The Fantasica / Super Battle Tactics Debacle, and getting a refund

If you're a Fantasica player like me, you probably were so excited to get your 8* Tank Ticket from the SBT/Fanta crossover event.

Well, too bad your hopes and dreams are now crushed, because DeNA / Mobage fails YET AGAIN at treating their customers right! (Like I'm going to forget THIS anytime soon...)

Once again I've made your pain a bit easier to cope with by creating a video and a document for you to send to Apple/Google, outlining the issues and providing evidence in favor of a refund.
Keep in mind that this document only requests a refund FOR THE EVENT'S DURATION.
(Let's be honest here, though Fantasica's pay packs are often disappointing, there is no valid reason for a refund until this event specifically.)

HERE IS THE DOCUMENT, FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE!
Best of luck to all of you for the duration of this event and for your refund requests.
POWER TO THE PLAYERS. We keep this game running, and this is no way for DeNA / Mobage to treat us.

Day Z: Day 1 Shenanigans

I finally got DayZ: StandAlone, and it's utterly hilarious.
I'm going to share my crazy stories with you all. They're not Steam Store Review material, but hopefully it'll be worth a chuckle or two.

My first encounter was early on when I had no idea how to talk over voice chat. I was in a small shed when suddenly a guy walked right in, and I had nothing equipped but a hardhat and a fire extinguisher in my hands. We stared at each other for a second and he said, "Oh, hello!" at which point I backed up brandishing my red metal canister, and he excitedly exclaimed "WHOA! I'm friendly!" Unwilling to take a chance, I backed my way out the other door and fled as he screamed, "Uhh, okay, bye!"
It was only afterwards that I was told that Caps Lock enables talking, so I remembered that for next time.

A bit after the first incident, I was exploring a house for some goodies. I had fallen off of a ship and died, so I was playing a fairly new character. I heard something behind me and turned around to see that some guy had just entered the room, fairly more equipped than I was at the time. He exclaimed, "Friendly! Friendly!" and I backed away, screaming "DON'T LOOK AT ME, I'M HIDEOUS!" and  fled out the door.
I think I thoroughly weirded him out.

A while after this on the same play-through, I was heading south on the coast hoping to run into Jon or his friend Jake. I was just about to cross a bridge over a small body of water when I encountered a newspawn in a black tee. I only had a spanner as a weapon, but at least I wasn't limited to nooblet fists of fury. He types out "friendly" at which point I sidle around him in a semi-circle suspiciously, spanner brandished. "Relax" he types, at which point I notice a woman running straight towards us literally out of nowhere. She had a kitchen knife in her hand and she immediately lunges for the newspawn, stabbing him repeatedly and not saying a word. I jump into the fray, swinging my spanner wildly in an attempt to fend off this crazy lady, but I begin bleeding and I think the newspawn accidentally hit me a few times as well. Suddenly I black out, dead from repeated stabwounds. I respawn and begin the tedious task of re-equipping myself, when Jon says he's found two bodies in the middle of the road. I look over at his laptop screen and there we are, the newspawn and I side by side. Apparently she had slaughtered the newspawn shortly after I had died.
The moral of the story is... Beware of silent crazy ladies, and don't stop in the middle of the coastal road.

My last story is one of hilarity, yet tragedy. I was a newspawn (again) and had just looted a few houses for food and water. I was running south on the coastal road in an attempt to once again meet up with Jon and Jake when out of the corner of my eye I see movement. I look behind my shoulder and see three guys fully decked out in military gear screaming for me to stop. Screaming out, "I DON'T WANNA DIEEEEE," I run as fast as my little athletic shoes will take me. I hear one of the yell out "DON'T RUN! DON'T RUN!" and I refuse to obey. A shot rings out and I'm hit, but I keep running. Another shot is fired and I fall to the ground, dead. I hear them saying things like "Stupid motherfucker," and then one guy says "I'm going to take your orange. NOMNOMNOM. Delicious."
I respawn, missing my orange.

Well, that's it for the crazy adventures on my first day of DayZ. I will continue writing up a few more silly stories and encounters as I keep playing.

Toys in SPORE: My sofubi obsession has no bounds

I made some of my personal collection of sofubi (Japanese vinyl) toys into creatures in the game SPORE!

Thought I'd share.

(Excuse the horrible quality of these photos, I was lazy and didn't care about lighting.)

2011 Lucky Bag Glow-in-the-Dark Zagoran, Marine Larvagon, Glow-in-the-dark Gumoz, and Lunar Shub Zeroth

And here are their SPORE counterparts!

How to fix the no trees / missing trees glitch / bug in SPORE Galactic Adventures

When I was playing SPORE: Galactic Adventures again, I ran into this game-breaking bug. I was horrified that nobody had a surefire fix to this other than "reinstall the games in a certain order." There were so many threads on forums full of frustrated people who couldn't figure out to fix their game.
So, I did something really simple... I tried to open SPORE to see if the original base game had the same issue. It didn't.
So I opened SPORE: Galactic Adventures again... AND THERE WERE TREES.

Turns out you HAVE to let the base game initialize in order to have trees in SPORE: Galactic Adventures... or something.

Watch the video if you need more information, but this put trees back in my game, and let me continue having fun!

Angry rant about gaming incoming...

A little word of advice to all you dumbfucks who are against violence in video games... I have some crazy ideas for you.
1.) Don't let your kids play a game you don't agree with
2.) Realize that fantasy and reality are two completely different things, and aren't reflective of each other.

In real life I'm a 24 year old female college student with a great boyfriend, a love for animals, and I'm working towards becoming a do-it-yourself toy maker.
When I play open-world games like Fallout: New Vegas, I play a male, mohawked psychopath who collects human body parts and knives, and decorates my home with them.

Does my fantasy life spill over into my real life?
No, because games aren't real and have no consequence.
In reality, I have a conscience, I have my morals, and I have a life.
If you can't separate the two, then maybe playing video games, watching movies, reading books, and even having goddamn dreams at night aren't for you, and you should see a psychiatrist immediately.

STOLAS! My first resin toy project is almost complete!

Thought I'd share my first major resin project with you guys.

First a little background info... (okay, maybe a lot.)

My obsession with vinyl toys didn't really blossom until early this year, when I started stalking the #designertoy tag on Instagram. I soon found myself discovering the whole underground DIY resin toy scene, which intrigued me because it could be done by just about anyone. Having some prior experience in sculpting through a Ceramics course in college and churning out polymer clay jewelry crap on Etsy, I was really excited to jump on in. Up until that point I had sculpted what people wanted rather than things that I actually wanted to make.

I started planning out my first resin toy back in late March. I wanted to make something obscure yet familiar, and remembered something I had found about a year ago. I was making an "evil" character in a video game and wanted to use the name of a historical demon for their last name. After searching through an online "demon encyclopedia," I found a name... but not without discovering this little fellow.

This... this silly-looking owl, is Stolas.
According to mythology:
"Stolas is a Great Prince of Hell, commands twenty-six legions of demons (twenty-five according to other authors), and teaches astronomy and the knowledge of poisonous plants, herbs and precious stones. He is also known as Stolos and Solas. He is depicted as either being a crowned owl with long legs, a raven, or a man."
Yes, this innocent little owl with a crown is supposed to be a commander in the legion of hell.

I thought that was absolutely hilarious, and was instantly drawn to him as a character. I set out to design a possible resin toy of him.

Here's an early concept drawing (made in glorious MS Paint, I might add) of Stolas and possible colorways. You can see that I was kind of influenced by more cartoony sculpts at the time. This was before my attention shifted more towards Japanese vinyl.

Fast-forward three months, and I still didn't do any actual sculpting. College and other personal projects got in the way, so when summer finally came around I was thrilled.

Three weeks ago I started sculpting Stolas. I'm no professional sculptor and it was soon evident that I couldn't possibly translate my previous concept art into clay at my current skill level. I had to make several adjustments and just make do with what I could accomplish at the moment.

An early head-shot. 

One of the most frustrating things I faced with this project was the constant breakage of parts. The ear-tufts and side-tufts broke more times than I could count. I'm not sure if it's because of the material (super sculpey normal and firm), because I didn't cook it long enough, or I just manhandle my sculpts, but I broke more pieces than I could count. Repairs were a constant thing to deal with throughout the project. I had to cook the piece after each little addition just so I wouldn't mess up the whole thing.

I had to do a lot of reinforcing of the tufts. Here you can see a little indentation where I planned to put a magnet for head articulation, because I honestly have no idea how to make a joint.

Sculpting and filling the wings so I wouldn't have to deal with too many bubbles with casting. I don't have a pressure pot, so it's going to be just pour-and-poke to get rid of the bubbles.

Trying to get an idea of what it will look like finished. I honestly was lazy and only made one leg. Planning on just casting the leg twice and gluing them into the holes I made in the upper leg.

The final photo before molding. I primed, wet-sanded for about an hour and a half, and left it to dry out for 24 hours.

...aaaand here we are at present day. Last night I molded all the pieces (head, body, leg and crown) and will be demolded at 1am tonight. I'll be making a test-cast and depending on how that goes, I'll be grabbing a respirator and dremel to start self-production casts in August. 

I'll keep you guys updated with how it goes.

April + May's Events

Since I've been slacking horribly when it comes to blog updates, I'll catch up the best I can with this post.

I already posted what I managed to make  in early April when I was still in Delaware, but I did a lot more once I got home.

I worked on the head of the dog more early in April, fleshing out the cheeks a bit and giving him a pouty lower lip.

I turned 24 on the 18th and had an amazing day. My incredible boyfriend and family got me the most thoughtful and delightful gifts. One of these gifts was an order of Smooth-On resin and silicone to truly start my adventure into toy making!

I eventually added arms to my pit bull sculpt...

...and then legs! (And yes, he is a male dog.)

When May rolled around, it really became crunch time. In order to make the May 5th deadline for the Art Kickstart Sculpture Contest, I had to kick myself into overdrive. I worked like a madwoman, priming, sanding, and then attempting to mold the head of the dog.

Unfortunately I went into the molding process without much planning and ended up with an impractical mold, wasting valuable silicone in the process. I had to scrap it and make the executive decision to just go ahead and paint the original.

This pup...

...soon became this pup! Using the Bully Breed Rescue logo as inspiration for the paint colors, I used washes, rubs, and straight color to give it texture. 

All of my hard work and determination paid off in the end, because it was chosen as one of the 12 finalist pieces!

I didn't end up winning of course, because there were so many incredible artists who also took part in the contest. It was an honor to make it into the top 12 though, and a really great experience overall.

I managed to nab a mint-in-bag Zagoran on the Japanese geekery site Mandarake for an incredible price. Being the mature adult I am, I played around with it the moment I received it in the mail, taking ridiculous photos. 

On the 15th I saw Demetri Martin live. My mom bought me two tickets for my birthday, so naturally I took Jon with me. Demetri was hilarious, and yes, his nose really is that big.

The end of my Medical Terminology class also brought some pibble time with BBR's amazing adopt-a-bulls. Demo was my personal favorite, he was so affectionate and goofy.

The end of May didn't go so well. I had some awful allergies and PMS from hell. I know that sounds a bit pathetic, but it was really bad. I was snappy, irritable, and temperamental, and basically did absolutely nothing but played League of Legends and sleep.

Sooo, that's about it!

I'll post what I've been up to so far this month later today or tomorrow.

World of Warcraft... again

The vicious cycle of World of Warcraft has come full circle yet again... I've been clean for a year and a month, and then it starts anew.
First I get curious about what has been going on in the game... Then I start being reminded about it on a daily basis. Finally it culminates into pure torture through Warcraft-related dreams almost every night.
It has me in its clutches, and I march towards its siren song, doomed to repeat history once more...
Zug zug, motherfuckers.

Pictures that I forgot to post back in April

Found these sitting around in my Drafts, so guess I should post them.

These were from early April, when I was still in Delaware.

I really have been slacking with blog updates...

A drawing I did of Rangeas, one of my vinyl toy grails!

Some UV color-change action on the bracelets I made!

This pibble was named Baklava, and he was SUCH a cutie. I wish I could have taken him home.

Work and Sleep and Not Feeling Well: Day 8

Yeah, this isn't happening.

After a week of being in a cat-ified environment, I can no longer handle my allergies.

I slept most of the day today, from 1:30am-5:30am, then 9:30am-7:15pm.

My face feels like it's going to freaking explode. I've had "Wal-dryl" (generic Benedryl), Advil, Advil Cold & Sinus... Absolutely nothing is helping me beat this.

As a result, I've been sluggish, in pain, and tired. I don't have time to write blog posts, and even when I do, it's not like I have anything to talk about. I just haven't been working as much as I should.

Guess I'll just share what I've managed to get done these past few days.

Woof?

I managed to work a little more on the pit bull. He now has eyes and ears, so I baked him (successfully) to preserve the work I've done so far. He still needs his face worked on since his muzzle isn't where I want it to be.

Bracelets, oh my!

I've also been beading a little bit in front of the TV. I feel like I need a lot more concentration and focus for sculpting, and since I've been feeling so crappy, I've just been trying to do what I can.

The plastic white pony beads are actually UV beads, which will show color when put in sunlight.

The army grows...

The top left UV beads are blue, top right UV beads are purple, bottom left UV beads are orange, and bottom right UV beads are purple/yellow/purple.

I'm going to try my best to do what I can while I'm here, but it's apparent that I can't be around cats... and Jon's house is contaminated with kitty allergens.

Bah, life never gets easy, does it?

Work & Play on Vacay: Day 4 + 5

I was busy/lazy/whatever these past two days, so I didn't have time to type up a blog post.

Time to catch up on what's been going on...

DAY 4!

I tried to move my sleep schedule back on track, so I asked Jon to wake me at 1:30pm.

That didn't exactly work out... I was too tired and ended up staying in bed for another half hour until 2pm.

Curse you and your persistence, winter!

Everything was blanketed in snow when I looked out the window, which was a real bummer. We still wanted to go and have a nice day, so I hopped into the shower to get ready.

Hilariously, while I was showering the power decided to go out. It was extremely windy out, so it wasn't that unexpected. Thankfully I was right at the end of my shower, so I just rinsed a little more and got changed.

At 3:00pm we left to go get lunch at Chick-fil-A and grab some Rita's. As usual, it was absolutely delicious.

Guava ice with vanilla custard. PURE BLISS.

I was extremely tired when we got back, and surprisingly Jon was too. We were pretty lazy for the rest of the day. I'm not 100% sure, but I think we just sat around and watched TV, and Jon played video games while I looked at sofubi toys on the internet. I honestly can't even remember.

That night I was exhausted and retired to bed early around 10:30pm. Unfortunately I didn't end up sleeping for very long, and awoke at 1:30am having to pee. That somehow woke me up, and I hopelessly got up to try and get myself tired again.

I ended up finally cracking open the journal I bought at Michael's Craft Store and writing a few pages about my life as it currently stands... A kind of "snapshot" into my life so one day I can look back and have an idea of who I was, and what my opinions on things were at the time.

After writing a bit, I mindlessly watched CNN (not sure if it was the global CNN or they just have the global CNN people at night) while browsing my phone for designer toy goodness. I finally went to sleep around 6:00am.

DAY 5!

I had asked Jon to wake me at 12:00am, but when I woke up I begged for another half hour... So it was 12:30am when I finally awoke.

I'm also starting to think that the cat allergies are finally catching up to me.

I was so exhausted and achey that it took me forever to convince myself to dunk my head in the sink and wash my hair. (I shower every other day, it's actually better for you.)

Once we were all ready, we left to go grab some food at the super market.

As expected, we left with very little food, and more cheese snacks than I know what to do with.

We also swung by Chick-fil-A for some nuggets, because they're too damn good.

I had a very blue lollipop afterwards, and I swear that I have eyebrows under that hat.

Jon and I watched some TV for a little while before he left to go see one of his friends in neighboring New Jersey. 

Being the weak person I am, I took the opportunity to take a much-needed nap. I lay down at around 6:30pm, only to wake up at 10:50pm hungry, thirsty, and confused.

I went upstairs and made myself some chicken tenders (I'm eating a ton of chicken down here in Delaware, haha) while being stared at for 50 min straight by Jon's cat, Bandit.

After preparing and eating my second chicken meal of the day, I decided to get some actual work done.

Working on the body and thighs!

Everything started out pretty well. I decided to scrap the wire armature of the thighs in favor for aluminum foil.

Once I was done building up the body and smoothing the clay, I popped Stolas into the oven and...

NOOOOO!

...his head didn't make it.

The styrofoam changed shape and the warping seemed to disrupt the clay enough for it to crack.

I tried to fix it but...

Nope, not happening.

...the pieces were much too warped and bent to fit back together. Oh well.

Guess my next course of action is to remake the head on an aluminum foil base.

On the bright side, I started playing around with a vinyl blank. Going to turn this hippo into a pit bull and hopefully auction it off for Bully Breed Rescue once it's finished!

Not much, but it's a start.

It wasn't until around 4:00am or so that I started getting tired and went to bed.

So much for fixing up my sleep schedule.