NY Jedi...I just finished reviewing the show team...

[magnius]

Thanks for the comments ...
the fight was a funone to put togeher , we do a yearly fight , generally  continuation of the previous years fight. Bringing in new stuffwe learned over hte course of the year....

The beautiful thing withthe group we allow any skill level to come and play with us , and in our shows we really make it available for our member to demonstrate what htey have worked on... This group is constantly evolving with newer members. . I ahve been i nteh group well over 4 years, and in my experience we make room for anyone that wants to play with us, and welcome them to share in the fun at what ever level they can be involved in is cool ....  During that show we invited many non NYJ members to join in the fun, and demo their fights..... It was a fun day

We really do try to keep the "Jedi Flavor" as we call it .... We may tap form other universes, but we really try to keep the star wars element there... And now with new video games comming out ,or comics like Legacy or Old republic, we really do see that characters in these comics can take on more of a non traditional feel... That withthe right blend of sci fi , jedi flavor, the costumes really come across Star Wars ..



In regards to putitng together fights, it does take time to put htem togehter. Everyone here is torn between work , school , family lives. We put the best we can to do shows, and we all work to find a balance....  I give evey member of the group alot of credit to go on stage and do their very best. The 2010  NYCC we had over 1,000 in the audience ... But yes it is tough .. You are looking at for me , several weeks of mentally plotting out a fight . Then it is 2 weeks of trial and error of meeting at least 2 - 3 times a week for at leat 2 hours each meeting to seee what works , and what does not ..... Then it takes after that  at least 1-2 months meeting 3 times a week for no less an hour each meeting to get it down to muscle memory ..... then another 3-4 months to make the fight look more dynamic, dance like , and like an actual fight......... so any one fight to really make look good you need 6 months  give or take a month..... Some can do it faster , and others longer .... Really depends on their back ground , or how they engage in a physical action like a choreo fight.... I know with me , I have over 10-15 years of medieval fencing , but it is far differnet from choreo , so even with a physical background in a fighting style , it does not prepare me for the almost dance like element of memorized moves that choreo asks for


Even with the Dragons , fey , and bat creatures they all still have a rahter Jedi , Sithy, or Star Wars feel. several adopting make up designs to expand on the feel.

Also many of the members want a quick understanding of their chracters, It is easier to say elf and get an automatic understand of a pointed eared long lived creater the nhaving to go into such an ellaborate explaination. Most of it comes down to speed of understanding .. We wantthe character to be quickly understood without need of exposition , so we cheat and use alreadyestablished terms that are easily understood.... Elf , Dragon (which there are lizard people in SW , but it is quicker to say dragon or lizard perosn rahter then the Alien name becasue the general audience will not know what it is.... Cons are often made of a variety fan groups , not all of them star wars , we want to make the group as approachable to anyone interested in playing with us.



this is one i made from parts from TCSS ... named glitch ....






this one comes from ALW Advanced Light Weaponry



and my wife's


the one thatmyself and my wife share for our imperial knight build





the one i put together for my steam punk costuems




my wife's standard saber





the other one from AWL for times when i need ot be sithy



jsut to go with the theme of the thread...

It is okay to cros the streams


and other elemetns of creativity that has come from this groups work... a friend madea Toy version of Magnius in scale with the Heroes line of mini figures
 

[Amanita]

I have to admit, this has been an interesting read, being a cosplayer myself. I've done lots of Jedi, but lately I've been wanting to bring my own creations to life, as opposed to portraying somebody else's. For years, I've been doing artwork where I take skyscrapers and personify the heck out of them, giving them a very humanoid appearance. Porting over the features of a massive skyscraper onto a living being is a challenge, and designing interesting costumes is also fun. I don't take the easy way out and just use business suits, I like to design their garb from the skin out, to give them a unique look, drawing from a ton of historical/ethnic/fantastic influences. And between a few friends and I, we've come up with a sort of parallel universe for them to inhabit, with backstory and culture. One aspect of this culture we've developed is martial skill- hey, these beings have to protect themselves, their world may not be a warzone ala Warhammer 40k, but it's not all pleasantville peaches and cream either. So of course they've developed weapons. One of those would be the monomolecular blade, a sophisticated work of nanotechnology and memory metal. Another would be the Psionic blade, formed of pure psionic energy. Psionics? These beings can in fact wield psychokinetic/psychic power in a manner, performing feats similar to (in some cases exceeding) those performed by Force users.

So there's the background. When it comes to bringing that into the real world, it gets interesting on several levels. Not just building the costume or designing the makeup, but the props as well. Let's face it- when it comes to replicating the aforementioned monomolecular blades, there's lots of choices. Steel weaponry, carved wood, etc. But practically speaking, cons don't tend to like those things too much. They're either forbidden altogether, or placed under such heavy restrictions that personally, I don't feel it's worth it most of the time. You can't pose for pics with it out, even if it's duller than a butterknife. So that brings us to the other weapon beloved of the Tall Ones- the Psionic blade. Some of the creations of Advanced Light Weaponry look perfectly like what I suspect a hilt based psionic blade would, but I can't afford a $5-600 prop. So I tend to use Ultra's sabers to simulate the things instead. Which means, I often find myself fielding the same question as the OP asked. "What in Coruscant are YOU doing with a lightsaber?"

I have to admit, a club like the NY Jedi is one more reason why I wish I lived in NYC. I would join in a heartbeat if they would have me (although my currently fat self might offend the sensibilities of some like the OP, because it doesn't conform to the "fit" image just yet) Imagine the Avatar of an NYC skyscraper duelling with the Krytonian or the Time Lord? One New York Plaza wielding a blade of psionic fire, or One Penn Plaza channelling the power of his shiny new cogeneration plant into an electro-blade? (easily simulated with a blue blade with white flash on clash and the right sound font)
I wish I knew more people to practice duelling and choreography with. Sadly most of my friends are too uncoordinated, and the remaining two- one can be kind of mercurial- one week he's all for it, the next he doesn't want to, and the other is slavishly devoted to the fencing style and won't do anything else:(

[Master Uilos]

Several points

- We prescribe Ultrasabers to everyone just walking through the door. It does the job, and does it well. Some move on to others or require custom pieces (US stopped making saber tonfa). It's the gateway drug to the wonderful world of sabers.

- We don't turn anyone down. Most of us are fit because we've been doing this for years (I can argue myself, whose six pack demands to remain a keg). I have friends who have lost 60 pounds because of how much they pushed themselves into their projects here.

- Shockingly enough, we have a tone of fencers in the group, and two of our initial masters were fencers and many became students of theirs professionally. That's the other benefit of this group, we teach each other what we know. We're like the reverse of the Borg, instead of being assimilated into one uniform concept, we pour pieces of ourselves into a collective and take a part of it back into us. (/end geek esoterica)

[ThreadJack]

Personally, I would love to join a group like New York Jedi. Sadly I live in the netherworld where the 2 closest groups, NYJ an NJO(PA Jedi), are both close to 2 hours away.

[Master Rel]

Personally, I would love to join a group like New York Jedi. Sadly I live in the netherworld where the 2 closest groups, NYJ an NJO(PA Jedi), are both close to 2 hours away.

For all my thoughts and comments, I also would welcome the opportunity to join a group like NY Jedi...but I suspect with my location I am looking at CC Jedi (Corpus Christi TX) population 01 with the potential for one or two part timers.

 

[Shami Pemas]

i would probably enjoy myself if i joined LI Jedi, but the drive out there (about 30-40 minutes) would just suck.

[Master Rel]

i would probably enjoy myself if i joined LI Jedi, but the drive out there (about 30-40 minutes) would just suck.

Seriously?  In Texas, a 30-40min drive is like going to the corner store lol.

I would kill a Sith if there were a group within 30-40mins!

Ok I would kill a Sith anyway...but you get the point 

[ThreadJack]

Seriously?  In Texas, a 30-40min drive is like going to the corner store lol.

I would kill a Sith if there were a group within 30-40mins!

Ok I would kill a Sith anyway...but you get the point 

That's Pennsylvania too. 30-40 minutes is practically around the corner!

[Darth Stingere]

When I went to New York City, it took 40 minutes to get anywhere....

[Master Rel]

By the way...I was mulling over the post about wanting to be a building with a psi or light saber...I want to respond to be polite, everyone wants their thoughts to recognized...that said I had a tough time with The Joker Jedi and anime elf Jedi...so the idea of being an animated building...hmmm



But, it is an original idea.  I would say cut back on the moonshine or those funny looking mushrooms   

Sounds great for Kaiju Big Battel though!

[Master Uilos]

for correction, the elf is not anime. It's just an elf...and I just said that, christ what has this group done to me?

As for Kaiju, every so often we bump into them at cons, and somehow we try to arrange to work together. One day, one day.

And I'm stealing the horse.

As for the Anthropomorphised Buildings, I'm not gonna throw it out, but it needs to follow rule one: It had Better Work in the Universe

[Amanita]

I have to admit, I took a little offense at the "magic mushrooms" crack- It gets a little old having people suggest I'm on some sort of illegal substance whenever they don't understand something I've come up with, because it's different than their favorite Anime/sci-fi/whatever. It's a joke that's gotten old, and quite frankly it comes off as a little close-minded and dismissive. "I don't understand it= the creator is on drugs" And of course, people on drugs are not to be taken seriously.
And if somebody doesn't like it, tough cookies. I daresay I had more fun with my recent One Penn Plaza cosplay than I have in ages.
Here's what a skyscraper-avatar would look like- basically it's an animist incarnation of the building itself:
http://ladyamanita.deviantart.com/#/d3h6238
http://ladyamanita.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3e0t39
http://ladyamanita.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d36xx6a

This was my first attempt at turning one of these into an actual costume:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31217544@N07/6348878503/in/photostream
(please note I didn't do the photoshopping on the blade).
Ultimately I plan to get into prosthetic makeup, so that the skyscraper's crown looks like an extension of my skull, as opposed to an architectural model.
A living incarnation of a skyscraper? Well, Obi-Wan did suggest that the force pervades all things, and the SW universe is pretty big on beings of spiritual/mystical origin. Just look at all those force-ghosts around, for starters:)

[Master Nero Attoru]

That's Pennsylvania too. 30-40 minutes is practically around the corner!

Artorius and I grew up in the woods of South Jersey.  It was like 20 to 30 mins to get to the grocery store or Walmart.  I do, however, understand where you are coming from - my gf is from LI and she is positively SHOCKED at how far stuff is in my hometown lol.

This is great input guys, special thanks to the NY Jedi and Amanita for sharing their passions with us.  I tend to like keeping my genres separate, but I can definitely see the appeal of mixing it up, and respect that choice.  Clearly it results in some damn creative things, as we have seen here.  Personally I always find myself in awe of that kind of creativity (something I lack).

[Master Rel]

I have to admit, I took a little offense at the "magic mushrooms" crack- It gets a little old having people suggest I'm on some sort of illegal substance whenever they don't understand something I've come up with, because it's different than their favorite Anime/sci-fi/whatever. It's a joke that's gotten old, and quite frankly it comes off as a little close-minded and dismissive. "I don't understand it= the creator is on drugs" And of course, people on drugs are not to be taken seriously.

Amanita...the "crack" was just a friendly nudge nudge wink wink...it was not my intention to bring more grief to you or your efforts.

I tend to lean towards the other side of the fence as far as creativity goes...I use milk (or almond milk) with my cereal, peanut butter with my jelly, grilled cheese with my tomato soup...IF I made peanut butter and pickled herring sandwiches, made my oatmeal with orange juice and raw celery, or prefer to ice my layer cakes with mayonnaise and refried beans...then I should expect other people to think I am different, even if the difference seems to be a great thing to me.

I absolutely applaud your creativity but it is odd...odd does not mean stupid or ugly...it just means odd.

You must develop a thicker skin if you want people to appreciate your efforts if not your specific work...be honest with yourself...you are blending buildings with a human form...it is odd.

Your artwork is well done...clean...and quite clear with your vision...but it is a singular and very particular flavor.

So please to not take offense, I promise I would say the same thing in person.

If you did not mention the building aspect, I would have though the art depicted a synthetic or inorganic character.

But if you are committed to creating humanoid versions of famous or interesting architecture then keep doing it!  I am sure there is someone out there with the very same ideal and will find it interesting.  There is so much room for the creative process.

Part of developing as an artist is taking input from others.

Criticism.

The core of this is that it is critical, I have been there as has every other artist who puts their work out for others to see.

Sorry it hurts...I thought to use a bit of humor "magic mushrooms" to ease the pain and to be supportive of your effort without swinging a hammer.

It seems by your rebuttal of others not understanding or thinking you are on drugs is a clear indicator that your vision is different enough to demand comment...which is the goal of creative expression...art is the creative outlet of an artist who usually sees the world in a different way...good or bad, acceptance is not the issue...attention and consideration is.

Most times unique art process is not appreciated or understood...not everything is a bowl of fruit or a puppy with sad eyes...sometimes it is a splash of paint on a pile of toy cars, a goblet made of chicken bones painted gold, or a man with a building for a head.

It is what it is.

Part of being an artist is that the vision is different...you do not see it because you are too close to it...it is something that drives you...but it does not drive me and most likely will not drive most people, and that is ok...that is another aspect to the process.

Better to get the vision out, with or without applause. So many people have unique ideas and do nothing with them...because of fear, potential for rejection, and lack of confidence.

Artistic process takes courage.

It also requires a bit of toughness.

Step away for a minute, close your eyes, pretend you are someone else, and listen...

"hey I made a Jedi type character who is a humanoid building"
"did you say a person who is a building?"
"well the head looks like a famous building with a human like face on it"
"...oh...I see...how interesting..."

You should expect the comments of

"I want some of you are taking"
"magic mushrooms huh?"
"seriously?"
etc.

If you get "wonderful" or "that is great!", then that is always welcome...as long as it is honest and not from Grandma or the friend not wanting to hurt feelings...

If you can't smile and work through it then I am sorry...again, I was just making sure your vision was considered, good or bad, positive or negative, I just wanted you to know someone was listening to you.

Best advice I could offer is to just smile and express any positive aspects...

"I love architecture"
"the idea that buildings have energy or life..."
etc.

*****

I tried to acknowledge your efforts without blowing smoke up your chimney...honesty is best when it comes to something unique and creative.

I like your line art.

I am not a fan of people with buildings for heads.

Sorry.

I hope this does not damage any potential future communication...I was not making any intentional insults or demeaning your creative process.

*****

Have a great week and upcoming holiday season!

[SOTJ]

A living incarnation of a skyscraper? Well, Obi-Wan did suggest that the force pervades all things, and the SW universe is pretty big on beings of spiritual/mystical origin. Just look at all those force-ghosts around, for starters:)

There are certainly similar things in the canon. Mount Sorrow. Zonoma Sekot. The first Yuuzhan'tar. They aren't buildings, but I'd say they're based on a similar idea, which I think is a cool one.