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!

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!

Anime USA!

Great time cosplaying at Anime USA in our nation's capitol, as well as Retrocon near Philadelphia!
Sack brigader from The Other Grey Meat on Friday at Anime USA.

I'm with very cool voice actress Kari Wahlgren. She said the costume was "intense." Perhaps thinking I was going for some sort of military commando look, I reassured her that I was just a zombie.

Quite self conscious, putting on the makeup and walking through the crowd, even though lots of others were doing the same kind of thing. I skipped the sealer or whatever else actors use to keep the makeup on their face in action, so I found myself in danger of sweating it off! I hung out in a darkened anime screening room until I cooled off. It was a story of a family with shapeshifting powers or something.
Took the Metro subway there and back, but not in full makeup.

Saturday was Voyage Trekkers day for me, in two states! I wore the uniform of a Galactic Union marine.

The conveyance device was for my two anime banners.

The day started with a drive up I-95 to Oaks, Pennsylvania, home of Retrocon, a convention filled with action figures, toys, and other cool stuff. Wore my cosplay uniform the whole way. Got some smiles from operators of the toll booths, of which there were, sadly, many. But more than worth it. I visited Rod and Leanne Hannah, creators of Blue Milk Special, Once Upon a Caper, and tons of other works.

Like Masters of the Universe!

The local chapter of the 501st Legion, Garrison Carida, was also there, raising money for charity. Blast-a-stormtrooper-for-the-betterment-of-others was great fun!

And Vader too, sometimes. Not to worry, her aim was way off.

The dart in the middle of the stormtrooper to my left's forehead - yeah, I put that one there.

Great cosplaying from cartoons and comics from the 80s, when I was a kid.

G.I Joe!

Optimus Prime! And, um, Jesus?

Then it was back to Washington for more Anime USA! Rode the Metro through downtown DC in full  Galactic Union uniform. Some kids may have stared a bit, but no one else seemed to care.
Got some great autographs at the convention!

Met Travis Willingham again, this time with fellow voice actor and also his wife, Laura Bailey.

Laura Bailey's the main reason I attended the convention, because she's in several of my favorite anime series, many as the lead. In Fullmetal Alchemist, she plays "Lust," a sexy (duh) villain.

Her autograph is next to her husband's. Awww. In the anime, their characters fight to the bloody, fiery, screaming death!
BTW, Stephanie Young placed her autograph in an interesting spot.

She also plays the titular role in "Gunslinger Girl."

Her character, Henrietta, is a cyborg assassin created by the Italian government to do their dirty work.
She has a crush on her secret-agent handler. Things do not end well.

Laura is also the lead in Soul Eater, playing Maka in the Harry-Potter-meets-Hellraiser series.

Close to Travis again. Dawwwww! Their characters are enemies again, but they don't fight.

I got a full set of autographs at Anime USA, which is a first for me, as well as attending all three days of a convention.

David Brehm is thought-ballooning Stephanie Young cause they're married and stuff.

I also stopped by the Maid Cafe. I highly recommend it.

She made me creme brulee. Heart!

Took lots of cosplayer photos this time. Some of my favorites...

Desert Punk!

Attack on Titan! I haven't seen this one yet, but my impression is that the attack is pretty serious.

Call of Duty: Ghosts. Sort of what I've had in mind in my previous outfits.

Deadpool!

Kingdom Hearts! These guys should have won the masquerade but they didn't.

Lara Croft!

Devil May Cry!

Schoolgirls? Who fight evil? Maybe?

Youmacon in downtown Detroit is coming up next. I wasn't sure I would attend, but then they announced Caitlin Glass was returning, along with Todd Haberkorn. They're on my banners, damn it! So I'm going after all. I'm looking at Voyage Trekkers cosplay, maybe with a bigger ray gun.
I'll also be working on an cosplay project from an actual work of anime! For later. Maybe much later...

Sack Brigader

My first cosplay costume of an actual character is pretty much ready to go. Again going with what I have on hand, along with exactly two purchases to go with it, I am a Sack Brigade resistance zombie, from post-zombie-apocalypse webcomic The Other Grey Meat. Here they are in action.

She's a zombie too.

Created by James and June Maillet, TOGM's Sack Brigade is made up of Category 2 zombies, recruited into a resistance movement led by the mysterious Phantom (another zombie, not a ghost or anything) against a despotic grand leader named Robert.
This is what I came up with.

Phantom say you go into sack.

On my shoulder is the "emergency rope," the single most important piece of equipment in the entire story [citation needed].
I bought a tube of make up and a wig. Testing showed the wig is probably a bad idea at this time. Zombies aren't supposed to sweat!
I'm looking at Anime USA for this number.

I have another entry in my featured-tshirt running program. The prize package in Naomi VonKreeps' art contest arrived, and it is awesome, with some of Naomi's newest prints, stickers, and tshirts.

All this stuff! Lizzie the cat is also a fan.

I was concerned about fitting into the "Dawn of the Fett" tshirt cause it seemed small for me, but I wore it anyway on my run today through Clarkston, Mich. - six miles!

Ready for another six!

So I'm pretty much a medium now, down from a pushing-XX-large. Gotta go back to the early 1990s to find the last time I was that size. I replaced all my clothes - thanks Salvation Army!

Anyway, next for cosplay is something involving actual sewing (with assistance from my puzzled mom) and electrical engineering (that would be my equally puzzled dad). Another project from the internet, this time a web series. 

Nerf gun to be modified with lots of spray paint (I can handle that) and LED lights (this we'll have to see about).

Sewing is hard.

The aughh-time-is-running-out thing cosplayers say a lot, I'm starting to get that. Lots to do if I want this to be ready for Anime USA. But if it's not, then the one after that.
Maybe my next project will actually be from an anime or manga....