Sometime last night a member of the 501st Legion’s command staff took his own life. While the circumstances that led to this tragic decision are not known, suicide is never an answer. He left behind a family that must now pick up the suddenly broken pieces of their now shattered lives.
If you know of anyone who is contemplating suicide, please urge them to seek help. When people reach such a intense level of depression, they don’t realize how their loss is going to adversely impact their friends and loved ones.
It’s about time that audiences will finally get to see Wolverine on the big screen in his iconic yellow & blue costume: photos shared on Twitter of Hugh Jackman in costume as Wolverine for the upcoming “Deadpool 3” movie currently scheduled to be released on May 3, 2024.
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the upcoming “Deadpool 3” movie shared on Twitter on
The following video by Nate From the Internet explains how to build a turtle shell for a #costume or #cosplay (potentially for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) out of EVA foam.
In the aftermath of the coup d’état that occurred in the summer of 2020 in the “Star Wars” costume club known as 501st Legion, this blog shared an exposé in August, 2020, regarding the contents of that costume club’s charter and bylaws, which the club refers to as its “Operations Protocol”.
From that exposé, it was clear that the 501st Legion’s written rules are severely lacking when it comes to charitable donations, financial accountability, and its overall leadership structure: all of which set the stage for 2020 coup d’état, which will be recapped here:
Around May, 2020, the then 501st Legion LCO (Legion Commanding Officer, or club president and was a U.S. citizen) asked the officers of the U.K. Garrison (the costume club’s local chapter located in the United Kingdom) about its charitable donation practices.
The U.K. Garrison had admitted in a well publicized documentary that they had collected money for charities and had placed large amounts of that collected money into at least one of the member’s personal bank accounts to the tune of as much as $4,000,000.
In response to the LCO’s inquiries, the U.K. Garrison’s officers filed dubious charges against that LCO.
Then in June, 2020, the predominantly non-U.S. Legion Council (the legislative body of the 501st Legion) held a secret hearing in which the then LCO was found guilty of those dubious charges, was subsequently removed from office, and was replaced by the then non-U.S. LXO (Legion Executive Officer, or club vice president,), who was then made the LCO for the remainder of the 2020 term.
As this blog reported in August, 2020 (two months after the coup d’état ), neither the 501st Legion’s Charter or bylaws contained any guidance regarding the collection of charitable donations. That has since changed.
Addition of a New Charitable Donations Article XII in the 501st Legion’s Charter
The 501st Legion’s Charter, as of at least January, 2022, now contains a 12th article, which will be quoted here:
Article XII: Handling of Donations
Where the 501st or any of its sub-units accepts and collects donations for charitable purposes, there must be a protocol for handling these donations, set up by the respective sub-unit. The protocol must be in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction(s) applicable to the sub-unit that collected the donations. On request of the Legion Council (by a seconded motion with a simple majority vote), these protocols must be submitted for review. The Legion Council may (in a similar fashion) ask the Legion Captain of the Guard to participate in the review. The protocols are to be kept by the Legion Charity Officer, taking into account the prevailing laws of the jurisdiction(s).
The Legion Council and the Legion Captain of the Guard may temporarily revoke a sub-unit’s ability to accept or collect donations in the event of abuse or wrong-doing. The recommendation to revoke must be made by the LCOGs and receive a simple majority vote by the Legion Council to suspend the sub-unit’s ability to accept or collect funds, for a period of time to be determined by the Legion Council. This is to be done after a disciplinary hearing under Article X has concluded there was wrong-doing in the handling of donations by members of the sub-unit in question, regardless of any pending appeal. If a unit continues to accept or collect donations while under revocation, this shall be an offence actionable under Article X.
Donations collected for a particular charitable organization or cause must be transferred to that charitable organization or cause, as soon as practicable, according to the local laws.
An examination of Article XII reveals the following:
What’s Missing from Article XII?
First & foremost, while the addition of Article XII is good, the 501st Legion has failed to define a common protocol baseline protocol for sub-units to follow to help ensure that embezzlement of collected donations is made very difficult for would-be embezzlers. There are no reporting requirements and no requirements to ensure that the charity is legitimate.
Needed: A Common Donation Collection Protocol Baseline
🛑 Failing to define a common protocol baseline for sub-units to follow for the handling of donations is an example of the predominant confederation attitude that exists within the 501st Legion.
Such a baseline should include something like this:
The sub-unit should first establish the validity of the charity for which the charitable donations are to be collected for: name and address (at a minimum) to establish that the charity exists.
Verify that anyone who is identified as a representative of the charity is actually associated with the charity.
Prior to the event at which charitable donations are to be collected, the sub-unit should be required to notify the Legion Charity Officer of the following:
The name and address of the charity.
The name(s) and email address(es) (or other means of contact) for the charity representative(s).
The date and location of the event.
As soon as the event is over, the sub-unit should notify the Legion Charity Officer the following:
How much money was collected in the form of charitable donations.
Whether the money was immediately handed to a verified charity representative.
Whether a receipt was obtained for the money given to the charity representative and a copy of said receipt sent to the Legion Charity Officer.
Failure to report what money was collected should be deemed a Code of Conduct violation.
ℹ️ Reporting all money collected for charitable donations to the 501st Legion’s command structure is essential for documentation and the prevention of embezzlement.
⚠️ Lack of reporting creates an appearance of impropriety and will likely impede the investigation of potential cases embezzlement.
Needed Clarification: Who is the Legion Charity Officer?
This blog isn’t going to assume that the Legion Charity Officer mentioned in Article XII is the same as the Legion Charity Representative listed in Article VI. The Legion should use common terminology and officer designations to ensure clarity,
🛑 Lack of clarity leads to confusion and makes the 501st Legion Charter more difficult to enforce.
Needed: Who Has the Authority to Investigate Embezzlement Accusations?
Article XII should clearly specify who has the authority to investigate possible cases of embezzlement. Since there’s no definition of who the Legion Charity Officer is (or whether it’s the same as the Legion Charity Representative), is it to be assumed that this responsibility falls solely on the shoulders of the Legion Captain of the Guard? Does the Legion Charity Representative (or Legion Charity Officer) play a role in this? Is the LCO (Legion Commanding Officer) specifically excluded from this? The LCO asking questions in 2020 is what lead to the coup d’état.
Needed: A Garrison (Local Chapter) Charity Officer
Any sub-units that collect money intended for charities should have a Charity Officer (or Charity Representative) as part of its command staff to ensure that the sub-unit’s charitable donation protocol is being followed. Not making this a requirement means that it could fall on the sub-unit’s CO, which is probably part of what lead to the 2020 coup d’état since one of the U.K. Garrison’s officers that filed dubious charges against the then LCO included its CO at the time.
“Operations Protocol” Section 5 Undermines Article XII
The infamous statement in Section 5 of the 501st Legion’s “Operations Protocol” (bylaws) remains fully intact in spite of the addition of Article XII:
“Garrison COs are free to adopt reasonable local policies and procedures, so long as they are supported by the local membership and do not conflict with the Legion Charter, Operations Protocol, or the Legion’s policies and procedures.”
As this blog shared in its exposé of the 501st Legion’s Charter & bylaws in August, 2020 in the aftermath of the coup d’état, this carte blanche power granted to Garrison CO’s means that they can continue to do pretty much whatever they want especially given that they don’t have to provide charitable donation protocols to the Legion Council and the LCOG for review.
🛑 Given that the Legion Council is comprised nearly completely of Garrison CO’s and their personally appointed Garrison XO’s (or other designated council representative), it’s no wonder that they didn’t add the needed review, reporting & investigative aspects to Article XII that would be the best prevention for potential embezzlement of charitable donation funds from occurring.
No Charter Changes Made that Would Prevent Another Coup d’État from Occurring
While the addition of Article XII to the 501st Legion Charter was, in all likelihood, done solely in response to the 2020 coup d’état, no substantive changes have been made to the Charter or the bylaws that would prevent such a coup d’état from occurring again:
If charges are filed against an elected officer (especially the LCO), the 501st Legion members at large don’t have to be notified.
If a hearing against an elected officer is occurring, it doesn’t have to be made known to the 501st Legion members at large. So secret hearings against elected officers can continue with the members at large only finding out after the fact, just as what happened during the 2020 coup d’état.
The Code of Conduct does not specifically prohibit false accusations from being made against officers or other members at at large.
The Legion Captain of the Guard (LCOG) continues to be elected by the Legion Council instead of the 501st Legion membership at large. This means that the LCOG remains beholden to the Legion Council, not the members at large: this is no different from 2020 and maintains the concerns of conflict of interest and giving the appearance that the LCOG is simply a tool of the Legion Council.
No prohibition against members forming secretive groups whose goals include undermining existing club leadership, such as the Projekt Mayhem group.
ℹ️ Everything listed above were enabling factors used during the 2020 coup d’état.
Conclusion
Article XII looks good on the surface, but it lacks the necessary teeth to be enforceable. Lack of enforceability has been an ongoing problem for the 501st Legion and other costume clubs.
Whether the addition of Article XII will actually make a positive difference in preventing embezzlement may never be publicly known; but given how much of the Legion Council supported the 2020 coup d’état when the then LCO asked the U.K. Garrison about its charitable donation collection practices, the weak wording in Article XII seems more like a PR campaign to provide an appearance of ethical practices given the public humiliation that the 501st Legion brought upon itself from the coup.
Chances are that nothing internally may have actually changed for the better as the result of Article XII given that no other relevant changes to the Charter or bylaws have been made that would actually prevent another coup similar to what occurred in 2020 from happening again.
#Cosplayers, #costumers & #fursuiters have been increasingly incorporating electronics into their #costumes. These can range from using small cooling fans and LED’s for special effects to incorporating complex animated displays. If using electronics is something that you’ve been wanting to use in your own costumes, it’s a good idea to understand some basic electronic principles to achieve what you’re wanting to design, which requires
What is Electronics?
Electronics is the branch of physics that deals with the study and control of the flow of electrons (a.k.a., electricity) and is primarily concerned with phenomena other than simple conduction. These phenomena include emission of electrons, storage of electrical charge, the effects of electrical fields on the conduction of electrons through a circuit, and the amplification and manipulation of electric signals.
To control the flow of electrons, different types of electronic components possessing various capabilities (the ability to resist, carry, select, steer, switch, store, manipulate or exploit electrons) are organized and interconnected into what are referred to as electronic circuits.
What is an Electronic Circuit?
An electronic circuit is essentially a path through which electricity can flow between various electronic components that have been interconnected to each other through a series of conductors. A conductor is any material (typically a metal) that easily permits electrical current to flow through it with negligible resistance. Conversely, materials that are generally non-conductive, meaning that it is nearly impossible for electrical current to flow through them, are known as insulators.
Let’s consider an electric lamp connected to a wall outlet, as shown in the picture below.
Electric lamp connected to a wall outlet.
When an electric lamp (or other electrical appliance) is plugged into a wall outlet as show above, it represents essentially the simplest of electrical circuits: a power source connected in series to a single resistive load. The circuit can be represented through of an electronic schematic diagram (typically referred to simply as a schematic) in which the conductors are represented by lines and the power source and resistive load are represented by special symbols, as follows.
Simple resistive load circuit schematic.
The circle circumscribing a sinusoidal waveform on the left-hand side of the schematic represents the AC, or Alternating Current, power source. The lines going from the top and bottom of the power source symbol represent the two conductors that are inside of electric lamp’s power cord. Inside the electric lamp itself is a power switch (represented by the switch symbol on the top of the diagram) allowing someone to turn on or turn off the lamp. And on the right-hand side of the schematic is a rectangle with a resistor symbol inside representing the light-bulb, which is the resistive load in this example.
What’s an Open Circuit?
When the switch in the above example is “open”, meaning that there is no electronic connection, the light inside the lamp will be off because no current can flow through the circuit. This is referred to as an open circuit.
In an open circuit, if you were to measure the voltage of the power source (represented by Vs), you’d see (in North America) a value of 120 VAC (which means Volts AC). In other countries, you may see a value of 240 VAC. Regardless of the power source voltage, in an open circuit, if you were to measure the voltage across the resistive load (represented by VR), you’d measure a voltage of 0 VAC; and if you measured the voltage across the two sides of the lamp’s power switch, you’d measure the same voltage as the power source value (either 120 or 240 VAC). If you were to measure the current (represented by “I”), you’d see a current of 0 milliamps.
ℹ️ An open circuit consumes no electric power because no current is flowing.
What’s a Closed Circuit?
When the switch in the above example is “closed”, meaning that there is an electronic connection, the light inside the lamp will be on because current can flow through the circuit. This is referred to as an closed circuit.
Now in a closed circuit, if you were to measure the voltage of the power source (represented by Vs), you’d still see a value of 120 or 240 VAC (depending what country you live in). Then, if you were to measure the voltage across the resistive load (represented by VR), you’d measure a voltage of 120 or 240 VAC (it would be the same as Vs); and if you measured the voltage across the two sides of the lamp’s power switch, you’d measure 0 VAC. If you were to then measure the current (represented by “I”), you’d measure a non-zero current in milliamps, whose value would depend on the power source voltage level and the amount of resistance in the lamp’s bulb. If the bulb is rated at 13 watts, you’d measure roughly 108 milliamps if Vs is 120 VAC or roughly 54 milliamps if Vs is 240 VAC.
ℹ️ A closed circuit does consume electric power because unlike an open circuit, there will be current flowing.
What’s a Short Circuit?
A short circuit is a bad situation in which the two sides of a power source have connected with no load present. In this situation, with effectively zero resistance, the amount of current that would attempt to flow across the short-circuited power source would be infinite.
⚠️ This is why homes and cars are required to have fuses: in the event of a short circuit, the filament within a fuse will heat up very quickly and break, causing the short circuit to become an open circuit with zero current flow to minimize damage.
In the above example, if the power cord were to become damaged and allow the two conductors within it to come into contact with one another, there would be a short circuit. The reason that the two conductors can be side-by-side within a single power cord is because each conductor is wrapped within a flexible insulator material.
ℹ️ Insulators are extremely important because they prevent short circuits from occurring.
What’s Voltage?
Now that we’ve touched on voltage in an electronic circuit, let’s have a better understanding of what voltage is.
Voltageis the pressure from an electrical circuit’s power source that pushes charged electrons (electrical current) through a conducting loop, which enables them to do work such as illuminating a light. It’s named “voltage” after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), who invented the voltaic pile—the forerunner of today’s household batteries, and it’s measured in volts (V). (In earlier days, voltage was referred to electromotive force, or EMF, which is why voltage is sometimes represented as “E” and not “V” in some mathematical equations.)
The greater the voltage in a circuit, the greater its ability to “push” more electrons and do work.
In terms of energy and electrical charge, 1 volt is equivalent to 1 joule of energy per 1 coulomb of charge (denoted as “C”).
What’s Electric Current?
An electric current is a stream of charged particles (such as electrons or ions) moving through an electrical conductor, component or space. It is measured as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface or into a control volume in units known as amperes (or amps) named after French mathematician and physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836). 1 ampere of current moving through a conductor, electrical component or space for a duration of 1 second is equivalent to 1 coulomb of charge.
What about Electric Power?
The amount of power that is consumed in a closed electric circuit is measured in units known as watts, which was named after Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist James Watt ((1736-1819).
1 watt (denoted as “W”) of power is equivalent to 1 joule of energy being consumed per second. This means that 1 watt is also the rate at which electrical work is performed when a current of one ampere flows across an electrical potential difference of one volt. Thus, 1 watt is 1 volt-ampere and sometimes you may see power listed as “VA” (volt-amps) or “kVA” (kilovolt-amps) instead of watts or kilowatts (“kW”).
What about Energy Consumed or Storage Capacity?
Now, when you receive an electric bill or you look up the storage capacity of a battery, you aren’t going to see the amount of energy listed in joules. Instead, you’re going see it as kilowatt-hours (“kWh”) on your electric bill or as amp-hours (“Ah”) or milliamp-hours (“mAh”) on battery packaging. For watt-hours:
1 watt-hour (“Wh”) is equivalent to 3,600 watt-seconds (Ws) or 3,600 joules.
1 kilowatt-hour (“kWh”) is equivalent to 1,000 watt-hours or 3,600,000 joules.
For a battery’s storage capacity listed in terms of amp-hours (“Ah”) or milliamp-hours “mAh”, you can convert either of these units to watt-hours or milliwatt-hours by multiplying the value provided by the volts on the battery. For example, if the storage capacity of a “D”-sized battery is listed as 12,000 mAh, you can convert it into mWh by multiplying it by the battery’s voltage (1.5 V), which will give you a value of 18,000 mWh.
Electrical Resistance and Ohm’s Law
While you may never have to worry about resistance or Ohm’s Law when you add electronics to your cosplay, costume or fursuit, it’s good to have an understanding of them since both are fundamental concepts in electronics.
In electronics, the electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current; thus, it shares some conceptual parallels with the notion of mechanical friction. Electrical resistance is measured using a unit known as an ohm, which is represented by the capital Greek letter omega: Ω. If you encounter the term electrical conductance, it is simply the reciprocal or electrical resistance and would thus refer to the ease of which the electric current flows. Units of electrical conductance are represented by siemens (denoted as “S”) or mhos (which is “ohms” spelled backwards and denoted using an upside-down capital Greek letter omega “℧”).
Ohm’s Law, named for the German physicist Georg Ohm (1789-1854), states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points. The proportional constant is, in fact, the resistance across the conductor. Mathematically, Ohm’s Law can be written as follows:
In the above example of the electric lamp plugged into a wall socket, the equivalent resistance for a 13-watt light bulb powered at 120 VAC can be calculated by doing the following algebraic substitutions:
Use Ohm’s Law as R = V/I.
Since power in watts is the same V * I, the current “I” can be found by dividing the watts by the volts: I = W/V.
By substituting the “I” in “R = V/I” with “W/V”, you’ll get the following equation: “R = V2/W”.
Thus, the equivalent resistance of the 13-watt light bulb at 120 VAC would be 1,108 Ω or roughly 1.1 kΩ.
You can confirm that resistance calculation by going back to the first Ohm’s Law equation: “I = V/R”. Dividing 120 VAC by 1,108 Ω gives the result 108 mA, which is the same result as dividing power (13 watts) by the voltage.
For a 240 VAC power system, a 13 W lightbulb would have an equivalent resistance of roughly 4.4 kΩ, or 4 times greater than the equivalent lightbulb used in a 120 VAC power system.
Series and Parallel Connections
There are two fundamental ways that two or more electronic components can be connected to each other: in series or in parallel.
In a series connection, each electrical component is connected end-to-end such that a single electrical path is formed and the current flowing across the path is the same for each of the connected components. In the above electric lamp circuit example shown towards the beginning of this blog post, each of the components is connected in a series forming a single closed loop for the current to flow through. In a series circuit, the sum of the voltages across the connected loads will the same as the source voltage powering the circuit.
In a parallel connection, two or more electrical components share common nodes with each other so that each component that is in parallel shares the same voltage and more than one distinct path exists for the current to flow through. In a parallel connection, the total current flowing through the circuit is the sum of individual currents flowing through each individual path. The electrical outlets in your home each share the same voltage because they are connected in parallel with each other. Hence, a lamp connected to any of the outlets will always see the same voltage.
Electronic circuits often have various combinations of components connected either in series or parallel. Ultimately, if all the loads in a parallel circuit are connected in parallel with each other, as group, they’ll still be connected in series (as a group) with the source voltage.
A Series-Connected Circuit: a Voltage Divider
Let’s look at a simple series-connected circuit containing 3 resistors as the load connected in series with a battery.
Series Circuit Example
When looking at the series circuit example, here are some things that would be known immediately:
VS, the battery voltage, will be equivalent to VL (the voltage across the entire resistive load), which would be measured from the cathode (the positive terminal) of R1 and the anode (the negative terminal) of R3.
The sum of the voltages across the 3 resistors (R1, R2 and R3) will the same as as VL because the same current (“I”) flows through each of them. This is known as Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law.
From Ohm’s Law, the voltage across each resistor (V1, V2 and V3) will be the same as the current (“I”) multiplied by each respective resistor (R1, R2 and R3).
Let’s look at the equations:
Thus, in a series connected circuit, the equivalent resistance of the load, RL, is the sum of the resistors connected in series. From these, we can say the following:
If the resistors connected in series are the same value, their respective voltages will also be the same.
The voltage across any resistor connected in series will always be less than the equivalent load voltage, VL.
This is why a series circuit is frequently referred to as a “voltage divider” because it divides the voltage across the connected components.
A Parallel-Connected Circuit: a Current Divider
Let’s look at a simple parallel-connected circuit example in which there are 3 resistors connected in parallel to a battery.
Parallel Circuit Example
Now, looking closely at this parallel-connected circuit example, it should be very noticeable that this is not a purely parallel circuit: the load contains three parallel-connected resistors, but the overall load is also connected in series with the battery to form a closed loop. And, in fact, it can also be said that each of the three individual resistors in series with the battery at the same time.
ℹ️ A parallel-connected circuit contains multiple paths for the current to flow; thus, it is as if there is at least one series connection for each parallel branch.
Let’s examine the most obvious things that can be deduced for how this circuit operates:
Because each of the parallel branches is connected to the same battery, we know that VS = V1 = V2 = V3. If you were to measure each of the voltages using a voltmeter, the voltage across the battery would indeed be the same across each of the three resistors.
The total current “I” flowing from the battery will be the sum of the three individual currents flowing through each of the resistors. This is known as Kirchhoff’s Current Law.
Algebraically, the equations for the parallel circuit are a little more complicated than for a purely series-connected circuit:
Thus, for a parallel-connected circuit, the equivalent load resistance is the reciprocal of the sum of the individual reciprocals of each resistance that’s in the parallel connection.
A parallel-connected circuit is often referred to as a current divider because the total current is divided between each of the interconnected parallel branches.
What’s AC and DC?
“AC” is an acronym for “alternating current“, which is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time. Conversely, “DC“, which is an acronym for “direct current“, is an electric current that flows continuously in one direction only. Electric batteries supply DC voltage. “VAC” refers to alternating voltage and “VDC” refers to direct voltage.
All of the electrical power outlets in your home provide alternating current. In North America, the AC outlets are required to be at a voltage of 120 VAC (which you may also see described as 110 VAC). Additionally, the current, along with the voltage, alternates at a frequency of 60 Hz and would a sine wave as shown in the following graph.
120 VAC sine wave in North America.
Interestingly, you’ll likely notice that the actual voltage goes as high as roughly 170 V, but the average voltage across either the upper portion of the sine wave (above 0 V) is 120 VAC, as is the average voltage across the lower portion that’s below 0 V.
The reason why the voltage (and current) alternate is because it’s being generated by interconnected electrical generators on the electrical power grid that your home is connected to. A generator works by spinning powerful magnets around coils of conductors, and when a magnetic field changes around a coiled wire, it generates a changing electrical current that’s relative to the speed of the spinning magnets inside the generator. (This is due to Faraday’s Law, which won’t be covered in this post as it’s rather advanced and not necessary to learn for electronics fundamentals.)
Many electronic devices today use what’s called an adapter to plug into an electrical wall outlet to provide a steady and much lower DC voltage to the electronic device instead of the raw AC voltage. Circuitry and a large transformer inside of the adapter is what changes the 120 VAC to typically a 3 to 9 VDC voltage output. Again, thanks to Faraday’s Law, coils of wire spun around a multi-layer metal core can either step-up or step-down the voltage coming into it into a different output voltage.
If you were to look at the electrical power lines coming into your home, there is very likely a large metal cylinder-looking object on the power poll connected to the main power lines and with separate power lines hung from the power poll to the side of your home. That metal cylinder-looking object is a transformer designed to step-down the voltage from the main power lines to the much lower voltage that goes into your home.
A step-down power line transformer.
Battery Basics and Polarity
A battery is a power source consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices such as flashlights, mobile phones, and electric cars. When supplying electric power, the battery’s positive terminal is the cathode and its negative terminal is the anode. Hence, a battery is a polarized electric component. Electric components are either non-polarized or polarized. Here are some definitions:
A non-polarized component is a part without polarity. This means that it can be connected in any direction and still function the way it’s supposed to function. Hence, it’s a symmetrical component and will typically only have two terminals at most.
A polarized component is a part that does have polarity, meaning that it can only be connected in ONE direction in order to function. Thus, it’s an asymmetrical component and could have two or more terminals depending upon the type of component and function it serves.
⚠️ It’s very important to know whether an electric component that you’re using is polarized or not. Improper connection of a polarized component will prevent an electric circuit from operating and could potentially damage components.
Thus, polarity is a very important concept, especially when it comes to physically building circuits. Whether you’re plugging parts into a breadboard, soldering them to a PCB, or sewing them into an e-textile project, it’s critical to be able to identify polarized components and to connect them in the correct direction.
Can Two or More Batteries Be Connected in Series or Parallel?
Yes, as long as you pay attention to the directions of each battery:
If you connect two or more batteries in series, you always connect them cathode to anode. By doing so, you will have a combined DC voltage that is the sum of all of the batteries connected in series. For example, if you connect two 1.5 VDC batteries in series, their combined voltage will be 3 VDC. This can be handy if you want to power a component that requires a higher voltage than the batteries that you intend to use.
If you connect two or more batteries in parallel, you always connected their cathodes together and their anodes together. This should only be done if the batteries have the same voltage output. Connecting batteries in parallel increases the amount of available storage capacity, which means that you can operate a circuit longer than on a single battery.
Battery Storage Capacity Compared with Battery Size & Composition
Let’s formally define battery storage capacity as follows: measured in amp-hours (Ah) or milliamp-hours (mAh), battery storage capacityis defined as a product of the current that is drawn from the battery while the battery is able to supply the load until its voltage is dropped to lower than a certain value for each cell, which corresponds to the quantity of the electric charge which can be accumulated during the charge, stored during the open circuit stay, and released during the discharge in a reversible manner.
If the amount of current drawn from a battery is constant, “I“, and it’s total battery storage capacity is represented by “Cd“, then the amount of time that the battery can supply, td, is Cd divided by “I”. Thus, the higher the current, the faster the battery will discharge.
Batteries come in a variety of different physical sizes, voltages and chemical compositions. When powering a particular battery-operated electronic device, such as a cell phone, a remote control or a game controller, part of the device’s physical size will be designed to accommodate the batteries required to power it. Compromises may be made to use physically smaller batteries for a desired physical size of the device.
A battery’s physical size directly impacts its storage capacity: the smaller a battery physically is, the less storage capacity it will have. Conversely, the larger a battery physically is, the more storage capacity it will have. The reason for this is simple: the total amount of reactant chemicals (what stores the actual electrical charge) that a battery can have are limited to the amount of available volume inside of the battery’s casing. This is easily demonstrated by plotting small coin battery sizes with their storage capacities. The result is essentially linear as shown in the two images below.
Coin battery sizes and storage capacities.
Next, let’s look at common cylindrical batteries that most people are familiar with. Here, the reactant chemical composition will also be taken into account:
Common 1.5 VDC cylindrical battery types.
Similar to the coin buttons, it’s essentially a linear relationship between the available volume of each battery and its available storage capacity. Where the differences occur is with which reactant chemicals are being used in the batteries.
ℹ️ While rechargeable lithium batteries have a smaller storage capacity due to the reactant materials, the other batteries with larger storage capacities aren’t rechargeable: they are one time use only once they are fully discharged.
Batteries Can Reach their End of Life Sooner than Expected
When current is drawn from a battery, the reactant materials inside the battery undergo chemical reactions. If too high of a current is drawn for an extended period of time causing a much higher than normal discharge rate, the battery can prematurely reach its end of life even if there are still active reactant materials remaining in the battery. This is because the battery is unable to chemically recover and the remaining active reactants can no longer react. If high current draws are very short in duration, followed by long low-current usage, then the battery reactant chemicals can recover and the battery’s life span won’t be prematurely shortened.
Another characteristic of a battery is its self-discharge rate. Any battery, even when not in use, loses its electric charge over time due to internal leakage. Battery manufacturers quantify this leakage as self-discharge per month. For example, a 300 mAH battery with self-discharge per month of 0.5% loses 1.5 mAH of its capacity after one month. The battery shelf life is defined as the longest time a battery can be stored before its capacity falls below 80% of its nominal. Thus, old non-rechargeable batteries can and will eventually go bad on their own without use.
Battery Voltage Will Drop Over Time
As a battery discharges, non-reactant chemicals will accumulate internally leaving less reactant chemicals. As the ratio of reactant chemicals to non-reactant chemicals drops as a battery discharges, there’s less reactant chemicals to maintain nominal voltage, so the battery’s voltage begins to drop. As the battery’s voltage drops, its ability to provide the same current rates also drops. If the battery is in a circuit where it’s providing power to LED’s, those LED’s will begin to dim over time. If the battery is driving an electric fan, the fan’s speed will begin to slow over time.
Capacitance & Capacitors
Capacitance is the ability of a component or circuit to collect and store energy in the form of an electrical charge and is measured in farads, which is named for Michael Faraday (1791-1867). While that may sound similar to a battery, devices known as capacitors (which are typically composed of a two conductive metal plates with an insulating substance known as a dielectric held between them), discharges any stored electrical charge very rapidly as compared with a battery, which is designed to discharge slowly over time.
Capacitors typically have a capacitance measured in microfarads (μF, or, millionths of a farad) or picofarads (pF, or, billionths of a farad).
When a capacitor is present within a circuit, it will initially conduct current through its plates, but as the dielectric begins to store an electrical charge (a voltage), the current flow will diminish over time and stop altogether once the capacitor’s electrical charge is the same at the voltage driving the circuit.
Symbolically, a capacitor within an electronic circuit will be shown in one of the following forms depending the type of capacitor:
Inductance & Inductors
Inductance is the tendency of an electrical conductor to oppose a change in the electric current flowing through it. The flow of electric current creates a magnetic field (or magnetic flux) around the conductor, whose field strength depends on the magnitude of the current and follows any changes in the amount of current.
An inductor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when electric current flows through it and typically consists of an insulated wire wound into a coil. When the current flowing through the coil changes, the time-varying magnetic field induces an electromotive force (EMF, a voltage) within the conductor as described by Faraday’s Law of Induction. According to Lenz’s law, the induced voltage has a polarity (direction) which opposes the change in current that created it. Thus, inductors oppose changes in current.
Inductance is measured in henries, as named for Joseph Henry (1797 – 1878) and which is the ratio of the voltage to the rate of change of current. It is represented by L (in honor of Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz, 1804-1865) with the amount of an inductor’s inductance measured from 1 microhenry (μH, or, millionths of a henry) to around 20 henries.
Symbolically, an inductor is typically represented as follows:
Mutual Inductance
Mutual inductance is the property whereby an EMF is induced in a circuit by a change of magnetic flux due to current changing in an adjacent circuit.
Mutual inductance could be deliberate (as in the case of a transformer or electric motor) or it could be accidental, which is often bad for the the affected circuits.
Transformers
A transformer is electrical component comprised of a metallic core having at least 2 coils of wire wrapped around two sides of the core. When an alternating current (AC) is applied to one of the coils, it will generate an alternating voltage (and current) in the other coil via mutual inductance. The amount of voltage and current generated in the secondary coil depends upon the number of windings in the first and secondary coils.
A step-down transformer means that the voltage generated across the secondary coil will be lower than the voltage across the primary coil.
A step-up transformer means that the voltage generated across the secondary coil will be higher than the voltage across the primary coil.
ℹ️ Typically, any electrical circuit connected to the secondary coil of a transformer will be electronically isolated from the electrical circuit connected to the primary coil.
Electric Motors
An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy, which is typically accomplished through the interaction between a motor’s magnetic field and the application of an inductive electric current in a wire coil wound in such a way as to generate force in the form of torque applied on the motor’s shaft.
For cosplay, DC motors are often used to turn small fans for cooling.
A simple DC motor typically has a stationary set of magnets located in the motor’s stator (the stationary part of a rotary system) and an armature (the coiled windings that carry alternating current) with one or more windings of insulated wire wrapped around a soft iron core that concentrates the magnetic field. The windings usually have multiple turns around the core, and in large motors there can be several parallel current paths. The ends of the wire winding are connected to a commutator, which allows each armature coil to be energized in turn and connects the rotating coils with the external power supply through brushes. (Brushless DC motors have electronics that switch the DC current to each coil on and off and have no brushes.)
ℹ️ The total amount of current sent to the coil, the coil’s size, and what it’s wrapped around determine the strength of the generated electromagnetic field.
ℹ️ When a small DC motor (such as a small fan) is powered by one or more batteries, the motor will turn as long as the voltage and available current are high enough to generate the needed magnetic field to produce internal torque. As the batteries’ drain, their voltage and the amount of current that they can supply will drop, resulting in the connected motor slowing and eventually stopping.
⚠️ The greater the load is on the motor, the more current it will draw in order to turn. Thus, the greater the load, the more quickly the batteries powering the motor will drain.
ℹ️ Connecting more batteries in parallel for the desired voltage to drive a DC motor will allow the motor to operate for much longer periods because each battery will drain more slowly.
Semiconductors
As you’ve seen so far, a conductor has nearly no resistance, which means it has an incredibly high electrical conductivity. An insulator has an incredibly high resistance, so it has a near non-existent conductivity. A semiconductor has an electrical conductivity that falls somewhere between those of a conductor and of an insulator. Why is this good? Because impurities can be embedded within a semiconductor (a process referred to as “doping”) that alters both its conductivity and polarity.
A semiconductor that’s been doped in such a way that it’s primarily positive (meaning that the atoms inside of it contain an excess of “holes”), it’s referred as a p-type material. Similarly, when a semiconductor that’s been doped so that it’s primarily negative (meaning that the atoms inside of it contain an excess of electrons), it’s referred as an “n-type” material. When a single semiconductor crystal has been doped so that part of it is p-type and the other part is n-type, the boundary between the two materials is known as a p-n junction, which only permits electrical current to flow through it on direction.
Semiconductor that contain a single p-n junction are known as a diodes, while semiconductors that contain two p-n junctions (either as a p-n-p type or an n-p-n type) are known as transistors.
Diodes
Due to its single p-n junction that only permits electrical current to flow in a single direction, it is both a polarized and asymmetrical electrical component. A diode typically has two terminals, a cathode and an anode.
From the cathode to the anode, a diode exhibits very low resistance (or high conductivity) to the flow of current.
From the anode to the cathode, a diode exhibits very high resistance (or very low conductivity) to the flow of current
For this reason, diodes are said to rectify electrical current, which is why they are used as part of a circuit that converts AC current to DC current.
ℹ️ Every adapter, in addition to a step-down transformer, has a bank of at least 4 diodes connected in a bridge (known as a rectifier bridge) that begins the conversion of AC voltage into DC voltage.
Below is a simple adapter circuit showing the transformer, the rectifier bridge and a capacitor (a passive electronic component that can stabilize voltage levels).
VS in the above circuit is the AC outlet voltage, VR is the DC output voltage provided by the adapter to the device that it is powering or recharging.
Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s)
A light emitting diode (or LED) is a diode that’s been designed to emit light when current flows through it. When electrons recombine with the electron holes, energy is released in the form of photons of light. The color of the light corresponds to the energy of the electrons.
LED’s come in a variety colors, including white, as well as LED’s that can change colors. White LED’s often have 3 parallel-connected diodes individually creating the colors red, green and blue, which when combined, appears to be white light. Multi-color LED’s whose colors can change also have individual red, green and blue LED elements, but can be controlled independently; permitting a vast rainbow of colors to be generated by mixing the appropriate amounts of red, green and/or blue light.
ℹ️ The brighter than an LED is, the more power it is consuming in order to generate that amount of light.
ℹ️ While an individual LED could potentially be powered for many hours on a single battery, as a battery’s power drains, the amount of light that an LED produces will diminish and eventually turn off when the battery’s available voltage and current is insufficient to activate the diode.
ℹ️ The more LED’s that are connected to a single battery (or set of batteries), the more power they will consume.
Transistors
A transistor is a semiconductor device used for amplifying, controlling, and generating electrical signals. A typical transistor will have 3 terminals: the emitter, the collector, and the base — or, in modern switching applications, the source, the drain, and the gate. An electrical signal applied to the base (or gate) influences the semiconductor material’s ability to conduct electrical current, which flows between the emitter (or source) and collector (or drain) in most applications.
Microcircuits used in integrated circuit chips may have millions or billions of interconnected transistors.
Transistor circuits can be used to cause LED’s to flash or change color.
Circuit Examples
Flashing LED’s
Here are several videos showing some simple flashing LED circuits.
The term “friend” is used rather loosely these days. Part of the blame rests with social media companies that usurped the term to denote account holders who have mutually agreed to interconnect their social media profiles, which (typically) permits them to view each others’ posts on the common social media platform.
When individuals who haven’t actually ever met interconnect their social media profiles, it’s often the result of a presumed sense of familiarity presumed to exist by the two individuals because they already share a number of interconnections to a common group of individuals already. But this presumed sense of familiarity is a flawed premise because those shared interconnections may have been established using the exact same criteria, meaning that two people are basing a “friendship” upon interconnections with people that neither of them may actually know.
It’s no wonder that the meaning of “friendship” has become so muddled and watered down since the advent of social media; and this muddling down is often what forms the basis for many a “friendship” within the costuming, cosplay & fursuiting communities.
(And people wonder why there’s so much drama & conflict within these communities…)
Understanding Friendships
So, if a “friend” isn’t just an individual that someone else shares a mutual social media profile connection to, what is an actual friend? Several criteria must be established beforehand.
First, in order for someone to be a friend to someone else, both parties must mutually agree to become friends with each other. Thus, the first criterion for two people to be friends with one another is mutual consent.
If you say to yourself, “Well, isn’t that exactly what two people on social media are doing when they interconnect their profiles?” Superficially, yes; but the other critical criteria that should be there is often missing. Mutual consent to establish a friendship should be the pinnacle of all of the other criteria that should precede its consideration.
Friendship doesn’t begin with the clicking of a button on a social media platform.
Interpersonal Relationships
A friendship is a very specific form of what is more broadly referred to as an interpersonal relationship, which can be defined as follows:
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two (or more) people whose duration may range from fleeting to enduring. The association may be based on inference, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of periodic social interaction or commitment.
Each interpersonal relationship forms within the context of existing social, cultural and other influences. These contexts vary from family or kinship relations, friendships, marriages and acquaintances resulting from a shared activity, such as employment, education, clubs, neighborhoods, places of worship, etc.
Interpersonal relationships may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement. Interpersonal relationships are the basis of social groups and society as a whole.
And here’s one of the most important and often most overlooked aspects of all interpersonal relationships:
Interpersonal relationships are dynamic.
Similar to a living organism, relationships have a beginning, a lifespan, and an end:
They may grow and improve gradually over time as people get to know each other and potentially become emotionally closer.Or, they may gradually deteriorate as people drift apart, move on with their lives, and form new interpersonal relationships with others.
How Interpersonal Relationships Begin
Several factors contribute to whether interpersonal relationships can form:
Proximity: when two people are colocated (they’re at the same place), they are in close proximity with one another, which may lead to them meeting and communicating with one another.
Recurrences: meeting only once generally isn’t sufficient for an interpersonal relationship to begin between two people; instead, they need to be close in proximity with each other on a recurring basis, which can permit additional communication.
Situational Familiarity: if two people are colocated in a recurring manner, each may begin to develop a sense of familiarity with the other even if they haven’t formally met. This sense of familiarity doesn’t necessarily imply whether either person likes or dislikes the other, but greatly increases the likelihood that the two will, at some point, begin to directly interact with each other.
Situational Interactions: as two people become situationally familiar with each other due to being colocated on a regular recurring basis, they’ll likely begin to interact with each; but these interactions will likely be limited in scope to the reasons why they are colocated, such as education, employment, religious services, club activities, etc.
Acquaintances — a.k.a., Consequential Strangers
The term acquaintance is, unfortunately, infrequently used nowadays. This may be in part due to academia’s use of the term “consequential strangers” that was coined in the early 2000’s, as well as the establishment of social media companies and their overuse of the term “friend”. But what exactly are acquaintances or consequential strangers?
Acquaintances (i.e., a consequential strangers) comprise the aggregate of interpersonal relationships in which a personal and repeated pattern of interaction is evident, but are outside a person’s inner circles of family and close friends. Sometimes such relationship are referred to elsewhere as “peripheral” (versus “core”), “secondary” (versus “primary”), or “weak ties” (versus “strong ties”).
Acquaintances (i.e., consequential strangers) are not friends.
The term “consequential strangers” is apropos because while people may be familiar with one another and regularly interact with one another on a recurring basis, they may not necessarily know that much about the other person outside of the common activity that they share. Thus, their mutual familiarity is essentially superficial; and while they may get along well within their shared circumstance, they may not have that much in common in terms of personal views, beliefs and other activities and interests beyond the shared common circumstance.
The vast majority of interpersonal relationships that aperson typicallyhas are acquaintances.
Friendships
The differences between people who are friends and those who are acquaintances are enormous. Let’s take a look at several of the differences below.
Characteristic
Acquaintanceship
Friendship
Mutual affection.
No
Yes
Mutual respect.
Maybe
Yes
Mutual understanding.
No
Yes
Mutual acceptance.
Maybe
Yes
Mutual communication.
Generally only as needed, & typically within the scope of the shared circumstance.
Yes, usually frequently.
Mutual trust.
Maybe, but typically limited within the scope of the shared circumstance.
Yes
Ability to share intimate details about one’s life.
No
Yes
There’s a degree of reciprocity.
No
Yes
Common interests, views, beliefs, etc.
Maybe, maybe very limited.
Most likely
Shared recreational activities.
Maybe, but limited in scope.
Yes
Can rely upon each other for mutual assistance as needed.
No
Most likely
Able to withstand disagreements.
Probably not
Most likely
Mutual consent for the relationship to exist.
Unnecessary
Yes
Durable.
Typically not.
Typically yes.
The differences listed in the table above illustrate how weak acquaintanceships are as compared with bonafide friendships. And weakness is the keyword when it comes to acquaintanceships, whereas strength is the keyword associated with bonafide friendships because they are supported by multiple pillars that typical acquaintanceships never develop.
While some acquaintanceships may exhibit some of the characteristics of a friendship, they never possess all of the characteristics, which is why they aren’t actually friendships.
Why Do Some Costumers, Cosplayers & Fursuiters Misconstrue Friendships
The final statement above essentially explains why some costumers, cosplayers & fursuiters misconstrue some acquaintanceships to be friendships.
Most of the characteristics listed in the table in the previous section are present for any bonafide friendship. But, acquaintanceships that exhibit some of those characteristics could be misinterpreted by one or both of acquaintances because the mutual enjoyment that they experience in their shared circumstance may meet levels of enjoyment that they have experienced with bonafide friends.
When people dress up in their costumes, cosplays or fursuits, they typically experience a lot of fun and enjoyment from the experience. And if they are doing so with a common group of similar individuals, that shared fun and enjoyment sets the stage for the possibility of one or more of them to potentially begin to (often unilaterally) view the interpersonal relationships with those similar individuals within that group as being friendships. But, do those possible “friendships” actually exhibit all of the characteristics of a bonafide friendship?
To find out, answering the following questions may help to shed light on whether those possible “friendships” are bonafide friendships or merely acquaintanceships:
Do you interact and engage with any members of the group in activities that don’t involve costuming, cosplaying or fursuiting?
If members of of the group are interacting and engaging in activities outside of costuming, cosplay & fursuiting, do they include you in those interactions & activities?
How much do you actually know about the members of the group in terms of their beliefs, interests, views, etc.?
If you do know some of the overall beliefs, interests and views of members of the group, how well do they match your own?
Do members of the group demonstrate acceptance towards everyone else within the group or are some being singled out for specific differences?
Have you ever felt that you might be being singled out by the group for differences that you may have as compared with them?
Would someone from the group help you if you truly needed it?
If your answers to these questions lean towards the negative side, maybe the individuals within the group of costumers, cosplayers or fursuiters that you’ve been sharing that activity with aren’t actually friends of yours: maybe they’re only acquaintances. And if that’s the case, if you continue to view them as friends and some type of conflict or drama erupts, chances are high that those ongoing misconstrued friendships, which is what they are, aren’t going to survive.
While bonafide friendships can withstand disagreements, they typically don’t erupt into highly emotional conflicts and drama.
Acquaintanceships, on the other hand, often won’t withstand a lot of disagreements, conflict or drama.
The Adverse Consequences When Misconstrued Friendships Fail
Anyone who experiences a failed bonafide friendship will very likely experience a lengthy grieving process and those who do or who have experienced it may be unable to express their feelings in words. Often, the person will feel a mixture of emotions all at the same time, and the person may find it difficult to imagine life without their friend. To move forward, the person needs to find the courage to go on with their life and begin to accept and cope with the loss. It’s part of the grieving process.
Coping with grief is likened to climbing a challenging mountain, and even if the person doesn’t feel equipped to climb that mountain, he or she has to focus on taking it one step at a time. Further, each person’s journey through grief is different, but there are similarities in the terrain that each must cross through. Those similarities include the following:
Shock
Denial
Anger
Rationalizing
Sadness
Acceptance
While bonafide friendships don’t typically end due to disagreement and conflict, acquaintanceships do and they have far greater propensity to end as the result of disagreement and conflict than bonafide friendships.
So, when someone has misconstrued an acquaintanceship to be friendship and that acquaintanceship ends as the result of a disagreement or conflict, guess what: the person who misconstrued the relationship as a friendship will experience all of the same grieving as someone who lost a bonafide friendship because in that person’s mind, it was a bonafide friendship.
This is why you don’t ever want to misconstrue an acquaintanceship as a friendship.
Why Does Costume Club Conflict & Drama Get So Intense?
If you have ever looked at social media posts about things that occur within costume clubs, then you have probably read posts by people wondering why costume clubs (especially the #StarWars costume clubs) have a lot of internal conflict and drama occurring between members. A prime example of extreme internal conflict and drama was the coup d’État that occurred within the 501st Legion in 2020, but most of the conflict and drama that occurs doesn’t lead to attempted coups.
Most of it occurs between members who are part of the same costume club chapter. Sometimes it may include members of different costume clubs that are within the same geographic area. Less frequently, conflict and drama may involve two or more neighboring chapters within the same costume club. The reason the latter is less frequent is due to lack of proximity and less direct interaction.
Situations that lead to new conflict and drama starting between two or more members has been discussed on this blog in the past and may include the following factors:
Internal conflict and drama between costume club members can be greatly intensified when it involves members who had been in failed misconstrued friendships, which may be part of the reason why the conflict and drama began in the first place.
Normally, when a friendship collapses (whether it was a bonafide or misconstrued friendship), the two former friends will go their separate ways and have very little (if any) contact with one another. This separation allows both to cope with their own grief and find closure so that each can move on with their lives.
But that is less likely to happen within the confines of a costume club when two former friends (who were probably in a misconstrued friendship) are both members of the same chapter and neither wants to quit the costume club.
Instead, each former friend will have unwanted ongoing contact with the other preventing both from being able to complete their grieving processes and never really being able to find the closure that both need to move on. A situation like this can go on for years fomenting and sustaining the anger that both have for the other, which can then escalate as more people become involved in their unending conflict and drama.
Eventually each former friend may feel entrapped because the notion of leaving the costume club will feel inconceivable due to how much time, effort and investment was made in joining and participating in it. Plus, leaving may be viewed as allowing other the former friend (now rival) to claim a victory by driving him or her out.
In the end, each is more miserable by remaining in the costume club, but neither will leave and their ongoing conflict and drama will impact everyone in that costume club chapter; and much of this is thanks to a failed misconstrued friendship.
Concluding Remarks
Too many of the interpersonal relationships that exist in costume clubs and within the overall costuming, cosplay and fursuiting communities as a whole. are misconstrued friendships made between consequential strangers. The presumptions made that lead to these self deceptions often eventually lead to unnecessary misery and anger when and after they fail. Undoubtedly, some of the people who abandon the hobby and the communities experienced these situations first hand. Others may make decisions that further hurt and anger those around them out of their own anger. Anger can rip apart costume club chapters, and sometimes entire clubs.
If you want to avoid getting sucked into that misery and anger yourself, don’t presume people in these communities are your friends and be careful who you decide to trust because you probably know far less about these people than you think you do.
The EVA-01 is Maolo’s 3rd attempt at an Evangelion unit outfit. Having learned a few things over the years, this #cosplay took a whopping seven months of work. Nearly the entire unit is made of pieces of foam individually wrapped in colored synthetic leather, which (unlike painted pieces) can look a lot smoother and metallic.
At various conventions and other events, it’s quite common to see cosplayers carrying fake weapons (including very realistic looking ones) to point them at other cosplayers and spectators at those events as a way to have fun. But, is that really something that should be done without asking first?
Naturally, other cosplayers and spectators attending an event will presume that any cosplayers that decide to point a weapon at them is doing so for fun, that the weapon that their pointing at them is harmless and that there is no malicious intent. But, here are some things to take into consideration:
Do the other cosplayers and spectators know who the weapon-pointing cosplayer is?
Do the other cosplayers and spectators know that the weapon being pointed at them is harmless?
Is it lawful for someone to point a weapon, including a harmless fake one, at someone else?
That third point is of particular interest here. Within the United States, each of the individual 50 states enacts its own laws pertaining to this particular activity, which, in legal terms, is generally referred to as “assault” or “brandishing”. Many other counties have far more stringent laws pertaining to weapons, both real and fake.
California’s Penal Code 417
Paragraph (a)(2) of California’s Penal Code 417 states the following:
(2) Every person who, except in self-defense, in the presence of any other person, draws or exhibits any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, in a rude, angry, or threatening manner, or who in any manner, unlawfully uses a firearm in any fight or quarrel is punishable as follows: (A) If the violation occurs in a public place and the firearm is a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, by imprisonment in a county jail for not less than three months and not more than one year, by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment. (B) In all cases other than that set forth in subparagraph (A), a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not less than three months.
So, in California, if a cosplayer pointed a fake weapon at someone and that person felt threatened even though there was possibly no intent to cause harm, that cosplayer could face the possibility of being convicted of a misdemeanor and up to 3 months in a county jail. Should the cosplayer have asked the person first whether they would like to have the fake weapon pointed at them? If they had said “no”, then the cosplayer would simply have gone on his or her way, as would the person who didn’t want to have that happen.
Without asking first, if a cosplayer points a fake weapon at someone who could be suffering from PTSD, for example, that individual could potentially feel extremely threatened.
Michigan Penal Code Section 750.234e
Michigan Penal Code Section 750.234e is written as follows:
750.234e Brandishing firearm in public; applicability; violation as misdemeanor; penalty. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a person shall not willfully and knowingly brandish a firearm in public. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to either of the following: (a) A peace officer lawfully performing his or her duties as a peace officer. (b) A person lawfully acting in self-defense or defense of another under the self-defense act, 2006 PA 309, MCL 780.971 to 780.974. (3) A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or a fine of not more than $100.00, or both.
Similar to the California law, conviction of brandishing a firearm is a misdemeanor punishable up to 90 days (3 months); however, the Michigan law makes no distinction between whether the blandishment is threatening or not.
Do Any Costume Clubs have Weapons Policies Prohibiting the Pointing of Fake Weapons at Others?
The simple answer is “no”, but we will provide what each of the major “Star Wars” costume clubs have in terms of a “weapons policy”, if any.
The 501st Legion
The 501st Legion does have a brief published weapons policy shared on a website page that is not part of the club’s charter or bylaws. It can be summarized as follows;
Prop weapons are no longer required for membership.
The club recognizes that there are differences in regional policies affecting members differently.
The 501st Legion has no apparent public policy pertaining to the appropriateness of members pointing fake weapons at others.
The Rebel Legion
There is no apparent public weapons policy.
The Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club
While the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club does not appear to have an official weapons policy (at least not anything that is publicly viewable), Section 8.1 (pages 18-19) of the “Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club ‘Member Policy and Procedure Book'” states the following:
6.) Mandalorian Mercs is strongly against and prohibits the use of “Functional Projectile and Edged/Tipped Bladed Weapons” or of any variety at any event. The Mercs defines “Functional Projectile and Edged/Tipped Bladed Weapons” as: Any toy, prop, costume part, or costume accessory that launches projectiles of any nature and/or uses a spring and/or projectile mechanism to eject projectiles from forward from housing. Any toy, prop, costume part, or costume accessory of a bladed/pointed variety that may cause a lacerating and/or puncture wound. Members found using functional projectile weapons or edged/pointed weapons are subject to punishment up to/including dismissal from the organization. 7.) Official Members must carry prop weapons considered “legal” within the country, state, or province to which they are taking part in events. Any Official Member asked to remove their prop weapon from an event MUST do so immediately and without question. Official Members who fail to do so may be punished up to and including removal from the Mandalorian Mercs.
Section 8.1 (pages 18-19) of the “Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club ‘Member Policy and Procedure Book'”
While this is the most exhaustively written weapons policy of any of the “Star Wars” costume clubs, it also does not provide guidance specific to whether members can point weapons at others without asking their permission.
3. The Dark Empire expressly forbids active lightsaber choreography demonstrations while at conventions or any costumed event. Persons representing TDE are not permitted to swing or handle any blade or elongated object in a manner depicting lightsaber combat while in a crowded or confined area. “Battle scenes” may be posed for the purpose of pictures as long as they are completely posed.
Again, there is no specific guidance on whether weapons can be pointed or otherwise brandished towards others.
Conclusion
If someone points a weapon at you, how do you know whether its real or fake? You may not; and if you routinely point fake weapons at others while cosplaying, the people you’re pointing at may not know either. Consider that before you point a fake weapon at someone without their express permission.
With many #comic and #anime #conventions returning with waiting crowds, a serious problem remains: not everyone has been #vaccinated against #COVID19 and many #unvaccinated individuals are going to crowded indoor spaces. This problem is made worse by the fact that many of the unvaccinated are not wearing protective masks or following social distancing guidelines to protect themselves and their loved ones from infection. As reported on June 28, 2021, nearly all COVID-19 related deaths in the U.S. are among the unvaccinated: of more than 18,000 people who recently died from COVID-19, only about 150 were fully vaccinated, which is less than 1%.
⛔️ Over 99% of the people dying from COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
ℹ️ If you are fully vaccinated, the CDC recommends that it’s safe to attend crowded indoor events, but this does not mean that you can’t become infected.
⛔️ If you are NOT fully vaccinated, then the CDC recommends that you DO NOT attend crowded indoor events, even if you are masked because you cannot maintain social distancing.
Here’s What You Should Assume
⚠️ If you have been fully vaccinated and you attend a crowded convention, you should ALWAYS ASSUME that there will be people in the convention hall WHO AREN’T VACCINATED and MAY BE INFECTED WITH COVID-19.
Recommendations
It’s a known fact for anyone who has attended multiple conventions that many attendees will go to the convention even when they know that they’re sick. This is who the so-called “con-crud” spreads.
For this reason, it may be a good idea to wear a protective mask while attending a convention to help further reduce the possibility of being infected. It’s also highly advisable to wash your hands frequently and don’t put them up to your face or eyes.
Even if you are fully vaccinated and you are fearful for your health and the health of your loved ones, you don’t have to attend any conventions until more people have been vaccinated to help reduce the spread of the disease. With the numerous COVID-19 variants that are spreading, it remains somewhat unclear how effective current vaccines are against all of them.
If you aren’t vaccinated, please do so as soon as possible, especially before you attend any crowded events. If you don’t plan to get vaccinated, attending a crowded event not only puts yourself at risk, but many other innocent individuals. Please take this disease seriously as over 600,000 people have died in the U.S.; worldwide, nearly 4,000,000 people have died as of the time that this post was written.
When you’re constructing a #cosplay, #costume or #fursuit, it’s never a good idea to have things protruding towards your body; and it’s especially dangerous if anything is protruding towards your face that could potentially puncture an eye or cause other injuries. Case in point: this picture came up in social media and it very clearly illustrates a very potentially dangerous situation in which a #cosplayer is using protruding metal screws on the inside of a #StarWars #Mandalorian helmet pointed towards the face in order to attach an internal visor.
Protruding metal screws inside a helmet.
While the cosplayer who placed the visor into this helmet in this manner may have mistakenly assumed that putting wing-nuts on internally protruding screws could prevent injury to the face and eyes, there are much safer ways of adhering a visor to the inside of a helmet, such as hot glue, tape or even possibly narrow velcro strips.
Protruding screws should never be used to attach components when safer adherents are available.
We strongly recommend to all cosplayers, costumers & fursuiters to never use internally exposed protruding objects (such as screws) to hold costume parts together. This will only lead to injury and ruin your time wearing the costume.
Costuming, Cosplay & Costume Clubs 101 