The weird thing about becoming an "internet phenomenon" for any length of time is that people kind of simultaneously love and hate you for it. Definitely a smart idea to screen comments now that Fark has become involved, but I have to say I don't know you from Adam and I'm still *hugely* impressed how well you are handling all of this. It's impossible to make fun of someone with such a great attitude. So weather the storm of the idiots who will say mean things and then go back to making costumes and having fun. :)

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yeah, fark is a bunch of badasses.

i heard they made fun of a girl who was dying of cystic fibrosis.

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BAH! Those punk SA/Fark/whathaveyou kids. Hey, man, that's a damn fine costume. You clearly put tons of effort into it. And trust me, being reviled on the Internet is like cutting a guy off in traffic. For, like, one minute everybody's going to be all 'OMFGGGG' and then forget as soon as they see some other shiny thing, like maybe their cat walks by or something. Don't sweat the jackasses.

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OMG we're like, BROTHERS OR SOMETHING....!

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fark sucks.

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Agreed.

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I agree. The costume is fantastic, and I'm very impressed with the glowing wire, and I appreciate the detailed description of creating it all.

I'd defintitely recommend a cup or other piece there. Male ballet dancers wear them, so I bet you could get it from the same place that supplied the bodysuit.

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Hmm. Well, good luck, and don't let the bastards grind you down.

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Oh I know. It should be too much to ask for people to get the actual *point* of what he did (the workmanship and time he spent on the costume), in favor of him hiding in a closet and never even attempting to do such a thing because he's overweight. Whatever was he thinking?

/sarcasm



You're right. Some things shouldn't go together at all-- such as junior high school mentalities and the ability to operate computers. Sadly, *that* hasn't come to pass either. I suppose the universe will just have to muddle along anyway.

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although i like to read somethingawful.com now and then (mostly for downloads in the rom pile), i was disturbed by their review of your hard work. i dont know you, but seeing how you have camly dealt with your internet fame is something that i admire about you. thanks for being a source driving source for someone stuck in a world that's rampant plagued with an elemtary school mentality.

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I may look calm now, and may have sounded calm on Don and Mike, but there was a while there that I was anything but...

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I saw this from Something Awful and I thought it was anything, but laughable. The costume is cool and personally I think you're pretty sexy. Keep up the good work. <3

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no need to patronize...

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i love something awul, but i did not come here to mock you. i wanted to say i thought your costume was really cool.
also, your response was really cool. take it easy, the internet is just a bunch of crap anyway...

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Yes, the internet is crap. A whole lot of crap.

I also thought the Tron costume was way cool. Kudos on having passion and following through on something so insanely nifty.

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"Some people think that a fat guy in a bodysuit is funny (and maybe a bit gross, especially without a cup), and instead of laughing along at the humor of the situation, I'm going to insult them and proclaim my intellectual prowess."

Do you seriously think that this attitude gives you any moral superiority? The only difference between you and most (though not all) of the "vicious" Slashdotters is that your insults intend to hurt. And hell, the people at SA actually feel Star-Wars-Kid-esque sympathy for your situation!

The reason why most nerds and geeks get tortured in school is because they can't tell the difference between genuine viciousness (those TTY calls would count as that) and good-natured ribbing. The latter quickly turns into the former when you treat it as the former.

Rob (Currently a fat geeky nerd, but working on the fat problem)

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Is it better to hurt without knowing, as a matter of "everyone else does it, so to be cool I must do it too"? Make no mistake: whether the Slashdot and Fark posters think they're being funny, they're not. They're just being hurtful.

The folks at SA did indeed have some sympathy for the situation, but then they went ahead and made hurtful comments anyway. I'll give them credit for thinking a little about it first, but only a little.

A difference that makes no difference is no difference. Good-natured ribbing that comes across as vicious taunting, no matter ho benign the intent, is still vicious to the one person to whom it matters most: the victim. Blaming the victim is never acceptable.

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As a cosplay junkie, I have to say "Day-um!"
I am very impressed by the costume; it's not the sort of thing that many people would think of, and you really went above and beyond to get it accurate.
Also, I'm glad that you said, "Yes, I'm not 20 and in great shape, and I won't pretend to be" and just decided to be another person in the same continuity. I don't have problems with people who are overweight (if you're out and out obese, you definitely don't look it) cosplaying, I have problems with overweight people cosplaying, say, Faye from Cowboy Bebop unless they've got the sass to pull it off. Of course, I don't know many people who have the sass to pull it off, regardless of weight.

Though I do have to agree with previous commenters on the "pad your codpiece!" issue. Same as how some girls (like me) really need to band-aid the nipples in certain costumes -- it's just way to distracting otherwise.

And of course now the EL-cable is giving me all sorts of ideas. Heh.

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I like your tron costume. How do you make the glow-y strips?

I suggest something like a cricketer's box migh make a less obviously genital-shaped bulge.

But good effort. Indeed, even SA complimented you on effort.

ANyway, I came here via the SA awful link of the day link, so not all bad publicity is bad publicity, or something...

And FARK does suck. I've never read a funny thing there ever.

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The glowing strips are electroluminescent wire. Check out the link to Being Seen Technologies on the costume page for more details.

SA did compliment me on the effort; I'll give them that much. I think the guy felt a little guilty posting the link because of my previous LJ entries, but also that he couldn't very well not post it because it provides more grist for his mill. I mean, it's not like *I* enlarged that small area of the costume and posted a picture...

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You get a fellow TRON geek's props for having the gristle to go to a celebrity-infested convention wearing spandex. That takes more guts than I've got. :}

On the technical side, how did you get the fabric paint to set solidly on spandex? Every time I've try painting on stretchy fabric, such as bike shorts, it cracks and flakes off when I pull them on and the fabric expands.






(...and please, please, please, for the sake of all con-goers and cosplayers alike, don't take the Slashdotters' comments to heart. They're just being stupid, and wasting time putting others down. I've dealt with their immature garbage for years for the heinous crime of being a girl on the boards. Yick.)

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I didn't have any trouble getting the paint to set solidly once it actually stuck to the fabric. I think that's the difference between applying it to cotton-lycra, as my unitard is made, and applying it to nylon lycra, as most bike shorts and such are made. I don't know what to tell you, except to start with a cotton lycra item and see what happens. Make sure that the paint soaks into the fabric, instead of just sitting on top. That might be the difference in making it work on nylon, but I have no experience to offer.

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Hi, I came to your journal through the SA link. I check their site frequently; it does make me laugh, and their sensibilities are *frequently* above the level of their colleagues (Fark, Slashdot etc.) However, regardless of the popular response to your work, I think its impressive and inspiring that you put so much thought and effort into this. Good luck... and things being as they are, soon enough someone or something new will have caught the eye of the internet community and you can return to simply doing what you do.
-Ben

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Ran across a link to your journal via bronxelf_ag001's journal.

I was quite impressed with the effort and workmanship that went into the costume. It very much showed and you had every right to feel pleased and proud of it. I will admit that I do not think that I would have had the courage to post to slashdot and risk facing what you had to face. I don't know why I find such reactions surprising; I guess part of me would like to think that as common a denominator of being judged and harrassed in the past that geeks tend to have, they would be more supportive and accepting of differences.

As for your Renaissance garb, I often wear faire pair tights myself and I tend to feel that a cup would look odd. I've not heard people complain, leastwise they have not to my face thus far, so I'm staying with what is comfortable and what I feel looks good. (Now watch I'll be hearing differently after posting this)

Anyway, I just wanted to say that you did an excellent job with the costume and handling the juvenile aftermath. Try not to let the idiot comments drag you down. Other than that crap, it sounds like it was a positive experience at the Con, and that is what is important.

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Having personally seen this man in tights, I'll point out that he does indeed forgo the cup, however, I'm pretty sure he throws a rolled up sock and roll of quarters in there.

Hi Emrys. :)

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Hey..I saw this on /., along with SA and floating around LJ. At first I wasn't going to bother commenting, but since you have become something of an internet celebrity, I'm sure I'll end up voicing my opinion about it *somewhere*, and I might as well not go behind your back to do it. Here's the thing: If you're comfortable with your body, then none of those peoples' comments should matter. At all. No one is beautiful to everyone, and some people are quite aware that they are not attractive to the majority of society. Perhaps a few hundred years ago you'd be considered attractive, or even in other cultures now where being overweight is a sign of prominence or whatnot. Unfortunately, you live in a culture that has different (and some people, mostly ugly ones, would characterize as "shallow") values. You knew that going into this, and I think the fact that you said you wouldn't end up submitting this to slashdot is a sign of having learned your lesson. By and large, people are jerkoffs and jackasses..you either care what they think, or you don't. Apparently you do, and I'm sorry to see you've gotten burnt by this..you'll know better next time around. And good job on the suit, very impressive effort.

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For what it's worth, that outfit wasn't just done nicely (well, *you* may have issues on how well the paint was done, but it looked good on the pictures I've seen), and you had a great "who I am" to go with it... but on top of that, considering your body shape in other pictures, I'd say that between the lines of the costume and the suit itself, it looked pretty darn *good* on you.

*g* Not like I haven't seen a *lot* worse at cons before... even CostumeCon... And that from folks who haven't a clue and can't wear what they're wearing with even a smidgen of your humor and attitude about the whole thing.

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Wow, I'd missed that you were doing this costume, and as I have better things to do than visit those various sites giving grief about it, didn't catch it there either.

Anyway, what a nifty costume! Yeah, I wouldn't sweat the stupid comments; ANY con costume would get people making fun of the person in it. I'm sure the only reason this one has got so much attention is just because it's so unique. People would make fun of a Klingon, sure, but it's so common, nobody cares. But that's the first Tron outfit I've seen, so it's cool -- just like how I remember seeing a guy dressed as Edison Carter once (complete with Network 23 camera). It was so unique, I took note and have remembered that for about 15 years now.

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Grins, another surfer from bronxelf_ag001. Tron, that brings make memories, you made a wonderful costume and you had a wonderful time at the con.

You've handled the rest of it, the volumes of troubles, as a gentlemen from what I've seen and read. So my applause and support go to that aspect. I admire how well you went through the rough patches. You showed a great deal of maturity.

Bravo and good show.

Ladye

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Heh, I came here from SA, I find a lot of things I like from there, www.zap.ca , www.bobbycrosby.com , and now your costume. I might have found your costume from fark, but I only read the articles with the "asinine" tag.

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I'll be taking pictures later this weekend to send in. (They can't use the pictures on the costume page, as they're too low resolution. I no longer have the high-res versions of the ones I took, and can't give them the pictures from Penguicon because the con owns the copyrights.)

Want my original high res pic of you from right after the costume contest? I took one really good pic and a handful of vaguely blurry ones. Lob an e-mail to me at grrwoo at livejournal dot com if you want 'em.

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Sometimes people feel better laughing at someone who is enjoying themself than if they actually went out and had fun themselves.

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I also followed the Something Awful link. I'm frequently bored at work, thus I laugh my ass off at the photo-shopping.

I also immediatly came to a conclusion when I heard you say you were having an interview with Don and Mike. I used to listen to the show religiously when they were on in the mornings here in Oregon, but I'd always get a little discomfitted when they would start going off on geeks and nerds and other little things. They'd be nice and happy to his "face" or during the interview, and then make little snide comments afterwards. I'm never a fan of belittling other people for entertainment (unless they're hippies or Canadians! And that's a joke... :D )

Anyways, good job on the costume. I have the technical ability of a dead squirrel, so there's no chance I could ever come up with anything, and further, props to you for not only keeping your journal relatively open and not making it Friends Only, but also for tackling the issue so directly.

Oh, and as an overweight former cop (trying to get back into the field), I've had -more- then my share of, "Gee, Officer, hitting the donut shop a little hard, aren't ya?" or "Do you think you could catch me if I ran away from you?"

So I feel your pain.

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Don and Mike did exactly what you said here with me, as well. I think it's so they don't scare the subject away before they're done with him. That's okkay; I knew what to expect, approximately, when I saw their show described as "morning radio in the afternoon". I'mnot a fan of "asshole in the morning" radio shows, and fail to understand their popularity. When I listen to the radio, be it morning, afternoon, or evening, I want music, dammit, not some idiot so full of himself that he spends 50 minutes out of each hour talking, 5 running commercials, and only plays one song to keep the station broadly on format.

That's one of the things I like about my XM: I get what the channel is designed to be no matter when I turn the radio on.

"Do you think you could catch me if I ran?" "Try it, if you want some quality jail time."

I've kept this journal and its discussion open so that folks who haven't been where I am now can get some sense of what it's like. The lesson is, obviously, lost on some...

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Well, as both a /.er and a Farker (TotalFarker, which is just a Farker that's $5 poorer) I can say this- we're not all unmitigated asshats. There's quite a few of them, to be sure. Meh, you saw what I said to them originally.

Anyway, enjoy the moment; I think it's cool you're getting some recognition. Our culture is so hung up on appearance that it makes me sick, and I'm always impressed by people who say "screw it" and do what they want to do- you had fun putting together a costume and wearing it, and that's it.

I wore a bodysuit in a play I produced once, and I can say this: It takes balls to do what you did, and not just the kind that are visible (which mine were, apparently- under 500w Kliegels, things look different than the hallway mirror, which I didn't find out until the show was long put to bed).

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Surprise! Yeah, opacity can be an issue under stage lighting, especially if it happens to be that shade known as bastard amber. I haven't checked to see how opaque my unitard is under that kind of light, which might be an issue if I do make it to TV...have to keep that in mind.

You're right in that not all Farkers are juveniles...just the overwhelming majority of them. I am finding the SA goons' comments about Fark enlightening, however, because I can see no difference at all between the two.

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