Episode 86: Cosplay Making Discussion

 Topic: Cosplay Making

 

This week, I wanted to talk to Mom about some of the Ideas I’ve had for cosplay, and such.  Any good nerd has wanted to dress up as their favorite characters.  And a lot like any good addition, it just takes the one time to get hooked.  But at a certain point, you might have to just make it yourself because it doesn’t exist anywhere out there.

 

 

 

Personal projects

 

Work Wizard Hat

This is a hat for work.  Intend to be kind of like Gandalf’s wizard hat.  The major difference being that the front and back will have stitched Lettering appropriate for work.  I also intend to hide a pocket into the top of the hat in order to hide stuff for fun.

 

Magic Book

The idea here is to make a sort of magical tome, that when you open it up, it lights up and shoots out light from it, giving the impression that fantastical magic would come out.  Ideally, you’d hollow out large book, something maybe the size of 2 phonebooks stacked on top, and then, have the middle pages with a sort of sheet paper with cut outs for the various glyphs and such.  Underneath, in the hollowed out section, you’d have a series of lights that shined in an order to give it that impression. 

 

Piranha Plant Puppet (Super Mario Bros)

This originally started as a Chain Chomp from Mario Bros, but I’ve since re-imagined it as a Piranha Plant.  The idea is a roughly 2 foot in diameter Ball, constructed like a beach ball, but with one of the 6 sizes missing. The missing space is the mouth, which will open and close with teeth and a tongue.  The intent here is for myself to be Mario, but my right hand is the Piranha plant.  I’m going to gimic my right arm and have my actual right arm in all black.  My arm is in the Piranha Plant head, and the fake arm is holding a potted plant with the Piranha plant stem coming out.  The real hard part for this is coming up with the pattern so I’m consistent with the shape of the ball shape, then from there, creating the fake arm.  I imagine the sewing of the white spots on the plan will add some challenge too.

 

Lakatu Puppet

This is the one for shooting the moon.  The idea is a puppet that looks like Lakatu, the Turtle in the cloud that follows you.  The idea was to have a full puppet, and have it riding on an actual cloud, filled by a beach ball for simplicity and weight concerns.  From there, Lakatu would also have a fishing pole, and it would suspend stuff from it.  One object being a small camera that I could actually take pictures with.  This one is more logistics and putting it together, but it will take time.

 

 

Skills for making Cosplay

Sewing

Foam Work

Gluing

Wood working

Repurposing Junk

Browsing Goodwill/Second Hand shops

Painting

Understanding materials

Lots of Creativity

 

 

 

 

Cosplays I want to do:

 

Doctor (Arknights)

Arknights the game is fairly big still, and while it is still big, I figured a costume of the Doctor would be good.  The character itself doesn’t talk, and their face is obstructed, so I would do the same, and carry around a bunch of gimic stuff as well, just to have fun with it.  Never talking ever!

 

Warlock Tier 2 (World of Warcraft)

Making the costume will be a bitch, especially because it’s a flowing robes, and the shoulders and helm are so big.  I’d want the helm and shoulders to either light up and create a smoke effect, but my skills are well out of that range.  I need to get MUCH better and working with rigid foam for that.  Plus, I kind of want to have smaller Imps hanging off me, as though I’ve summoned too many.  These would be MUCH harder to make, considering I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how. There’s a person who HAS made them previously, but is charging a lot for them.  There’s that and the staff…

 

Draenei Paladin Tier 6 (World of Warcraft)

This is one of those costumes that if I figure out Foam, I’ll be in business.  Just lots of foam… It’s the notion of making armor, a weapon, and figuring out a latex sort of prosthetic for my face.  These are blue people with tendrils.  The fun part might also be figuring out the hoofed feet too, but there are furries that do horses I can mimic.  It would be a fun thing to do, especially the spectacle, but gotta figure out foam first.

 

Gilgamesh/Archer (Fate/Stay Night)

Another one that’s mostly revolving around foam.  The bigger concern is his sword, Ea, which has three segmented blade bits that turn count to one another.  I can imagine a gear and spindle in my head moving, but I’d need to make a good template to see if it’s do able.  I really do think it can be done, but this is also something I’d love to get a 3d Printer to actually make it too. 

 

Boo Ghost (Mario Brothers)

This one is very technical.  The idea is not too dissimilar to the Parana Plant Puppet, but instead of actually being a moving puppet, it’s a projected Puppet.  What I’d do is buy a small little hand held projector, and then suspend it inside a clear ball with theatre fabric, for the light to bleed through.  The intention is to have the projector display an animated Face for the puppet.  The fun part will be switching between the ghost looking normal, and then animating to hiding.  The sequence would go like this:

 

A)      Normal Idle animation

B)      Transition to Hiding Animation

C)      Hiding Idle Animation

D)     Transition to Normal animation

E)      Maybe something silly?  Like a tongue lick or such? Animation.

 

It would work the best if run off a smart phone, WHICH I have a spare one.  The only trick is programming a custom app to run the animations from, and if you could get a simple clicker or something to transition, even better.  There might be other ideas here that would best with it, but this is a matter of researching technology and working through it.

 

Bowsette Kimono (Mario Brothers)

I had an Idea, after the initial Bowsette Cosplay, was to come back in a Japanese Kimono.  The intention was an all Black Kimono, with a green Obi-sash(For the turtle shell), with a yellow Haneri (inner cloth).  What would make it unique is that there would be stitched in Mario Style flowers, but drawn/done in the style of an ukiyo-e painting (Traditional Japanese Art).  The flowers would start at the hem and kind of crawl up the kimono till just above the knee and on to the sleeves.  I wanted to do the longer sleeve, the kind that draped down to like the knee or such.  And then, the real kicker was that the sleeve on the inside, showed a Mario 1 style castle and flag pole on the left sleeve, and a set of stairs with Mario on the right sleeve.  This way when you fanned them out, you’d get the image.  My only real concern with this cosplay is partly the Japanese style Mario flowers, I don’t know how to ART that, but I know a person with a stitching machine, but it would be LOTS of colors.  And then there’s also the concern over taking a Kimono and making a joke out of it with Mario stuff.  I’ve seen people make Yukatas, a simple summer style Kimono which are very laid back, and made with various printed cloths, but I would feel strange about mimicking and making a Kimono, especially as I’d do it in drag too. 

 

Japanese style Bowser / Dr Robotnic

Unlike Bowsette, a Japanese inspired Bowser or Dr Robotnic would probably be cool.  I’d probably go with Dr Robotnic, and get a navy blue Yukata, pair it with a yellow sash, and then a Red Hori coat, and switch in the Eggman symbol on to the back.  If I could as well, I’d love to make FAKE tattoos, along my arm and chest, give the impression of a Yakuza.

 

Ursula (Little Mermaid)

Okay, this one would be a Drag performance, but I figured that if I have the Big Black Dress from Bowsette two years ago, and I could make the tail, I could probably make octopus legs as well.  My thought here would be to get a bunch of strings and connect them to my wrists, so when I moved my arms, the legs would move as well.  I figured this for making the eels hangs on my in a similar fashion maybe.  The only issue with the octopus legs would be their weight and having them come out of the body evenly.  Plus this has already been done before, so I wouldn’t be new to the party.

 

Doctor Strange (Marvel)

Okay hear me out, this was a really COOL costume from the Marvel Movies.  What to add to it, there’s a spinning LED light board, and from there, you can program it to do the Doctor Strange magic circles.  It would look really cool , especially if I could get a light up necklace as well, even better. 

 

Foam Sword

This would be the first project I’d do with Foam really.  Making a sword, because I’ve had a few different designs that I’d love to actually just create.

 

Peace Bond Armor + Sword

Okay, this one takes some explaining. 

 

Peace Bond itself is when you wrap a strap around your sword to keep it secure in its scabbard.  The intention was that if you were there for peace, you’d never need to draw your sword.  Whether this is a real element or just a story, this is the idea atleast behind our Modern con verion.

 

Peace Bonds for Conventions are these colorful Zip ties that you put on Prop Weapons so that Con Staff know it’s an approved item to bring in to Cons.  This way no one gets hurt from a sword, an actual gun, or such.  I want to make an entire sword and armor out of these colorful Zip Ties.  And especially as it’s a joke, you need to have the armor/clothing made out of very commonly found items at a Con.  I figure FF7’s buster sword, maybe a One Piece Hat, and then some other commonly seen stuff at cons.  It’s that or just make a really big Buster Sword(Comically Large swords), and some armor/cape, maybe a gauntlet and gladiator skirt.  Something silly and stupid, which would be a Joke for the Con itself regardless.  This one would take LOTS of Zip Ties and figuring out how to layer them in such a way that makes it look like stuff.  Another example of foam coming into help on this one. 

 

 

 

Episode 85: Wonder Woman 1984 Review

 

Topic: Wonder Woman 1984 Review

Mom and me both had concerns over the movie, but not that we couldn’t agree that some stuff in it was great, and other stuff wasn’t.  It’s an interesting movie none the less, especially when you look at some of the aspects that we thought were lacking.

 

Patty Jenkins - Director

Gal Gadot – Diana Prince / Wonder Woman

Chris Pine – Steve Trevor

Kristen Wiig – Barbara Minerva / Cheetah

• Barbara Minerva is the 3^rd known Cheetah in the Comics.  Movie Presents the powers as being the Apex Preditor, which happens to be a Cheetah, vs in the Comics, was due to an Ancient Plant God Urzkartaga. 

Pedro Pascal – Maxwell Lord

• As depicted in the Comics, Maxwell Lord IV is a powerful business magnate and eventual manager of the Justice League International.  In the comics, he eventually gains mind control powers due to a gene bomb granted non-powered humans super powers.  He’s been a major bad guy in DC Comics as the guy who kicked off the events of Infinite Crisis by killing the Blue Beatle, infecting people with a cyborg virus, and eventually mind controlling Superman to beat up Wonder Woman and Batman.  Maxwell was eventually killed by Wonder Woman in order to save Superman from mind control, but not before a satellite called ‘Big Brother’ showed Wonder Woman killing him, a move that ostracized Wonder Woman for a time.  He was eventually resurrected during the Blackest Night event, and permanently resurrected during the events of Brightest Day. 
• Pascal claimed he was going for a Gordon Geko by ways of Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Lex Luthor.  Comes off more like Donald Trump at times.

 

 

Tangent

Blackest Night (2009)

 

This was an event in DC Comics which was meant to explain why Super Heroes and Villains kept coming back from the dead.  In DC Lore, Green Lanterns are merely one of 7 various Lantern Corps that operate around the universe, with each having various focuses and based off feels, IE Love, Willpower, Fear, so forth.  DC Rationalized that there was an 8^th Lantern Corps, a Black Lantern Corps which controlled death, led by a bad guy named Nekron, who secretly allowed Super Heroes and Villains to keep coming back from the dead.  The intention was to seed the world with sleeper agents and activate them, turning anyone who HAD previously died in to a bad guys, including individuals like Superman, Green Lantern, and other Heroes and Villains.  This led to various non-previously-diseased super heroes taking up various other Lantern Corps in order to defeat them.

 

 

Brightest Day (2010)

After all Super Heroes dawn White Lantern Rings and join the White Lantern Corps, the following events post Brightest Day deal with the fallout from Blackest Night, partly dealing with resurrected individuals who had been dead for some time.  This also included Maxwell Lord, who goes about wiping his existence from everyone in the world, only to settle back in to his life of monitoring Super Humans and trying to keep them in check.

 

 

Release

Wonder Woman was originally slated for November/December of 2019, but was moved in order to avoid competing with Star Wars Episode 9, before being moved to June 2020 after seeing how well the first film did in the summer.  This also had an added effect of giving the studio more time to tweek and edit the film, but also to see it going head to head against Black Widow, another super hero movie.  The film would later be delayed multiple times due COVID 19 shutting down movie theaters: first moved to August 2020, then to October 2020, and then finally released in Theaters and Home Media via HBO Max in late December. 

 

Concern over Re-writes/edits

There’s been plenty of Rumors regarding the editing, re-writing, and changes made by the Film Studio producing the film.  The Film itself was shot back in 2018, and spent time between then and release, making various edits to the film.  The true scope isn’t fully known at this time, but it’s presumed that heavy editing changed the nature of the film.

 

Another concern for the Film comes in the fact that Warner Bros doesn’t seem to have any concrete or established plans for its DC Extended Universe, so the movie can’t necessarily do all the things the Marvel movies do, like setting up world building and dropping hints about comic references, nor can it develop the characters or point them in a direction for growth. 

 

Trivia

• Dream Stone was made from Citrine, a gem long representing wealth and prosperity, also known as a ‘Merchant Stone’ or ‘Money Stone’.
• The Dream Stone was to originally belong to a character name Sandman, the God of Dreams, another super hero.  So when Maxwell Lord uses it to become the Dreamstone, it bursts into sand, which is meant to be a homage to the character.  At the time, a Sandman film was being floated and early production had started, and this might have been a tie in to it. 
• When Barbara appears later in the movie wearing furs and clothing made from the skin of animals or animal print, this is a homage to the First Cheetah in the comics, Priscilla Rich, who enjoyed wearing animal furs, and wore a magical cheetah costume.
• Diana’s wardrobe through out the film is based off Brooke Shield’s attire from the 1980s, since both were all and had similar physiques.
• This was Padro Pascal’s second Wonder Woman project, after having previously appeared on the Wonder Woman Tv Pilot in 2011.
• Patty Jenkins has gone on to describe the film as a standalone film, similar in the lines to James Bond or Indiana Jones.

 

Episode 84: Wonder Woman Tutorial

 

Topic: Wonder Woman Tutorial

 

In route to discussing Wonder Woman 1984, we need to do a Tutorial on Wonder Woman herself.  And her creation is amazing!  I was surprised by it and so was Mom.  You have to listen just to find that part out. 

Creator:

 

Created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, pen name: Charles Moulton.

Marston was a unique individual, a Harvard PhD psychologist who also helped created the lie detector.  He believed that Comics had ‘great educational potential’, and was hired by All-American Publications as an educational consultant.  The Publication would late merge with another company creating DC Comics. 

 

He lived with his wife Elizabeth Marston and also Ms. Olive Byrne, of which they had a consenting polyamorous life together.  Marston’s research and stuff focused heavily on gender, with him at one point studying all Female communities, ie observing the rituals and behaviors of Sororities.  It led him to believe that women were the superior gender, but was only being held back from power due to the difficulties of giving birth and raising children, but also housework.  He eventually theorized that eventually both child rearing and housework would get easier, allowing women to get educated, gain power, and take their rightful spots as leaders of the world.

 

When he set out to make Wonder Woman, he did so consciously, deciding to create a female super hero in a male dominated landscape.  Marston would later write:

 

"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.

 

Wonder Woman is also loosely based off Elizabeth and Olive, with Elizabeth inspiring her attitude, and Olive inspiring her appearance.  Apparently Wonder Woman’s bracelets was inspired because Olive liked to wear big bracelets.

 

 

Comic History:

Since staring All Star Comic #8 in 1941, Wonder Woman has had her own on going Comic Book ever since then.  Marston would initially write for the series, with H.G. Peter doing the artwork until his death in 1947 at the age of 54.  Later writers would pick up the character and run with it.  Early stories focused on feminist agenda, and for the times, push a radical, progressive women’s agenda.

 

After Marston’s Death, new writers toned down some of the Wonder Woman elements from earlier comics.  This included the remove of more bondage related elements, toned down some of the radical feminist agenda, and eventually adding Hellenic and mythological elements and roots to the character. 

 

By the late 1960s, Wonder Woman lost her powers, owning to stay in the world of man, and for a time, picked up martial arts and weapons combat, and gave up being a super hero for owning a boutique.  She participated in various story lines that focused more on espionage and mythology.  Eventually, due to the 1970s TV show, Wonder Woman was repowered into a super hero.  However, by 1985, Wonder Woman’s comic was losing popularity and the character was written out. 

 

During the Crisis of infinite Earth, Wonder Woman was depicted as originating on Earth Two, a second Earth to the main DC Continuity.  As a result of the event that wiped out the Multiverse and all other Earths, Wonder Woman was to be written out.  However, at the end of the series, Wonder Woman was given a new origin story, as an ambassador from her home land of Themyscira.  This is how she would be portrayed in the modern age.

 

By the end of Flash Point event, the New 52 reimagines Wonder Woman again, this time also carrying her now iconic sword and shield in to battle.  The character was redesigned again in 2016, bring her more in line with her original creation.

 

 

Crisis Events

DC has major cross over events subjected in to Crisis Events, typically with the intent of retconing, shaking up, or revamping the entire comic landscape.  This is often done to streamline continuities or characters, change up dynamics of the world and/or characters, or re-introduce new elements back in to the series.  The events offer huge crossovers events for various books, characters, and stories, with the finality of the decisions that get made due to it.  These Stories include:

 

Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985)

This event resulted in the collapse of the Multiverse, the notion that there are various worlds with similar or mirror characters that live similar or mirror lives due to the nature of possibility.  As a result of losing the multiversity, several characters migrated to the main continuity, while other characters were killed off, like Super Girl. 

 

Zero Hour, Crisis in Time! (1994)

This event saw the original Green Lantern become a bad guy and attempt to recreate the universe in his own image.  The true purpose was to streamline the dates of events that happened, making it so that most character had been around for only 10 or so years, along with fixing the continuity issues plaguing various characters and their introduction from the previous Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.

 

Infinite Crisis (2005)

This Crossover saw the reintroduction of the Multiverse, and redid the timeline and events once more.  As a result of some character leaving to a pocket dimension in the First Crisis event, they see how dark the universe has gotten and decided they need to recreate Earth Two and Destroy Earth One.  Eventually though, the Multiverse gets recreated as a result.

 

Final Crisis (2008)

The event sees a Super Man Villain, Dark Sied, taking over Earth using a formula designed to ensnare people to his will.  Because Earth is the cornerstone of the Multiverse, and controlling it give the power to control over Multiverses, Dark Sied was capable of controlling the entire Multiverse.  The comic in theory kills both Dark Sied and Batman, though both would return through weirdness.

 

Flash Point (2011)

Flash Point sees the Flash use his super speed ability to go back in time and save his mother.  As a result of saving his mother, but at the cost of changing the entire universe, including depowering the Flash.  In the end, Flash is able to get his powers back, and restore the events that led to the correct universe.  However, while initially intended as a contained story, the events led to the ‘New 52’ Timeline.  New 52 was a company-wide relaunch of all their series, simplifying and revamping many characters and time lines.

 

Convergence (2015)

Considered one of the worse Crisis Events, it saw a bad guy trying to battle the various DC cities against one another.  And this meant from any continuity, any property, and almost any franchise was on the table.  While everything eventually returned back to normal, and set in motion a removing continuity from DC Comics.  The DC You initiative wanted to focus more on stories than continuity, however, this was widely hated by fans, and quietly swept under the rug.

 

Dark Nights Metal (2017)

The most recent Crisis Event depicts a bad guy, named Barbados, who seeks to leave a dark Multiverse dimension via Batman.  Upon escaping, he brings with him various other murderous and evil Batmans, led by the Batman who laughs and kicks the butts out of the regular Multiverse characters. Eventually the Multiverse heroes beat the Dark Multiverse.  This series is the first to not have any major shake-ups in the universe necessarily.

 

 

Character History:

Depending on which timeline, revamp, or relaunch, the character’s history has been changed countless times to suit the needs of the writers and runners of the comic books.

 

The most common origin stories for Diana include:

·       She was born of clay and brought to life as a golem by the gods

·       She was a blessing from the gods

·       She is the daughter of Zeus, and thus a demi-god.

 

All stories start with Diana being raised on Paradise Island, later renamed Themyscira, and being trained by the Amazons of the island.  She meets with Captain Steve Trevor and is brought to the world of man, either to protect it, or to act as an Emissary for Themyscira.

 

Diana Prince is her alias, otherwise she is Diana of Themyscira, when not known as Wonder Woman.  She is depicted as being among the best woman in the world.  Strong and powerful, but delicate and kind, smart and heroic, embodying all the greatest qualities of womanhood. 

 

Beyond that, she is considered a part of the Holy Trinity of DC Comics, which include Superman, Batman, and herself.  She is also the first of the Three to join the Justice League, later retconed as her, Superman, and Batman creating the league together.

 

Her Powers include:

Super Strength

Super Durability

Super Speed

Super Agility

Healing Factor

Flight (Post Crisis on infinite Earths)

 

Beyond her Super powers she is a:

Master Tactician

Master Combatant

Multi-Lingual

Expert Pilot

Possessing Great Wisdom

 

Equipment:

Bracelets of Submission – Crafted from Zeus’s legendary Aegis Shield, Wonder Woman’s iconic bracelets act as Bracers on her arms, allowing her to deflect bullets and projectiles,including energy blasts.

Lasso of Truth – a powerful rope that is capable of retraining the universes strongest beings, including Superman.  The lasso also compels people to be truthful.  The lasso has also shown healing and anti-magic properties.

Golden Tiara – Wonder Woman’s headband has doubled as a boomerang on occasions, depicted as being super strong and sharp.

Invisible Jet – Wonder Woman’s original mode of transportation prior to her ability to fly.  It is meant to be based on a Pegasus, but has changed from a propeller plane to a jet plane over time and publications.

Sword and Shield – Since the New 52 continuity, Wonder Woman has also carried a Sword and Shield, reminiscent of gladiators in Roman times.  They’re depicted as being of similar metal to her Tiara and costume, having been crafted by the Amazonians.

 

Costume:

Depending on the depiction, Wonder Woman’s costume has been relatively consistent over time, mirroring similar elements over the time.  Most notable changes over time have included the bottom portion going from a skirt with stars to high-cut briefs with stars, her red, strapless top depicting an eagle, later her Wonder Woman logo over the cups of the breasts.  In 2010, they decided to change her look up and gave her pants and a leather jacket.  The original look would alter return a year later in 2011, and by 2016, her look was resigned to look more gladiatorial, with an over the shoulder strap for her sword and shield, along with her a gladiatorial skirt in the form of leather strips, not unlike Xena, Warrior Princess.  This was also the version used for the Live Action movies.

 

 

Villains:

Wonder Woman’s Rogue Gallery consists of a lot of Greek Gods and Mythology creatures, though has some unique villains too.  Though they all share a common element that they are all intelligent and/or doctors in some field.

 

Giganta – a woman who is capable of changing her shape and size, while still retaining her intelligence.

 

Cheetah – a woman, occasionally a man, who dresses like a Cheetah to fight Wonder Woman.  Modern takes on Cheetah have her Cheetah like characteristics and powers gifted by the plant god Urzkartaga.

 

Doctor Psycho – can control minds.  He’s notable for being created partly based off Marston’s college professors who opposed women’s suffrage and feminism.

 

Doctor Poison – a woman who uses poison to control minds, along with other effects.

 

Ares – The God of War, who is in direct opposition to Wonder Woman, who strives for peace around the world.

 

The First Born – Daughter of Hera and Zeus, he is destined to sit on Zeus’s throne.  He fights with Wonder Woman who aims to stop him.

 

Circe – A Sorceress with various god like powers, including mind control, creating energy blasts, teleportation, and transforming objects. She’s all known for her siren’s call that lures men to their death.

 

Medusa – the Gorgon with snake like hair and can turn people in to stone.

 

In Media:

Beyond the original Comic Books, Wonder Woman has been a pop Icon for the last 80 years.  As a result, she’s been depicted in various media outside of her comic origin.

 

It was the famous 1975 Wonder Woman Tv Show which reintroduced Wonder Woman’s powers in the comics.  Protrayed by Lynda Carter.

 

Wonder Woman has been a mainstay of various animated DC properties.  Most Notably in the Super Friends Cartoons from the 70s and 80s and the DC Animated Universe cartoons that aired throughout the late 90s and early 2000s.  She’s also been a part of major Justice League Direct to Video features. 

 

In Film, She is portrayed by Gal Gadot in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman 1984.

 

 

 Power Girl