30 Days of Star Wars: Creating my R2-D2 Costume: Part One

I'm currently taking a costuming class at my local community college and our final project is a costume of our design from our chosen era. Since I knew I wanted to make a new costume to wear for Star Wars, I decided to make an R2-D2 costume, re-imagined in the 1950s.

Upon talking to my teacher, she pointed me in the direction of researching sci-fi films from the 1950s. Here are some of my inspirations for the costume. Once I have it finalized, then I can do the fun part, looking for the items to create it!

From Superheroes to Star Wars

You know what's just as exhausting as being at a convention all day? Travelling to Hollywood and Anaheim to take pictures of cosplayers. That's what I did yesterday with Nerd-Con (there will be a post on that later this week). Our first destination was Hollywood and Highland for the DC Comics Super Hero World Record Event. This was part of a global event for the largest gathering of people dressed up as DC comics super heroes. It started in Australia and also included, Mexico, Spain, France, and the Philippines to name a few. It was a fun event, I had my picture taken with The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, got a fun Wonder Woman temporary tattoo courtesy of Hot Topic and even got a free t-shirt from the event. How cool is that?

After spending a few hours in Hollywood, I made my way down to Star Wars Celebration at the Anaheim Convention Center. I didn't have a pass to go on the convention floor. But with all the cosplayers outside, it was the next best thing. There were so many awesome cosplays that I couldn't take pictures of all of them. But here are a few of them with the last one being hands down my favorite on Saturday. Spoilers, "It's a trap!"

The Blog Awakens

Greetings blog readers! It's been way too long since I posted on here, due to me being really lazy about it. But I'm making an effort to start blogging again. I have so many things going on in the next few months that I want to document and share on here.

First off, I'm going to start where I ended my blog back in February '14 with some Star Wars. Today kicked off the Star Wars Celebration in Disneyland, ahem... I mean Anaheim. Sadly I wasn't able to go, so I'll be having some serious FOMO whilst looking scrolling through various social media and watching the live feed from Star Wars Official YouTube account. But you know what really made me have all the feels? The new teaser trailer for the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It debut this morning and I've watched it 20 times today and it still has this unimaginable grip on me. It's because Star Wars was part of my childhood. I vaguely remember watching it when I was younger. but I do remember in middle school, before the prequels came out, I went with my siblings to see the original versions in the movie theater. Star Wars was my gateway to nerdom without me even knowing it. This has bumped Avengers: Age of Ultron to #2 of my must see movie list. December can't come soon enough!

Oh and the part where Han says, "Chewie, we're home"

Here's the trailer again if your feels can handle it. 

Also I have just found my newest cosplay to tackle Rey, a scavenger from the planet Jakku. 

Whovian Wednesday: Dress Like The 12th Doctor

On Monday, the BBC released a photo of The Twelfth Doctors (Peter Capaldi) outfit and there's nary a bow tie in sight. As my friend posted on Facebook, it's Classic Who and Eleven's love child. Also as some other Whovians pointed out, it looks like a Teddy Boy from the 1960s. I love the simplicity of it all, but it still has some cool touches, such as the red lining on the jacket. I'm already expecting lots of Twelve's when I go to Wondercon in April. Heck I'll probably see a lot on my Instagram feed during Gallifrey One. 

Here's my femme version of his costume.

The 12th Doctor by aquietnerdything featuring a double breasted navy blazer

Since this is the internet, here are some funny pictures and a gif of Twelve in his new outfit.
What do you think of his new threads?

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Last Minute Fandom Costume Ideas

Standing in front of your closet figuring out what to wear for your Halloween? Here's some ideas for some cool, mostly fandom related costumes.

Halloween 2013: Taylor Swift by aquietnerdything featuring taylor swift style

The last time I did a Taylor Swift outfit, it was all about sequin dresses and cowboy boots. This time around, Taylor has been sporting high waisted shorts and oxfords, but she still goes for the sparkles. Put on your favorite red lipstick and keep a journal (or little black book) with you as you head out to the weekend costume parties. 

Halloween 2013: Rose Tyler by aquietnerdything featuring black eye makeup

There are so many feels in this costume. Try to keep Ten by your side or if you're going by yourself, smudge your eye make up a bit and start talking to people on how you need to back to the parallel world with the Doctor. Bonus points if you have the dimension jumping device on your neck.   

Halloween 2013: Mako Mori by aquietnerdything featuring skinny pants

Mako, one of my favorite charaters from my favorite movie of this year, Pacifc Rim. Prove to your adopted father that you can kick ass and pilot a jager with one of the most thoughtful heroic man you have met.

Halloween 2013: Cecil by aquietnerdything featuring a slim fit vest

If you go on Tumblr as much as I do, there are a lot of posts about Nightvale, the twice monthly podcast that is a blend of The Twilight Zone and Twin Peaks. Channel the host of Nightvale Radio Cecil Baldwin. Don't forget the arm tattoos and third eye. 

WonderCon, WonderCon!

On Saturday, I went to WonderCon with my friends, Trisha and Steven and we had the best time. Before we even decided to go to WonderCon, I got them both hooked on Doctor Who after seeing my constant DW pins on Pinterest and generally talking about it at work. When we knew that we were definitely going to go, we chose to dress up Doctor Who style. I wore my 50's TARDIS costume, while they were Ten and Rose and it was a big hit.

I'll be honest, it's really cool when people stop you to take your picture and that happened a lot to us, especially for Steven because he looked so much like Ten in his costume. Also, one of the highlights of the con for us was when we were leaving and as we were walking away from the convention center "Belle" came up to us and started talking to us as our characters and she even had her own Sonic Screwdriver. It was so cool talking to others about our love of Doctor Who.

But it wasn't all about the Doctor. The one panel we went to was Steampunk 101 and during the Q&A one of the panelists gave out the best advice when it came to creating things. "Create for yourself and not for others." It's something that we've all heard at one point, but it's good to hear nonetheless. I always leave cons feeling positive because there are others just like me and makes me want to really get myself in gear and pursue my passion.