Otakitty's cosplay blog

Yesterday was international Table Top Day! I attended an event over at Coolstuff Games in Hollywood, FL. My friends had a lot of fun playing non-stop for about 5 hours! They got to try all sorts of new games, but I was busy gathering footage and interviews for my multimedia project...

I'll leave you with some pics of how it went :)

My friend's table. They're giving Power Grid a try.

The dudes from dicetower.com trying a new game.

Ladies and Gentlemen, anyone?

Joseph and *one* of his Magic card stacks.

The good stuff.

The crew at Coolstuff Games.

Look at all these people playing games!!

Board games raffle give-aways!

Bob brought his own stash of games to share.

Victoria was playing a game of Yugi-Oh and Risk. Simultaneosly.

This group was playing Relic, which looks totally awesome...

I want to play this game.

Game calendar @ Coolstuff.

These guys were too good at Yugi-Oh.

A game of Battlestar Galactica.

This asian guy wanted to take a pic with me and my equipment... he was kinda awkward...

That's all I got! I'll be working the next few weeks to put together the footage I gathered for a mini movie about board games. I really wish I could've played some of the games!

I posted a comment on Nerd Caliber's article "Sex Sell: How Cosplay Could Die  (yea, you'll have to click to read it, since I won't copy-pasta their material) an after stumbling upon it again after about a year, I feel it still portrays my views regarding the sexualized aspects of this hobby.

So here goes:

I’ve seen this article making the rounds and it’s weighted on my mind. A bit. It’s naïve to conclude that the over-sexualization of cosplayers will eventually lead to the medium’s demise, like it’s pointed out in the article itself, most of the designs for female characters in games and anime catered to the tastes of young adolescent boys. If anything, seeing these designs realized is what has increased the popularity of cosplay, and it will only continue to do so. It looks like sex will be an effective catalyst for interest for a LOOOONG time.

I fall mostly within the scope of exhibitionist cosplayers, yes I do find the processing of making the costume enjoyable, but I am also well aware of the kind of photos I take and the emotions they inspire in some people. Do I find it dehumanizing when someone praises my purposely framed assets? No, because I’m impersonating the image of a character that is not real, despite how “deep” the character may seem, despite the issues they might have or how much I might identify or feel a connection to them, they’re fiction, and my purpose is only to present a fan’s reflection of that image.

To people that cross the line, I directly tell them to refrain from acting in that manner in the future and that is effective enough. Recommendations of ignoring or expecting such comments might give a sense of acceptance toward such feedback; these days most sites give you the tools to regulate such comments, or block users that start harassing. If you don’t tell people what you find acceptable or not, they’re not going to learn since they didn’t have the decency to be aware of it in the first place.

People that don’t actively participate in the hobby might not be able to grasp the amount of work that is involved in pulling off some outfits, and as such, can’t really appreciate it; you can’t get mad over that. You can’t tell people to stop liking your hobby or participating in it because they don’t fit your idea of what it’s supposed to be about (“out with all the newbs that buy their costumes!”), it’s like getting mad that obscure band you liked got popular.

Each person will like cosplay for their own reasons, and each person will appreciate it differently. It’s within your very own power to choose the kind of people you associate with or that you want to appeal to when you create your cosplay image.

A guy called Saleth gave my comment  "Fatality" win. :p
What is your take on the article, or my comment?

This costume manages to always be super popular, and most people will assume it's Felicia, even when it's missing many parts to rightfully make it look the part.
Nonetheless, it's always fun to wear a catgirl costume!

kitty stretch

Morrigan & Felicia

=kissu=

booty!

What's your favorite thing about Felicia? is it her blue hair? The strategic placement of the fur? Her bubbly personality? Something else?

• All photos by PhotoKage
• Felicia on cosplay.com
• Felicia on ACParadise
• Catgirl Gallery on DeviantART

Do you love kitties? I sure do! I can't count how many kitties I've taken care of in my lifetime, but I always try to take pictures of them while they're in my hands.

Zugi has been around for a long time, but she's kinda cranky.

Baby Muta taking a nap, he was such a cutie.

Some more pics of my Fang! All of these were taken at Animazement 2010.

• Oerba Yun Fang cosplay on DeviantART
• Oerba Yun Fang cosplay on Cosplay.com
• Oerba Yun Fang cosplay on ACParadise

It's summer! I can't take the time/space that I need to lay out all my materials and work on cosplay for the time being, and sometimes I even get too lazy to draw, but lately I've been trying out different designs for my nails...

The other weekend I went to a picnic with my friends, and I had the crazy idea to paint my nails like a watermelon, here's how I did it:

After manicuring my nails, filing them and applying a base coat, I added a shimmery polish to the top portion of the nail.
I want the bottom of my nails to look like the rind of a watermelon, so I used these tip guides to help me make even lines. I've read that you can also use masking tape, but I've yet to try it.
I put the guides to separate where the lines will be...

And paint it green~
I used these two shades of green, because I don't like either one on their own. I used Pure ICE in Wild Thing as the base color (it's rather neon and flat) then the NYC polish to add a layer of shimmery green.
I waited about 2 minutes before removing the guides, but maybe I should've waited longer because some of the polish peeled back; ideally the "rind" part should cover the white bottom of the nail, like a french manicure.
Next up is some pink! My intention was to layer the polish in the style of syrup nails, but my polish was not sheer enough nor did I have sufficient layers to pull off the right effect.
The initial shimmery layer is some very discontinued Old Navy polish >_< and then Pure ICE in Splash for the pink.
Only after I was done did I realize I should have put the lighter shimmery color along the "rind" (towards the bottom) and build up the darker pink from the top of the nail down to better resemble a watermelon... in any case...
The next step is to add some watermelon "seeds" I used this Sally Hansen shade called Flirt, it's a very dark burgundy red.
I used a toothpick that was dabbed in polish to pain on my seeds. A steady hand is key, most of the seeds should be toward the top.
After the polish has thoroughly dried, I applied a generous layer of quick drying top coat to protect it, it also smoothed some of the lumps from my dubious paint job :p