Almacon

Turns out I felt kinda bad about my rebellious streak at Ohayocon, so much I wanted to make up for it. When I saw a Facebook post asking for volunteers at Almacon a week before the convention, I impulsively filled it out and sent it in, even though I'd never worked at a convention before nor previously even considered it.
They must have really needed volunteers because they promptly put me on the schedule. I clicked the "5-8 hours" button for availability, and they scheduled me for seven hours. Spread out over 13 hours total. Well played, Almacon!
Two hours watching an autograph line -- no shenanigans from signature seekers like I pulled, fortunately. My line was kind of short. J. Michael Tatum's line, which was much longer, was later so I didn't have to deal with that.
Two hours checking for wrist bands at the dealer's room. It was at capacity, so I also had to control access, zero-sum-game style, two go out, let two in, which made it more complicated. There was a line, but I got them all in by the time I left.
An hour in one of the anime rooms, which was cool. Durarara was streaming on Crunchyroll, so all I had to do was remaximize the screen each time a new episode would start. That I can handle.
Lastly, two hours watching the door for a game of Cards Against Humanity, 10:30-midnight, played by some of the celebrity guests for the entertainment of the audience. Adults only, so I had to check IDs. Michigan provides special driver's licenses to minors - vertical format instead of horizontal, which made it easier. An apparently intoxicated cosplayer (Catbug?) decided she wanted to sit in with the guests and had to be escorted out, but I didn't have to deal with that cause I was way back at the door.
Lots of down time, so I still got to do the usual convention stuff.
I met comics creators Comfort Love and Adam Withers and got a print.

Star Wars! It's going on the wall. I'm wearing a coat over my Voyage Trekkers Marine costume cause it was cold.

A married comics creating couple, like some others I could mention, they publish The Uniques, Uniques Tales, and Rainbow in the Dark, and they live in Flint, like me! The Star Wars print is Adam's. Comfort showed me one she's working on, featuring prequel characters, which will probably join its mate when it's finished.
Also, a panel, with Chuck Huber, Mike McFarland, and J. Michael Tatum talking about their careers in anime and other stuff.

Almacon is at Alma College, with classrooms and chalkboards.

And see what fellow cosplayers were up to.

Lenalee Lee and Komui Lee from the anime series D Gray Man. The characters are brother and sister, members of the Black Order, tasked with fighting evil Akuma demons. The yellow thing she's holding is Timcanpy the golem, a cross between a radio and a Predator surveillance drone.

Deadpool and a penguin themed character? It was getting pretty late.

Rorschach from the Watchmen comic, ready to liquify some filthy miscreants.
The patterns shifted on his mask, which was pretty cool!

Anime Crossroads / Con Alt Del

I had a plan last weekend to visit two conventions in two states, neither of which I live in. However, with snow and ice covering the entire midwest, I put common sense and personal safety ahead of my anime ambitions and stayed home.
Just kidding, I totally went.
Vic Mignogna was a Con Alt Del in Chicago. I'm about 80 pounds lighter than the last time I met him in February.

And I've joined the Galactic Union!

His autograph was required on my two banners. His character is top center on the Soul Eater print, Spirit Albarn, "Death Scythe," dad of Laura Bailey's Maka Albarn.

Only two characters left to get!

And he's one of the characters actually on the Fullmetal Alchemist banner - Edward Elric, the titular Fullmetal Alchemist himself (he's the smaller one, the one not made of metal).

Pointing to Vic's autograph is Emma the cat.

I'm also a fan of his work on Star Trek Continues. He's a long-time Trek fan and cast himself as Capt. Kirk.

With fellow voice actor Todd Haberkorn as Mr. Spock.

Also on there now are Johnny Yong Bosch and Stephanie Sheh, who were at Anime Crossroads in Indianapolis.

Johnny plays Lujon, a character who was murdered by Laura Bailey's Lust character. Stephanie plays a minor character's little sister who doesn't even have a name!

Not huge roles in Fullmetal, but the more, the merrier! I actually wanted to see them because of another anime show they were on.

Johnny plays Itsuki Koizumi, who's not actually on this print, and Stephanie is Mikaru Asahina, in the bunny suit.

Stephanie's character is a featured player in my webcomic Living Room Wars.

LRW Asahina is a time traveler like in her show.

So meeting her was cool.

I like this shot - the photographer knows to fill the frame!

Johnny also leads an indie alt edge rock band, Eyeshine. I listened to one of their CDs on the way home. They rock!

I'm with the band, Johnny at left, Maurice in back, Ginny, and Polo in front.

Also, the awesome cosplayers across two states!

Two Edward Elrics at Con Alt Del to meet Vic.

Maid Cafe! She looks like she has two heads but she doesn't.
I got some German chocolate cake and a cream puff at this one.

My new samurai cosplay outfit was going slow (about two inches of stitching in two months) so I decided to speed things up a bit, courtesy of the Anime Crossroads dealers room. Late Sunday is a great time to buy at a weekend convention!

50% off this kimono, imported from Japan, and the wood katana was also quite reasonable! (Lizzie was full price, though)

I was tempted to wear it at Anime Crossroads but figured there was only a couple hours left. I also have to figure out what to wear on my feet. And how to use the sword. I'll have something figured out by Ohayocon in January.

Youmacon voice actors!

Youmacon's voice actor panels and autographs sessions were awesome. I love these guys!
I started this blog with a picture from last year's Youmacon, so this is sort of full circle for me. It was of me and voice actor, director, etc. Caitlin Glass. She let me get a new picture with her, which is very cool.

We're in focus this year!

The voice actors for whom I had stuff to autograph, I've met them before. Not, however, when I had my Soul Eater and Fullmetal Alchemist banners. They're becoming quite crowded now.

Youmacon additions include Caitlin, Sonny Strait, and Todd Haberkorn.

From Youmacon, Sonny, Caitlin, Todd, and Tia Ballard.

Sonny Strait, a comics artist and creator as well as voice actor, doesn't have his characters on either banner, so he drew them in - Ragnarok the demon sword on Soul Eater and Maes Hughes for  Fullmetal Alchemist. The Hughes sketch is quite detailed because the autograph line was slow.

He'd draw some, look up, see the line hadn't moved, sigh, then draw some more.

He had enough time during the entire session to create quite the work of art on the table cloth.

These are all his characters, I think. Hughes' drawing reflects his fate - oops, spoiler!

I asked Todd Haberkorn to sign both banners, program, and a print of him as Mr. Spock, because he's doing Star Trek now too.

And he did. He's very nice.

One of the panels I went to featured the anime series Fairy Tail, with voice actors Tia Ballard, Todd, and Funimation producer Sarah Sullivan.

Todd plays a fire-wielding wizard; Tia, a blue talking cat who can fly.

I went to the Fairy Tail panel at last year's Youmacon too, even though I hadn't seen any episodes yet. I knew the voice actors from other stuff. But Netflix picked it up a couple months ago and that means I can watch it! The panel made more sense this time.
Tia's on my Fullmetal banner because she played Shao May, a sort of miniature panda bear. I asked for a picture with her too.

I will never wash my Voyage Trekkers marine shirt again. Actually, that would probably ruin the fabric glue anyway

Next up is Con Alt Delete in Chicago and Anime Crossroads in Indianapolis, both in December. Vic Mignogna is scheduled for Chicago - he plays the lead in Fullmetal, the one who's not a suit of armor. His character is also on the Soul Eater banner. And he's Captain Kirk in Star Trek Continues, with Todd's Mr. Spock.
My samurai cosplay project is underway, though not quickly enough for December. I stopped by Joann's fabric for supplies. They were having a half-off sale, which meant the stuff was cheaper, but also that the store would be packed. They passed out numbers for the cutting stations - they were on 23 when I drew the number 56. So I had lots of time to shop, and picked up a plastic, wheeled storage cabinet for my Living Room Wars action figures and accessories.

Crafters are crazy good at organizing stuff!

I'm still deciphering the hakama pattern. It's a set of line measurements based on size to be applied to a simple rectangle of cloth - an honest-to-goodness geometry worksheet straight out of high school.

Not quite ready yet...

Youmacon 2013

Youmacon 2013 in Detroit was awesome! I went as a sack brigader from The Other Grey Meat on Friday, and a Galactic Union marine from Voyage Trekkers on Saturday.

The Ben Nye makeup worked well, much more stable than the water-based stuff I used last time.

I'm checking out the latest captain's blog, cause Sunstrike never tells us anything.

Got a photo request, sort of. A Detroit News photographer snapped a picture of me unawares for their website gallery, then asked about it after. I do the same thing for the Clarkston News, so I'm familiar with the tactic. Voyage Trekkers representin' east of the Mississippi!

It's captioned "Phil Custodio, 44, of Flint, portrays 'A Space Marine' from Voyage Trekkers. (Todd McInturf / The Detroit News)."  I was waiting for a movie so I had turned off the LEDs on my ray guns.

Cosplayers (or "codplayers," as the Detroit News referred to us in their story - I kind of like that one!) did fantastic, imaginative work, filling the newly refurbished Cobo Hall with thousands of anime and other characters.

A dark elfish-type outfit, backed by a line filled with Steam Powered Giraffe fans.

This Peter Parker lets his Mary Jane Watson share in the fun!

More on Youmacon later!

Trigger time

I got a bag of momentary switches from Radio Shack, and rewired my Voyage Trekkers ray cannon so the trigger lights up the barrel LED. A switch in the butt still operates the side lights.

Two batteries for the sides, one for the front.

While I was at it, I decided to rewire the ray pistol too. And drill two holes in the sides for a couple more LEDs.

And I added a battery.

I rigged a momentary switch to that trigger, too. So now they look like this.

Time for more interplanetary missions of peace!

The trigger lights need to have their triggers pulled for them to work, so here are some action shots. I'm in my civvies. Don't tell Sunstrike! (T-shirt's Blue Milk Special, though)

PEW PEW PEW!

pew pew!

This will do until after Youmacon next weekend. I might add more power to the ray cannon barrel LED. Not another 9 volt, though. It's only rated up to 14.8 volts. See, I read some of the directions! I think I can add a AA or AAA, depending on their voltage.
I'll go as a sack brigade zombie from The Other Grey Meat on Halloween or Friday, VT marine on Saturday, and maybe Soldier A if I feel like a day 3. Caitlin Glass should be back, and she's familiar with the song.

VT ray cannon!

My new Voyage Trekkers ray gun's coming along fairly decently. I got the LEDs and wired them up so six of them stick out through holes I drilled along the sides, with a switch in the butt.

Three 9 volt batteries, wired in series, so you add them up for a total of 27 volts, but the amp hour capacity stays the same? For a total of oh who cares.

I saved for the muzzle the red LED, which is designed to light up yachts and semi trucks.
I need to get a couple more battery brackets to lock down the insides, but the set up looks good and is so far working.

I put a bowl on the end to make it more of a cross between a classic
Star Trek phaser rifle and a laser cannon from an X-wing fighter.

The middle light is from an LED flashlight I bought from ACE hardware. This is my failsafe, in case my bulbs burn out or the wiring comes undone, a couple real possibilities. At least something should be able to light up!
Here's the ray gun in low light for the full effect.

All the wiring's inside the casing so Lizzie's allowed to check it out.

So just some taping down the wiring, bracketing the batteries, maybe some paint touchup, and a strap, and it'll be ready for Youmacon at the end of the month!
For my The Other Grey Meat sack brigader costume, I heeded the advice of Facebook friends and ordered some Ben Nye makeup from ebay. It's a ghoul kit.

Category 2 zombie in the larger image, category 1 in the inset.

It should come with gray cream makeup, color highlights, brush, sponge, makeup pencil, and spirit gum. Not included is any sort of makeup fixer, to keep it from sweating off or something. I checked the makeup aisle at my local Meijers store, but there's no use-this-to-keep-your-zombie-makeup-stable section, for some reason. 

EE degree needed

With some hacksaw, drill, file, and screwdriver work, I pretty much have the arrangement set for my Voyage Trekkers assault ray gun (heavy).

Have you ever seen such precision!

The look I'm going for is something like the original series phaser rifle from Star Trek.

Something like this-ish.

Paint's applied, so now it's time for the electronics. The replacement electronics. I connected the LED setup ripped from the original toy to a 9-volt battery, lit them up, then promptly burned those suckers out. So is a 9-volt more powerful than three AAA batteries, or something? Huh. Anyway, I have new LEDs for it, to go in some holes I drilled along the sides, the window thing, and down the barrel.

I'm using the plastic lid as a test circuit board. Why? Is that a problem?

It all should be ready by Youmacon at the end of the month. Also at the Detroit convention will be my Sack Brigader from The Other Grey Meat. I'm planning to get some better makeup, to try and avoid the whole sweaty-makeup mess.
TOGM put an album of my Category 2 zombie costuming on their Facebook page, which was very cool! I'm on there along with Tom Gatto, cosplaying the Phantom (my boss), Sylene the purple-haired Category 3 as cosplayed by June Maillet, who created the webcomic along with her husband James Maillet, and other TOGM stuff. Quite an honor!
My next project won't be ready for anything anytime soon, but it's started, at least. The sewing pattern I ordered arrived.

Emma the cat has no idea what this is all about.

I like how the instructions start with "Do not be alarmed!" My plan is to use this pattern to make a samurai outfit. I have a manga character all picked out, something actually based in Asian culture, which is a key requirement for participating in cosplay contests at the anime conventions I've been to.
It will be a challenge. Not least of which is Lizzie the cat. Lizzie's usually the one who shows up in the floor photos I put on here. She's not in this one because she was half a second from rending the very thin paper sewing pattern into a million pieces. She was locked up in the bathroom for this picture.
Then there's the whole "sewing" thing.

More ray gun!

I'm working on a new ray gun for my Voyage Trekkers Galactic Union Marine outfit. Multistate anime conventioneering has been expensive lately, so I'm going kind of cheap on this one. I got a clearance bazooka thing from Meijer's for about $5. I'll augment it with PVC.

This, to start with.

I'm heading in this sort of direction.

To be repainted in standard Galactic Union white and black, along with LEDs and stuff.

The thing was set up for lights and sound, with soldered wiring, circuit board, bulbs, speaker, and everything. So I can see what that's supposed to look like.

After I ripped it apart, of course. Wiring looks like string and string means cat toy!

My finished version will not look anything like this. Mine will have more tape.

The wiring didn't survive the dismantling process or something, which is OK. I had no intention of using it in my version anyway. The old batteries had been drained probably long ago and new ones won't work.My plan is through-hole LEDs on the sides and top, and brighter ones shining from inside.
I'll looking to have it finished by Youmacon in Detroit at the end of October.
By the way, Voyage Trekkers' second season is now complete, with a completely kickass four-part finale! Here's Part 4, the finale of the finale, AKA Episode 10 of Season 2. Thrilling and hilarious!

Along with my VT Marine costume, I'm looking to reprise my Sack Brigader from The Other Grey Meat at Youmacon. I got a picture of me in it at Anime USA posted on a Facebook page that wasn't mine, a first for me, courtesy of the Bloomsburg University Manga and Anime Club of Pennsylvania.

This would also work for Halloween, with the sack and everything.

Shortly after this picture was taken, I was fumbling around with the sack, camera, two banners, program book, and entry badge for autographs by voice actor Kari Wahlgren, and dropped the badge. This was bad, since it was a sponsor badge, which is what Anime USA calls its VIP, premium level and gets you to the front of lines.
And I didn't notice until I was cleaning up for the Metro ride home a couple hours later. I have 10 pockets in that outfit and a sack, and I checked all of them inside and out before I accepted the reality that I was dumb enough to lose my badge two hours into a three-day convention. My last hope was the lost-and-found at the front desk, which I considered an extreme long shot. Damned if they didn't have it, though. That was very cool, since someone could have easily scored a free sponsor badge.
I love cosplayers!