Comic-Con 2012

Hey Guys!

So this past weekend was The Aquabats! Comic-Con Super Show! and I was there. But first, let's start with the morning.
At 5:30 in the morning I see that I got an email the day before letting me that I won two tickets to the concert from a contest on the House of Blues facebook page. ( I eventually found people to sell the tickets to, which is what Ricky told me to do when I talked to him.)
I left LA around 6:00 and made it to San Diego around 8:00. First thing we did was go to The Broken Yoke Cafe, Which was The Hub Headquarters.

There were themed tables, themed about the different HUB shows. and all the condiments and soap had Gloopy product labels. All of which were designed by the talented Tyler Jacobs.

Throughout the day we just walked around and lot's of people wanted pictures with us. We met some cool Aquabats CosPlayers too.

Later that day Someone told us that the 'Bats were eating lunch at the Broken Yoke, So we sprinted there... They were there. 

While people were getting pictures with the 'Bats, I got a picture with The Fox.

Then there was the concert... It was fantastic.

Sorry I'm not that good at words right now. I'm tired, but wanted to get this episode up.

-Awesome Lad

The Mighty Dagger of Todd

Hey Guys!

So I was watching The Aquabats! Super Show! and I decided that I wanted my own Mighty Dagger of Todd. About a week later I got a new couch that was covered in cardboard. I knew it was meant to be.

The first thing I did was gather some reference photos. Here's what I got:

One of the hardest Parts about this build, was figuring out whate size to make it. It seems to change size in almost every frame. ( I justify this by remembering that it's a magic sword.)

The Size I decided to go with was the more sword-like dagger:

First I scaled it in photoshop and printed it out on multiple pieces of paper. Then I cut out a blade out of cardboard, and then cut out the parts for the handle and put them around the blade (I don't have any pictures of this part, sorry) I used hot glue for this part.

For the Slanted part of the blade, I first tried doing it in hot glue and that failed miserably. Then I got the idea to use the bottom of a FedEx Pak. That way I knew I had a straight fold. I first put a trail of hot glue down the length of the blade, to hold up the center. I then Glued it onto the blade and trimmed it. If i had thought ahead, I could of made the cardboard blade thinner and used the Pak to create a "cutting edge" on the sides of the blade. I then taped the seam on the edge.  

I then used hot glue to fill in the handle.

I then Stared bondo-ing the blade; but I was lazy and hot, so I only did one side (and sanded it quite poorly). For the handle, I decided to go lazy and tape it.

For the eyes, I cut out the shape on some cardstock and then used hot glue to give it the 3D shape. Then glued them in place.

After this, I covered the handle in Elmers white glue and let it dry. This didn't hide the texture of the tape, but made it less evident, and less likely to come undone.

I then, for some reason, painted the entire thing in brown tempera paint, then black. Then I spray painted the handle grey. Then Taped the handle off and sprayed the Blade Silver.

I then taped off the Handle where I wanted the lines and used a paint pen to fill this in. I taped around the eyes and spared them red. Don't forget the nose thing! (the color difference is just the lighting)

I also made a wall mount for it.

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So that's a rough walkthrough of how I made my Mighty Dagger of Todd. I kind of just figured it out as I went. 

This build was 100% free; I only used supplies and tools I had. When I get a steady job and can afford to, I want to revisit this build and make it better quality and make resin casts of it (maybe even ones that can glow).

Stay Rad,

-Awesome Lad