Code Geass

Code Geass is one of my all time favorite animes--right next to Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I love this series for so many reasons. I've seen it all the way through maybe 3 times. I'm working on a 4th.

Why is this anime so awesome? There are a lot of reasons, but for me, it is the characterization. I love the variety of characters. I like that Lelouch is not a standard "hero." That role actually falls to Suzaku. There are a bazillion side characters, which, if you know me, makes me the happiest of fans. Although a series doesn't have to have side characters, I think they help flesh out the world because, well, most worlds don't revolve around the lives of half a dozen characters; they tend to be limited. You can still have a good series with just a few characters (Madoka Magica), but I find I do tend to like the stories that include larger casts of characters. My two favorite characters from Code Geass are actually side characters: Lloyd and Rakshata. And for once, my favorites don't die (OMG).

Most people have heard of Code Geass, but for those who haven't, let me throw in a little caveat on what the series is about. It's a postapocalyptic styled future roughly; most of the world has been conquered and falls under the imperial control of a country called Britannia. Lelouch hates the Britannian Empire and meets C.C., an unusual girl who gives Lelouch the power of Geass. This power allows him to give one command to any person who has eye contact with him (but it only works once on a person). Geass gives Lelouch the power to fight against Britannia. The rest of the story pretty much follows Lelouch's war on Brtiannia. The plot is actually a little more complicated than that, in how it's told; that is really a very basic synopsis of the series premise. I like the more complicated plot. Some of the story is predictable, but there are plenty of surprises too. It kept me entertained, and I like how I can sit down with friends and hash out plot points or character choices and break it down on a sociological or political level.

This is just gorgeous. It's from one of the art books.

I also love Code Geass for the costume design, and for anyone new to my blog or to my taste, yes, I will watch something or play a game simply because I like the costume design for the characters. I suppose the same also goes for not watching or not playing something. Maybe this makes me strange, but whatever. =P Given unlimited resources, I would cosplay several variations of C.C. and I love Euphemia's formal gown from the art book. It is a political drama with a side of mecha. If this is your thing; watch it. Even if it's not, watch it. =P It's not really my thing, and I did not really expect to like it. It's a little like Game of Thrones with technology but with less sex, and maybe a few more people make it through to the end... maybe...

Obssess Much?

Have you ever known someone who was so much of a fan of something that they knew most everything about it? They are the kind of fan who absorbs not just the movie or book, but they also consume all supplemental material such as commentaries, reviews, fanart, fanfics, and so on. On top of that, they collect merchandising and even participate in various personal expressions of fandom where possible, such as cosplay, drawing fanart, or writing fanfiction.

I know some fans like this--my cousin happens to be this kind of fan for the shows My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Psych, Doctor Who, and several others. Well, I happen to be this kind of fan too, although I'm usually fairly picky about what gets added to my list. I can think of only two anime that are on this list: Full Metal Alchemist (that should be obvious though if you've been reading my blog) and Code Geass. There are plenty of animes that I love and enjoy, but those are the two that will turn me into a hyper, excited, giggly fangirl. There are a few books that I am a fan of as well. First, I absolutely adore the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends trilogies written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I will obsess over my two favorite characters: Raistlin and Sturm, although not together; I really dislike slash art and fics. Also a good read by the same pair of authors is Rose of the Prophet; I'm only moderately less obsessed with that trilogy. Moving away from M. Weis and T. Hickman, I am also a fan of the Lord of the Rings and most anything Tolkienish.

Those are the big titles for me for anime and books. Movies are a little bit more complicated. There are five movies that I tend to pick up when I need background noise or something to watch while working on tedious handsewing on cosplays. At the very top of that list is the Lord of the Rings--I am the obsessed fan who watches the extended versions of the movies every month or so has listened to all the commentaries at least twice, and watched all the extra disc footage at least twice as well. I currently stalk news sites and twitter feeds for updates on production of the Hobbit. Following behind Lord of the Rings is A&E's Pride and Prejudice, Enchanted, Tangled, and The Forbidden Kingdom. Beyond this my fandom in movies is fairly mild; I tend to stalk actors more than movies. My current top actor list consists of Colin Firth (<3333), Geoffrey Rush, and Karl Urban. Obviously I loved the King's Speech, felt that Pirates 2 would have been better with more Barbossa screen time, and have thoroughly enjoyed Star Trek, R.E.D. and any other movie I've caught Karl Urban in.

This post was inspired by the fact that I spent two evenings earlier this week watching The Lord of the Rings yet again. Last week I was watching the cast commentary--I'm about part way through the first disc of the Two Towers on that, so I'll probably be spending much of the next couple of weeks eating through the rest of the cast commentary and maybe the director commentary and also possibly selections of the extra production footage while I buckle down to do some binge working for Anime Weekend Atlanta. Obsess much? XD

What kinds of movies, books, animes, etc. make you go crazy?

Wednesday WIP - Sort of

I'd taken a break from posting WIP stuff on Wednesdays so I thought today might be a good time to get back to those. I thought it might be nice to post pictures of some of the stuff I talked about working on last week--like my mini-amigurumi and the new set of Zodiacs... Well, that's not going to happen as planned. We left early this morning to go to Raleigh to pick up my husband's dissertation (the big hard-bound print copy of it) from NC State. On the way, I stopped by the closest printer to my house (about an hour away) to drop off files so they can get me a quote for the anime tarot deck. Hopefully they can handle it and it won't be horrible and expensive. We also ran some errands around Raleigh. On the way home the air conditioning in the car broke, and after a long and exceptionally warm trip, I'm exhausted. So, I will not be finding my camera, taking pictures, and posting anything super detailed here tonight. =P

Don't worry. I'm still going to post something. =D I'm going to post stuff for upcoming cosplay projects. I know I told myself I was going to take a good long break from cosplay after Animazement. Apparently that meant I was going to be inspired to work on even more cosplay. =P First up: AWA is holding a formal ball with a mecha pilot theme. This got me to thinking. I know it's been fairly obvious that I'm obsessed with Full Metal Alchemist, but it is a lesser know fact that I am also obsessed with Code Geass, which happens to feature lots of ornate costumes and mecha. I've been wanting to cosplay C.C. (make my husband cosplay Lelouch), but given the theme of the ball, I thought Suzaku would be more appropriate for this event, and if my husband goes as Suzaku, then I could go as Euphemia. As if I'm not enough of a glutton for punishment just for trying to cosplay anything designed by Clamp, I found a really gorgeous art book picture while looking for references (see the bottom of this blog). The end result is, I'm going to try and make the art book version of the costumes for Suzaku and Euphemia (I actually really want C.C.'s dress too from this picture).

AWA is the end of September; I've got some time, so it just might happen. Now, come mid-October, a pair of good friends of ours is getting married at the NC Renaissance Festival in Charlotte, NC, and we're required to come in costume if we wish to attend the wedding (no problem right, I love dressing up). This means that I need to make costumes for myself and my husband, and I promised my good friend Melissa (yes, the same good friend whose Azula costume I forgot on our living room couch for Animazement) I'd make her a costume too. XD Costume count's up to 5 now.

Alright, so I've also decided that not only am I going to break my vow to never ever make a dress (fancy or otherwise) that was all (or even mostly) white with Euphemia, I'm going to remake my Twilight Princess Zelda costume for Magfest. Thankfully Magfest is not until early January 2012. I'm not sure how sane I'll be by then considering I have a lot to prepare with my art tables for Otakon, AWA, AUSA, and Magfest. I am wondering if making these costumes is really a great idea, but I really really want to, especially for the Code Geass ones--it's so perfect for the theme, and I've always wanted to attend one of the formal events at one of the conventions I go to. So, anyways. Look forward to updates on how these projects are going--I'm really psyched about them right now. =D I'm going to close with the art book picture that I'm basing the Code Geass costume set on.

Yes I know the pic is a little big for the blog here, but aren't the costumes gorgeous? 
I'm making Euphemia's, but I'd love to have a dress like C.C.'s as well.