Yup time for me to put data on the internet…

So I’ve been quiet for a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been active. Far from it, but one of the things that being busy does it mean I don’t get to blog as much.

The first even we went to this year was Telford MCM in February, we went off all packed up as usual. I took my Dante out, I admit it’s one of my favourites and I get to pay homage to a gaming franchise I have played since the very first day.

It was a nice day out; I saw some friends and I got to see some that had even been placed in the cosplay masquerade and to see new costumes that had been brought out. One of my favourite things to do is to talk to people, we get to socialise and speak about things we are passionate and despite being quite the internet worm, and being happy snuggled up on the sofa with the cat, it gets me out of that trap.

I probably come across as very confident, but I am not, I talk too much because I am nervous, because I don’t want to be seen as boring… I know it’s silly, I even know that most of the paranoia about that is on my shoulders but I also know that the longer I have been doing this the better I seem to get at handling it.

I got a very lucky break and got to go to Capcom HQ here in the UK, for a second time. This time we got invited over the DMC HD release, and were invited to go in costume to see everyone and get to play some games. I bowed out of the gaming aspect as sadly all the driving can put a strain on my heavily operated wrist. I think we can all agree it’s better to be fully operational behind the wheel!

It was actually not a bad travel either, other than one set of road works, which any one travelling via road in England may well think is like winning the lottery! The roads here are notoriously bad for road works, the more you travel the more your optimism about getting there on time flies out of the window. I have been caught in a 5 hour tail back on the way from Heathrow, a 3 hour jam at Birmingham and so many more… when I get a clear run I feel like I need that fanfare you get with Ryan Air that lands a plane on time.

So Saturday was very good, it was a fun day out, we saw friends and made some new ones. Which meant I came home tired and ready for sleep because the plan was to go to Em Con the next day. So the following morning I got up and dragged out my lancer, found the blond wig and headed off to meet friends at the Capital FM Arena.

Now those of you that follow my blog, or went last year, will remember that there was an issue with the capacity and so many people were left in long queues which did not guarantee you got in. That wasn’t so much an issue this time at all, the capacity of the Arena was far greater and the layout meant that you could get around better than the last place.

The queues seemed to be fairly free-flowing; the only thing that felt odd was that you had to produce your paper ticket to move in and out of the arena. It seems that they controlled it with scanners and that was how it worked, it wasn’t an issue for me but I can imagine if you are on limited pocket space or in something complex you’re going to get annoyed by it; however that’s the system employed.

I found out about Feel the Force too, this amazing charity work that basically arranges conventions for people with disabilities, such as the deaf and blind to be able to get involved. For instance it was explained to me that those of us who cosplay can come along and get involved, we can wear our costumes and the deaf/blind or otherwise impaired are able to touch and feel the costumes. This sounds amazing! Imagine being a storm trooper who can help a blind person to understand what you are wearing, or simply put anything that allows someone access to what you do where it might not always be possible. This is something I am happy to do at any convention but this seems to bring the idea to the forefront.

So I am now quite tired, all walked and driven out and need to sort out for the weekend ahead, Birmingham MCM is the next on the list.

Happy New Year

Time for an end of year round up?

As I write this I’m thinking about a lot of good things that have happened and I am however drawn inevitably to some of those lower moments too. A hit and run on my car, thanks mate I needed the insurance claim! and bad mental health that has put my plans for dieting back so I need to get back to that. But on to the good!

* Another year with my wonderful partner.

* Cosplay, meeting new and old friends thanks to the hobby.

* Mental health is back on track… for now 😉

* Changed job and moved house.

Cosplay wise I got to meet so many people and share a passion with them, it’s just been fantastic. I have even been nominated for Miss Yorkshire Cosplay, if you get time do click on the link HERE and vote for me. I would really appreciate it, and to be honest I am utterly flattered people have voted at all. It’s so much fun to be part of something like that, I never dreamed it would happen to me anyway.

Gaming wise – more Gears of War, a tantalising news event of the possibility that there will be more for X Box one from the Gears world; this means my year of co-operative gaming and hilarious deaths in multi-player were worth it!  Well to be honest any time with friends is worth it.

I got to revel in the new Wolfenstein, also to play new games from Gold that I might not have before. One of those which still amuses me now is Battle Block Theatre, the chaos platform gaming just seems so much fun. I also like my Steam account as it means that I can go wild playing on that too.

World of Warcraft and running a guild is also a blessing, sometimes it feels a little curse like when I am having a rough day and cannot get everything properly organised but the guild I run has amazingly tolerant and mature players for the most part. I like it when I can get time with them as a group for raiding etc… now I really should sort that poor guild bank out!

I really do wish everyone a great 2015, and I hope that you get the most out of a new year.

That Gears Gal

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Birmingham and Opinions

No not the city of Birmingham, I mean MCM Birmingham the cosplay weekend event. I am a little behind on blogging with this one but I’m going to do a quick review of the best bits and then follow it up with a little thing about opinions and delivering them.

MCM Birmingham was a great event, sadly a little shadowed by ill-health but I sincerely have to thank my friends who not only supported me but looked after me as well. I went as a rather shabby looking Ezio due to barely getting myself out of bed on the Saturday but I had a great time!  On the Sunday I was a flung together KH wearing mess but that’s okay I was happy in it. I sadly didn’t pick up anything Gears of War, but that could be because I already own most of the things I am likely to see around conventions, wait! Does that mean I might even be able to save a few pennies? NAH I will just end up spending them on something else right?

There were brilliant people and costumes to be seen, my friends daughter came with us as a splicer from Bioshock, which meant we found a Little Sister and another Splicer who had graciously allowed me to take their pictures together. I got to see some great costumes from all sorts of fandom’s and got chatting to some wonderful folks. To everyone I did speak to, thank you very much for contributing to a great weekend.

Birmingham NEC is a great place for the events, their car park system is well organised and most of the staff I’ve interacted with have been very friendly and courteous. Of course there’s bound to be exceptions to this from other people for me it was a good place and had plenty of space around the convention if you needed to take a break from the main crowds.

And now on to Opinions – I have never shied away from giving mine when I feel it’s appropriate (and possibly not so haha!) but I really don’t think that some people understand how they present themselves when they do so, irrationally or with a frame of mind that’s very closed to their own views. I’m going to go with an example but don’t take this as my view necessarily.

Person A: “Gears of War Judgement is just like playing Call of Duty, so I stopped playing. Epic and People Can Fly are idiots, they can’t make games they suck. Judgement’s so bad I stopped playing all the Gears games.”

Person B: “I liked it, I don’t think it’s anything like COD. What a newb, you’re so stupid you can’t even play it that’s why you don’t like it.”

Person C: “WTF you’re both idiots. I work in gaming… x x x y and z examples later…”

Right – so I don’t care if person A is saying something I agree with or not, I might leave a comment saying I liked it, but it’s not for everyone. I appreciate it as an opinion but I am sure as hell not falling out with someone over it. Why is B and C wrong in MY opinion? It assumes that having a difference of opinion automatically makes that person inferior or somehow stupid. I find the people that leave derogatory comments to be bullish in their approach. B could have stopped at the one sentence but extends it into a personal attack on A. C is assuming both are idiots because they profess to know more purely but being in the industry and therefore assume no one can be right but them.

It’s not likely to ever change, but I wouldn’t give credence to that attitude purely because it’s not fair to belittle an opinion. If I don’t like it I move on, if I feel strongly I will leave my view but I wouldn’t assume that it is better than the opposing one. Who knows I might even be swayed to a new way of approaching something?

Racist, bigoted, evil and downright nasty comments on anything I see will always resort in me taking the same action. Removal of that social outlet, removal of the person within it if I have that control. If I loose “friends on facebook” I haven’t lost them, they were never friends to begin with if they had no respect for me or my friends. Same with Twitter followers, Deviantart etc. It’s OKAY to have a difference of opinion and to express it,  I walk away with an approach that I don’t feel comfortable with it I don’t have to be involved. So… if I loose facebook friends, that’s okay. I just hope that when they do go it’s with a fairly decent opinion of me rather than walking away angry.

Thank you.

 

Deadpool and RedHulk’s attempts at a thumb war?

2013 What’s happened to me?

Wow what a year! And I really do thank my family and friends for it all.

1. Partner.

He’s suffered my obsessive cosplay outings, holiday and trips all over the place. We’ve both been very busy this year, he even ventured out to a convention with me despite hating them. He’s a rock when I am depressed, and I in turn hope I do that for him when he is low or wants comfort. We’ve been together for over a decade now, seems pretty impressive to me.

2. I changed jobs.

I went from a full time position dealing with complaints for the energy industry and it was a bit of a harrowing time. The place I was in took up a lot of my energy and I found it hard to deal with by the end, more so when I realised how many people I would leave behind. I have now got a new job, it’s part time and the money adjustments will really set in during 2014.

3. Venice.

This was amazing. I went with what I consider to be one of my best set of friends here in Nottingham. It’s a shame more friends couldn’t be mustered up but it’s really a place you can fall in love with. I am desperately hoping to return there, as much as I would like to go back to the USA and even Germany too. It was so hot and I even got a tan!

4. Other outings?

I was lucky to get to see the Mansion for Zed Events, I met a lot of amazing people there from both Zed Events and REUK (Resident Evil UK). It was so much fun! It was a great road trip with my friends and it was another great way of proving I can get past the years of sitting home, in semi-forced reclusion.

Sheffield and Birmingham Cemetery trips – again I went with friends or met friends there. I love to look around and see the beautiful gravestones, the plants and environment; I don’t mind if people consider it morbid. It makes me happy and I feel at peace in them.

I also took a couple of other trips, one to Haverhill to see friends I don’t get to see enough and also a random trip out to go and buy a Gears of War Lancer off a friend there. I fell lucky enough to catch up with another friend in Scarborough and so both trips were a great deal of fun.

5. Cosplay.

WOW where do I begin? How about the list of the ones I ventu

I have really enjoyed making so many friends, and I have absolutely learnt a lot about costumes. I have seen the good and bad side of the hobby. I love the costumes, the friends and I love looking around. I hate the blatant elitism and the downright rude way people can be, not everyone there wants to be an air-brushed model on a page, and I am definitely happy with just staying in the circles I do. If you want to say hi or get a picture do so, but I don’t approach photographers because I don’t need them to make me feel good. Especially when this year I lost seven stone, made friends by the bucket-loads and didn’t even need an agent to do it! (Yeah that was a cheap dig at the “I want to make friends, book my pictures” type of people). red too? So MCM Telford, both Birmingham events, both London events, LFCC in the summer, Insomnia47 (thanks to the awesome Tigerlily Cosplay and her competition), J-Con and Nerdfest. What a year?

6. Gaming.

Oh lords well – it’s really been the year for Gears of War and Resident Evil, mixed with a bit of Devil May Cry (original 4). I did also get my mitts on Metal Gear Rising. It’s been a great year for social gaming, I’ve spent plenty of hours on my Xbox and PC, and I also got a fair amount of time on the MMO I have played for quite a few years (yes the dreaded WOW player is here).

Gaming has been a good outlet for me, when I am not able to write, draw or muster up the energy to fight low points of depression it’s a way to escape the troubles. When I am in a good mood it’s a great way to clock up some kill counts too!

So how has your year been? I hope it’s been good and that come 2014 it will only get better.

Special thanks to Jon Fisher Photography for my Dante picture.

MCM Review Oct 2013

So it’s been a bit manic but finally I have time to get some writing about the event up and running, other than the previous comedy post about the situation with the weird man on the Sunday.

So here goes –

Friday: we had a few blips to get there, we were stuck in a two hour tail-back around the Birmingham area, I really needed to pee! But it’s okay once we got on the road it was a fun trip down and despite the cheesy music in the car my friend fared well and came in alive haha!

Getting our wristbands for the weekend on early entry wasn’t at all painful compared to the May queue. It was simple in and out, bands on *which by the way are a better quality so thanks MCM!* and then into the event.

Friday’s is for me the better day to try and shop, Saturday I barely ever go into the complex and hall. It is just toooo busy! So we had a wander and I brought some rather sexy Gears of War additions for my collection.

Saturday – Oh lords just TOO busy to be inside. And it’s not even just the staff that can be rude, most of them were okay this time. I’ve had the door staff and people being quite rude before but for the most part I escaped that. I will however say some members of the public should probably be glad there are not real weapons they are that damned rude! Pushing people, moaning about the fact there’s too many folks. It’s a convention expect people to be there, but if you can’t be polite or at least move out of the damned flow to have a twenty minute food break I’d rather you let your oxygen go to another person with a brain…

I went to the Fox the Saturday night, a little bold for me as I am terrible at these social things. Cosplay is the way I have picked to battle this social issue, so I went and I had a lovely time. I came back, passed out for about three hours and then woke up with an anxiety attack, however could have been worse because I at least got a little sleep. Did also have a lot of bacon for breakfast – mmmm bacon!

Sunday was a lot calmer indoors, it meant we got a little chance to do some last minute shopping. My friend James had found me a Robbie Rabbit from Silent Hill, I never did find the Konami Store! I was dressed in BSAA outfit, whilst I wasn’t stopped as much as others I really did have a wonderful time in that costume. REUK are just wonderful as a group, I feel like part of a family there.

So the organisation? I would say considering the volume not bad. Again I would say some of the staff/volunteers sincerely need to work on their damned attitude. It’s a nerdfest/geekfest of people that probably aren’t all as brave as they think and sometimes we need a little human touch even if we don’t look one. However when it came to a problem on the Sunday the security on site were on hand and dealt with the issue quickly.

Props/Con Goers treatment – whilst I had no problems myself I was really angry to hear that sensible con-goers with props were turned away whilst others in there I could see were more dangerous with their behaviour than any guy with a fake gun could ever have been! It’s not the Props it’s the bloody people that need chucking out. I would say there should be a check point where you can get your weaponry/props checked out by ONE central point. If the weapon is deemed safe and the cosplayer sensible then give that prop a tag to tie on or something that makes it clear it’s been deemed con-safe. It takes the personal issues away from the door security and means less trouble for those of us that can go in and out ten times a day, then suddenly stopped by the one guy/gal that suddenly takes a dislike. It’s far too based on someone’s personal opinion which means too much error with bias.

Stalls/stands – FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHAT COMICS! Seriously it’s called Comiccon and there was like one, maybe two stalls of comics? Very disappointed that the gaming side is lacking, the comics were hit and miss on about two stalls. If I wanted to buy a lucky cat or a bazillion takes on Japanese sweets that we already could buy on the ENTIRE area of Japan food then wow great day. Didn’t see a damned thing outside of the Gears tucked away in some boxes and the Robbie that someone else found for me. I wasn’t impressed with the range this time, a shame as people go with all that money to spend on an event and can end up coming back with very little.

The Steam Punk stands seemed non-existent and even if you are not a major fan it’s part of the conventions generally. The Table Tennis area was a terrible idea, whilst standing by my friends waiting for his cosplay judging we were constantly bombarded by the damned things and watching some kid destroy a table and having to keep repairing it. Not a good idea MCM really, really not!

So overall? Negatives =Biggest lets downs? Not a single guest of interest for me as a gamer, I don’t give a shit about Young Dracula and I don’t care for half of the crap put on inside. Sadly it was just not exciting for the line up and I was sad to hear so many negative bits about it.  Gaming was not really that varied, a shame but the ones on there looked popular enough for the mainstream.

Highlights – I did chat to a developer for a bit who was making his own xbox game and that was pretty cool. Costumes – plenty of good ones and I got to see a lot of my friends finished products from their blogs and facebook make it into real life. New friends I made along the way, absolutely the highlight! A couple of people stopping me for my pictures, I’m not bothered by popularity but it’s a massive compliment when someone does stop me.

Go again? Yes I will be, I will be going to May to see if some of the points addressed by people are picked up on and resolved.  I don’t want people to think I don’t ever have a good time there, I really do or I wouldn’t go back but I’d hope for more variety on the menu by May. Please MCM PLEASE go back to the pre-mainstream crap, I’m a geek and I don’t want it to feel like a trip into the city centre over a weekend of celebrating that fact.

And LOVE to everyone I met there!

So some shoutouts and links for anyone that got to the bottom of this haha!

AJL Armours and Cosplay

Big Red Ape Cosplay

Capcom UK

Buster Boy Cosplay

Cosmic Workshop

Cosplay Without Bias

Cosplayuk

Jon Fisher Photography

Zed Events 

 

Where have I been? and Nero

Oh wow well three weeks in the USA with friends,. roadtrips, dollar spending and wow the places I saw! I could write all year about that alone. I mean I have totally fallen in love with the USA but there were some things I had to get used to, slightly comedy some of them however. I forgot it’s not a “loo” it’s a restroom. I have no mathematics for the service charges… I love Samuel Adams Boston Lager. I have see the real Silent Hill aka Centralia and I have stood in Central Park… all of this and more but this is the cosplay thing I decided to try so here goes!

Project female Nero sword.

So basically my wonderful fiance got me the sword but I was unhappy that you could barely see the detail on the paint job.

As you can see the main hilt is just black but I think that the red and gold in the game are lovely and so I have had a play. I hope you like it!

Nero’s Gun from DMC4

Okay! This one was a bit crazy mostly because half way through this I suffered a break out of contact dermatitis. Maybe I will post about that at some point, I end up looking like a leper!

So, Nero is one of my favourite boys of all time! I mean it, seriously love his little punk attitude and the clothes. Now obviously I love the original Dante and I won’t start a rant about how much I hate the reboot but I thought you might like to see what a few hours and a £10 budget can do for Cosplay. This is Blue Rose – aka Nero’s gun.

What you need – 2 plastic guns, a hacksaw, paint, some cardboard or filler of some sort and time… lots of time. At the end you can also tidy this up with varnish for more protection.

I got two “Cowboy” guns for “£3, you can see I pretty much just hacked off   barrel and put it on to another. Then put some card in to fill the centre and built the little extra box. It doesn’t look sturdy but you can see the overall shape roughly matches Nero’s gun.

After that was the fun part of spraying! I used Games Workshop’s white paint as a base coat but it wasn’t really necessary. I just sprayed it with a light silver paint then hand painted with another silver paint over to give it more texture. Again just leave it plenty of time to dry, I had to take this outside because I picked model paint and it stank!

After that I paint the handle with “leather brown” paint. It wasn’t amazing looking but it’s more about representation than exacts, especially when I decided I was going to save myself the costs online.

I paint the box with the rose on next, I had metallic coloured paint in the stores but honestly I think you could get away using just the colours you fancied.

Then to get the rose outlines for the vines I drew them on with a soft pencil, the design was then painted on as a mix of black and silver paint with a fine brush.

Once all of it was done it was a matter of varnish over the top to keep it protected a little more. It’s not exact but I am pretty confident that you could recognise what it is and that’s more important.

So costs?

£3 for two plastic guns from Amazon.

Paint – already had but still cheap enough if you wanna get some.

Hacksaw (for the love of Holy if you are trying this and young get your dad or mom to do it for you!)

Glue and card.

Varnish (or as an alternative some clear nail varnish you could pick up from a market etc)

 

MCM London 2012

Hey all!

Well I had an absolutely amazing time. Last year I went but hadn’t really known what to expect so this year I had a plan to go out in costume and have a grand old time.

I picked Rangiku Matsomoto from Bleach because she’s a favourite of mine and as a larger girl I wanted to avoid making a mistake with the costume. I have others but she was the one I set my heart on. It was totally worth it as well…

We drove down early on the motorway but there was a nightmare traffic build up from an accident on the M25, by the time we got to the hotel we were definitely ready to get a shower and cool down. Four of us met up at the bar and we got something to eat and watched other people who were already in costume wandering around. We really got a great feeling for the type of wonderful people we were about to meet too!

After wandering around London and drinking until gone 3am when I woke up I expected a bit of a hangover but nope! So breakfast done the labouring (but fun) process of getting into costume began. I adore the wig by the way, I guess because my hair is naturally very dark unless I bleach it (irony) I haven’t got a lot of scope for colour. This was totally out of character for me but a good giggle none the less.

 It took sometime to wrestle into the costume but then with everything ready I met up with my friends and we headed off to the queue. The queuing part to me is actually one of the most fun parts too, hugs, costumes and cheers go up all over the place and you get to see people that you are also likely to spot throughout the day, though I also admit the pre-brought tickets seem like a good venture if you are not there for just one day.

For the price of £3 off a stand I ended up with the best thing ever, a fan! It was amazingly sunny and warm so moving around was causing sweat. We wandered around some stalls and took some pictures, had a look at the gaming stands and planned a day of shopping. All this time we were saying hello to people in costume and one of the best things is that no one judges you, that’s the whole point isn’t it? Having fun… well yes we did!

 I guess the highlight of my day in terms of the celebrity thing is meeting Elvira. She was there promoting her new film and if you brought it you could get a picture with her. Elvira is amazing! I don’t know if you remember the 1988 film but my gods, that woman looks sooooo good. She had a smile for everyone and I think anyone that had a chance to meet her would say the same.

I spent quite a bit of money, including buying a keyblade for cosplay. I might never go as Sora but I absolutely wanted one of these since I first picked up Kingdom Hearts. I do however have the coat so maybe it’s time to polish that one off… The whole day was busy, but so much fun.

 To everyone that I met and said hi to, or said hi to me if you got any photo’s of me or of your day to share please do link them in my comments. I had such a wonderful time and want to thank everyone that was there for the amazing community spirit.

Rea (Rangiku hehe)

Trollolol

I have to admit I can’t understand the need for it from people. If the only thing of importance in my life was commenting on another person’s tiniest comments I’d have a brilliant life! Personally I think anyone that spends their day anonymously abusing the family of a tragic death or posting on someone’s blog who has suffered a terrible accident is a very sad and pathetic individual.

I was bullied horrifically as a child, one incident was where three 15 year old girls decided to “kick me in” outside my elderly nan’s flat. All because they wanted to look cool at school. Funny that, I came out with good grades, a stable relationship and a loving family. The wonders of facebook allow me to see that at least two of them are still unemployed even now, so who really was the “looser”?

Internet bullying is a crime, like the real thing, it’s not protecting meek people from a higher social chain it’s protecting the fact that human beings are in general so awful to one another we need laws to stop it. A child that commits suicide over bullying has (in my view) been murdered and the bastards responsible should be brought to justice for it.

Anonymous trolls on internet forums are the worst kind, they can’t even get the guts to do something to your face, presumably as they would get a rightful punch in it!

I was brought up to respect other people, I wasn’t encouraged to be rude and yet it seems that it’s becoming the normal thing to do. If someone makes a sensible comment or post that cannot be responded to you will find that thread is ignored. If of course someone posts an inane piece of drivel or the person doing the post is in the wrong place etc you can expect a flood of hundreds of comments, relating from “ya mom” to downright verbal abuse.

It’s quite sad if you look at it, we’re incapable as a species of being community minded. We’re all assholes. I aim not to be, I am sure I have my moments, but I know that when I put a comment to something I will try to ensure that it’s constructive. If I don’t like something I just move on, people who troll are doing so to get a rise and response. I let them leave their snide comments and move on, even if they reply to something else I was involved in.

I don’t feed the trolls and I don’t insult my own intelligence by rising to the bait, if I get caught out shame on me eh!

Game and RIP to the Highstreet

GAME and RIP highstreet Today I hear that GAME is still suffering with it’s trading issues. I love that place. I hope that something comes up for the company and they continue because I have always shopped there since the store came to Nottingham.

Complaining that they re-sell for profit to themselves, well I don’t see anything about that being an issue on e-bay, Amazon, Gamestop etc… hells even Supermarkets are in the pre-owned market. I disagree really heartily with the idea of having to pay extortionate amounts for one license on my computer that I have to repay for if anything goes wrong…

Internet based companies took the market into easy shopping but I like going into the store. Helpful, friendly people came to assist me and unlike most mass crap retail outlets I felt like I could engage with staff. The manager was on the shop floor and he would talk and listen to people. It’s what we used to get and what we SHOULD get! I hate going into the city centre lately, mostly it’s a place for a small gathering of tents for “occupy Nottingham” which by the way just is a farce.

I hate the masses of cafe’s and other boring ass places with more calories and sugar and no personality. The best shops I can remeber are all gone replaced by Primark and Gap, or other such cheap ass “only if you are stick thin” places.

So Game, Forbidden Planet, Page 45 and the old geeky shops were my reason to go in. Take those away and my choice has to be internet so I am forced into the market of the internet even if I didn’t want it, purely because there is nothing else.

I feel sorry for the high street business of today, unless it’s something like Starbucks or Poundland it’s not getting very far unless it goes netbased. RIP highstreet, I used to enjoy walking around with my friends but I fear it’s an age of the past.

Signing out Rea