Your favorite aquatic creatures?
General | Posted 4 years agoMight do another art challenge for December with other aquatic animals rather than crabs like last year. Absolutely anything is fair game, extinct, living, even legendary, large charismatic mammal or random water bug. Any ideas before I subject people to whatever I come up with?
I’ll allow stuff like shorebirds and amphibians that aren’t 100% in the water as long as they primarily live in/by it.
I’ll allow stuff like shorebirds and amphibians that aren’t 100% in the water as long as they primarily live in/by it.
Fun facts about semiconductor manufacturing
General | Posted 4 years agoEveryone talks about the chip shortage but not about how nuts the actual process of making computer chips is. Nanometer scales. Cleanrooms that can only have a thousand dust particles per cubic meter and have airlocks (pharmaceutical and space stuff can get even cleaner though). And a ton of CRAZY specialty chemicals and gases that will ignite in air and/or otherwise murder you, which I work on handling equipment for. Basically cabinets that hold the gas cylinders and safely monitor and regulate flow to the actual tools and machines used in chip manufacturing.
The most cartoonishly evil one might be chlorine trifluoride. It will react with and burn basically anything besides some treated metals, including glass, asbestos, concrete, and even metals like gold that basically never react. And water it reacts especially aggressively in, particular the water in living flesh. So it’ll poison and burn you and everything around you all while emitting hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid steam. During an industrial leak in the 50s, a ton of it burned through a foot of concrete and three feet of gravel.
Oh, and it was originally developed by the Nazis and planned to be used as a both an incendiary and chemical weapon simultaneously and then considered as a rocket fuel in the 50s but was rejected for both due to how hard it was to handle or control.
In the 90s it found use as a cleaner in chemical vapor deposition chambers used in the semiconductor industry because it could be used without dismantling the chambers or needing heat beyond what they could make.
Am I using this in some kind of story? I will somehow. I just want to sit back and learn more first because I like to keep my more realistic/horror stories grounded in technicality.
The most cartoonishly evil one might be chlorine trifluoride. It will react with and burn basically anything besides some treated metals, including glass, asbestos, concrete, and even metals like gold that basically never react. And water it reacts especially aggressively in, particular the water in living flesh. So it’ll poison and burn you and everything around you all while emitting hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid steam. During an industrial leak in the 50s, a ton of it burned through a foot of concrete and three feet of gravel.
Oh, and it was originally developed by the Nazis and planned to be used as a both an incendiary and chemical weapon simultaneously and then considered as a rocket fuel in the 50s but was rejected for both due to how hard it was to handle or control.
In the 90s it found use as a cleaner in chemical vapor deposition chambers used in the semiconductor industry because it could be used without dismantling the chambers or needing heat beyond what they could make.
Am I using this in some kind of story? I will somehow. I just want to sit back and learn more first because I like to keep my more realistic/horror stories grounded in technicality.
finally saw kiss
General | Posted 4 years agoFinally saw kiss in person yesterday. About 45 years too late to the party but at least I got reheated leftovers with sprinkles on top.
The facepaint (at least Gene’s) is really fun to do though mine was a crusty mess since I used expired $1 target crap and ended up kinda bottom-heavy and King Diamond-y on the wings because I don’t have nearly as much forehead real estate as the real deal lol The design moves really well on your cheeks when you make dumb faces though. I really want to play with it more especially if I get some stuff that doesn’t totally suck lol
The actual music was okay, ironically a lot of the songs I’m not as fond of sounded better live and some of the ones I love the album version of did not translate well (I Was Made For Lovin’ You partly because like half the members hate that song). And of course most of my favorite songs are deep cuts they never play but I’m very well aware of that lol Honestly though they’re old farts and I’m just glad I got to see them so I kind of don’t care
The visuals are very nice though. Very very shiny costumes that look really good on them considering how old and/or ugly they all are that make me want to make some mirror plate monster of my own. Tommy and Paul switch guitars like half a dozen times at least and they’re all very pretty and shiny. Lots of fun lighting and effects. The video screens had lots of saggy old man chins and hands from constantly zooming in on them waaay too close with way too high definition for my liking. Gene is just as disgusting looking irl as in pictures but the makeup makes it work somehow and he just looks like a snapping turtle or Victorian dino or other big nasty cold blooded thing. He moves more than most people made it sound like he did even if he looks like a goofy grandpa going rawr rawr godzilla and jokingly flirting with people. Paul lip-syncs most of it and some of his stage raps get a bit too corny but his little dance and dumb antics are funny enough I don’t really care. Tommy (space guitar guy who replaced Ace) is extremely aesthetic even if a little boring. The cat guy does a couple subtle funny cat things that made me laugh (cleaning himself during the drum solo and just. sitting there watching Tommy’s guitar solo in the dark while the other two presumably went to pee)
Dunno if non-kiss fans would enjoy but I had fun.
Admittedly my mood crashed hard after moving but hopefully this gives me some ideas to play with in my head and get out of it. I definitely need more living disco balls and scalies/amphibians.
The facepaint (at least Gene’s) is really fun to do though mine was a crusty mess since I used expired $1 target crap and ended up kinda bottom-heavy and King Diamond-y on the wings because I don’t have nearly as much forehead real estate as the real deal lol The design moves really well on your cheeks when you make dumb faces though. I really want to play with it more especially if I get some stuff that doesn’t totally suck lol
The actual music was okay, ironically a lot of the songs I’m not as fond of sounded better live and some of the ones I love the album version of did not translate well (I Was Made For Lovin’ You partly because like half the members hate that song). And of course most of my favorite songs are deep cuts they never play but I’m very well aware of that lol Honestly though they’re old farts and I’m just glad I got to see them so I kind of don’t care
The visuals are very nice though. Very very shiny costumes that look really good on them considering how old and/or ugly they all are that make me want to make some mirror plate monster of my own. Tommy and Paul switch guitars like half a dozen times at least and they’re all very pretty and shiny. Lots of fun lighting and effects. The video screens had lots of saggy old man chins and hands from constantly zooming in on them waaay too close with way too high definition for my liking. Gene is just as disgusting looking irl as in pictures but the makeup makes it work somehow and he just looks like a snapping turtle or Victorian dino or other big nasty cold blooded thing. He moves more than most people made it sound like he did even if he looks like a goofy grandpa going rawr rawr godzilla and jokingly flirting with people. Paul lip-syncs most of it and some of his stage raps get a bit too corny but his little dance and dumb antics are funny enough I don’t really care. Tommy (space guitar guy who replaced Ace) is extremely aesthetic even if a little boring. The cat guy does a couple subtle funny cat things that made me laugh (cleaning himself during the drum solo and just. sitting there watching Tommy’s guitar solo in the dark while the other two presumably went to pee)
Dunno if non-kiss fans would enjoy but I had fun.
Admittedly my mood crashed hard after moving but hopefully this gives me some ideas to play with in my head and get out of it. I definitely need more living disco balls and scalies/amphibians.
Moved to Pennsylvania
General | Posted 4 years agoI’ve lived in Florida my whole life until last week, when I moved to eastern PA for a new job and to get out of soulless suburban hell, FL. While I’m only a few days in and winter hasn’t hit yet, I really like the area so far, it’s a lot denser with a lot of fun things to do. I went to a mineral festival down the street and then did a haunt at the local amusement park a short drive away my first day and it was amazing having fun things that weren’t an hour+ away. Also learned that there’s a nice plant shop near my new office. My apartment is close-ish to some freight train tracks and I hear the trains honk every few hours, which tbh I’m fairly used to from living near Busch Gardens and a CSX line in college and hearing both steam and diesel trains lol
I’m hoping this will be what I need to shake off how bad my mental state got at my last job and becoming “terminally online” during quarantine. There’ll be a lot more exciting things happening irl so there’s less desire to escape online, hopefully.
Not sure if I’ll be doing Megaplex again unless I visit family in the summer, I don’t like travelling far for cons. Furrydelphia is very likely, Anthrocon is definitely on my radar. I know there’s other cons in the Northeast I may also consider if they’re not far, but I’ve always with content with them being maybe a 1-2x a year thing like a holiday.
I’m hoping this will be what I need to shake off how bad my mental state got at my last job and becoming “terminally online” during quarantine. There’ll be a lot more exciting things happening irl so there’s less desire to escape online, hopefully.
Not sure if I’ll be doing Megaplex again unless I visit family in the summer, I don’t like travelling far for cons. Furrydelphia is very likely, Anthrocon is definitely on my radar. I know there’s other cons in the Northeast I may also consider if they’re not far, but I’ve always with content with them being maybe a 1-2x a year thing like a holiday.
On KISS and the state of myself as an artist
General | Posted 4 years agoI figure I may as well start using this site as something of a journalling platform, it may be run by unsavory people but frankly, all social media sites are at this point (and the scale of harm that facebook and twitter have done is probably greater than FA is ever capable of). Truth is, I miss forums and slower-paced posting sites where you can post collected thoughts rather than whatever impulses come to mind while the layout blasts strangers’ dirty laundry all over your feed. Deviantart completely botched its new layout so I won’t be returning there, but as maligned as FA’s often is, I actually like it functionality-wise.
Anyways, one of my biggest new interests in 2020 and my light in the early days of quarantine was KISS, something I could have never imagined. Having been force-fed a constant stream of dad rock radio since early childhood on car rides, I’ve hated most classic rock most of my life (and still find a lot of it overhyped). KISS is responsible for one of the biggest banes of those rides, Rock and Roll All Nite, which is honestly not a bad song when played on better speakers, but so hauntingly overplayed I still never listen to it.
I had a long, strange journey into the clown abyss through some very unconventional pathways but that’s not relevant here. Long story short, I still hate most dad rock but they have much more appealing vocals/production than most and I like their more metal or dance-y songs and the weirder trend-chasing albums they’ve done, Music from the Elder being the most entertaining. But here I’m more focused on the themes and design choices of KISS that have stuck with me.
Covered faces- Funny enough, I was gung ho to wear a mask early on because of the pictures of KISS hiding their makeup-free faces in the 70s. Gene Simmons in particular has some cool shots pf him strategically shielding himself with a hand or napkin and even just peeping his eyes out from behind Cher when they were an item. I’m wildly different from him in background and personality, but there’s a lot of weird small things about him I really relate to, including not wanting to be know for my human face and what I was born with vs characters and works I’ve created for myself. I like not being known for the face I go to bed as and being able to take off the fursuit and be largely visible. For how iconic his makeup is, most people don’t know what he looks like underneath now, let alone 40+ years ago when he basically looked like a skinnier Andre the Giant. Which brings me to another point.
The power of facial markings- imo the original KISS facepaint designs are sorely underrated for how GOOD they made a group of notoriously weird-looking/ugly guys look. When you look at tribute bands, anybody can pass as Gene in the face because the dark eye area eats everything around there, the white flattens the nose and cheeks from the front, and the lips are often highly underlined. When you look at old pictures of him without makeup, he’s actually very distinctive looking, with his features being pretty uniformly big and heavy but the makeup just eats them. It also makes an interesting look when he turns his head because he has a much stronger profile that comes from nowhere and he can look like completely different people from different angles. And Asterisk’s head was actually designed to be that way! I went with a long muzzle so head motions would be more directional and the overly silhouette would be more dramatic and expressions would look wildly different from various angles despite being static.
The Ace makeup is also just a really gorgeous design, he’s pretty eurgh as a person as well but it’s beautifully androgynous and alien. He has very prominent hooded eyes and early versions of the makeup didn’t have eyeshadow so they’re very visible, while later ones do and they give him a false double eyelid look that make seeing him unmasked more surprising. His later replacement, Tommy Thayer, looks good in it too despite his wildly different face (cartoonishly chadly) and the star points down his nose are a very nice effect (also present on Gene).
I don’t have as much to say on Paul and Peter’s makeups. Paul’s is simple but the unintentionally Phantom of the Opera resemblance really fits how he took that role in the future. I actually saw a clown at the state fair shortly before the big lockdown with a similar makeup design and I really dug his performance as a “steal your man with clown antics” romantic and wish I could find any pictures of him. Peters…. is a cat, nice and bold and distinct and makes his eyes look a lot more sweet and sad vs just…. like a depressed rat in backstage shots.
Silent movies and nonverbal communication- Something Gene totally lost between the original makeup run and the reunion was the German Expressionist and general old horror movie influence his character had in the earlier days, and I’m gonna run with that with a vengeance because I had a Rudolph Valentino celebrity crush phase a couple years ago and did my IB extended essay on Picasso and anime and sensual abstract monster is a sorely neglected niche. Anyways, I absolutely love the old photos of him because he has some very fun poses and god-tier expressions being both a vampire/dragon is a great combo. His active attempts at being sexy are usually cringeworthy but the surprisingly rare few songs he actually does about being a gothic monster are fun (and a lot of the fanbase shares this sentiment tbh).
It’s actually really funny in hindsight that Asterisk is more or less a perfect hybrid of what I like about him and Ace visually despite being made years before. It’s got that long noodly androgynous alien look (with zigzag arrows like Ace’s short-lived Elder-era costume) but also has a fantastic nose, the points down towards the tip, the constant AAAAAAA expression, and well yeah the tongue thing but imo that’s a very generic trait. Doing the sideways headbang/bob thing he does is also a staple of my character because it’s easier with the head’s balance and resembles the motion people make when flopped around on rides with shoulder harnesses. Even my walk for Asterisk is a sort of drunk/underwater Godzilla thing due to how floppy and heavy the costume is and somehow a perfect hybrid of their drunk low-gravity alien and Godzilla character walks.
There’s more I could go into but those are the ones more applicable to my fursuit characters and why I suit.
But the tragic thing is, despite coming to understand Asterisk’s appeal to me more than ever in quarantine, I didn’t have a great Megaplex partly because it made me realize how distant I’ve grown from the suit and the character. I’ve just been too broken as a person and changed my outlook on life so much since 2019 that being a surreal alien based on what was a magical new world to me seven years ago felt impossible. There’s too much disconnect and resentment between the brooding, depressed shell I am now vs the serious but imaginative and fulfilled person I was in high school and wish I could be again but fall further from year by year to the point I’ve barely done any art or really anything creative in 2021. The weight and annoying impracticalities of the suit really ground on me and wore me down that con, especially dancing-wise. I found myself wearing Rainbow Randall, my old secondary partial suit, more and more because he’s feather light and very comfortable to wear vs constantly adjusting Asterisk’s head and pulling pants up and checking if any padding fell out or is misaligned.
I’ve had a WIP suit untouched for over a year now that I’ve been unsure about even completing at this point as the character has come to represent the sort of industrial Moloch slave I felt like in my defense industry job and I realize how much I enjoy wearing partial vs full suits and it’s shaped up to be even bulkier than Asterisk, basically the antithesis of what I need.
Basically, I don’t know what, if anything is next costuming-wise. My first con after quarantine was really underwhelming in the parts I was looking forward to most and it makes me question if I should explore other things like haunting or even LARP instead.
I have been doing a lot of writing since it’s something I can do lying in bed sad with myself. A lot of it is too fetishy or personal for me to comfortably show publicly but maybe I’ll post some in the future. There’s several 70s-80s era fire/supernatural stories I’ve done that I really like since I have a fear/fascination with building fires and how they start and they personify well.
Anyways, one of my biggest new interests in 2020 and my light in the early days of quarantine was KISS, something I could have never imagined. Having been force-fed a constant stream of dad rock radio since early childhood on car rides, I’ve hated most classic rock most of my life (and still find a lot of it overhyped). KISS is responsible for one of the biggest banes of those rides, Rock and Roll All Nite, which is honestly not a bad song when played on better speakers, but so hauntingly overplayed I still never listen to it.
I had a long, strange journey into the clown abyss through some very unconventional pathways but that’s not relevant here. Long story short, I still hate most dad rock but they have much more appealing vocals/production than most and I like their more metal or dance-y songs and the weirder trend-chasing albums they’ve done, Music from the Elder being the most entertaining. But here I’m more focused on the themes and design choices of KISS that have stuck with me.
Covered faces- Funny enough, I was gung ho to wear a mask early on because of the pictures of KISS hiding their makeup-free faces in the 70s. Gene Simmons in particular has some cool shots pf him strategically shielding himself with a hand or napkin and even just peeping his eyes out from behind Cher when they were an item. I’m wildly different from him in background and personality, but there’s a lot of weird small things about him I really relate to, including not wanting to be know for my human face and what I was born with vs characters and works I’ve created for myself. I like not being known for the face I go to bed as and being able to take off the fursuit and be largely visible. For how iconic his makeup is, most people don’t know what he looks like underneath now, let alone 40+ years ago when he basically looked like a skinnier Andre the Giant. Which brings me to another point.
The power of facial markings- imo the original KISS facepaint designs are sorely underrated for how GOOD they made a group of notoriously weird-looking/ugly guys look. When you look at tribute bands, anybody can pass as Gene in the face because the dark eye area eats everything around there, the white flattens the nose and cheeks from the front, and the lips are often highly underlined. When you look at old pictures of him without makeup, he’s actually very distinctive looking, with his features being pretty uniformly big and heavy but the makeup just eats them. It also makes an interesting look when he turns his head because he has a much stronger profile that comes from nowhere and he can look like completely different people from different angles. And Asterisk’s head was actually designed to be that way! I went with a long muzzle so head motions would be more directional and the overly silhouette would be more dramatic and expressions would look wildly different from various angles despite being static.
The Ace makeup is also just a really gorgeous design, he’s pretty eurgh as a person as well but it’s beautifully androgynous and alien. He has very prominent hooded eyes and early versions of the makeup didn’t have eyeshadow so they’re very visible, while later ones do and they give him a false double eyelid look that make seeing him unmasked more surprising. His later replacement, Tommy Thayer, looks good in it too despite his wildly different face (cartoonishly chadly) and the star points down his nose are a very nice effect (also present on Gene).
I don’t have as much to say on Paul and Peter’s makeups. Paul’s is simple but the unintentionally Phantom of the Opera resemblance really fits how he took that role in the future. I actually saw a clown at the state fair shortly before the big lockdown with a similar makeup design and I really dug his performance as a “steal your man with clown antics” romantic and wish I could find any pictures of him. Peters…. is a cat, nice and bold and distinct and makes his eyes look a lot more sweet and sad vs just…. like a depressed rat in backstage shots.
Silent movies and nonverbal communication- Something Gene totally lost between the original makeup run and the reunion was the German Expressionist and general old horror movie influence his character had in the earlier days, and I’m gonna run with that with a vengeance because I had a Rudolph Valentino celebrity crush phase a couple years ago and did my IB extended essay on Picasso and anime and sensual abstract monster is a sorely neglected niche. Anyways, I absolutely love the old photos of him because he has some very fun poses and god-tier expressions being both a vampire/dragon is a great combo. His active attempts at being sexy are usually cringeworthy but the surprisingly rare few songs he actually does about being a gothic monster are fun (and a lot of the fanbase shares this sentiment tbh).
It’s actually really funny in hindsight that Asterisk is more or less a perfect hybrid of what I like about him and Ace visually despite being made years before. It’s got that long noodly androgynous alien look (with zigzag arrows like Ace’s short-lived Elder-era costume) but also has a fantastic nose, the points down towards the tip, the constant AAAAAAA expression, and well yeah the tongue thing but imo that’s a very generic trait. Doing the sideways headbang/bob thing he does is also a staple of my character because it’s easier with the head’s balance and resembles the motion people make when flopped around on rides with shoulder harnesses. Even my walk for Asterisk is a sort of drunk/underwater Godzilla thing due to how floppy and heavy the costume is and somehow a perfect hybrid of their drunk low-gravity alien and Godzilla character walks.
There’s more I could go into but those are the ones more applicable to my fursuit characters and why I suit.
But the tragic thing is, despite coming to understand Asterisk’s appeal to me more than ever in quarantine, I didn’t have a great Megaplex partly because it made me realize how distant I’ve grown from the suit and the character. I’ve just been too broken as a person and changed my outlook on life so much since 2019 that being a surreal alien based on what was a magical new world to me seven years ago felt impossible. There’s too much disconnect and resentment between the brooding, depressed shell I am now vs the serious but imaginative and fulfilled person I was in high school and wish I could be again but fall further from year by year to the point I’ve barely done any art or really anything creative in 2021. The weight and annoying impracticalities of the suit really ground on me and wore me down that con, especially dancing-wise. I found myself wearing Rainbow Randall, my old secondary partial suit, more and more because he’s feather light and very comfortable to wear vs constantly adjusting Asterisk’s head and pulling pants up and checking if any padding fell out or is misaligned.
I’ve had a WIP suit untouched for over a year now that I’ve been unsure about even completing at this point as the character has come to represent the sort of industrial Moloch slave I felt like in my defense industry job and I realize how much I enjoy wearing partial vs full suits and it’s shaped up to be even bulkier than Asterisk, basically the antithesis of what I need.
Basically, I don’t know what, if anything is next costuming-wise. My first con after quarantine was really underwhelming in the parts I was looking forward to most and it makes me question if I should explore other things like haunting or even LARP instead.
I have been doing a lot of writing since it’s something I can do lying in bed sad with myself. A lot of it is too fetishy or personal for me to comfortably show publicly but maybe I’ll post some in the future. There’s several 70s-80s era fire/supernatural stories I’ve done that I really like since I have a fear/fascination with building fires and how they start and they personify well.
Silly character idea of the day
General | Posted 4 years agoDinosaur dressed as one of the maidens from the Rite of Spring. Make the weird poses and stuff. Raptor would be dead easy to do since there’s the readily available raptor mask blanks and the dresses are pretty much just straight sacks made of whatever garish patterns you can get
Megaplex 2019
General | Posted 6 years agoDays staying:
Thurs-Mon
Staying at:
Main Hotel
How are you traveling?
Driving
Who are you rooming with?
Alone Fri-Sat unless I find someone interested in splitting the room this late, with another group Thurs and Sat because I wanted to extend my stay after only reserving two nights.
Who will you be with?
Usually alone
Where will you be?
Milling around the main areas between events except to air out my suit.
How is the best way to find you?
If you see me in suit you'll know it's me. You can poke me on telegram otherwise.
What do you look like?
Check favs for suit pics, otherwise I'm very nondescript. Short blonde hair, basketball short, T-shirt. I'll probably be wearing a unicorn balaclava for nonsuit floor wars.
.
What is your gender?
Female, but I look fairly boyish
How old are you?
20
Are you mated/in a relationship?
No and absolutely not interested.
How tall are you?
5'10
Can I talk to you?
Sure, preferably off to the side if I'm in suit so I don't go breaking character in front a bunch of people. I respond to people in suit the way they treat me (noises or silent if like an animal, regular talking if they ask how I made my suit lol)
Can I hug and/or snuggle you?
Hugs are fine if you ask first, no snuggles.
Are you nice?
Pretty aloof out of suit but if you approach me first I'm usually willing to talk
Are you fursuiting?
As much as I can :P
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Wave at me, say my name loud enough to hear (Asterisk)
Can we hang out?
Unless I'm busy, probably.
Where will you be eating?
Probably just food out of my room, not a restaurant person because I'm a picky eater.
Can I come to dinner with you?
No.
Do you attend parties?
No.
Can I take your picture?
Yes, just ask so I can pose (or tell me how to pose)
Attending any events?
I'll likely try out for dance comp, and will be in non-suit floor wars
What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Have fun and don't die because I'm going for even longer than last year and gotta pace myself
Thurs-Mon
Staying at:
Main Hotel
How are you traveling?
Driving
Who are you rooming with?
Alone Fri-Sat unless I find someone interested in splitting the room this late, with another group Thurs and Sat because I wanted to extend my stay after only reserving two nights.
Who will you be with?
Usually alone
Where will you be?
Milling around the main areas between events except to air out my suit.
How is the best way to find you?
If you see me in suit you'll know it's me. You can poke me on telegram otherwise.
What do you look like?
Check favs for suit pics, otherwise I'm very nondescript. Short blonde hair, basketball short, T-shirt. I'll probably be wearing a unicorn balaclava for nonsuit floor wars.
.
What is your gender?
Female, but I look fairly boyish
How old are you?
20
Are you mated/in a relationship?
No and absolutely not interested.
How tall are you?
5'10
Can I talk to you?
Sure, preferably off to the side if I'm in suit so I don't go breaking character in front a bunch of people. I respond to people in suit the way they treat me (noises or silent if like an animal, regular talking if they ask how I made my suit lol)
Can I hug and/or snuggle you?
Hugs are fine if you ask first, no snuggles.
Are you nice?
Pretty aloof out of suit but if you approach me first I'm usually willing to talk
Are you fursuiting?
As much as I can :P
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Wave at me, say my name loud enough to hear (Asterisk)
Can we hang out?
Unless I'm busy, probably.
Where will you be eating?
Probably just food out of my room, not a restaurant person because I'm a picky eater.
Can I come to dinner with you?
No.
Do you attend parties?
No.
Can I take your picture?
Yes, just ask so I can pose (or tell me how to pose)
Attending any events?
I'll likely try out for dance comp, and will be in non-suit floor wars
What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Have fun and don't die because I'm going for even longer than last year and gotta pace myself
Diesel locomotive lore
General | Posted 6 years agoPeople may say they're kind of boring, especially compared to steam engines but that's like saying they're cleaner than them, it's a stupidly high bar to clear. Here are the sometimes kind of sad and/or funny backstories behind the ones at the museum I've been volunteering at the past month.
Sorry for any mistakes, hardcore trains buffs or anyone very familiar with a certain railroad museum in central Florida (that I won't mention by name just so people there don't learn about my furry side). I don't care if furries know I'm there, though, it's not a publicly visible position and even if someone did call them yelling "SHE'S A FURRY" I don't think they'd care, they've had weirder people work for them and they appreciate my ability to worm into tight spots for free too much.
1633 (ALCO RS-3)- The museum's main engine for years. Taken out of service in the late 2000s due to governor problems but apparently can be run in a laughably redneck way in a pinch by using ropes and sticks to push its electrical switches.
8204 (ALCO RS-3)- Used alongside 1633 until its battery died. Not having the money to get a new one because of the nonexistant budget at the time, it was put aside as a parts donor for 1633.
251 (ALCO S2)- aka Alsatia or "That piece of shit". Gift from a rock quarry and in pretty crap shape partly due to having two cylinders disabled supposedly to make it smoke less. It's an ALCO, notorious for being "honorary steam engines" because they can be very smoky things. Kind of the equivalent of removing a dragon's lung to stop it from breathing fire. I've read that the dark smoke is from turbo lag, if anyone's more familiar with internal combustion engines, let me know if what the company did was effective at all, I'm curious. It's pretty beat up as a whole and staff were basically told to stop looking for things to fix on it because it's in such a state and just wait for issues to crop up. Also hated by drivers because its antiquated and kind of strange control-wise, doesn't have a speedometer, and tends to yoink the train too hard when it starts moving. I honestly really like this thing because it has a funky paint job that's faded to pastel pink and yellow on black and white and I've gotten real physical crawling up in the engine to work on it. Also the only engine with handrails on top of it so putting the rain cover on the smokestack is less precarious.
1835 (EMD GP-7)- Main engine atm, ex-Army gift with some wacky backwards parts like the some air valves. Has a boaty-sounding horn rather than a typical train horn that staff make fun of.
1822 (EMD GP-7)- sister to 1835 but something ruined a traction motor around the time it was being brought down to the museum so they just chopped the shaft connecting it to the wheels off, leaving it with 3/4 motors now and just a parts donor for 1835. It sits behind 8204 looking similarly crusty and abandoned.
8330 (EMD GP-9)- It was acquired in the late 2000s in an engine crisis after it traveled between a bunch of railroads in the US and Canada and was originally a B-unit (locomotive with no cab), but a cab was added later. It used to be the other main engine with 1835 but volunteer staff didn't blow down the cylinders properly to remove the water from them and it went boom on the Christmas train and now has I think two unusable pistons that were damaged from that and a bent rod from one in the museum that I helped clean up. It can be used in a pinch but doesn't run too great. By far the best horn there, not like it has much competition with the smaller engines having less impressive horns and 1835 having that boat horn.
100 (GE 44-ton switcher)- Main yard switcher. Seems to be one of the more reliable engines there since it's been used the most while I've been there and not had any drama like 1835, 251, and every piece of track maintenance equipment. Rides and sounds like a school bus on rails, about the same color, too. I've actually driven this little guy, it's supposed to be the easiest one to drive and it wasn't much trouble for me. Pumping diesel into it by hand is a pain, though. I sat there for like 10 minutes until my thumb got sore from squeezing the handle, only to fill a quarter of the tank... it's 400 gallons or so total. Gets used for track inspections, rescuing the track maintenance guy when his ride breaks down (which happens... pretty regularly).
204 (EMD CF-7)- Ah yes, the Kinder-Morgan Surprise. Scrap engine the museum bought to see if they could fix or just use for parts, it was semi-functional so the last several months they've been restoring it to working order. It's a fairly uncommon EMD F7 rebuild that's about the same mechanically, but has a more boxy and practical new body shape that gives the driver better visibility. Used to have a toilet and air conditioner in the cab that were removed in the restoration. I've been doing a lot of work scraping, cleaning, and replacing traction motor brushes on this thing. Especially the brushes, staff love me because I'm the only one small enough to squeeze under the undercarriage to get to some of them AND I'm doing it for free. They're hoping to have it ready for Christmas.
50 "The Critter" (Plymouth 40-ton switcher)- This little guy is much shorter height and length wise than 100 but weighs almost as much as it because it's absurdly dense because the steel is super thick. Doesn't run much but it's supposed to be operational.
904 (EMD F7)- Another unusual F7 rebuild this one supposedly far rarer than the CF-7 (only heard of a few others online). It's sat in the end of the yard since at least 2004 after being bought from its previous owner in Canada or possibly a museum in Florida affected by a hurricane, the former being more likely, slowly rotting and looking awfully ghostly with its white and mint green color scheme and dark windows. It was originally a normal F7of the FP-7 for passenger use , but had its engine and traction motors removed, leaving it just a cab and a shell that can be used to control another engine on the other end of a train. So the ghost engine can basically possess others. There's a pipe dream to paint it Atlantic Coast Line purple (which is a gorgeous color scheme just look it up) and control a less glamorous engine with it on the other end, but it would be expensive to do for something that would just serve to look really cool and nobody knows when they'll ever do it or if it'll rust away to nothing before they do.
Sorry for any mistakes, hardcore trains buffs or anyone very familiar with a certain railroad museum in central Florida (that I won't mention by name just so people there don't learn about my furry side). I don't care if furries know I'm there, though, it's not a publicly visible position and even if someone did call them yelling "SHE'S A FURRY" I don't think they'd care, they've had weirder people work for them and they appreciate my ability to worm into tight spots for free too much.
1633 (ALCO RS-3)- The museum's main engine for years. Taken out of service in the late 2000s due to governor problems but apparently can be run in a laughably redneck way in a pinch by using ropes and sticks to push its electrical switches.
8204 (ALCO RS-3)- Used alongside 1633 until its battery died. Not having the money to get a new one because of the nonexistant budget at the time, it was put aside as a parts donor for 1633.
251 (ALCO S2)- aka Alsatia or "That piece of shit". Gift from a rock quarry and in pretty crap shape partly due to having two cylinders disabled supposedly to make it smoke less. It's an ALCO, notorious for being "honorary steam engines" because they can be very smoky things. Kind of the equivalent of removing a dragon's lung to stop it from breathing fire. I've read that the dark smoke is from turbo lag, if anyone's more familiar with internal combustion engines, let me know if what the company did was effective at all, I'm curious. It's pretty beat up as a whole and staff were basically told to stop looking for things to fix on it because it's in such a state and just wait for issues to crop up. Also hated by drivers because its antiquated and kind of strange control-wise, doesn't have a speedometer, and tends to yoink the train too hard when it starts moving. I honestly really like this thing because it has a funky paint job that's faded to pastel pink and yellow on black and white and I've gotten real physical crawling up in the engine to work on it. Also the only engine with handrails on top of it so putting the rain cover on the smokestack is less precarious.
1835 (EMD GP-7)- Main engine atm, ex-Army gift with some wacky backwards parts like the some air valves. Has a boaty-sounding horn rather than a typical train horn that staff make fun of.
1822 (EMD GP-7)- sister to 1835 but something ruined a traction motor around the time it was being brought down to the museum so they just chopped the shaft connecting it to the wheels off, leaving it with 3/4 motors now and just a parts donor for 1835. It sits behind 8204 looking similarly crusty and abandoned.
8330 (EMD GP-9)- It was acquired in the late 2000s in an engine crisis after it traveled between a bunch of railroads in the US and Canada and was originally a B-unit (locomotive with no cab), but a cab was added later. It used to be the other main engine with 1835 but volunteer staff didn't blow down the cylinders properly to remove the water from them and it went boom on the Christmas train and now has I think two unusable pistons that were damaged from that and a bent rod from one in the museum that I helped clean up. It can be used in a pinch but doesn't run too great. By far the best horn there, not like it has much competition with the smaller engines having less impressive horns and 1835 having that boat horn.
100 (GE 44-ton switcher)- Main yard switcher. Seems to be one of the more reliable engines there since it's been used the most while I've been there and not had any drama like 1835, 251, and every piece of track maintenance equipment. Rides and sounds like a school bus on rails, about the same color, too. I've actually driven this little guy, it's supposed to be the easiest one to drive and it wasn't much trouble for me. Pumping diesel into it by hand is a pain, though. I sat there for like 10 minutes until my thumb got sore from squeezing the handle, only to fill a quarter of the tank... it's 400 gallons or so total. Gets used for track inspections, rescuing the track maintenance guy when his ride breaks down (which happens... pretty regularly).
204 (EMD CF-7)- Ah yes, the Kinder-Morgan Surprise. Scrap engine the museum bought to see if they could fix or just use for parts, it was semi-functional so the last several months they've been restoring it to working order. It's a fairly uncommon EMD F7 rebuild that's about the same mechanically, but has a more boxy and practical new body shape that gives the driver better visibility. Used to have a toilet and air conditioner in the cab that were removed in the restoration. I've been doing a lot of work scraping, cleaning, and replacing traction motor brushes on this thing. Especially the brushes, staff love me because I'm the only one small enough to squeeze under the undercarriage to get to some of them AND I'm doing it for free. They're hoping to have it ready for Christmas.
50 "The Critter" (Plymouth 40-ton switcher)- This little guy is much shorter height and length wise than 100 but weighs almost as much as it because it's absurdly dense because the steel is super thick. Doesn't run much but it's supposed to be operational.
904 (EMD F7)- Another unusual F7 rebuild this one supposedly far rarer than the CF-7 (only heard of a few others online). It's sat in the end of the yard since at least 2004 after being bought from its previous owner in Canada or possibly a museum in Florida affected by a hurricane, the former being more likely, slowly rotting and looking awfully ghostly with its white and mint green color scheme and dark windows. It was originally a normal F7of the FP-7 for passenger use , but had its engine and traction motors removed, leaving it just a cab and a shell that can be used to control another engine on the other end of a train. So the ghost engine can basically possess others. There's a pipe dream to paint it Atlantic Coast Line purple (which is a gorgeous color scheme just look it up) and control a less glamorous engine with it on the other end, but it would be expensive to do for something that would just serve to look really cool and nobody knows when they'll ever do it or if it'll rust away to nothing before they do.
Update I guess
General | Posted 6 years agoI don't post much on here but I really should, while Instagram and Twitter are faster and more convenient, it's so hard to scroll back through old stuff on them (particularly Twitter) and I like the slower paced, more archival qualities of gallery sites.
Couldn't get an internship this summer but I'll be volunteering part to full time at a railroad museum doing who knows what fixing 40s-50s era trains. The other volunteers I've talked with seem nice and it'll definitely be interesting, though.
Yep, I'm going to Megaplex '19, going to be the same two suits as last year (Asterisk and the rainbow cat) since I'm at my apartment vs with family and don't have the space to do much new stuff. Might try getting into making plush and carving EVA foam, though. Plan to do dance comp and floor wars as long as I get in and don't have any freak accidents.
Also starting on a new writing project, I haven't totally abandoned the Peninsula and will probably try to work on that a bit but I've got another one calling my name right now. I haven't totally decided how it'll pan out, currently I have it as separate short stories rather than one long one currently. Plan to have the first chapter done in the next few days, just need to edit it and possibly split it in two.
Miight do commissions later this summer once I get an idea of how long it takes me to do a few raffle prizes I've done on other sites.
Couldn't get an internship this summer but I'll be volunteering part to full time at a railroad museum doing who knows what fixing 40s-50s era trains. The other volunteers I've talked with seem nice and it'll definitely be interesting, though.
Yep, I'm going to Megaplex '19, going to be the same two suits as last year (Asterisk and the rainbow cat) since I'm at my apartment vs with family and don't have the space to do much new stuff. Might try getting into making plush and carving EVA foam, though. Plan to do dance comp and floor wars as long as I get in and don't have any freak accidents.
Also starting on a new writing project, I haven't totally abandoned the Peninsula and will probably try to work on that a bit but I've got another one calling my name right now. I haven't totally decided how it'll pan out, currently I have it as separate short stories rather than one long one currently. Plan to have the first chapter done in the next few days, just need to edit it and possibly split it in two.
Miight do commissions later this summer once I get an idea of how long it takes me to do a few raffle prizes I've done on other sites.
Megaplex 2018 Meme
General | Posted 7 years agoIt's two months out but here goes
Days staying:
Friday-Sunday
Staying at:
Main Hotel
How are you traveling?
Driving
Who are you rooming with?
Possibly my mom and sister.
Who will you be with?
Probably either alone or with whoever wants to hang out.
Where will you be?
Milling around the main areas between events except to air out my suit.
How is the best way to find you?
If you see me in suit you'll know it's me. You can poke me on telegram otherwise.
What do you look like?
Check favs for suit pics, otherwise I'm very nondescript. Short blonde hair, basketball short, T-shirt.
.
What is your gender?
Female, but I look fairly boyish
How old are you?
I'll be 19 then
Are you mated/in a relationship?
No and absolutely not interested.
How tall are you?
5'10
Can I talk to you?
Sure, preferably off to the side if I'm in suit so I don't go breaking character in front a bunch of people.
Can I hug and/or snuggle you?
Hugs are fine as long as long as you ask and aren't especially dirty/smelly, no snuggles.
Are you nice?
Pretty aloof out of suit but if you approach me first I'm usually willing to talk
Are you fursuiting?
As much as I can :P
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Wave at me, say my name loud enough to hear (Asterisk)
Can we hang out?
Unless I'm busy, probably.
Where will you be eating?
Probably just food out of my room, not a restaurant person because I'm a picky eater.
Can I come to dinner with you?
No.
Do you attend parties?
No.
Can I take your picture?
Yes, just ask so I can pose (or tell me how to pose)
Attending any events?
I'll likely try out for dance comp/floor wars, otherwise it'll depend on schedules.
What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Have fun, that's it.
Days staying:
Friday-Sunday
Staying at:
Main Hotel
How are you traveling?
Driving
Who are you rooming with?
Possibly my mom and sister.
Who will you be with?
Probably either alone or with whoever wants to hang out.
Where will you be?
Milling around the main areas between events except to air out my suit.
How is the best way to find you?
If you see me in suit you'll know it's me. You can poke me on telegram otherwise.
What do you look like?
Check favs for suit pics, otherwise I'm very nondescript. Short blonde hair, basketball short, T-shirt.
.
What is your gender?
Female, but I look fairly boyish
How old are you?
I'll be 19 then
Are you mated/in a relationship?
No and absolutely not interested.
How tall are you?
5'10
Can I talk to you?
Sure, preferably off to the side if I'm in suit so I don't go breaking character in front a bunch of people.
Can I hug and/or snuggle you?
Hugs are fine as long as long as you ask and aren't especially dirty/smelly, no snuggles.
Are you nice?
Pretty aloof out of suit but if you approach me first I'm usually willing to talk
Are you fursuiting?
As much as I can :P
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Wave at me, say my name loud enough to hear (Asterisk)
Can we hang out?
Unless I'm busy, probably.
Where will you be eating?
Probably just food out of my room, not a restaurant person because I'm a picky eater.
Can I come to dinner with you?
No.
Do you attend parties?
No.
Can I take your picture?
Yes, just ask so I can pose (or tell me how to pose)
Attending any events?
I'll likely try out for dance comp/floor wars, otherwise it'll depend on schedules.
What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Have fun, that's it.
Not dead
General | Posted 7 years agoJust school kicking my ass as usual, sorry.
I'll have a good 1.5-2 months of basically free time this summer to make lots of stuff since I won't really be able to get a job since I'm only going to be home half the summer before going on a long vacation.
I miight consider doing commissions if I can figure out the formal legal stuff for taking USD ones. Mostly just smaller cheaper stuff to help myself get faster/better at drawing because I'm really rusty and working for others helps a ton. I'd totally be open to art trades then as well.
I'll have a good 1.5-2 months of basically free time this summer to make lots of stuff since I won't really be able to get a job since I'm only going to be home half the summer before going on a long vacation.
I miight consider doing commissions if I can figure out the formal legal stuff for taking USD ones. Mostly just smaller cheaper stuff to help myself get faster/better at drawing because I'm really rusty and working for others helps a ton. I'd totally be open to art trades then as well.
In case you're curious
General | Posted 8 years agoI probably won't post the story anytimes soon on here because it's getting rather long, but I'll just link to the google doc I compiled today with everything I have done of it so far :)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....it?usp=sharing
I will warn that it does get rather violent and disturbing, at times graphically so.
As for what it's about? I've struggled to describe it tbh but basically humans were more or less wiped out by god-like powers and replaced with a new sort of life that doesn't eat, drink, or reproduce yet still manages to start ungodly amounts of drama amongst itself. And the whole thing is based on roller coaster history and every single character is a roller coaster reference, which sounds like a very strange twist out loud but I've legitimately built this whole world around that concept.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....it?usp=sharing
I will warn that it does get rather violent and disturbing, at times graphically so.
As for what it's about? I've struggled to describe it tbh but basically humans were more or less wiped out by god-like powers and replaced with a new sort of life that doesn't eat, drink, or reproduce yet still manages to start ungodly amounts of drama amongst itself. And the whole thing is based on roller coaster history and every single character is a roller coaster reference, which sounds like a very strange twist out loud but I've legitimately built this whole world around that concept.
Hopefully activity coming
General | Posted 8 years agoWinter break's in a week, hopefully I'll have time to draw more stuff then.
Might also try revamping some of my old carnival ride characters since people really like Asterisk.
Might also try revamping some of my old carnival ride characters since people really like Asterisk.
Lack of Activity
General | Posted 8 years agoYeah, I'm alive, just haven't done really any art or anything worth posting these ast few months
School's had me busy and my time management has been awful and I'm had little free time at all. It's pretty sad lol
School's had me busy and my time management has been awful and I'm had little free time at all. It's pretty sad lol
Hurricane Update
General | Posted 8 years agolol I'm fine it ended up being much lighter than expected in my area. Didn't even lose power. If not for everyone flipping out, tree detritus all over the ground, and school being closed for a week, tbh I probably wouldn't have even realized there was a hurricane passing through last night since my dorm building muffles the sound of wind and rain a lot.
Hurricane Update
General | Posted 8 years agoWelp, it turned right towards me. Supposed to hit this place head-on at cat 3. There's a shelter on campus I can go to if I'm told to get out of my dorm, pretty much just following along with what the school tells me to do. Again, not in a flood-prone area but a bit concerned about the wind busting my windows and water getting in, so bagging up everything I care about and probably going to stick in the windowless bathroom if needed. Asterisk's literal furry trash right now with its head cocooned in multiple garbage bags lol Hopefully my parents will take care of the rest of the body and my other partial at my home a bit further north and keep them dry.
Hurricane
General | Posted 8 years agoDon't worry too much about me, I'm in a relatively safe place unless it turns towards the west coast of the state. Not in a flood zone, third story of a pretty solid college dorm where there's tons of resources available if crap hits the fan.
And with that my streak of activity ends
General | Posted 8 years agoCollege started this week and I finished posting all my reasonably recent (this year and later last year) anthro-related art, so activity's gonna slow down a looot. I have some older stuff I could post, I guess, but nothing new for a while since school and sports are going to kick my butt (woo statics, physics, and calc ). Might post some of my traditional doodles if there's anything nice, but those tend to be pretty unremarkable, unfinished, or just studies from photos that aren't terribly interesting. I'm mostly a digital art person and all I really have to work with traditionally are writing pencils/pens, a fairly cheap sketchbook, and loose leaf lined paper.
I'll still poke in every day or so to check messages, though. Usually if I go inactive I'm still logging in and checking stuff, just don't have stuff to post.
I'll still poke in every day or so to check messages, though. Usually if I go inactive I'm still logging in and checking stuff, just don't have stuff to post.
Posting Art?
General | Posted 8 years agoWould anyone be interested in me posting my art here or on a separate account? I do a fair amount of furry art and some living machine stuff (SFW lol) but mostly post it on dA or tumblr.
No Subject
General | Posted 8 years agoI got a message on another site basically saying I stunk and let me take this moment to mention that I'm okay with and encourage people to tap me on the shoulder/nudge me aside (especially if I'm in a headless lounge) and let me know I need to freshen up if I'm starting to smell. I'm pretty new to fursuiting and can't smell my own B.O. and really don't want to end up being one of those suiters notorious for being stinky and/or dirty X_X
It should be better next year since I've gotten better about keeping my suit clean but I'm definitely going to need to take more disinfecting breaks and hopefully I'll have a room for the whole con so I can desuit and disinfect it more often.
It should be better next year since I've gotten better about keeping my suit clean but I'm definitely going to need to take more disinfecting breaks and hopefully I'll have a room for the whole con so I can desuit and disinfect it more often.
FAQ
General | Posted 8 years agoBased on the questions I got at Megaplex, mostly about my suit, but also some basic stuff on myself
Gender/pronouns?
I'm a chick, the character is the spirit of a genderless machine, refer to it as whatever you wish :P
Can I touch you?
Hugs are usually fine if you're reasonably clean and ask first. Same goes for touching my head, hands/arms, and tail. Just be gentle and don't scratch at the fur or pull on the ears/tongue/pawpads since they're a bit fragile. I guess if you really wanted to I'd probably be okay if you wanted to poke at my feet/lower legs if you aren't being creepy lol
Who made the suit?
I did! My mom helped with some of the patterning and with learning to sew but otherwise it's all my work, including the silicone bits.
What species is it?
To be honest, not any in particular. I tend to call it sort of a fuzzy dragon, but it's really just a character I made based on a fair ride I really like (a Mondial Top Scan called Space Roller). Believe it or not, it was originally a cat.
Do you talk?
If you're a silent fursuiter or treating me like one, I'll be silent. If you ask me a question like you would another person, I'm happy to talk (usually out of character), and have a tendency to get a bit too chatty if it's an interesting subject, though I'm not the most outgoing and don't tend to be the type to actually start conversation.
What's with the ears?
Yes, those are ears, not dreads or tendrils. Even had them mistaken for gills a few times (which is my personal favorite assumption I get since it's a really neat idea and they do make me look at lot like an axolotl or something). They're built on office chair swivel wheel bases (cut off the wheels and attached the foam ears to the swiveling part), and were intended to be rigid and just rotate on their bases, but the softness of the foam beneath made them flop. They're a bit less droopy now, but still get a good swing if I headbang enough.
What materials did you use?
Eyes are acrylic, head is standard upholstery foam with wire reinforcement in the ears and jaw, teeth are painted and sealed paperclay stuck on wires and glue and stuck into the jaw, tongue and pawpads are Dragon Skin NV Silicone, feet bottoms are EVA foam mats, longer fur is MM Fox and shorter fur is MM Teddy. The colored markings were dyed with acrylic paint and the detailed lines were airbrushed. (They can bleed a bit, but only if I'm very sweaty and there's prolonged rubbing against something, casual contact and hugs shouldn't be an issue).
The face lights are just white LEDs wired up in parallel, battery pack is in the neck.
Are you hot in there?
Not very. Ventilation through the mouth is great and I'm pretty heat tolerant, so I could easily go hours in the thing with just snack and water breaks on occasion. If I stop, it's usually because something slid out of place or I'm thirsty.
---
And just as a general thing, I love getting just random weird neutral comments like "your tongue looks like a sunflower", or the gill thing. I just really enjoy hearing what others make of the design of the character since it's very... something and reactions are always amusing
Gender/pronouns?
I'm a chick, the character is the spirit of a genderless machine, refer to it as whatever you wish :P
Can I touch you?
Hugs are usually fine if you're reasonably clean and ask first. Same goes for touching my head, hands/arms, and tail. Just be gentle and don't scratch at the fur or pull on the ears/tongue/pawpads since they're a bit fragile. I guess if you really wanted to I'd probably be okay if you wanted to poke at my feet/lower legs if you aren't being creepy lol
Who made the suit?
I did! My mom helped with some of the patterning and with learning to sew but otherwise it's all my work, including the silicone bits.
What species is it?
To be honest, not any in particular. I tend to call it sort of a fuzzy dragon, but it's really just a character I made based on a fair ride I really like (a Mondial Top Scan called Space Roller). Believe it or not, it was originally a cat.
Do you talk?
If you're a silent fursuiter or treating me like one, I'll be silent. If you ask me a question like you would another person, I'm happy to talk (usually out of character), and have a tendency to get a bit too chatty if it's an interesting subject, though I'm not the most outgoing and don't tend to be the type to actually start conversation.
What's with the ears?
Yes, those are ears, not dreads or tendrils. Even had them mistaken for gills a few times (which is my personal favorite assumption I get since it's a really neat idea and they do make me look at lot like an axolotl or something). They're built on office chair swivel wheel bases (cut off the wheels and attached the foam ears to the swiveling part), and were intended to be rigid and just rotate on their bases, but the softness of the foam beneath made them flop. They're a bit less droopy now, but still get a good swing if I headbang enough.
What materials did you use?
Eyes are acrylic, head is standard upholstery foam with wire reinforcement in the ears and jaw, teeth are painted and sealed paperclay stuck on wires and glue and stuck into the jaw, tongue and pawpads are Dragon Skin NV Silicone, feet bottoms are EVA foam mats, longer fur is MM Fox and shorter fur is MM Teddy. The colored markings were dyed with acrylic paint and the detailed lines were airbrushed. (They can bleed a bit, but only if I'm very sweaty and there's prolonged rubbing against something, casual contact and hugs shouldn't be an issue).
The face lights are just white LEDs wired up in parallel, battery pack is in the neck.
Are you hot in there?
Not very. Ventilation through the mouth is great and I'm pretty heat tolerant, so I could easily go hours in the thing with just snack and water breaks on occasion. If I stop, it's usually because something slid out of place or I'm thirsty.
---
And just as a general thing, I love getting just random weird neutral comments like "your tongue looks like a sunflower", or the gill thing. I just really enjoy hearing what others make of the design of the character since it's very... something and reactions are always amusing
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