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*We found this article super interesting- Please enjoy the link(s) and let us know what you think! • all credits and © of shared contents to original wirters/publishers. _____________________________         ‘I Love Cosplay, But I Also Like Living’: Cosplayers in the Age of COVID-19 By Audrey Cleo Yap Powers Imagery/Invision/AP Every summer, some 130,000 attendees gather in San Diego for Comic-Con to celebrate entertainment, fandom and geek culture. Amy Vaughn had hoped to be one of them. Vaughn, an engineer, has wanted to attend the event ever since she started cosplaying two years ago. She tried getting passes last year but wasn’t able to register. So, in November, after she and two friends secured tickets via lottery, Vaughn immediately started planning for what would be her biggest fan convention yet. “San Diego Comic-Con was going to be my first out-of-state con. I’ve gone to Tucson Comic-Con. It’s pretty small, [and I’ve been to] Phoenix Fan Fusion — that’s the biggest Arizona con that we have,” she says. Vaughn, who is based in Tucson, booked plane tickets, made hotel reservations and, most importantly, began crafting her costume. She planned to go as different versions of the alien Pearl from the animated series “Steven Universe,” one of her favorite shows. But as concerns over the coronavirus pandemic grew and other conventions canceled, it became clear to Vaughn that her hopes of attending SDCC would be dashed. The 2020 event was officially canceled in April. Since getting the bad news, Vaughn has been connecting with other cosplayers online via Facebook groups and recently posted pictures of herself decked out in a pink wig and white body paint as Pearl on Instagram. She tagged them with #ComicConAtHomeCosplay, the hashtag organizers of Comic-Con are using to promote an at-home cosplay challenge. But it isn’t the same as wandering around a convention floor and meeting other fans. “I’m disappointed,” she says. “All that hard work and the opportunity to meet other friends in the same fandom as me didn’t work out.” It’s a feeling many in the cosplay community share in, as conventions are often places for cosplayers to celebrate in-person. “It’s this really nice, endearing experience,” says Wes Johnson, a Twitch streamer. For this year’s Comic-Con, which would have been his tenth, Johnson had intended on dressing up as Geralt from Netflix series “The Witcher,” played by Henry Cavill on the show. A canceled convention isn’t keeping him from finishing his ambitious costume, which involves attaching a livestock bathtub to a motorized wheelchair. The plan was for Johnson to sit in it and ride around the convention center, recreating the famous “bathtub scene” from the show, complete with artificial bubbles. A friend was going to dress as Jaskier (Geralt’s bard companion, played by Joey Batey in the series) and accompany him. Johnson says he’s still building it out, perhaps for a future convention, and feels like he’s on a more relaxed timeline for it now. Still, the happenstance of meeting like-minded fans is a cherished one, he says. “You walk around a convention and say you’re dressed up as Geralt, and then you run into a Yennefer or you run into a Jaskier cosplayer, and everyone gets excited. You take pictures together. It’s how I’ve made a lot of friends in the cosplay community.” For Jasmine James, conventions are also a way to find inspiration and exchange tips with fellow cosplayers. “I’m a nerd when it comes to just constructing things. I’m also always trying to get better at things like that, so I am the type of person who would be like, ‘Yo, how did you make this? I’m trying to do this new technique, how did you go about doing this?’” says James, a video game concept artist and professional cosplayer based out of Atlanta. James is known for her intricate costumes, dressing up as beloved characters ranging from Princess Jasmine from “Aladdin” to Katsuki Bakugo from “My Hero Academia.” She crafts almost all of them by hand, spending upwards of 100 hours a month on her builds and planning them well ahead of time to avoid “con crunch” — the race to finish a costume before an event. Like Vaughn, James — known as “CutiePieSensei” in the cosplay community — had hoped to attend her first SDCC this year. Despite not being able to secure passes to the convention itself, she still planned to go to San Diego to network with fellow cosplayers and hang out with friends. She had started crafting her costume, a gold-plated Wonder Woman, with armor made of ethylene-vinyl acetate foam, thermoplastic sheets and vinyl. It was a tribute to “Wonder Woman 1984,” the superhero sequel originally slated for release in August, which has since been postponed until October. James posts pictures on social media of her cosplay, but finds it to be a more ephemeral experience compared to sharing and seeing costumes in person.   “When you’re on social media, you’re on this constant scroll,” she says, “so, if you see something that looks really cool or it’s impressive, you see it for like a second and then you process, ‘Oh, that was neat,’ and then just keep going… If you see an Iron Man person, it’s like, ‘Oh, snap! That looks cool’ because it’s real life. You process it differently.” Without a convention to work towards in the foreseeable future, she says she has been struggling to find the motivation to build new costumes. It’s a similar dilemma for Stella Chuu, who has made a good portion of her living over the past decade attending events as a professional cosplayer. Initially, Chuu welcomed the slower pace and reduced pressure of having to produce new costumes. “It was this really calming sense of like, ‘Hey, I don’t have deadlines, and I could just work at my own pace,’” she says. “But now I’m starting to get really antsy, and I’m kind of craving a creative outlet.” Since the pandemic started, Chuu has participated in online events where she teaches others how to do builds. She is now figuring out which non-”in person” cosplay parts of her multiple revenue streams — which include streaming video games, a YouTube channel and selling patterns on Etsy for other cosplayers to buy and make — to concentrate on. It’s a pivot photographer Martin Wong thinks will become the “new normal” for the industry. “I think there’ll be different ways to how people approach it. Maybe cosplay is not confined to conventions anymore, especially as many cosplayers are doing more and making cosplay on streaming,” says Wong, who has been shooting cosplayers for a decade. Businesses like his, which provide ancillary services for cosplayers, have also been adversely affected by canceled events. He says during a typical convention season — starting at the end of April and running through August — he would be at a different convention every other week, bringing in about $50,000 in revenue. He estimates he’s taken a huge loss in potential revenue this year. “I would say maybe about 30 to 40 grand,” he says. Mike Saffels, also a photographer, says that the cancellations of SDCC and other conventions have devastated his business. “It’s pretty much decimated it,” says Saffels, who estimates he’s lost about $30,000 since March. Saffels lives in Burbank, Calif. and rents out a studio in Anaheim, over an hour away, which remains closed. He has been able to stay financially afloat thanks to small business loans and his wife, who brings in a steady income working at a mortuary. “I’ve kind of just accepted that it’s going to be a bust this year because nothing is going to be open, especially for conventions of any type where we can meet new people or cosplayers. So, just kind of hoping for, I guess, a miracle for next year,” he says. For cosplayers, it’s unclear what the future of fan conventions like Comic-Con — with their high volumes of attendees in close proximity with one another — will be, and whether or not costumes that don’t include masks can be part of that. “I think we’ll probably see a lot more Mortal Kombat cosplayers,” Johnson says about COVID-era cosplaying, with a laugh. But for fans like Amy Vaughn, masks aren’t inherently part of her costumes of choice. “[As Pearl from ‘Steven Universe’], I tend to body paint myself. I sculpt a wax nose on to get my pointy nose, and those things aren’t mask-friendly,” says Vaughn, who does otherwise support wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. For now, she’s opted out of all public events, including local photo shoots with other cosplayers. Vaughn is unsure if and when she will attend another convention in the near future. “Even before COVID was a thing, there’s the term ‘con crud’ where after a con, everyone seems to come down with, like, the flu or something… It would be worse with COVID.” Chuu echoes the sentiment. “I mean, I love cosplay,” she says, “but I also like living.” Vaughn adds that not being able to attend her first San Diego Comic-Con has allowed her to reflect on what she loves about her hobby. “I only cosplay characters I love love love love, and I want to just show my love to this character by recreating them. So, that’s what I look back to,” she says. For now, sharing that love means doing photo shoots in her backyard and posting pictures on social media, as opposed to chance run-ins with kindred spirits outside of Hall H. “Is it the same thing? No.” She pauses. “It’ll be the same one day.”

*We found this article super interesting- Please enjoy the link(s) and let us know what you think! • all credits and © of shared contents to original wirters/publishers. _____________________________   Future State's Next Batman Will Play a Role in the New DC Universe Tim Fox, who will become Batman in DC's Future State, has a big role to portray in the new DC Universe according to James Tynion IV. BY COLLIER JENNINGSDEC 18, 2020 The DC Future State storyline will see Tim Fox take up the mantle of Batman to combat the militarized police force known as the Magistrate. However, writer James Tynion IV has teased that Lucius also has a major role in his Batman run. "I think that it's fair to say that Tim Fox and everything with the Fox family in general, that we started setting up in the pages of Batman #101, will have a direct impact on the Gotham line next year - from March and beyond. The shape that takes, I can't really get into yet, but just stay tuned," Tynion told Newsarama in an interview. RELATED: Future State's Batman Proves The Waynes Are NOT Gotham's Most Important Family The Fox family have played a major role in Tynion's Batman story, particularly the "Joker War" storyline. The Dark Knight saw his vast fortune stripped away by the Joker, and eventually landing in the hands of Lucius Fox. After a emotionally draining confrontation with the Joker's goons, Lucius resolved to bring Tim back into the fold of the Fox family. DC Future State is a two month initiative beginning in Jan. 2021, which features the future versions of DC's heroes. The Next Batman will be written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Ridley and illustrated by Nick Derington.

*We found this article super interesting- Please enjoy the link(s) and let us know what you think! • all credits and © of shared contents to original wirters/publishers. _____________________________ Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men Are Building Polyamorous New Worlds When Star-Lord bonds with a couple in "Guardians of the Galaxy," the new polyamorous group joins another X-Men throuple in Marvel canon history. BY D.R. MEDLEN6 DAYS AGO WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #9 by Al Ewing, Juann Cabal, Federico Blee, & VC's Cory Petit, on sale now. Star-Lord, real name Peter Quill, has found himself on an alien planet in Guardians of the Galaxy #9 after sacrificing his life. While on the planet Morinus he made friends with two of the locals, Aradia and Mors. The pair "help out" with different jobs across the galaxy, a lifestyle that Peter is familiar with. As the years went by, Peter fell in love with the couple and was welcomed into their open arms. The throuple in Guardians is not the only polyamorous relationship in the Marvel titles. Polyamory, consensual multi-partner intimate relationships, can be found on the mutant island-nation of Krakoa. During the recent X-Men story arcs, beginning in House of X #6 where Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Cyclops are seen laughing with their arms around each other and sharing a six-pack. Almost since Wolverine joined the X-Men team, he has had a flame burning for Jean Grey. Though Jean has always been in love with Cyclops, she has also had an obvious attraction to Wolverine as well. This love triangle has proven to be a source of anguish and pain for all three characters over the years and causing rifts in team dynamics. Now it appears that the three have come to realize that they could be happier together than fighting. This is especially underscored by the fact that Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine have three connected bedrooms on their moon compound. It could be interpreted that the two men are both just with Jean but it feels more like they are connected as well. Instead of arguing, Cyclops and Wolverine now share drinks while discussing vacations, bathing suits, and Wolverine's hairy chest while Jean is not around. It seems like everyone is much happier with their current arrangement in ways that were not likely while the team lived in New York. While Peter Quill was on Morinus, he tried to hold on to past relationships and traits that did not mesh with his new life. After a year with Aradia and Mors, they asked Peter to join in their bond. Peter declined to state that he admired them both, and their customs, but his heart was still with another. When twelve years had passed, Peter performed a ritual bonding with Aradia and Mors. He accepted that Morinus was his home and that Aradia and Mors were his home while the throuple embraced in a bath. As time continued to move for Peter, Aradia, and Mors, they shared a life together and even had a child, demonstrating the deep love they had for one another. Morinus and Krakoa are on different dimensions and planets yet they share a quality that sets people free. Both places start out as being referred to as "weird" or "strange" by their new inhabitants from Earth. These realms have their own rules on social norms and tend to veer away from "traditional" western tropes. The society on Morinus accepts beings for who they are and lets relationships bloom. Even though residents of Krakoa come mostly from western countries, as they live on the island something about it makes them shed previous inhabitants or prejudices. Both societies create acceptance for good people. No one criticizes them for being mutants, for their gender, or for who they choose to spend their time with.

*We found this article super interesting- Please enjoy the link(s) and let us know what you think! • all credits and © of shared contents to original wirters/publishers. _____________________________ Ashes of Star Trek’s Scotty smuggled on to International Space Station A secret mission to give James Doohan a celestial resting place has been revealed 12 years on Jacqui Goddard, Miami Friday December 25 2020, 12.01am GMT, The Times Before his death in 2005 James Doohan asked to be laid to rest among the stars GETTY IMAGES; CBS/GETTY As one of Star Trek’s most beloved characters, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott spent a lifetime exploring the galaxy on the USS Enterprise, boldly going beyond the final frontier. Now it can be revealed that in death the actor who played the starship’s chief engineer has travelled nearly 1.7 billion miles through space, orbiting Earth more than 70,000 times, after his ashes were hidden secretly on the International Space Station. The unmanned Falcon 9 blasted off at 3:44 a.m. EDT (0744 GMT) from here at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the Dragon capsule filled with cargo bound for the International Space Station. Also packed aboard the rocket was a secondary payload carrying remains from 308 people, including Doohan and Mercury program astronaut Gordon Cooper, according to ABC News and Reuters. The ashes were flown under an agreement between the spacecraft's builder, private rocket company SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of Hawthorne, Calif.) and Celestis, a company that books memorial spaceflights to "launch a symbolic portion of your loved one's ashes into space," according to its website. "We had a Celestis canister on the second stage, not on Dragon," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said at a news conference after the launch. "They've actually been a customer of ours since 2005 or 2006." The Falcon 9 rocket's second stage separated from the capsule nine minutes and 49 seconds into the flight, and is now orbiting on its own above Earth. The second stage will likely stay in orbit for about a year before it falls back toward the ground and is burned up during re-entry. [Photos: SpaceX's Dragon Launches to Space Station] In addition to the human ashes, SpaceX's Falcon 9/Dragon flight launched about 1,014 pounds (460 kilograms) of cargo for the space station, including food and supplies for the crew, student-designed science experiments, computer equipment and commemorative souvenirs like mission patches and pins.SpaceX's first space station-bound Dragon spacecraft, flying atop a Falcon 9 rocket, launches behind a high fidelity mockup of the space shuttle, NASA's previous means of delivering cargo to International Space Station. Liftoff occurred on May 22, 2012 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  Burial in space Celestis charges $2,995 to launch 1 gram of a person's ashes to Earth orbit. Deep space launches to the solar system start at $12,500, while suborbital flights that return to Earth begin at $995. The human remains payload was not officially announced by SpaceX before today, although news reports publicized the inclusion of the ashes onboard Falcon 9. "So much for our 'secret' launch," Charles Chafer, CEO of Celestis' parent company, Space Services Inc., wrote on his Facebook page Sunday (May 20). However, the payload was apparently secret enough to fool SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk. "If they were onboard I didn't actually know that," Musk said after the liftoff. "I was focused on other things." SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launches the unmanned Dragon capsule into orbit on May 22, 2012. (Image credit: SpaceX) Space memorials This isn't the first launch for Celestis. Ashes from "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry, as well as many others, have been booked on flights by Celestis. The ashes are packed into special capsules and added as payloads on orbital and suborbital rockets. Advertisement In fact, the company tried to launch Doohan and Cooper's ashes on an earlier SpaceX flight, but the smaller Falcon 1 rocket carrying them in August 2008 failed to reach space. The company is trying again now as part of its guarantee to send another sample of a person's ashes if a rocket fails to launch the first time. Today's SpaceX flight was the company's "largest launch event ever," according to Chafer's Facebook page. Dragon launched Tuesday after an earlier attempt at liftoff was called off at the last second due to an engine valve problem. The issue was fixed and the vehicle had a smooth blastoff into the predawn skies here on the second try. The Dragon capsule will become the first private spacecraft to rendezvous and berth at the International Space Station when it arrives at the orbiting lab later this week. The mission is the final test flight for SpaceX under NASA's COTS program (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services), which has funded the development of private vehicles capable of delivering cargo to the orbiting laboratory.