Monday, September 15, 2014

Still Playing With Power

For my last birthday my Pop sent me an Amazon gift card. Because I insist on spending all forms of gift money on toys and fun stuff, I got me a Supaboy! Deep down I kind of want to be playing SNES all the time, and now I can!


The Hyperkin Supaboy is an aftermarket portable console that plays SNES and Super Famicom cartridges. The beauty that happened after hardware patents for machines like the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis expired is that now anybody can reverse engineer the hardware and duplicate it, thus, tiny versions of your childhood favorites.

First of all, I think the packaging on this thing is awesome; They're smart to immediately bring on the nostalgia for the old SNES packaging font and red-and-black motif. More importantly, the feel of this thing is pretty solid. The buttons and D-pad are firm and responsive, and the screen is bright and clear. I noticed that the game booted right up, while my vintage SNES sometimes needs a few tries, so apparently that thing may be on the way out. As a quibble, I would have liked if the included rechargeable battery came installed, so you're going to need a small Phillips screwdriver as soon as this comes out of the box. There's also a little bit of rattle in the cartridge slot, but no big deal. What is big is the overall size: this thing is clearly made for adult, nostalgic hands, not small children, but kids should be able to play just fine with a controller plugged in.

All in all I think the Supaboy is pretty awesome and I'm glad I picked it up. Thanks, Pop!

What I'm Playing:


  • Main Campaign: The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
  • Side Quest: Star Fox, U.N. Squadron

Friday, September 12, 2014

Epsilon Application

I've been working on a Diablo 3 Crusader costume for the upcoming BlizzCon, and today marked a big day for the build: I managed to get a layer of Epsilon coating onto the front side of my shield. Since this was my first time working with the material, I thought I'd share a few notes and pictures.





What you see above is a shield made of pink insulation foam and an EVA foam cross, which I've covered with Epsilon that was tinted blue for visibility. It took a couple hours to put on, and I worked in sections starting with the entire cross and then going around the body of the shield. 

Epsilon is a two-part epoxy coating by Smooth-On made for foam projects. It contains no solvents, so it won't dissolve foam on application. The end result is a piece that's easy to sand and paint, and has a hard plastic shell that protects it from impact. It's available online, but I happened to pick mine up at the Reynolds Advanced Materials in North Hollywood. 

The stuff mixes easily, but you have to work fairly quickly as it will start to gum up after 10 to 15 minutes. At one point I think I was too hasty in mixing, and the material went through a very noticeable exothermic reaction and cured into a useless glob. 

My shield is covered with divots intentionally, and it was tough to determine exactly how much Epsilon I would need to cover the surface area, but this application took up all of a trial-size pack. My coating is a bit uneven, and I'm sure I didn't make most efficient use of the material, but I think I still got the end look that I wanted. Once this side cures to a non-tacky state over the next two hours, I'll flip it over and do the much smoother back side.

All in all I think Epsilon is a cool material and I look forward to testing the hardness of the finished piece. With the glue-like consistency, I also liked how well it smoothed over unsightly gaps in the construction. I've seen some other people cover their EVA armor in this stuff and then be disappointed at the lack of flex afterwards; for me, the rigidity is a feature, not a bug.

I'll keep you all posted either on my cosplay Facebook page as to the final result!

What I'm Playing:

  • Main Campaign: P.T., Rogue Legacy
  • Side Quest: Shovel Knight