Dragon-Con Stories: Mass Mass Effect

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Apparently released on the internet within the last year or two, some guy(s) taught everyone who was interested how to make armor fairly cost-effectively and not that difficultly, using EVA floor foam sheets, heat guns and hot glue.  The result of such efficient tutorials apparently led to a very large conglomeration of DIY Mass Effect costumers this past Dragon-Con.

That’s all fine and dandy, but it turned out that nobody really sought out much originality amongst them all.  A vast majority of the male and female Shepards were all wearing variants of black and gray N7 armors.  I noticed maybe one or two who busted out some variants of the armor in white, but it pretty much ended up being the same color schemes of whites, reds and blacks.

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Oh snap

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I bet a lot of people were expecting a litany of Dragon-Con-related posts, now that the convention is over, and I’ve got hundreds of pictures and many stories to tell.  But no, here comes the jock sports bullshit to interrupt all of my nerdy fandoms and shit.

But I have to say that I’m pleased with the way Virginia Tech opened the season with an actual win for a change.  Even if it took overtime and was a way harder game than it probably should have been, I was ecstatic to see Virginia Tech win especially over Georgia Tech.

So today, I go all cheap heel mode at the gym, and march around in a Virginia Tech shirt and remind all the GT students and alums in the place where my allegiances lie.  And I’m not going to lie, for this reason alone does it mean just a little bit more.

Dragon-Con aftermath

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I think this picture succinctly sums up Dragon-Con, or sort of how I feel today, now that the con is over and I’m back home.  All in all, it was an enjoyable time, and I don’t really have any genuine complaints, other than the fact that it felt like the crowds were bigger than ever, probably due to so much college football going on.

Four Lokos, hangovers, and my debit card is missing.  But it was great and rewarding to see many faces I hadn’t seen in a long while, and play catch-up and hear all sorts of stories of where people stand today.  I realize that convention programming has very little appeal to me, and that I’d rather stand face-to-face with other people and share interesting stories with the occasional wandering eyes of tempting-looking women sauntering by.

Combined between my two cameras, there are approximately 300 pictures to sort through, process, edit and post.  This will not be an expedient process, since now I’m dealing with RAWs.  So I’ll try to do my best in coming days and get everything up as soon as I can, while trying to post and play catch up with the rest of life.

Mafia Graves gun complete. Ready for Dragon-Con now.

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A little too close for comfort, but I am officially finished with the Mafia Graves gun, before the start of Dragon-Con.  In addition to learning about the wonders of Shell Shock, I have recently learned just how great stuff like WonderFlex is, as it’s what’s used as the gold trim accents to the gun’s wooden components.

But yeah, the gun’s officially finished, and for the most part, I am satisfied with this being my fairly novice foray into making a prop, with chemicals and pretty badass materials.  There are a few details omitted due to time and lack of foresight, but I’m not going to point any of ’em out to face scrutiny.  Maybe I’ll address them another time.

So with that done, I’m ready for Dragon-Con now.  Mafia Graves costume comes out on Saturday afternoon.  La Parka’s appearance is up in the air.

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Mafia Graves gun update: Into the zero hour

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Dragon-Con is now a day away.  The good news is that in spite of all the delays, side-tracking, and assisting in Jen’s projects, I have every intention of getting the gun completely, 100% finished tomorrow evening.  While others will have already arrived and begin filing into the host hotels, I will have one last relaxing evening at home, where I can unveil the tape covering the wood panels, and apply the last gold accents.

As for the rest of this night, I will apply clear coats to the gun and prepare for finalization.  I need to stop going to bed at 1:00 a.m. on work nights, but it looks like tonight will not be any different.  Tomorrow, or rather today, will not be the same case hopefully.

I am very excited for this weekend.  I still have to pack, and make one good final run for room snacks and biiru.

In another minor topic, this post makes 34 on the month of August.  This is a new high for me for any individual month.  I also pat myself on the back for being a consistent brogger.  I think I’ll celebrate such achievement with a Four Loko this weekend.

Why do so many girls have tattoos of swallows?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Pretty often, I see girls who are sporting a lot of ink. I am obviously no stranger to the gun, but ironically haven’t gotten another tattoo since I was 17. But in the right applications, I think some tattoos look good on the right girls. Wandering around Midtown, or in the times when I go to Little Five Points, if I said that I should drink a beer every time I saw a girl with a swallow tattooed on her, I would probably get hammered on a fairly regular basis.

I legitimately am curious to why this is such a popular thing to get tattooed, ignoring the obvious immature statements involving the word swallows. It’s a definite upgrade from the trend of gaudy tramp stamp tattoos, but it’s getting to the point of where it’s so common, it’s becoming anti-hip in my opinion. The irony of me making such a statement is that one of these days, I’ll meet a girl that I’ll totally dig, and she’ll have a swallow(s) tattooed on her, and I’ll be forced to eat my words but that’s okay.

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