#misidentifying cosplay

[theriu]

:D

(NOTE: Dorktoast asks people’s permission before he films these! Please be respectful to cosplayers!)

[iciousill]

Fragaria Memories Fanwork Guidelines

This is an unofficial translation of the guidelines for Fragaria Memories fanworks/ fanart/ doujin works.

I thought I saw conflicting translations/interpretations from shared posts about the guidelines that I came across recently, so I decided to translate them myself to (hopefully) avoid misinterpreting the actual guidelines. I do not track the official site for updates so there may be future changes not reflected here.

Last updated: 2023/10/23

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Definition of 'fan content activities'

'Fan content activities' refers to works based on Fragaria Memories that either contain creative additions or are wholly new creations. These guidelines exclude copying as-is or activities* that can be treated as such.

*Examples of activities not covered in the guidelines: cropping official character illustrations, filtering/recolouring official art and so on, and making such images public

(T/N: I'll just use 'fanwork' in the main text from here on)

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Applicable scope for these guidelines

The moment you upload your fanwork publicly, you're assumed to have agreed to the guidelines fully. Whether a fanwork is considered to have violated the stated guidelines or not is determined at Sanrio's discretion.

Sanrio may update the content of the guidelines anytime without advance notice.

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Terms of Use

Terms of use regarding fanworks

(1) Not for commercial purposes (such as advertisements, promotions, sales) regardless of whether the work is made free or paid. *However, doujinshi distribution, video monetisation, paid membership perks and livestreams are allowed subject to fulfilling certain conditions mentioned later.

(2) Do not use Fragaria Memories' assets (illustrations, logos, marks/labels, scenarios, videos, voices, music, etc.) in the creation of your fanwork. Tracing is also not allowed even if you do it yourself.

(3) Do not misrepresent yourself as being related to or having the approval of Sanrio or Fragaria Memories.

(4) Do not deviate extremely from the worldview of the series or tarnish the image of the series. Inserting certain ideas/beliefs, or content of political or religious nature in fanworks is not allowed.

(5) Do not harm the reputation or status of others, and do not slander or libel others or commit other acts beyond public order and morals.

(6) Do not use content which third parties have rights to in your fanworks, such as content from collaboration events between Sanrio and its partners.

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Terms of use regarding fanwork involving monetary/paid benefits

Notwithstanding (1) above, the distribution (sales) or publishing of fanworks may be allowed to a reasonable extent for the enjoyment of fans.

♦ Sales of doujinshi

Physical/paper forms, digital forms, illustrations, manga/comics, novels, cosplay photobooks and so on must adhere to the below terms.

(1) They must be sold approximately at cost price (the cost of your materials and production tools)

(2) The below links to a QR code that you can place somewhere easily visible to viewers (to avoid issues arising from being misidentified as official goods).

Fan Contents Nijigen Code (QR Code)

♦ Monetisation on video sharing sites

Monetisation of videos containing official instrumental music for cover songs (utattemita) is limited to the below video sharing sites:

YouTube

Nico Nico Douga *Please refer to these guidelines (the guidelines on the official site) if the video sharing site asks about usage rights when you monetise your video.

♦ Fanwork in paid membership perks and livestreams

Only for non-age restricted platforms (pixivFANBOX, Fantia, YouTube Live, Nico Nico Live Broadcast [Nico Nico Namahousou], TikTok)

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Regarding goods/merch

Please refrain from distributing merchandise (clothing accessories, image accessories, plushies, etc.) regardless of whether they're free or paid to avoid issues of the items being misidentified as official goods.

You may still create items for personal use, but if you're uploading them to social media, it would be appreciated if you tag them clearly as fanwork/fan content.

Even for items for personal use, please refrain from using or tracing Fragaria Memories assets (illustrations, logos, marks/labels, scenarios, videos, voices, music, etc.)

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Recommended hashtags on social media

Sanrio recommends using the hashtag #Fragari_Art when you upload fanwork to social media platforms.

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Miscellanous Terms & Conditions

Fan content activities by official illustrators

Official illustrators (contracted by Sanrio or its business partners) may still make fanworks.

Official illustrators have to follow both their contracts as well as the fanwork guidelines so as to avoid having their fanworks misidentified as official.

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Other conditions

(1) If your fanwork is determined by Sanrio as having violated their guidelines, Sanrio can demand you to immediately cease conducting fan activities, as well as completely scrap and delete the offending fanworks.

(2) There may be times when official projects/adaptations by Sanrio and its partners overlap with or seem similar to fanworks. In such cases, Sanrio and its partners reserve the rights to conduct their projects anywhere, anytime, and in any form without consideration for payment.

(3) In the case that Sanrio or its partners contact creators to make Fragaria Memories content, it will be done with a fixed contract from Sanrio or its partners.

(4) As Sanrio continually fixes and adds new content to Fragaria Memories, there may be times when Sanrio's projects, goods or services unintentionally seem similar to your fanwork. Sanrio and its partners reserve the rights to continue with their project plans and you may not assert legal claims against them on the grounds of copyrights or moral rights.

(5) Even with these guidelines, Sanrio reserves the rights to suspend fanworks to protect their copyrights and moral rights.

(6) Sanrio makes no guarantees of non-infringement on third party rights regarding the use of Fragaria Memories by these guidelines or of Fragaria Memories itself.

(7) You may not simplify/abridge, paraphrase or distort/misinterpret these guidelines through any method when posting on any third party platforms including social media. (T/N: I hope I'm not lol)

(8) Sanrio takes no responsibility for damages or disputes with third parties resulting from fanworks made by these guidelines and will not provide compensation in such cases.

(9) As these guidelines may be updated without notice, Sanrio takes no responsibility for any issues resulting from such changes.

(10) Sanrio reserves the right to take legal actions against fanworks that violate these guidelines.

(11) Sanrio will not respond to individual inquiries on these guidelines.

(12) These guidelines were written in Japanese and follow Japanese laws.

(13) Any disputes between Sanrio and others regarding fanworks or other uses of Fragaria Memories will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Tokyo District Court (東京地方裁判所) or Tokyo Summary Court (東京簡易裁判所) in the first instance.

[miss-meri]

My friends and I cosplayed the Great Serpent of Ronka at Anime Detour this weekend. This is us crammed in an elevator. It was very fun, but we got misidentified as bees a lot 😂

[countingprimes]

me cosplaying excalibur, knowing full well i will get called doug dimmadome owner of the dimmsdale dimmadome because of the tall hat meme

me: excaliburs catchphrase is calling people fool! anyone who misidentifies me is getting called a fool and it will be funny because it's in character! plus it's anime! this is an anime con! i'm gate keeping

me: sees their sad little faces when i say fool and realize they don't get the joke and feel very bad

unfortunately 'no, sorry' also makes them have sad little faces so it's a lose lose situation

i need to figure out the goddamn mask

[the-cadent-roses]

Goodbye World

October 17th 2022 (197)

._+ Mis-eye-ventures Day LXXXIV +_.

It is nutritionist time baby! And I keep weighing down, so that's good. I feel nice, I feel happy.

As a side note, after the nutritionist, I went and check my local Wal-Mart just for giggles, and I did found the diecast my cousin wanted, so hey, he is just lucky-lucky.

***

After leaving some stuff behind, I was to aid a dear friend with a language exam. Trying to get to her home, near the city's downtown was quite the challenge, for a whole housing complex (of allegedly illegal inhabitants) was completely evicted by the police earlier hat morning. Getting implied the bus taking a hefty detour and me walking some minutes amidst police trucks and deserted streets, just to meet a crossing dull of cops in riot gear and whole families of angry people. To cross as silently as possible, for the next corner was her house.

The exam was six questionable questions long. Goddamnit.

***

After such, we walked to a small local market, looking for dogfood and a seamstress. Luckily we got both. My friend's dog is the cutest little humongous baby. A husky with too much energy to be given an ultimatum on life. A female dog always misidentified as a male dog, oddly enough this protects her from being kidnapped and sold to make baby dogs... What the fuck is wrong with people?

***

On a more wholesome note, the seamstress is sewing the apron and headband I need for uplifting my Erica Anderson cosplay. I'll be back the day of the party, (hopefully) early in the morning.

***

On another dubious news... Went walking back to her mom's apartment, we took a different route, one that required crossing a walkable bridge, this bridge is old and ugly, plus long as heck. I know the length is due to it's wheelchair accessibility, but still, it looks kinda creepy. We saw a girl walking towards said crossing bridge, and an evil looking guy catching up behind her. Luckily enough, a nun and a family of three appeared, as well as another girl, we eight crossed the bridge closely together, while the evil-looking fellow had to take a U-turn and get back to the sketchy street he popped-out of.

***

It was raining heavily and it was dark, I would have normally take the bus, but I overestimated the weather and took a cab back home. The view was really nice though. (84)

~Roses~

A little reminder of who the lovely Erica Anderson is.

*Catherine: Full body* for further answers.

[krispdreemurr]

other halloween costumes -

noelle: sally of nightmare before christmas. shyly tried to work up nerve to ask susie to be jack, only partially bc she wanted to see susie in a suit, but unfortunately kris got to susie w the Giant Human idea first

berdly: closet cosplay of obscure character from smashing fighters. only kris gets what his outfit is and they delight in deliberately misidentifying it all day

ralsei: didn't want to be anything too scary, asked around castle town for ideas. ended up in a mismash of ideas and designs from everyone, unable to move, bc he was too polite to say no to anyone

lancer: a worm. his lesser dad helped him get it ready and he's having fun squirming and digging holes (more than usual, even)

queen: glados

[msclaritea]

Upon the Clear Distinction Between Fandom and the Baker Street Irregulars

BY LYNDSAY FAYE

November 30, 2012

In light of the ever-expanding popularity of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries in conjunction with recent adaptations including the Warner Brothers films, the BBC series, and the CBS reimagining, it falls to me to discuss certain disturbing tendencies on the part of new devotees to refer to that venerable institution, the Baker Street Irregulars, as a “fandom” when it is actually a literary society. The youth of the Sherlockian world will be excused for making this dare I say elementary error, since the case for the distinction has not been hitherto laid out. Following the summation of this article, however, fans and traditional Sherlockians alike will have reached a much clearer understanding, and the unfortunate misnomer of referring to the present Irregulars as a “fandom” will doubtless cease and be swiftly forgotten.

(Note: for the purposes of this intellectual exercise, the possibility that the BSI may potentially be a storied and erudite literary society and a happily thriving fandom simultaneously will be ignored. This decision was made in light of the fact that a noun cannot be two things concurrently, the way the Empire State Building is not both a functioning office tower and a tourist destination, and the way Bill Clinton is not both a former president and a saxophone player. Arguments that the BSI is peopled by both cultured readers and by eager fans would only muddy the issue, and therefore will not be entertained here.)

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word fandom dates from 1903 and is defined simply as “the realm of avid enthusiasts.” Although undoubtedly a positive, even a flattering definition, already we can see that this is an inaccurate way of describing the Baker Street Irregulars, founded in January of 1934 by Doubleday editor Christopher Morley and later permanently established as the premier Sherlockian society by Edgar W. Smith. While the BSI was conceived as a group of congenial, clubbable men who admittedly shared an avid enthusiasm for the Great Detective, no mention whatsoever is made in the definition of fandom of a taste for adult beverages, and the drinking of toasts to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters, which is of such import to the group as to be codified in the BSI’s by-laws. As a matter of fact, the words “Sherlock Holmes” appear nowhere in this document, while the words “drunk,” “drink,” “round,” and “toast” occur six times in the brief record. Describing the BSI as a fandom is thus clearly a counterfactual practice, and should be treated as such.

Of note, because the dates could potentially lead to confusion, is the fact that the Irregulars were founded in 1934 in New York City, at very close to the identical time period when the science fiction fandom was forming convivial societies of “avid enthusiasts” in order to discuss space travel, interplanetary colonization, their whip-smart literary contributions, and large-chested alien females. The Futurians, according to Frederik Pohl’s autobiography, were founded in 1934 in New York City; the Scienceers were founded in 1929 in New York City; the Los Angeles Fantasy Society was founded in 1934 in Los Angeles; and the National Fantasy Fan Federation was founded in 1941 in Boston. These societies in no way resembled the BSI, however, for their purpose was to discuss speculative, fictional adventures, while the BSI’s purpose (apart from toasting) was to discuss Sherlock Holmes. The Grand Game, as it’s called, a form of meta-scholarship, bears but scant resemblance to the doings of folk who pen Middle-Earth chronologies and dictionaries of the Klingon language. Those who suggest the BSI is a fandom will also note that, as a literary society, the BSI has always been peopled with thinkers and literary luminaries such as Isaac Asimov, while the Futurians boasted as one of their members Isaac Asimov, who was undoubtedly a different Isaac Asimov to the deservedly admired creative philosopher invested in the Irregulars.

One of the most self-evident differences between the Irregulars and those involved in fandom is the latter’s tendency to memorize an enormous amount of trivia regarding their specific preoccupations, be those preoccupations Battlestar Galactica or fiction featuring anthropomorphized dragons. A member of the Star Trek fandom, for instance, could readily inform an outsider that when Captain Picard was captured by the Cardassians, he insisted despite being cruelly tortured that the number of lights shown to him numbered four; such remarkable displays of knowledge are all too common among fandom enthusiasts. Invested members of the BSI could undoubtedly inform non-Sherlockians that Sherlock Holmes’s ancestors were country squires, that John Watson was an invalided member of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, and that Holmes is on record as having possessed three dressing gowns (blue, purple, and mouse), but as these are matters of historical fact, knowledge of them is much more akin to familiarity with the Gettysburg Address. I say again: do not succumb to lazy terminology and misidentify the BSI as a fandom. The one is concerned with an exceedingly popular series of crime stories, and the other is concerned with pop culture.

The activities of fans vs. traditional Sherlockians are hugely divergent. While fans come together to discuss their favorite sci-fi stories, television shows, and films, Sherlockians confine their conversation (and toasts) exclusively to the sixty stories, referred to as the “canon.” No mention is made of adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries; indeed, it is safe to say that the BSI as a whole is unaware of such bastardizations of the original writings, if indeed such things as movies and television shows based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle exist, which is doubtful. In addition, fandom engages in a pastime termed “cosplay,” defined by Wikipedia as “a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea.” Such behavior would be anathema to a Baker Street Irregular, some of whom have been photographed dressing in Victorian garb and deerstalker hats.

Denizens of the fandom community fail to confine their “avid enthusiasm” to mere discussion of hobbits and tribbles; they also, as a group, have a marked tendency to collect memorabilia relevant to their favorite characters, spending precious funds in pursuit of items such as action figures and animation cells. A comic book collector would think absolutely nothing of paying triple digits for a prized mint-condition issue of Spider-Man, for example, while my copy of the 1892 issue of the Strand Magazine…no, strike that, I beg your pardon, the comparison is similar but ultimately misleading. Irregulars of my acquaintance have amassed collections of Sherlock Holmes art, Sherlock Holmes books, Sherlock Holmes knickknacks, Sherlock Holmes pins, Sherlock Holmes translations, Sherlock Holmes reference volumes, and Sherlock Holmes talismans such as magnifying glasses or pipes, but as these are clearly objets d’art, they find no equivalency within the realm of fandom.

It is of particular importance to note that fandom participants often write what is termed fanfiction, fictional works featuring their beloved characters in various situations of the fan’s own imagining, defined as “stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator.” Whenever a writer pens a story about a character created by another author, that tale falls under the umbrella of fanfiction, a practice that the Baker Street Irregulars would find both mystifying and vaguely distasteful. In fact, the mere concept of writing new stories starring characters not belonging to the author would strike dismay into the hearts of the BSI, who very often write and read pastiches featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (a pastiche is defined as “a work of art, literature, film, music, or architecture that openly imitates the work of a previous artist”). As you have already recognized, no doubt, pastiche is entirely different from fanfiction, as fanfiction is specified as being penned by fans, and as I have argued previously, the Baker Street Irregulars are not fans but rather a literary society, and thus are categorically incapable of writing fanfiction. The notion that they could be both we have already dismissed as specious.

One must bear in mind as well the ironclad argument that the BSI was founded in the tradition of the great metropolitan men’s clubs of the 1930s, and thus bears no resemblance whatsoever to fandoms, which are largely concerned with grown men and women wearing tights. I find this line of reasoning particularly compelling, since it is common knowledge that once a group forms around a certain idea, it remains always the identical entity, indistinguishable in its modern incarnation from its origins, free from growth, change, or adaptation. Admittedly the BSI is no longer exclusively for men, but that is an admirable mark of progress and should be considered accordingly. Just as the company Apple Inc. sells small personal circuit boards hand-crafted by the artist Steve Wozniak (keyboard and screen not included), the BSI is emphatically not a fandom. And please stop referring to them by such blatantly fallacious terminology.

Lastly, a word upon the subject of respect for the gentleman who made our literary society possible, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. There are some who take mild offense to those who speak of the BSI as a fandom, but I am not of their number, though it is worth mentioning out of deference that Doyle would certainly be outraged by the term. So beloved a character was Sherlock Holmes to Doyle that he spoke of him always with the soft light of adoration in his eyes and a flush upon his cupid’s cheeks, joy suffusing his features whensoever the subject of his masterful sleuth was raised. Were Doyle to be reanimated and exposed to the neophytes who ignore all discrepancies and insist upon wrongly identifying the BSI as a fandom, his mighty love for his hero would so overwhelm him, and his fury at the misidentification swell into so vast a storm cloud of righteous rage, that he would probably decide to remain alive simply for the pure, unadulterated pleasure he derived from writing the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and would deliver unto us sixty more cases. And lo, global warming would be reversed, and he would find a cure for herpes.

I trust that this article clears up any remaining confusion regarding the word fandom, and its woeful inexactitude when characterizing the Baker Street Irregulars. I likewise hope I have assured the reader the BSI cannot be both a respected literary society and a fandom, any more than Australia can be both a continent and an island. One earnestly hopes that this will settle the matter for good and all, and we can move on to other, better topics. In the meanwhile, I am going to don my deerstalker and write a story in which Sherlock Holmes fights the Cardassians, that being the sort of activity relevant to my interests. Thank you.

1. Am I wrong or is this a bit rude?

2. Why don’t we hear more stories about how Doyle actually loved Holmes? It’s as though people want the character to be remembered as hated.

Lyndsay Faye is the author of Dust and Shadow and The Gods of Gotham from Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam. She tweets @LyndsayFaye.

@elwinglyre @sarahthecoat @sussexbound @fellshish @artfulkindoforder @johnlockedness @ebaeschnbliah @tjlcisthenewsexy @madzither

source

[aevykcreates]

Cosplay Asks

1. One of your best cosplay memories?

2. Ever met someone involved in the creation of a series you’ve cosplayed from? 

3. Cosplay pet peeves?

4. Stupidest thing you’ve done for cosplay?

5. Who are four cosplayers you look up to? 

6. Cosplay crushes?

7. Who is that cosplayer who inspired you to push yourself out of your comfort zone? 

8. What are some of the most memorable comments you’ve received on your cosplays?   

9. Comfort over accuracy, or it’s not cosplay until you’re in pain? 

10. Cosplay typecast(s)?  

11. Is there a type of character you’ll never cosplay? 

12. Most embarrassing cosplay memory? 

13. Most embarrassing cosplay photo?  

14. Who is your cosplay crew (AKA the people you collab with the most)? 

15. Best bystander experience? 

16. Best photoshoot? 

17. Ever had any interactions with kids while you’ve been in cosplay? 

18. Any funny experiences being misidentified as a certain character?  

19. What’s something you’ve made that looks decent in photos but in reality, you just royally half-assed? 

20. Name a cosplay cheat.

[stickynotesoul]

As we get closer to Wondercon, I get more and more worried about this.

[radioactivepeasant]

Folklore Friday

Radio Explains Folklore/Fairytales/Cryptids Badly IV (we’re up to four now, right?)!

As always, I present this after just barely glancing over source material, because the idea is “how much do I remember off the top of my head, and how accurate is it?”  Ok, here we go:

The South Carolina Lizard Man. Also known as the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp, or The Lizard Man of Lee County. (Cryptids count as folklore, right? Sort of home-grown folklore, anyway.) Actually, I want to say this is the give-or-take 29th anniversary of the darn thing’s “origin story”, so...happy anniversary, Lizard Man, I guess?

So to start out, we have to go back to the eighties. I think I saw something that said it was 1988, so late-eighties. And there’s this teenaged boy driving his car out near the Scape Ore Swamp in Lee County. At night, mind you. This whole thing happens with no more light than however bright headlights were in the 80s. And according to the kid, a big, scaly, something ran across the road in front of his car. If I’m remembering correctly, he may have hit it. Possibly it scratched up his vehicle?

I wanna say it jumped onto the roof of his car, or somebody’s car, but I may be thinking of a different monster tbh.

So apparently what he saw was like...six, seven feet tall, scaly, and had red eyes. Or red eyeshine, I guess, since whatever he actually saw would’ve been caught in the glow of the headlights. Like an alligator with a short snout and standing on its back legs, he said. And if I’m remembering the right monster story, they went back and interviewed the fella years later, and he stuck to that story. But to be fair, that could also have been the story of the Loveland Frog or the Dover Demon. They all sort of got muddled in my head after ten+ years. (When I was like, 12, I was really into cryptids and figuring out what was plausibly real, what was Definitely Fake, and what was Probably Misidentified.)

Y’know what, I would be interested to know if anybody had any good Godzilla costumes in the late 80s. I mean, that would beg the question of why someone would be running into a swamp at night in a Godzilla costume, but I personally find that idea far more entertaining than “temporarily bipedal Reptile Of Unusual Size”.

So supposedly this giant lizard humanoid thing runs across the road and into the Scape Ore Swamp, and this teenage boy goes and he tells the police. Which, I suppose, would be a responsible thing to do in the circumstances. Like if you see a large animal that is Very Much Not In It’s Rightful Habitat, you should definitely contact someone about that. But, ah, “a gator went jogging on its back legs and messed up my car” isn’t...isn’t really going to sound credible to most people, I suspect.

Well the story spreads after this. I mean, it’s the eighties, and people around here were apparently like “Ah, we’ve got our local answer to Bigfoot now!” And so people start making a Thing out of this Lizard Man business. We’re talking t-shirts, merchandise, etc. And the chamber of commerce was actually like “yeah, this will probably bring tourists. Carry on, folks.” So he became the sort of Lee County and Bishopville cryptid.

Ok, full disclosure here, I have actually been down to Bishopville, just because I wanted to see if I could find like, some Lizard Man signs or merchandise. But I went down on a Sunday, and like everywhere we went was closed. Pretty much everything was closed except like this CVS and some gas stations lol. The most we ended up seeing in the area we were in was some interesting topiary and this one barbecue place that had the Lizard Man working a grill painted on the wall. (And let’s be honest: that kind of thing was exactly why we’d gone down there in the first place). We didn’t actually go into the swamp though.

So there have been a handful of reported sightings over the years since the eighties. Some happened in the years after I moved here, so I actually remember them. People made kind of a big deal out of at least one of them, so I’ll tell you the ones I remember.

This was about ten years ago, give or take. So like, 2007-2008. This couple reports some kind of animal attack on one of their vehicles. General consensus seemed to be that whatever did it was going after one of the cats that lived on their porch, which had probably taken shelter up in the engine area of the car. I think they said like the cat beds and fur were all over the yard? (The cat, as I recall, got out unscathed.) And the front end of the car was just shredded. Like, the whole edge of the hood looked like it had been munched, there were deep tooth and claw marks in the body, it was a mess.

And for some reason, this was attributed to the Lizard Man.

I don’t know why. Like, if the thing was real, it has hands. Why would it just bite the car when it could probably pry the hood up?

And I remember, there was at least one cryptid-type show where an “expert” claimed that what people were actually seeing was a Bigfoot covered in algae.

I wish I was kidding.

I’m not kidding.

But anyway, they actually did do some lab tests on the blood and the damage to the car and it came back canine. So yeah, not Lizard Man. Just a dog that had enough bite force to really mess up a car. (Which is probably several breeds, come to think of it.) Either way, somebody’s dog needs to work on their impulse control, apparently.

So after that, there was a “Sighting” in 2015. First of all, some guy said he’d shot and possibly killed a Lizard Man. And the police were like “...you shot a guy that looked like a lizard? Do you...do you have a license for a firearm in this area, first of all? And where’s this body?” And then the guy recanted his story and admitted that he’d made it up to “keep the legend alive” or whatever. Beats jailtime, I guess.

So that same year someone did this article about “Lizard Man sighting!” and I remember, I clicked it out of sheer curiosity, and there was footage of someone running around in a Godzilla costume. So that was pretty funny.

And then came the Eclipse.

During the Total Eclipse of 2017, some news station or other put out a tweet joking about the eclipse possibly drawing out the Lizard Man. Apparently some people took that seriously? Or they were pretending to in order to drum up tourism, either one is possible tbh.

So now the thing has its own festival. I wanna say it’s in April? And people evidently go and do scifi and fantasy cosplay there.

And that’s it, that’s what I remember about the SC Lizard Man right now. It’s not a whole lot, but the thing hasn’t been “sighted” that much since the 80s, I think.

[cosplayinamerica]

It is always a lot of fun meeting Deadpool cosplayers when I’m Cable because we instantly become best friends. Also for some reason people always misidentify Cable more than any other cosplay, especially classic Cable. At the con I got called just about every single mutant, and someone even thought I was Forge, which is amazing because he’s way more obscure than Cable!

I was originally working on a different X-Men cosplay, but one week before Comic Con I realized that the prop I made was too delicate to survive the plane trip – I always do a “stress test” on my props where I jostle and put pressure on various points to make sure that I wont end up with a broken prop in my suitcase.

Unfortunately, the sword I had spent so much time on ended up falling apart right away, so I needed to come up with a replacement costume ASAP. A few months ago I cosplayed the Josh Brolin version of Cable, and since then I’ve wanted to cosplay some of his more classic designs (he’s my favorite mutant!). I chose the yellow and blue design because it’s super iconic, plus I figured I could make everything in time for the convention.

I didn’t have the time to make a bodysuit from scratch, so I ordered one off Amazon and altered it to fit. I made all of the accessories (including the arm) out of craft foam and attached them to the bodysuit with webbing and lots of Velcro. The gun was the most fun to work on – there are so many versions of Cable’s gun in the comics, so I didn’t have to try for accuracy at all. Once I had the basic shape cut out, I just randomly glued a bunch of smaller shapes onto it until it looked done. I didn’t have time to add a ton of detail (or lights) to the gun, but that’s okay because I’m already working on another Cable cosplay!

It was really overwhelming in a good way! I didn’t think it would get much attention because it was such a quick build. But I was really blown away by how many people approached me at the convention! I also ended up taking third place in Marvel’s cosplay contest, which was a huge surprise because there were a lot of really talented cosplayers in the competition!

Cosplay has mostly given me a lot of confidence – before I started cosplaying I was really shy and awkward, plus I hated getting my picture taken! I still don’t really enjoy being photographed, but since I started cosplaying I’ve really come out of my shell. I think it’s really important to push yourself to do things that might be outside of your comfort zone, because if you don’t I guarantee you’ll miss out on a lot of amazing experiences!

---- Kawaii Mayhem

Photo : Eurobeat Kasumi Photography

[kaminohana]

funny story, in my snufkin cosplay i was often misidentified as taako, and now im repurposing the cosplay for a taako cosplay

[katieskarlette]

I usually liveblog the cosplay exhibition, but it ends up being just a list of characters and no pictures, so I don’t know how useful that really is. 

So I’ll just give a big high-five to all the cosplayers who have spent the time, money and effort to get these amazing outfits together.  I bow to your skill and dedication (not to mention the bravery of modeling your creations in front of a huge audience.)

I love how many cosplayers have random Pepes on their heads or shoulders.  The enormous Pepe costume was pretty awesome, too.

Hooray for the Katrana Prestor cosplay!  Not only was the costume fantastic, but just the fact that someone cares enough about the character in 2018 to cosplay her gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.  

One of the Alexstraszas had a spiked dragon egg with her.  Cool!

It always amazes me to see the outfits and weapons/props that are so familiar in the game come to life that way.  Like, I’ve transmogged some of those robes before, and there they are IRL!

I feel bad for the host because the people are not coming out in the order that’s on her sheet, so she keeps misidentifying them.  Not her fault, and it must be stressful.  It’s great that they have someone who is actually familiar with the characters and character names to do the announcing, though.  I remember several years ago they had an announcer who couldn’t pronounce half of them.

That was really short, only a half hour.  I guess the actual competition is later.  Does that mean these folks aren’t in the contest?  Because a lot of them were awesome and totally could be.  Or maybe they’re in both?  I don’t know, I just enjoy watching pretty costumes.

Anyway, I have time to go grab a sandwich before the next panel, so here I go. 

[thefloatingstone]

Oh in relation to that Cosplay thing I reblogged;

I am not from America, so if I ever misidentify you as being white when you’re actually black/latinax/Native American/anything else I apologise.

I come from Africa and the difference in races here is VERY obvious so it’s extremely difficult for me to sometimes recognise someone as not being white if the difference is more subtle.

Many African Americans as well as Latinax people look white to me U.U and it’s not because I’m trying to be stupid. I just haven’t grown up in an environment where subtler differences exist and so it’s difficult for me to notice them simply due to inexperience. (Also we don’t have a Latinax population here AT ALL)

Anyway, if I ever do something dumb like that please correct me, ok? ;w;

[shirlleycoyle]

Gun Detection AI is Being Trained With Homemade ‘Active Shooter’ Videos

In Huntsville, Alabama, there is a room with green walls and a green ceiling. Dangling down the center is a fishing line attached to a motor mounted to the ceiling, which moves a procession of guns tied to the translucent line.

The staff at Arcarithm bought each of the 10 best-selling firearm models in the U.S.: Rugers, Glocks, Sig Sauers. Pistols and long guns are dangled from the line. The motor rotates them around the room, helping a camera mounted to a mobile platform photograph them from multiple angles. “It’s just like a movie set,” said Arcarithm president and CEO Randy E. Riley.

This process creates about 5,000 images of each gun floating ethereally. Arcarithm’s computer programmers then replace the green backdrop with different environments, like fields, forests, and city streets. They add rain or snow or fog or sun. A program then randomly distorts the images. The result is 30,000 to 50,000 images of the same gun, from multiple angles, in different synthetic settings and of varying degrees of visibility.

The point of creating this vast portfolio of digital gun art is to feed an algorithm made to detect a firearm as soon as a security camera catches it being drawn by synthetically creating tens of thousands of ways each gun may appear. Arcarithm is one of several companies developing automated active shooter detection technology in the hopes of selling it to schools, hotels, entertainment venues and the owners of any location that could be the site of one of America’s 15,000 annual gun murders and 29,000 gun injuries.

Among the other sellers are Omnilert, a longtime vendor of safety notification software, and newcomers ZeroEyes, Defendry, and Athena Securities. Some cities employ a surveillance system of acoustic sensors to instantly detect gunshots. These companies promise to do one better and save precious minutes by alerting police or security personnel before the first shot is fired.

They are all maneuvering around a problem: Algorithms, at their most basic level, collect data that is categorized, so they can independently determine if something new is of that category. In the tech industry, it’s generally believed that more data means a sharper algorithm. For companies that want to detect gunmen, therein lies one dilemma.

Screenshot from a promotional video for Omnilert's Gun Detect software

Visual detection machine learning has been developed for a wide range of uses, including diagnosing medical conditions and identifying pedestrians in a roadway. Researchers behind those efforts have access to nearly limitless pictures of tumors and inflammation and videos of joggers or dog walkers.

However, due to sensitivity, little footage from the start of shootings is readily available, certainly not enough to program a system that is supposed to differentiate a gun from a cell phone or a hairbrush reliably hundreds or thousands of times a day. Such footage is scrubbed from all but the darkest corners of the internet. There’s no inventory of it on Roboflow, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and other libraries of images for machine learning (though Roboflow does have a supply of still photos of guns).

The reliability of gun detection systems is of serious consequence to the people they monitor. This year, the Lockport City School District, in Upstate New York, implemented an algorithmic system to recognize faces and detect weapons. The technology misidentified black children at a higher rate, and emails between employees of its creator, ST Technologies, show the Canadian company was struggling to stop the system from mistaking broom handles for guns after it was implemented.

“I have concerns about the reliability of the object detection system and that system misidentifying a student holding a baseball bat and [police] will go and harass that student with a baseball bat,” said Daniel Lawrence, a researcher at the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, who has studied technology in crime detection.

Alternatively, Lawrence said, police tend to take these alerts less seriously if they are always detecting low-priority activity or making false positives. “Everything depends on accuracy,” he said.

To train a computer program to recognize a gun as soon as it’s drawn—and then to test that program—companies have to get creative. And a bit weird.

Arcarithm, founded as a military and security contractor by three former Lockheed Martin employees, started by programming cameras to detect drones overhead. A client challenged them to come up with a system to detect guns. “If we can do drones, we can do anything,” said Riley, “so we spent the next ten years trying to tell if a guy has a gun or a broom and it turns out we can.”

Theoretically, the vast array of distortions and alterations in images feeding Arcarithm’s algorithm would account for ways a gun is obscured in real footage—by hands, by climate, or by distance. Through seeing so many common guns so many ways, the algorithm would supposedly become so familiar with guns, it could spot one instantly.

To test if their algorithm responds to the intended stimuli, Arcarithm staffers have staged armed invasions of their own headquarters using airsoft guns, which use condensed gas to shoot tiny, non-lethal plastic pellets. They’ve also taken to a nearby field to record themselves. It is programmers and desk employees cosplaying as criminals or militiamen. “All the guys are doing it,” said Riley. “They usually work on the development end.” He adds that they warn the sheriff’s department, which usually sends an observer.

Arcarithm has not found any buyers outside the U.S. military, which seeks an alert system for armed people coming towards a base. Riley said he has approached the operator of a theme park and a school system near Huntsville.

Of the other U.S. companies selling gun detection technology, Athena did not respond to an interview request from Motherboard, and seems to have pivoted to making a dubiously marketed technology that monitors people’s temperature amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. A spokesperson for ZeroEyes said its technology is proprietary so they would not discuss it. A representative for Defendry said the company declined because it did not want its name in an article published by VICE Media.

Omnilert has supplied notification systems, mainly to colleges and universities, since 2003, and unveiled its Gun Detect software in October.

CEO Dave Fraser describes a kitchen sink approach to the data-to-feed-the-algorithm problem. His company has used technology made to produce video games to create CGI simulations of the first moments of hold-ups and shooting sprees. They’ve trained the algorithm on Hollywood movies (he named John Wick). And there is also what Fraser dubbed “pajama videos,” homemade clips of employees walking around with guns (real and toy) recorded in their homes during the COVID-19 remote work months. He’s also outsourced the task to a few video content creators.

“We’ve built up an internet database of ourselves and our contractors brandishing guns,” said Fraser. “We have thousands of hours of data we created and we own.” Homemade videos are used to both feed and test the algorithm.

The videos fill up the company Slack channel, he said. And programmers and other desk employees are tasked with creating them.

Even their public director of marketing, Elizabeth Venafro, has contributed self-filmed clips of herself marching through her home toting a toy rifle, which “felt very weird, as a non-gun-owner,” she said.

A graphic demonstrating Arcarithm's Exigent-GR gun detection system

Experts in academia say that machine learning can now identify objects, even from a distance, but the process hinges on sufficient data.

“Today, we are much better than we were five years ago,” Ali Farhadi, an associate professor at the University of Washington working in computer vision and machine learning, told Motherboard. “We can detect objects fairly reliably.” Each year, smaller and more specialized objects are detectable and computer scientists can program algorithms to identify the body motions and context around them. “Not only can we see scissors but we know how people act when they are cutting things,” he said.

Visual identification requires a vast amount of varied data. Even differences in the sun path between the northern and southern hemispheres and subtle differences in background scenery can cause the program to be less effective, he said. “You want something that works as well in American cities as Indian cities,” said Farhadi. It’s even best to get footage from the types of cameras one expects to be in the field obtaining the feed, he said.

Karthik Ramani, a professor in mechanical engineering at Purdue University, completed a project that trained computer learning to identify mechanical objects so as to help engineers find exact matches and replacements. Machine learning is capable of identifying detailed objects, he said, but synthetic data is no replacement for the thing.

In CGI-created images, “I was seeing a loss of energy,” said Ramani. “You don’t get the real-world noise and reflections and metals are shiny and things can get confused. As humans, we see this and we get used to it. The machine doesn’t know these things yet.”

Some false positives are inevitable, Fraser and Riley both conceded. But both claim the technology can give first responders a few precious minutes, or seconds, to save lives.

Lawrence, of the Urban Institute, said once any surveillance or analytic technology comes into the hands of police departments, it's inevitably used to target poor, minority areas. “It is over-applied in communities with persons of color,” he said. Such neighborhoods are disproportionately policed, and the use of technology like predictive policing is a major driver of those statistics, creating a feedback loop.

“This technology is very expensive and it makes no sense to have it applied to the entire city,” he said.

However, Lawrence does not think cities will buy gun detection software in the near future. The summer racial justice protests and the “defund the police” movement have caused cities to shrink from buying expensive, futuristic equipment for police purposes. “I think as a society, we are redefining what policing is and how much money should be allotted to what and how much money should go to the police,” he said. “I think we are on the precipice of using money to combat crime and the causes of crime in a different way.”

He thinks the buyers of the next generation of gun detection software will be private companies, but once a gun is thought to be detected, “the call will go to the police.”

It is widely acknowledged that the ubiquity of guns in the United States is one reason the number of police killings in the U.S. dwarf those of other countries. Police shootings of Black people sometimes begin with the excuse that the officer thought the person had a gun, including the deaths of Casey Goodman, Stephon Clark, Tamir Rice, and Amadou Diallo. During a traffic stop, Philando Castile informed an officer he possessed a legal gun and the cop immediately  opened fire.

Like many companies who make automated systems, Omnilert defends its gun-detection technology by noting that the final decision is made by a human being. “It could automatically lock the door on a suspect,” said Riley. “Now it’s up to the police to show up and see what this person does.”

As for a police overreaction, Fraser said, “It’s a possibility. We tend to look at this as ‘no technology is perfect.’ We tend to think it’s a positive to put this technology in our customer’s hands rather than have them rely on hearsay or gunshots when it’s too late.”

The possibility is enough for Meredith Whittaker, faculty director of the AI Now Institute at New York University, to reject the use of the technology outright. Whittaker and other AI ethicists and scholars have noted that all algorithmic systems contain bias, and this fundamental flaw can't simply be fixed with more data or a software update.

“They shouldn’t purchase anything like this,” she said of those who would buy gun-detection technology. “There is no dataset that would make this work. They are flawed, they are racist and they are being put into schools.” 

Gun Detection AI is Being Trained With Homemade ‘Active Shooter’ Videos syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[utopianparadoxist]

I feel like dirk and jake would recreate iconic movie posters as "ironic" (we know its not ironic dirk we know you love this cheesy stuff just as much as jake) christmas cards they exchange with dave and karkat trying to one up eachother in ironic cheesiness but they are just really cute

This is absolutely true and dovetails hard with my thoughts that Jake would conscript Dirk into co-cosplaying pretty much anything Jake got too invested in, including such pairs as:

Finnpoe

Shinji/Kaworu

Utena/Anthy (Dirk gets to be Anthy because Jake wants to be his prince this time!!! he really just wants to wear the booty shorts)Juri/Shiori (Dirk gets to be Juri this time so that way Dirk can be his prince proper like. Also Jake hopes up an ending where they’re happy)

2B/9S (from Nier: Automata. Jake is 2B the sexy combat android because literally of course he is. Dirk is 9S the cute nice hacker boy because he’s in love with 2B and WILLING TO KILL FOR HER and Jake knows exactly what he’s doing and Dirk is owned) (( An awesome artist named merupuri did some excellent drawings on this subject) (which i originally misidentified as having been done by @geejaysmith who is still rad as hell)Gon/Killua (Dirk doesn’t even protest this one, Gon/Killua vibes with Dirk and Jake so hard they watch it and look at each other and cry in bed for like a full night.  Watch Hunter x Hunter it’s so fucking good oh my god. Those boys are gay) The list goes on but you get the idea