Am I the only oddball around here?

[Sandman0077]

Over the entire time I've been on this site, I've noticed that I can't get much interest in the props I'm building or trying to do runs of. At the same time, people are doing runs every second of everyday for hundreds of dollars and it blows my mind. I see a ton of new people here all the time but all they want/build are the same stuff. Am I the only one who feels like my interests aren't up to snuff around here? (i.e. not Star Wars, Iron Man, or Dredd)

 

[TheNickFox]

The bigger the film, the larger the audience, and the more iconic the prop, the more demand there is for it.

Then if a film is huge, has a enormous audience, and is immensely iconic, like Star Wars, then the popularity of its obscure props is directly proportional to the time since the movie was released.

Keep doing your thing though, it just means your collection will be more unique than anyone else's.

-Nick

 

[Sandman0077]

Yeah I know, I just can't bring myself to do the same stuff everyone else is doing. I like the popular stuff too, but if I'm not having fun making it, then it will most likely come out like crap. That's why I stick to my own interests and hope it draws people in lol.

 

[Jedifyfe]

FREAK!!!!! Burn him!!!

 

[Sandman0077]

Exactly how I feel lol

 

[Sean]

Everybody has there own style.I have posted things that get viewed but not answered right away or at all.no big deal to me.its my style and preference and i'm happy with it. whats yours?

 

[Sandman0077]

Everybody has there own style.I have posted things that get viewed but not answered right away or at all.no big deal to me.its my style and preference and i'm happy with it. whats yours?

I like to build things that are from anime or comics. For some reason I get a rush from taking things and making them in the real world. I spend weeks trying to figure out how to make things work like they do on screen. It's kind of a curse haha.

 

[Risu]

And that's totally cool. I got that exact feeling from making my Altair costume. It's a whole different challenge. Instead of copying something precisely as it was made, you have to engineer it to work in a way that's impossible. It's prop replicating with an extra challenge.

As for the lack of responses, everybody's into different stuff. Your thread might go unnoticed, and 2 years from now somebody will bump it and say it's amazing. It happens. Your leather work is great, the Legolas belt is something I would love to make myself, but since I pick up so many projects I never actually make anything that doesn't go with a costume I can actually wear. I enjoyed reading your build thread on it, though. With so many people never actually making anything and so many others just making foam Iron Men, it's nice to see people turning out stuff you don't see every day.

 

[nick daring]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of interpreting vaguely defines objects.

Anime and comics just don't have as many hardcore followers as major motion pictures and tv shows. I've spent forever working on my Cthulhu statue project which is from an obscure short story form 1928! My other major project is from an obscure Japanese videogame that was a falure when ported over to the US 20 years ago!

What makes you happy and tickles that strange geeky itch that we all have here and what gets you attention and accolades are often two different things sadly.

 

[Copper9]

=nick daring;2884159]...My other major project is from an obscure Japanese videogame that was a falure when ported over to the US 20 years ago!

"All your base are belong to us"

 

[Copper9]

My opinion, for what it's worth, is a good prop or even a good prop replica, requires a bit of craftmanship, ingenuity and artistic creation.

You can't just pull out a spoon and say "look, a prop from the Matrix!", but if you can make that spoon bend and unbend on it's own, then you've really got something.

Also, if you have to explain the prop, no matter how cool or complex it is, you may not get a lot of people's interest. -That isn't to say you should't make it; creativity is it's own reward and all that. I'm just saying other people might not be as involved if it doesn't relate to them.

My best advice is to keep building and keep posting.
Effort and craftsmanship are never wasted

 

[Sandman0077]

I think we should have dedicated forums here that divide things up from movies, tv shows, anime, comics, and games. Then have sub forums for just iron man, dress, spidey, etc. I hate having to scroll through 6 pages of iron man to see something that interests me.

 

[13doctorwho]

I tend to agree with you. It seems like somethings get more intrest than others. I have noticed that my work doesn't get a huge amount of feedback on this forum, but if I go to a forum dedicated to my subject I get a lot of response. With Iron Man 3 coming out it seems that there is an overwhelming number of Iron Man armour threads. It just happens to be hot now.

Make what you love and don't worry about it. You may look for an anime costum/prop forum where you're more likely to reach your target audience. I am obsessed with Doctor Who. When I post my props on TARDISBUILDER or DW_COSPLAY I get a lot of great feedback, here not so much. Keep working and doing what you love...

 

[Sandman0077]

I was looking at getting on cosplay.com because they do have a prop section, but most of the threads are people showing off finished ones or asking how to make it. Not a lot of build threads and I'm pretty sure they ban people for doing runs of any kind. Kinda lame if you ask me.

 

[Weaselhammer]

I think we should have dedicated forums here that divide things up from movies, tv shows, anime, comics, and games. Then have sub forums for just iron man, dress, spidey, etc. I hate having to scroll through 6 pages of iron man to see something that interests me.

I can't agree more with this, I really don't understand how they can have a sub forum for Judge Dredd and not have done one for Iron Man. I also know how you feel about your threads, I feel that way a lot myself. I really thought my Bioshock Machine gun build would have been popular, but it's pretty much a flop. I'm still going to contribute though, take that RPF ! :lol

 

[Minion2454]

I think it depends on how iconic it was not necessarily how big the movie or whatever is. I mean the wolverine stuff took off because he has been iconic for a long time, i.e. his claws and stuff. Anyone can see the claws, know what it is and think its cool. I think that the Bioshock gun (which I love the series of games) doesnt really stick out in your mind when you think of the game as much as the vigors and things do. I do think you did a good job on the gun from what I saw in the bioshock thread BTW. Just my 2 cents.

 

[markquested]

Over the entire time I've been on this site, I've noticed that I can't get much interest in the props I'm building or trying to do runs of. At the same time, people are doing runs every second of everyday for hundreds of dollars and it blows my mind. I see a ton of new people here all the time but all they want/build are the same stuff. Am I the only one who feels like my interests aren't up to snuff around here? (i.e. not Star Wars, Iron Man, or Dredd)

We only have one life, so it is best to go your own way and not blindly follow everyone elses.

Since 2003, my main interest has been Doctor Who props, but also Firefly/Serenity, Lovecraft, steampunk / Victoriana.

 

[robinhood jw]

Dude. I don't think you're the only "oddball". The previous responses in this thread prove that there are others that feel the same.

I think it comes down to how "ok" you are with being unique.

For my own costuming and props, I always try and do someting a little different. I enjoy that uniqueness.

My most recent (and best) prop/costume endeavor was for something which, as far as I can tell, I am the only person doing.
http://www.therpf.com/f67/warehouse-12-agent-181014/

I mean ... I enjoy the Iron Man movies, but I have no desire to cosplay it. Sometimes it feels like it can be a bit of a treasure-hunt on The RPF to find cool threads about work that isn't Iron Man!

I love Star Wars. I made a jedi costume several years ago, but I have no desire to be just another stormtrooper.

I once showed up at a Halloween party, and there were TWO of us dressed as The Dread Pirate Roberts. How frustrating!!

One of the most unique costume threads I've seen on here was a guy who built a costume for Ted from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". How cool is that?!?!?

Have you ever seen that ComicCon photo of 30 gold-bikini-Leias standing around the Jabba the Hutt model? Each one of those girls was gorgeous, but none of them stood out individually, because there were 30 of them dressed exactly alike.

If you make the costume that a LOT of other people are making, then you'll have a ton of support from other costumers doing parallel research .. but in the end, you'll be one of many many guys in Iron Man armor.

If you do your own thing, you're going to have to figure it out all on your own ... but you get major cool points for being the only one doing it.



Now ... that said ... there's such a thing as going too obscure. I'd LOVE to do a Middleman costume, but I don't know how many people outside my immediate circle of friends would 'get it'. So long as at least a few people at the even you're attending will know what you're dressed as (ie. know your audience) then I say go for it. Be unique and have fun with it.

When I wore my WH12 costume, I had to explain what Warehouse 13 was to probably about half of the people who commented on my costume, but I had super cool positive responses from fellow WH13 fans when they saw my Tesla and my purple gloves and put it all together.

 

[Checkboard]

*Runs off to Google "30 gold-bikini-Leias"* :devil

 

[eightyfour]

Heh, as far as the general populace is concerned, aren't we all "oddballs" anyway? People who spend endless hours and large amounts of money to obtain some obscure thing they saw on a movie screen years ago? What a bunch of weirdos!