The Patent Dragon's Zone of Soul Retraction

It's Been A Long Road...

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 23:02:36 GMT

The theme for Star Trek Enterprise is especially relevant here, 'cause it's been a long road walked between the last entry and today.

And not an easy road at that. My mother died January 2020, I "inherited" the house, and I've been trying to keep moving forward ever since. A fking pandemic didn't help matters, not one bit...

Last year, some important home repair work got done at last, and I got to take a deep breathe for the first time in several years - and then early this year, my boss died, and the whole work situation has been not entirely solid. My position is safe, it seems, but... it all feels a bit... different now.

Needless to say, the rest of my "world" has not been running as smoothly as one would like. I lack focus, and drive. One thing I don't lack is weight, but I truly struggle to get even close to managing that. We no longer have a cinema in town, at least until the redevelopment is complete, and the prices more than double as it's kitted out for The Golf Tourists, and not the locals...

Just not feeling very "draconic" right now, I guess.

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Catching Up...

Thu, 02 May 2019 09:42:00 GMT

So... yeah, been quiet lately. No cosplay progress, the trip down to Yogcon in Bristol is toast (missed the last release of tickets)...

My confidence has taken a bit of a hit from various sides, but I DO have something in mind, to start VERY soon. An exercise regime, intended to control, and reduce my weight. It's been a LONG time since I did anything "formal" about that, but I feel - and can see - the time has come.

On the bright side, I got to go to a midnight showing of AVENGERS: ENDGAME, and boy was it worth it. I have a repeat showing booked locally for tonight, which will be fun.

That's the past and present dealt with - now what about the future? The plan is to attend MCM ComicCon in London in October, WITH Terraxia cosplay. I hope very much to be fit for this, so that I can be truly proud of the result.

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Operation Subtle Epsilon - Update 2

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 23:42:33 GMT

It's been a while since I did a cosplay update... and I must admit that some of my previous plans didn't quite work out as planned. Patterns weren't drafted, painting projects didn't move forward - that sort of thing. Today, however, I finished a new undercoat on my Mirror Zelda tiara, and then went ahead with an experimental coat of new metallic blue paint: Vallejo Acrylic - Gun Metal Blue...

...oh, holy crap, it's beautiful.

Yes, it may take a while, but things are moving ahead. The current target for cosplay action is early August (YogCon), with latter windows in late September (MCM Glasgow) and late October (MCM London)

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Shining Through The Suck

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:14:15 GMT

Just when the world seems to be going to crap, a ray of light shines through, and remind you things will always get better... and James Gunn is back to direct GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Vol 3.

Take the good times when you get them, and cherish them.

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STREET BOOTS!

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 18:41:17 GMT

At long last, I found something for everyday wear...

Funtasma Retro 302 Black Matte Retro / GoGo Style Lace-Up Chunky Heel Knee Boots

I was a regular customer with this supplier, until their sizing regime changed, and I kinda "lost track" of my ideal size. Several times in the last few years, I ordered boots just to send them back, frustrated, but buying boots elsewhere, I was able to get a bead on the Funtasma sizings, and took the plunge with these.

I am most pleased.

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Operation Subtle Epsilon - Update 1

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 12:02:25 GMT

I've been collecting potential materials for my OPERATION SUBTLE EPSILON cosplay projects, and TRYING to make some actual progress... but so far, that progress has been fleeting at best.

For example: My animated Princess Zelda Doppelganger tiara was getting close to completed, but the paint I got for the top metallic coat isn't what I would call acrylic. It was more like model kit enamel, with a strong chemical smell to go with it, rendering my crafting space next to unusuable for a whole evening, AND it seemed to react with the actual acrylic undercoat, spoiling the finish. I'm now stripping the whole piece back to the raw Worbla.

Status: REVERTING.

The earrings for "Mirror-Zelda" - I made entirely new earring jewels from molded Worbla, and painted them with model kit enamel. Two coats of matt red, two coats of gloss... and they look great, with the Worlba texture giving them a kind of coral look. Success!

Not such a success was finding the "findings" for said earrings. I got some clip-on backs, but they had absolutely ZERO grip, so those were a bust. I looked online for alternatives, and found something I much later learned were referred to a "ear-screws" - like a teeny tiny vice to screw together on your ear-lobe. The precise kind I needed were VERY hard to find, but I have ordered some. Checking through my boxes upon boxes of useful bits, I did find a SINGLE one of these fittings... a worst case scenario, worse even than looking and not finding...

Status: IN PROGRESS, AWAITING MATERIALS.

Waistcoat for Mirror Zelda - I have suitable leather, and even a rough pattern. I will draft a paper pattern and check it out later today!

Status: ADVANCING!

Terraxia "Choker" - A fairly simple piece, I thought. Faux gold leather over Worbla, fasten with velcro... but noooooooo. I spent a whole lunch-break sewing a "sleeve" to go over my Worbla core, only to poke two holes in it while trying to turn it right-side-out. I've remade the core, more to my satisfaction, and I'm just going to hot-glue the bitch.

Status: REVERTED. AWAITING MOTIVATION.

Bonus piece: "Formal" Dragon Mask - I'm applying Worbla like modelling clay over a modified blank masquerade mask - the same as the one I used for the base of my "Hachijuku-Chan" mask - to create a draconic head-piece with dragon-like facial feature around the eyes and down the nose, and featuring detachable horns curving back over the sides of the head. So far, it's going well, and I'm hoping to make some progress with the horns and their "sockets" on the main mask. A lightweight alternative to the Big Dragon Mask, with which I haven't made any more progress, but definitely not a replacement.

Status: ADVANCING.

***sighs*** Yeah, one step forward, one and a half steps back, I guess. My feeling is that I have to count each of these set-backs as a learning experience...

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Operation Subtle Epsilon - Phase Three????

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 22:51:19 GMT

I really MUST stop starting projects before I've finished anything else. It's my biggest failing, and one that's plagued me for years and YEARS. Today, however, the quasi-procrastination has been serendipitous...

I've been toying with the idea of a cosplay of my blog background-art character - my "draco-demi form", but the dragon head was looking like a major stumbling block, until I found THIS:-

Constructing Anubis on INSTRUCTIBLES.

This seemed sent by The Gods - a possible answer to my problem. Going through the article, I started sketching a rough version of my take on the design, and ended up with what looked like a 1/6 scale

I inked out a cleaner version, cut it out, taped it together, and employed the services of my 1/6 scale companion, Little Lady (thanks, sweetie). IT WORKED. I just had to rescale the pattern I'd made, and I'd be making a MAJOR step towards making this project actually HAPPEN. Today, I printed up some graph paper, marked out some six centimetre squares on it, and set to work transferring the pattern to a life-size equivalent, which was quite a job... but it worked surprisingly well when copied onto card, cut out and taped together.

Now that I have a full-size rough version, I can start modifying it so that it becomes less "low-polygon" - the more of that I do, the less modelling work needs done to complete the mask, and bring it into line with my original vision. I already had incomplete foam horns from a planned dragon head-piece that hasn't quite materialised yet, and tried them out on the new mask...

...and they lined up almost PERFECTLY, just behind the eyes of the new mask. This, I concluded, was simply MEANT TO BE. My dragon-self may soon be a living, breathing reality (sorta)!

Guess Operation Subtle Epsilon just got a Phase Three.

I'm getting more and more encouraged to restart my "Ace Of Thorns" You-Tube channel as a means of documenting these, and other crafting projects. I could already have plenty of material for it...

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Operation Subtle Epsilon - Phase Two

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 10:43:27 GMT

Cosplay plan number two...

( Phase Two... )

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Coming Soon - The Next BIG Thing...

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 18:44:19 GMT

Coming soon - maybe sooner than you think...

Operation Subtle Epsilon - Prep at least TWO cosplays for events THIS YEAR.

( Phase One... )

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But What Does All This REALLY Mean...?

Sat, 02 Feb 2019 13:54:31 GMT

Ooooohkay, here we go...

Cross... - as in crossdressing. Yup, I do that, and have done for quite some time, when the mood takes me. I could, at some point, "go career", but now isn't really the time. Am I transgender? Nope - and I don't want anyone taking that to mean I'm "just playing, and therefore making light of other people's lives and difficult experiences".

Bish... - as in "bishonen" - Japanese and anime-speak for "beautiful boy/youth" (https://www.definitions.net/definition/bishonen). This is what I would aspire to be more like, but the reality is still quite some distance from that, and I may never reach that target. This links in with the "Cross" part of things more than anything else.

Draco-Demi... - the "half dragon" thing. This comes about from looking at the world we have today, and utterly failing to feel a connection to what currently passes for "humanity". There are so many screwed-up people out there, and the sanest ones are those who don't seem to be "rooting for either team", so to speak. I may as well call that alienation SOMETHING, right?

And no, I'm not a furry.

The "Agenda": Be who you WANT to be, before it's too late. No-one has any right to tell you you're wrong, or evil, unless you are actually doing genuine harm - physical or mental - to another. Listen, and make sure you're listened to, when the need arises.

You have the right to exist, and enjoy that existence - and others have the same right, too.

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New Year, New Beginning

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 22:13:06 GMT

Now that my world is Cross-Bish-Draco-Demi-shaped, and that better fits The Patent Dragon, it may be time to wake things up here, and retool this blog for that kinda material. A complete visual reworking may be in order, so expect things to change without warning...

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Doctor Who Series 11 - The Final Tally - Episode Rankings

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 01:04:59 GMT

Please Note: These are entirely personal rankings, coming from a general opinion that this season COULD, and SHOULD have been better, but wasn't dreadful. Jodie Whittaker needs better writing

1 - It Takes You Away - because it felt like "proper" Doctor Who. Included some interesting new (?) ideas.

2 - The Ghost Monument - see Number 1. Decent Sci-Fi without needing an overshadowing Big Bad responsible for EVERYTHING.

3 - Rosa - because it took a BIG chance, and worked. People WERE actually like this in the pretty recent past!

4 - The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos - see Number 1. Ooooh look - the Earth is in general SERIOUS peril!

5 - The Woman Who Fell To Earth - Season opener, with a lot to do, and let those things happen in pleasing enough fashion.

6 - Demons Of The Punjab - It did something unexpected with its aliens, and in all honesty wasn't preachy.

7 - Arachnids In The UK - because it missed opportunities to hark back to The Green Death, and Planet Of The Spiders. Good FX, but not spectacular script.

8 - The Witchfinders - because the aliens kinda parachuted in from nowhere, coming across as almost an afterthought to fill out the run-time. Rather unsatisifying "and that's that" ending. Allan Cumming waas fun.

9 - The Tsuranga Conundrum - because it was basically an Alien rip-off. I actually liked the pregnant male ALIEN.

10 - Kerblam! - because it was SO BLAND. More "Uncanny Valley" androids, felt like season padding...

And finally: PoliticalCorrectness.exe NOT FOUND.

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Yeah... So, Tumblr...

Sun, 09 Dec 2018 15:14:16 GMT

Looks like I'm going to be renovating things around here, following the Tumblr censorship purge...

Time for a redesign, especially with sneaky photobucket labelling being used (yes, I SEE YOU).

Cya 2019, probably.

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Election 2017: I Have Never Been So Relevant.

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 11:40:59 GMT

(Cross-posted at aceofthorns.tumblr.com)

Right now, I should be sifting through my ComicCon “footage”, pulling together some kind of after-thought piece on OPERATION FROZEN MUSTANG, but… oh hell, there HAD to be an election in the UK. An election in which I had a wholly unexpected part to play…

I was pretty disillusioned with British politics after the EU referendum, and the 2010 general election where I voted for the Liberal Democrats, in direct opposition to the unemployed-hating Conservatives, only for the LibDems to commit electoral suicide by forming a coalition with the Tories, enabling Tory hate-crimes against the unemployed and the disabled. This time round, I had intended to vote for an independent candidate, rather than let my vote go completely to waste… until Prime Minister Theresa May - who became PM solely by replacing David Cameron as leader of the Tories - started talking about banning internet encryption (making all our communications vulnerable to criminals - AND TERRORISTS) and tearing up human rights laws to get at terrorists (EXACTLY what the TERRORISTS want).

Instead of sitting on the sidelines, I decided to make an active contribution to the political discourse. I voted for the current MP for my constituency.

He retained his seat by TWO VOTES. In an election where the Tories were stopped EIGHT SEATS short of an outright majority.

I, a solitary voter, had made a difference, through my change of heart. I don’t view myself as some kind of king-maker, and I certainly don’t expect any special treatment. Even so, I find myself feeling so much more RELEVANT than ever before, even if just for one shining moment.

To make things even sweeter, the party held two votes short of winning were the LibDems, who seven years earlier sold my vote to the Tories. Payback is, as they say, a bitch.

And finally…

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To The Tune Of... ah, you know it.

Wed, 10 May 2017 12:01:01 GMT

Let it go,
Let it go,
Don't wanna hear no more about it
Let it go,
Let it go,
You don't want me to lose my sh!7
Not my fault that girl took ten minutes to p!$$
Don't ride me on this
Got enough crap to deal with anyway...

I thank you. *drops mic*

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Arcane Rantings...

Wed, 26 Apr 2017 11:20:59 GMT

Heh - MARVEL PUZZLE QUEST is my go-to mobile game right now, and I just had some serious luck. Nailed the Deadpool Daily Taco token, which got me 1000 Hero Coins, of which I used some to buy a cut-price Heroic Recruit Token, and out of that came a Power for Marvel NOW! Thor. That 2-star hero is maxed out, and was just assigned Champion status - so that Power earns him a new level, above his normal Level cap... and THAT nets me another Heroic Recruit Token as a reward. Now THAT Token nets me a Power for Ms Marvel Captain Marvel, who I've been desperately trying to level up...

...errrr, not that that'll make sense to a bunch of you, but hey, its news, and has made my day. Smile for me, okay?

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The State Of Play - April Edition

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 21:46:28 GMT

Ooooohkay, this seems to be up and running now. There are a bunch of broken video links, to various movie trailers, it seems... *checks links to YouTube stuff* yup, those are broken, too.

Right, let's try a newer vid from the Ace of Thorns Channel:-

*tests...*

Good, that looks okay, even if it goes weird in preview. So, that's essential functionality in effect - but there's some stuff that *sighs* won't be coming back. The huge number of links to (some of) my fiction blogs are broken, 'cause those got closed down, probably for lack of activity - anything with "diaryland" in the link is gone from the online sphere...

All is not completely lost, however. I kept back-ups, and I'm thinking maybe an e-book might be the solution. That means a whole heap of conversion from HTML, and subsequent editing. Hm.

If all that works, I might even get round to finishing the stories I was telling when my writing focus finally expired.

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In The Re-Beginning...

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 01:34:04 GMT

I had planned to import my LiveJournal, following the change in the TOS there, but when I tried it, the account access failed. Now, my LJ login doesn't work - I'm locked out...

I think LJ is now illegally hosting my material.

Some tinkering later, it has worked, as you can see.

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