SITTING on my couch currently (which I thought I'd forgotten how to do!) and I remembered..." Oh yeah, I have a blog about cosplay...."

So since tonight I actually finished my first official cosplay in my new sewing room (Cait Sith from FFVII) I think I'll use it as the theme for this post to celebrate.

Humanoid Cosplay.

Not furries, for crying out loud - I can't take them seriously - but rather, cosplay that is creatively designed around a character that is normally an animal. In a non-scary and cute way. Also known as "Moe anthropomorphism" or "Gijinka"

Here are some of the best ones I found while digging through the abundance of cosplay.com entries on the subject.

An Entire group of Happy Tree Friends!

Super Cute Moogle Costume

Adorable version of Suppi

ZOMG. Sonic the Hedgehog!

Gorgeous version of Espeon

Beautifly

An Umbreon (Far superior to my own version done earlier this year!)

Moltres - I love these wings!

Cyndaquil - This is one of my absolute FAVORITES.

Super cute Piplup

But Heck, Animals are not the only thing one can make human....

COMPANION CUBE.

Nintendo Wii

Well, that was fun. I'm glad I was able to sit on my butt long enough to actually make a blog entry. I hope to do the same thing again soon - because resting is pretty great for once. :)

DBZ WINS of Epic Proportions.

2010-09-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

So, our next meetup is this month, and I am planning on doing the other version of Videl Satan (the one with the pigtails) and I am going to make a Gohan outfit for my husband. I am nearly finished with my costume (because let's face it, Videl doesn't ever wear anything complicated!) and have all the pieces to get started on Gohan soon. xD

For Videl I got a white T-shirt at Walmart for 5 bucks, and some tight black shorts at the thrift store for $1. I glued a blank CD on a flat brooch, and plan on using it as the base for my school badge. I'm going to make the badge from felt and glue it right onto the CD Brooch I made. (pics to come!) For the boots, I am going to find some flat boots at the Thrift Store next week so I can glue some boot covers onto it (I found green felt that is the PERFECT color for this!) For Gohan, I am doing a bit of clothing surgery on some dark blue doctor's scrubs (Thrift store, $3 a piece) Gonna open up the chest and hem it in, add a belt/sash and make some arm and leg warmers all out of spare fabric.

I LOVE budget cosplay! This is an example of a costume that is SO much cheaper homemade. on Google Shopping, I found a Videl costume for upwards of $50, and Gohan for $60. Mine will only cost me just over $10 for Videl, and under $10 for Gohan o.0

Because I am always excited about Dragonball Z Costumes (also, I was watching DBZ Kai just earlier today) and I am in a super Dragonball mood, I decided to dig through cosplay.com's finest DBZ costumes. Here are the pics of my favorite cosplayers, with links back to their pages so you can go tell them just how great they look!

WINS!

and PROPS to this guy for mad bravery:

Here's a thought! A female version of Vegeta - I've always wanted to do this, but didn't know if it would work. This lady really proved that it can be done, and can look super cute.

FAILS...

WIG FAIL:

No wig fail?

No costume at all fail...

Skinny dude Fail...

Quantum Destiny always has the best DBZ Costumes, so I saved her for last. Here are some of the Gems she's worn. These things are perfection.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Dragonball Z goodness! Now, off to work on boot covers for my own DBZ creations!

Wa-Loli MADNESS

2010-08-27T19:54:00.001-07:00

Recently I dove into the world of Wa-Lolita, and I loved it there. I hadn't worn a Wa-loli outfit before, but now that I have put one together I certainly plan on doing it again. Of course upon leaping into this Lolita sub-genre, I decided to load up on cute Wa-loli pictures that I loved. Here were some of my favorites I found while driving down google and devart blvd.

I adore the flower and ribbon on her obi. As well as her great shoes.

This is just beautiful, what else can I say?

Sweet mask? Why yes it is.

I adore this with every ounce of my soul.

I can't begin to say how much I love the motif on this kimono. It's just beautiful.

Another motif that is just totally adorable.

Oh for the love of....I would give anything to have a bigger picture of this gem. This was under a forum discussing an "East Meets West : Steampunked Kimono". This is so brilliant I want to cry.

This one has particularly one of my favorite skirt bottoms of all time.

I adore the layering on this one, so so much.

And last but not least, who can leave out the Visual Kei Equivalent, and the kings of VK Wa-Loli? The guys from "D".

Asagi in a beautiful ensemble. I love this man's style.

Brilliant Displays of Wa Loli genius.

And now I want to crawl through my computer screen and take that fan right out of his hand.

Now that we've all been thoroughly outclassed in Wa-Loli, it's time to go try to surpass the masters ahead of us. Onward, loli-soldiers!

SukoshiCon 2010

2010-08-18T18:06:00.001-07:00

Our cosplay group held our latest meetup at a Birmingham con - Sukoshi-con. S-con was a one day con, but was just as fun as any other 3-day con I've attended. The vendors were good, the entertainment was fun, and the friends were as good as anyone could ask for! There was a rock band contest, cosplay contest, and even a late night anime Rave. There were also a few panels, and although I was unable to attend any of the panels because of work (ugh), I was told they were very fun :) I was also informed that a few members of our group did an excellent job on the Rock Band tourney, and one of our members (Sam Blazer) even won a judge's pick award for her Umbreon cosplay! I'm so proud! *sniff, sniff, tear*

Sam's Award

Some of our group members Rockin' out

I took tons of pictures while I was there, and passed the camera off to a friend when I left. Also, some of our other group members brought their cameras. Here are just a few photos out of the hundreds....

Dealer's room was piled high with Manga and Dvd's...

Mini photoshoots were underway...

My costume choice for the day, Wa-Loli.

My friend Sheridan also decked out in Wa-loli.

Liz as a super-cute Orihime Inoue

AJ, Our very own Mario

Sam the Umbreon

Our Fearless Leader, Wes/Dante

Yoko doing some announcements

No costume gathering is complete without METAL!

Bleach everywhere!

Some of my favorite cosplays from the day:

Luckily for me, I was able to return from work in time for part of the Rave, which was lots of fun.

The night was definitely full of fun, and I can't wait until the next meetup. This may have just been the best one yet! We were able to tell a lot of people about our group, so we'll hopefully have a lot of new faces at our next gathering. Looking forward to seeing all of our new friends there!

Scouring Etsy...

2010-08-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

I love handmade items. When I'm not making my own things, I really like to check out what some of the great artists of the internet have done. Sometimes a good handmade item is light years ahead of the things you see in catalogs or big company websites. Because I love scouring Etsy for amazing finds, I decided to post some of the cosplay and steampunk items that have really grabbed my attention.

Steampunk Glasses

These things are just superb. They are rather simple, but well made and gorgeous looking. I adore the clean look of these glasses.

Skeleton Cameo

Amazing! I love this cameo, it's just beautiful. It's such a creative and clever idea, this is definitely something I plan on purchasing at some point.

Sea Salt Soap Pops

Straight from Kingdom Hearts! This is so adorable if you ask me. It's one of those props you may not even think about, but it's really cute. I love the fact that it's soap, so besides being cute for pics, it's actually useful :)

Kanzashi Barrettes

I love kanzashi. I haven't actually gotten into making my own yet, but I definitely plan on it. These are so gorgeous, and etsy is full of them.

Appa the Flying Bison Hat

This idea is so darn cute, I am jealous I didn't think of it first. I would so wear this.

Sailor Moon Crescent Moon Wand

This thing gives me serious childhood flashbacks. I remember back when I had a moon wand from Toys R Us. This one looks just like it, props to this seller for the great likeness. This just makes me happy. XD

Dragonball Earrings

This is just win. I want Dragonball Earrings.

Steampunk Underbust Corset

This funky steampunk corset is totally cool. I love the way this is made! It's definitely one of my favorite corsets I've seen.

Although there are at least a thousand more things on Etsy that I love, no need to bog down one post with all of them. I'm sure to do another post like this later on XD

Jedigami Group Meetup -July

2010-07-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

Recently attended the Jedigami group's latest meetup. This time we all gathered our costumes and took a trip to the Galleria! We met up at the food court and then migrated our way down to the Koko bubble tea stand and arcade area. Everyone looked great. We had a Dante, Jedi, Wa Lolita, and Ninja among others. This time we made sure not to break any rules (see previous post! lol) and we had a lot of fun. Although I had to leave early for a previous engagement, I still enjoyed the event and made a few new friends. Also, got myself some peach bubble tea, which is ALWAYS a good thing. I was told by my fellow Jedigami that after the Galleria, they all took a trip over to the Rave movie theater to continue the meetup there.

Here are a few pics we took!

My costume of choice for the day was Umbreon - which was super easy and fun to make :)

Also, I'd like to welcome our newest Jedigami member to the group! We'll have him in cosplay soon ;p

Cosplay Picnic - June 2010

2010-06-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

The new cosplay group Jedigami (based in Birmingham, AL) held their first cosplay picnic this month! It was a great time, very successful I think. There was a nice costume assortment of school girls, Jedi, Shinigami, and Akatsuki among others.

First we dropped into the local Botanical Gardens for our picnic.

But, Completely unaware that apparently you are NOT allowed to have a picnic at the Gardens, we got kicked out by a loud, screaming old man with no teeth and a beer belly. He followed us "children" (as he so kindly dubbed us) outside with his little golf cart. Because "If yew CHEELDREN would pay attinchin, you'd know you cain't HAVE a PICKNICK at the GARDENS!" That's Alabama for ya...

But we weren't phased! We just regrouped and took a trip down the street to Vulcan park, where you CAN have picnics in peace.

We had some delicious goodies, while making some new friends and chatting it up.

And then we went about taking some great photos!

I spur-of-the-moment inspired myself to make a Videl Satan cosplay. The rest of my pics can be found at Flickr.

Here are some more pics of everyone else's lovely outfits :)

We'll probably be doing an event every month or so, which I am very excited about. Any excuse to get into a costume right? Looking forward to seeing how this group grows!

Cosplay Spotlight - Videros

2010-06-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

Lately I've noticed the rising trend of crossplay. Girls dressing as guy characters, most likely because they like the character and want the chance to be them. However, I think there is another reason for this recent uprising of cross-dressing chicks. ..

Because there are just not enough good guy cosplayers.

We get Skinny-boy Sephiroths with squared off shoulder armor, Alucards with stringy halloween store wigs, and Orochimarus with melted makeup. Let's face it, most cosplaying dudes don't know how to match their bodies to their characters. Or how to buy a great wig, or how to even pose for pictures without looking like a moron.

However, Videros has completely raised the bar. He has proven that there are good-looking men out there willing to put on a costume and be full of win. So much win.

Observe:

A perfect example of what an Alucard cosplay SHOULD BE. Check this next one out:

BAM! Perfect Sephiroth. Effortless.

What's that I see? A rather magnificent Orochimaru.

Another photo that is full of WIN. Spike would be proud!

That's it for today's cosplay spotlight. Remember guys, don't be a fail cosplayer. There are guys like this who are going to beat you every time.

Now do yourself a favor and go add this guy to your Deviantwatch. You won't regret it.

Videros

Imagicon 2010

2010-05-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

Imagicon 2010 was magnificent. My friends and I had a great time wearing our costumes, taking some great photos, and checking out all the other fun cosplays the weekend had to offer. Pics are now available!

Here are some pictures we took of my husband and I :

Sasuke as Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist

My huband as Greed, myself as Sloth from Fullmetal Alchemist

Myself as Sephiroth

My husband as Zack

A little battle action...

Victoly!

Last but not least,

Myself as Adella Stride, Steampunk Vampire Huntress.

Those are just a few of the pics we took, there are tons more here on my facebook page of the entire weekend, and some of the other great cosplays we ran into:

Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Late Post is Late!

2010-03-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

Cosplay has taken up so much of my time, I just became aware of the fact that I haven't blogged anything in quite a while!

Since my last blog, I've finished my Rabbit Costume. I'm pretty excited with the way it came out. My friends finished their Alice In Wonderland steampunk designs, and we all wore our costumes to a promo event for IMAGICON.

We had a great time passing out flyers and taking tons of pictures with various people. And I do mean various people. Just about everyone and their mom wanted to take a picture with the crazies in costume, and people were throwing their kids at us right and left. Except for the middle aged moms.....we noticed that they seemed to take a "don't look at them and they'll go away" approach....;p Despite the boring old biddies, we were loved by all Old people and Young mothers! Kids had a great time pulling our tails and hair....well...maybe that was just the one crazy PSYCHO kid (deemed "Hell Child") Hell Child had a little too much caffeine, and apparently hadn't taken the medication that she clearly needed....

Here are some of the pics we took on my camera during the event!

Alice, Mad Hatter and White Rabbit - Steampunk style.

The entire group, in front of the Alice In Wonderland giant cardboard promo.

Me! The Steampunk White Rabbit

Steampunk Hatter

Steampunk Alice

Costume Butts

And what's a sci-fi-con-promo without an epic lightsaber battle between Alice and the Queen?

In April, we're going to be taking MUCH better photos of our costumes. Come back and check for them XD

Steampunkery

2010-02-22T19:06:00.001-08:00

Steampunk is great fun. This is really my first time dabbling in the glorious genre, and I'm having a blast. A BLAST! Just thought I'd post an update with some pictures of my current project - The White Rabbit. He's not just steampunk, he's also automaton. What's more fun than a victorian-influenced-robotic-clockwork-rabbit? Nothing, that's what.

Here's the eyepiece / monacle. I'm totally psyched about it.

More of a frontal view of the eyepiece. I had this image in my head all along, and I'm excited that I was able to get it looking like it looked in my head.

This is my gauntlet. It's sort of hard to move around in, but who said costumes had to be functional? It's pretty cool, I think. Not exactly what I had in my head, but I did the best with the pieces I had available to me, and I think it's nice for what it is :)

Everything on! I'm almost done really, the entire top half of the costume can be considered finished at this point. All I have left is the finishing touches on the bottom half, and a prop-staff.

Here's a few pictures of some accessories, and just a few shots I took during the making that I thought were pretty....

Big Pile O' Steampunk

Inside a beautiful old pocketwatch. A little rusted, but the gears were nice :)

An alarm clock I took apart that had magnificent gears.

And a pocketwatch I modified with some wings and gears :)

Hopefully next time I post anything cosplay related, this costume will be finished, and I'll have some pictures to share!

Alice in Deviantartland?

2010-02-02T17:25:00.001-08:00

I've been busy working on my steampunk white rabbit cosplay. I'm reading Alice's adventures in Wonderland through for ideas. I'm also, of course, scouring the internet for inspiration. Just wanted to post some of my favorite art and cosplay pictures that I've found which have served as a fount of good steampunk ideas.

Here is one cosplay group that have the best pictures I've seen of the Alice-meets-steampunk genre. I love these people!

Cvy as the White Rabbit

BanditYing as Alice

Dan the Farmer as Spade

The rest of these awesome pictures can be found here

Next is some artwork that I really liked. Some of this stuff gave me inspiration, others I just thought were nice enough to post :)

Red Queen Steampunk by nghtmre01

Cheshire Steampunk by nghtmre01

Down the Rabbit Hole by Somefield

Cheshire Cat by Somefield

Steampunk Hatter by Spookychild

Alice:: Tea Salon by Opportune

Alice in Steampunkland by *strayedclimaca

(Click the link and fullview for transparency)
If you knew time as well as I.. by minicow

I shall be Late by Violatekate

Mad Hatter's Zepplin + Value by JadePrince

That's all for today. When I get more done on my own costume I'll be posting pics :) I have a ways to go, and actually I should probably get up right now and get to work!

Easy and Cheap Tutorial #2

2010-01-20T16:53:00.001-08:00

Since I love love LOVE budget cosplay, I've decided to post another tutorial from on of my cheaper cosplay costumes that I'm working on right now for my husband. As I said in my earlier post, How to Cosplay on a Budget, the easiest way to save money is to pick a character with a simple costume. Someone recognizable, but not hard to make and that involves few materials.

I now introduce....Greed.

Greed is verrrry budget friendly. His entire costume only costists of about 6 elements : Glasses, Vest, Undershirt, Bracelets, Pants, and Shoes.
Since Sunglasses, Shoes, and Pants are pretty self explanatory, this tutorial will be for his vest.

Greed Vest Tutorial

What you'll need:

Black Vest
A Large Bunny
Hot Glue
Scissors
Straight Pins

Step 1: Pick out that vest

Find yourself a nice, smooth vest. Preferably made of some thick material, like faux leather.

Step 2: Remember that Bunny from earlier?

I was lucky enough to find a bunny that was perfect enough to do double duty as bunny ears and Greed vest fur. This is just another way to get the most out of your cosplay budget. As my good friend Alton Brown says, everyone loves a multi-tasker.

Step 3: Attack your bunny

Show that little guy no mercy. For my greed vest, I decided to use part of his tail and part of his body. The tail on my particular bunny was long, and the body's fur was slightly shorter. *Tip: Save the stuffing for later, you never know when you could need it for some other cosplay, or even a plushie!* Be sure to cut the fur into wide strips - remember, this is going to be a collar. By the way, get ready for some serious vaccuum cleaner duty after this is all over...

Step 4: Pin the Collar in Place

You'll need two long strips of fur, and the tail should be cut into two pieces (if you used a tail). Pin the shorter fur strips around the collar. Place the tail pieces that have the longer fur on either side in the front. Pinning the fur to the collar makes it much easier to glue the pieces in place, which you will do in step 5.

Step 5: Hot glue that sucker.

Yep. Do just that. And don't burn yourself.

Hey look! It's a Greed Vest! Give yourself a pat on the back. Now clean up that HUGE mess you just made and hit the thrift stores and dollar stores for all the other pieces. When you're done, you've got a costume that probably didn't cost much more than 15 bucks. Who says cosplay can't be cheap?

Easiest Bunny Ears Ever

2010-01-20T16:06:00.001-08:00

Since I've begun working on Imagicon costumes, I'll be posting quite a few tutorials as I go. Here's the first one. It's super easy, really, nothing to it at all. These bunny ears are meant for my White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland.

Easiest Bunny Ears Ever:

What you'll need:

Fabric Scissors

Hot Glue

Headband

A Large Bunny

Poor Little Guy. Has no idea what's in store for him...
**Tip for picking a bunny: Make sure his ears are big enough to look good on your head. Also, it really helps if there is wire inside the ears, so you can actually stand the ears up if you want. If you want to make floppy bunny ears, then a wire isn't really necessary.**

Step 1: Attack Your Bunny

Chop off the top of the little guy's scalp. I know, I know, it's tough because he's so cute. But sometimes sacrifices have to be made in the name of good costume making...

Step 2: Glue them to your headband.

Use the hot glue gun to secure the ears to the headband. Make sure you hold them until they dry, otherwise you will just frustrate yourself because if your bunny is as huge as mine, those ears will be heavy and will fall off if the glue isn't dry all the way.

Step 3: Try them on for final adjustments

I decided it was cutest with one ear sort of flopping over, but you can adjust them however you want :) At this point, you are done!

Imagicon 2010...

2010-01-04T09:20:00.001-08:00

Imagicon 2010 is fast approaching, and I have finally narrowed down mine and Sasuke's costume choices! Please share this joyous moment with us ^_^ :

Photoshoots before the con:

Steampunk style White Rabbit. This costume will mostly be a hybrid of these three pictures I found for inspiration on Dev.Art. Will be a bit more steampunkish than the pictures shown, but this is the general idea of the outfit.

Some friends and I are planning possibly to help advertise for Imagicon in Alice costumes (Hatter, Alice, and White Rabbit) at the Tim Burton movie premier. We also plan a "tea party" photoshoot, which will be total fun.

Day 1 at the con - Friday

Sasuke and I are going to be clad in Street Fighter gear! Sasuke will ressurect his Ryu costume from last year, which was a big hit. However, we only managed to get a few pictures of it, so this time around we will photoshoot some more. Here's one of the pics from last year :

I will be wearing classic CHUN LI. Yes, I am definitely going to be working out my legs. LOL

For the Night it is very possible that I will change costumes, but this isn't set in stone. If I change into anything, it will most likely be a fullmetal character, either Sloth or Lyra / Dante, fully depending on how long my hair is at that point in the game, since I'd rather this be a wig-less outfit for comfort and money-saving's sake.

Sasuke will most likely don a Greed outfit, if he so chooses :)

Day 2 : Saturday

Saturday will be the busiest day, so I'm wanting to do our most complex costumes that day, for sure. This will be the day of the "Female Sephiroth" I have no concept art for this, since it's all in my head. But the idea came from this doujinshi art I found:

I will either be ridiculed or praised for this costume, and I personally hope it's the latter - for I plan on working my butt off for this thing. The dress will feature high slits like in the picture, with a black corset / waist cincher. A short black jacket will be tucked into the corset, sort of making the jacket and the dress look like one article of clothing instead of two. Rather than being topless underneath and showing everyone and their mom my breasts, I'll probably wear some fancy type of top. I'm going to wear Dissidia style shoulder armor, bracelet and belt. I also plan on having Dissidia style purple and yellow fabric peeking out from under the dress. I'll wear high heeled Thigh boots, and a typical Sephiroth wig, in the style of Advent Children. Oh yes, and a LARGE kingdom hearts style wing. I sort of mean for this to combine different Sephiroths from different games, I guess, but...in chick form. I really hope I can pull this off.

Sasuke will be wearing a Zack costume :)

At night, there has been talk of a Tri-Wizard ball, so I'll definitely be bringing Bellatrix back out for the costume contest! I wish I could talk Sasuke into doing Lord Voldemort...but I think that's an amount of makeup that will get an instant "NO FREAKING WAY" :p

Day 3: Sunday

Since Sunday will be super dead, we're just going to pull out the good-old Bleach costumes for a photo-shoot with some friends. We're calling out bleach friends from all over, even those who were unable to attend the actual con itself. I figure we can all hang out in the streets of the city taking crazy photos without everyone having to pay to get into the con. I'm tired of always being Rukia, so this time I'm going to be dressed as Soi Fon, who I haven't been before.

For Sasuke, I plan up updating his Chad costume by making him this new arm to replace the old one:

(impossible picture to find)

Anywho, these are our final choices for cosplay, so I'm super excited to get started on these. Pictures and tutorials will be flooding the blog soon :)

Nyte's Intro to Cosplay

2009-11-29T18:10:00.000-08:00

Nyte's Intro to Cosplay

This was a nice post on the Gaia Forums. An extensive and well thought out cosplay guide, I liked it so much I wanted to link to it :) It has some amazing links, and I will likely be referring to it for many future cosplays, myself.

Unfortunate Cosplay Spotlight....Vegeta

2009-11-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

I've been researching Vegeta cosplay pictures, in the hopes of making one for my husband. I've come to a conclusion and I'm beginning to get scared....

Vegeta is impossible to cosplay.

In light of that fact, here are some of the best of the worst vegetas I've seen on the net.

(I won't be linking back to the cosplayer's page this time, because I mean no offense by posting these - and don't want to draw attention to the cosplayer's profiles. I'd be embarassed if someone posted my picture on a post about bad cosplays...)

<----WTF HAIR

I've come to the conclusion that Vegeta's hair is a cosplaying curse. It seems that every bad Vegeta is rooted in bad Vegeta hair. That being said, I did however discover ONE cosplayer who I believe has the best Vegeta wig of all time. Props to this person:

GOOD Vegeta cosplay by QuantumDestiny.

I will strive to avenge the murder of vegeta hairstyles....

Versailles Cosplay Genius

2009-11-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

Right now, I am consumed by the band Versailles. I've seen them just about everywhere, and quite honestly, I did NOT expect them to be half as good as they are. Oh yeah, and the lead singer (Kamijo) is a freaking dream-boat.

Told you.

Anyway, I ADORE the way they dress. Outfit-wise, I am really loving Jasmine and Hizaki's Beautiful array of elaborate dresses. Needless to say, these dresses are going to be my cosplay holy-grail if you will. One day, I will be skilled enough to fashion one of those outfits. In the meantime, I'm loving some of the cosplays I've been seeing of these guys on deviantart!

Hizaki by Pinkberry-parfait

Jasmine Yuu by Joshou

Jasmine by paradizekizz

More pics by paradizekizz - Jasmine 1, Jasmine 2, Jasmine 3

Brilliant. I love this stuff :)

More Budget Cosplay Fun!

2009-10-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

Scouring through the forums again, I found two more lovely budget cosplay guides. Although I had tons of fun typing out my own, these guys have a lot of magnificent things to say about cheap cosplaying, so I decided to post their links here for anyone who's interested in more extensive advice on the art of saving money while taking on such an expensive hobby!

Cosplaying on a Budget - Be Cheap, but don't Look Cheap.

Cosplay Budget Tutorial

Enjoy!

Not moved. Just in two places at once.

2009-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Eh, Nevermind.

I had decided to move this blog to Livejournal, but then I though about it, and realized that I'd rather just post it in two places at once. Why, you ask? Because some people don't have livejournal. It's easier to keep up with feeds from Blogger than from Livejournal. But, My heart still lies with lj. So, this blog is duplicated from this point forward. Subscribe in either one!

2009-09-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

DIARY OF AN A OTAKU MADWOMAN HAS MOVED.

Why? I dunno. I just like livejournal better.

This blog is now here

Please update your feeds :)

Cosplay Review #2!

2009-07-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a second cosplayer that I found to be lovely enough to share. Pinkberry-Parfait on Deviantart.com has a gallery that just gets increasingly more adorable as time passes. Every picture you can expect a level of Kawaii unheard of by us normal chicks...;p Here are some pics, and click right up there on her name to go see her profile and gallery on Deviantart.

Amu Hinamori from Shugo Chara \/

Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne \/

Hatsune Miku from Vocaloid \/

2009-07-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

Let's step away from the old cosplay pictures for a moment, and post some new ones! I just finished and debuted this cosplay at the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premier at my local movie theater. I was very happy with the way it turned out, I did a photoshoot. Here is my Bellatrix Lestrange!

Entire Gallery is located here:

http://cerukekkusu.deviantart.com/gallery/#Bellatrix-Lestrange-Harry-Potter

But here are some previews:

My cosplay pics Day 2

2009-07-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

My next cosplay after Tifa Lockheart was Kuchiki Rukia (School Uniform Style) It was a relatively easy costume to make, except for how hard it is to find a decent grey pleated skirt around here. But, I finally found one, and life was good! I took some cute pics :) Take it easy, still a n00b remember?

Cosplay Review # 1

2009-07-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

http://imari-chan.deviantart.com/

Obviously a cosplayer who knows what they're doing. Some of the characters portrayed on imari-chans profile are top-rank. It's hard to find a good Kaname Kuran, or Ootori Kyouya.

Below are Imari-chan's Kyouya Ootori (Ouran High School Host Club), Mikami (Deathnote) and Kaname Kuran (Vampire Knight)

2009-07-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

First things first, Let's review my previous cosplay attempts. I don't think they're so bad myself, but let's see if we can get some comments flowing. Seeing as I'm sort of a n00b, I only have a few finished outfits. I'll post one a day. :)

Here was my very first finished cosplay! Tifa Lockhart from FFVII Advent Children. I made it from some beautiful thrift store findings...Shoes, Vest and shrts, and undershirt were perfect as-is. The skirt was my first complicated sewing project. I had to piece together two different skirts to get the right effect, and I think it turned out ok :) (let's pretend I did a good job posing for these, ok? Not quite as flexable as Tifa...)

Diary of an Otaku Madwoman

2009-07-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

Aside from living a life filled with cakes and pastries, I also obssess over Anime and Cosplay. I know, I'm a geek, right?

This blog will mostly be for my own fun. I'll include pictures of my cosplay projects, photoshoots, and the like. I'll be sure to include tutorials with whatever I make. I'll probably post a bit about cons in the Alabama/Georgia area. I'll include friend's cosplay pictures, websites I find interesting, tutorials I like, etc.

This is pretty much my outlet for anything and everything that revolves around cosplay in my life :p Soooo hopefully someone besides me will enjoy this!