progress and things

Ughhh I've spent so much this month, but it's all in preparation of next year, birthday gifts, and so on!

glayishand I bought our dad a bottle of 30 year Glenfiddich for his 54th birthday this year. I hope he likes it X'D

 


Movies:

Went and saw SkyFall (new James Bond) movie. It actually didn't impress me much :|. Then again I am not a fan of Daniel Craig at all. It was too angsty and sentimental and lacked the humour and awesome weapons/cars that I enjoyed from previous films. Also, Adele's song was only used in the opening!! Why didn't they use it in at least a refrain?? Geezus. Yeah the villain interrogation was delightfully different (OMGGGggg freaked out in the theater bwah ha ha, no spoilers, hot damn), but still, don't change the formula if it works!!

Finally saw Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The fight on top the train greatly surpassed the Bond vs criminal fight on top a train. Badass movie. Loved it. Respectable hero and love story. I think I would be greatly upset if I came across slash for it =_=...

Wreck-It Ralph was delightful. I saw it twice!! Once with glayish and a co-worker, and the second time with jiyoon and glayish. Ffffff I adored the Sgt. Calhoun + Fix-It Felix story line. I normally don't like brat-ish kid characters like Vanellope, but the whole relationship with Ralph and her made the movie very very good. I'm sorry I like shota and May/December romance so I kind of ship it in a what-if way. I think the only way they could ruin that movie is with a sequel.

I ended up drawing an art of Calhoun and Felix, which got a lot of favs @_@!!


If it ain't broke... by ~TechnoRanma on deviantART

Still no Daily Deviation yet, but we're getting there... maybe


Fandom:

I'm actually going to watch new anime!!!! I'm waiting on the Gantz boxset that I got from doing the FUNimation booth with ACP @ NYCC. Still no sign of it in the mail :(.... 

I'm kind of spread between Hetalia and Star Trek at the moment. Really odd things to be into at the same time probably XDD.

It's been a year since my mom got me Star Trek: TOS on Blu-Ray and my dad got me the 6 movies boxset. Watched it ALL!! All the news (or LACK thereof, should I say) about the 2013 movie Star Trek into Darkness is making me super frustrated harghhh. Need more Trek. The rebooted cast is just completely different though, it's not the same even if the effects, fight scenes, and film quality are technically better -- the original stuff is so good it just doesn't matter. (Except The Motion Picture, other than the new music, that was just plain bad.)

I want to get started on The Next Generation now that it's out on Blu-Ray. I remember watching that series on standard definition as a kid with my dad, but it's been a long time, and I couldn't appreciate it as I would now, I think. First Contact is still one of my favourite movies ever (saw it in theater hell yea). Out of all the shows, I remember DS9 and Voyager the best. Voyager is probably the only Trek I watched in entirety on TV. I never could get used to Enterprise's theme song.

Still you don't get another crew like the TOS one. So funny. And Kirk + Spock is just legendary damnit. If it's one thing I'm looking forward to with the Star Trek into Darkness movie, it's more Kirk + Spock fanfiction and music videos @_@!!!!

[/gush]


Hetalia is coming out with a 5th season!!!!!!!!! They switched animation studios too, so the art is already looking a million times better than Studio DEEN's.



The only thing I dislike about this is that my Italy cosplay is now inaccurate. Because I made it Studio DEEN anime accurate ;_;!! The new colours and style wouldn't be flattering on me at all. Light blue with pilot style pants, and blazing orange hair. Damn. I've already worn Italy too many damn times it's falling apart. Must not let this become an excuse to remake it. Haha

Also, all my artwork colours are based off the anime -_-... But a change could be inspiring, maybe. I have a queue of Hetalia arts thanks to the requests on my devART journal. Those will keep me occupied this winter ^^

I'm excited for the new animation with Hetalia tho... I really hope they'll actually tackle some more of the actually POPULAR strips. Buon San Valentino PLEASE damnit!!!! OTL

I haven't read any Hetalia fanfiction in ages. I get fed up trying to search for quality stuff so in the end I just don't bother. I might end up looking for rec lists instead. (I've gotten interested in Hungary x Prussia thanks to the 4th season)


Conventions & Cosplay:

I recently updated my cosplay collage from 2001 - 2012.


Techno's Cosplay Collage by ~TechnoRanma on deviantART

Compared to other people's progression, I've improved somewhat.. but I realised I make shitty fabric choices that still make my cosplay look cheapass not matter how much better my sewing and crafting skills have gotten :/

I wish I could go back and redo pretty much all of them.

guh I also have to move on from Gohan, lol. still doesn't stop me from raging over other Gohan cosplayers tho. And learn to make different expressions without them being fugly. And actually ask more of the awesome photographers I know for photoshoots OTL.

I recently made it a resolution (goal, even) to stop cosplaying if it becomes dependent on other people (especially if they don't care enough to finish :/ ). I think I broke the goal ALREADY though, because I added fem!Spain to my roster for a photoshoot/dinner with Kaiser-Mony as fem!France.


I reeaaally hope that that doesn't fizzle out =(((. It happened a lot this year, with Max (Beyblade), I was supposed to wear that with a Mariam (Beyblade), and then a Ray (Beyblade), and all that failed. I also invited another person to cosplay fem!Germany when I was re-wearing fem!Italy for photos. TWICE she didn't bother to finish. People suck. It's a hobby, YES, I know that, but it's happened far too often to me. I hate having to be the 'understanding' one. Groups have just become too stressful and disappointing to me. [/woe]

As of everything else I've planned for 2013 though, I'm making it all without ANY delusions of cosplay partners/friends \O/.


Hobbystar Toronto ComiCon (November 25th, 2012)
GOING because the location is the Fairmont Royal York *-*! Looks like they've only booked the Imperial Room, but that's already a vast improvement on the shitty metro convention centre security and tiny rooms they usually get. Hobbystar's Comic-cons tend to be much better run than their Anime-cons.
Costume: Doctor Leonard McCoy "Bones" (Star Trek: TOS)
Got my cosplay mostly finished! (Just need to take in & install zippers in the boots because they were too baggy at the calf)

  

After finishing all of TOS I really wanted to make a costume. Damned addictive sci-fi. I decided on McCoy because I can kind of relate to his cantankerous disposition. He complains but he gets the job done. McCoy also has all my favourite quotations in the series. I know I'll probably get grief for the cross-play but whatever, I didn't want to do Uhura because I wanted pants. Actually I've seen more men dress as Uhura than I've seen women so maybe there's something that can be inferred there lol I dunno Kirk and Scotty are my favourite TOS characters, but I'd have to change my build too much for that.



As it happens I DID have to build myself a pair of man-shoulders anyway. My actual shoulders are only about 15" across, so for most male cosplay I have to load up on shoulder pads. I think I ended up making my trousers a bit shorter than I planned OTL. Proportion wise it makes me look taller, but.. fuck;; What an amateur mistake. They're more 'Kirk' length.




Hobbystar Toronto AnimeCon (December 9th, 2012)
VERY unlikely I'll be able to go... I have another stupid gala to go to with my parents (that makes at least 5 I've attended already this year). More dry chicken or salmon and steamed veggies. Joy.
Location is in the North Building basement area. I just have horrible memories of getting chain fenced in and yelled at by security. It will most likely not be any different this time around. Cosplay wise I thought about wearing fem!Italy again, because I know of a few Nyotalia cosplayers who might show up(???) but I don't want to be disappointed again, so if for some reason I CAN make it, I was thinking of re-wearing something else.
Costume: ---

December Dinner Photoshoot (December 2012)
Location and date unknown! Dinner, snowy, sparkly nyotalia photoshoot. *crosses fingers for Jess, Andrew, and Karen as amazing photographers!*
Costume: fem!Spain
First time I'm doing a costume without a coloured ref @_@;... I've never been that creative, so I'm gonna try my best on fabric choice and all.

Katsucon (February 14th - 17th, 2013)
Driving down and staying in the Gaylord Hotel with Rock nam Lee and his gf Alex B. (same as Katsucon 2012!)
The Gaylord is a gorgeous hotel right smack dab in the tourist area of the National Harbour. I think it's become my fav anime convention, if only for the fact that the location is just so nice and also the cosplayers who go to it are quality! I decided to get my anime on with some cosplays I've wanted to do!

Costume: Ranma (Girl-type, season two orange shirt + red bowtie)
Comfort for late night anime viewing and when I'm on downtime. My new red base wig came in!!

 

The colour should suit me much better than the old one I had (lol see collage.) "Apple Red" from Wig Fashion. Tentatively wearing it Friday while I check out panels and events. I have a ThorKi photoshoot that I'm actually shooting for on Friday, too O_o!!! (Thor = glayish, Loki = Terene) This means I'll likely bring my tripod and try to claim a nice spot. Occasionally I can take a nice picture lol;;

Costume: Fem!Austria (Nyotalia)
Probably all of Saturday. Got my boots and my base wig(s) came in!!

 


I say "wig(s)" because I bought 2 of the same kind. MY HEAD IS BIG. I need twice the amount of wig fiber to cover it, lawl. I figured it would just look better thicker, considering I need to restyle the hairline/bangs and add braids. LOVE the colour. It shines a bit reddish under dim lighting more than I like, but for every other lighting it's a very nice burgundy/brown *o*/ I'm going to style it and then if it comes down to it I can airbrush the colour slightly. I don't think I'll need to tho.

Austria is #3 on my fav Hetalia characters XD. (Behind Italy & Germany). I used to role-play him. I hate glasses though, so I never wanted to cosplay him. His Nyotalia design doesn't have any glasses, and the outfit is something different I've not really made before, so I definitely wanted to do it when the design came out.

I posted this on my tumblr and it turns out my friend Letelle has been working on a Mangary (male!Hungary) so she said she might try to finish it for Katsucon as well! That would be an added bonus *-*

Hobbystar March Toronto Comicon (March 9th - 10th, 2013)
Costume: ???

Star Trek into Darkness (May 17th, 2013)
Costume: Doctor McCoy (TOS) (???)
Part of me wants to troll the line-up by being in the TOS version uniform, and another part of me wants to make a reboot accurate one :L (perhaps a different character depending). I'll likely be making some uniforms (at least the shirts) for my parents as well.

Anime North (May 24th - 26th, 2013)
Costumes: Re-wear fem!Austria (???)
I want to enjoy Anime North again ;o;. Last two years I haven't really done much at the con, only going for partial days. I wouldn't mind competing another year for old times sake either. If only to sit and talk in the greenroom without getting kicked out lol. Running out of relevant things to make though. And steadily getting to the point where I recognize NOTHING in the masquerade or what people are cosplaying in the hall. [/old timer]

FanExpo (August 22nd - 25th, 2013)
Costumes: Re-wear McCoy
Nothing planned so far. I was thinking to re-wear McCoy for one day (since I spent a small fortune on all the accoutrements). Apparently Rae (Ray Kon from our Bladebreakers group & Butch from our Team Rocket group) and her husband James (Boris from our season 1 Beyblade group), are going to do Kirk + Spock ... :O!!!! So if they show up as such I'd love a photo with them. I'm anticipating some Trek at least due to the 2013 movie. (hope it's good fhfhf)

At some point I'd like to do that Princess Amelia dress (Slayers TRY) that's been on my list. With the amount of fabric I'd have to buy I wouldn't want to screw it up, so we'll see how my sewing skills fair before I tackle that.

I also want to do more Sailor Moon!!! The new rebooted anime is supposed to come out in 2013, so I want in ;_;. Also gives me some more thinspiration.

I want to stick another U.S. convention in the summer too. Need to research on a couple and plane ticket prices and all that.


I RECENTLY GOT SHOWCASED ON COSPLAY.COM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously excited and totally healed my bruised ego for coming in 2nd after a FMA photo in the FUNImation Halloween contest

So much love for the admin there!! I'm not certain who does the showcases (I think it's JiaJem ?? <333 ) but I'm so grateful. OTL!!!!

Been burned by the cosworx store (now cosplay.com shopping) shipping and wrong orders in the past, but this is kind of seducing me back to them a whole lot.

 <--- seduced expression

I'm thinking before the year is up I will make a new sales post to get rid of all the stuff I still have laying around. I just didn't sell certain things because I was holding out for wearing them again with groups n' people. But so far that line of thinking has just left me hanging, so I'm getting rid of it ALL. If people will buy.