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Meet the destructoid Team >>   Joanna Mueller
Joanna Mueller's blog
★ destructoid | Forums Admin 2/2 ★
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About
Also known as Zodiac Eclipse on the forums, Joanna is your friendly neighborhood MOMerator and co-forum admin. She fights spam and trolls with Aaron and helps promote and support the awesomeness that is the Dtoid community.






Proper Dtoid Name: Zodiac Eclipse

Occupation: MOMerator


Thanks for the title shot ZP

Destructoid has forums. I'm an Admin there, that's something... right?



Promoted Blogs:

Plushtoid has arrived!

Being an RPG girl in a FPS world

Promoted Musings:

Expanded Universes: The rise and fail of fan fiction

Those about to die: Woodland Creatures

Untapped potential: The fight for Fallujah

Love/Hate: Casual Gaming


Quick facts:

*I have a degree in journalism advertising that I've never used.

*I work in a laboratory with people who do science. I mostly get in the way and keep up moral with my "unique" people skills.

*I met my husband on Star Wars Galaxies.

*I love RPG's, both Massively Multi-player and standard offline ones.

*I'm fascinated by survival horror games, but usually too chicken to play them.

*I dabble in all forms of nerdery so chances are if you're into something geeky so am I, though not to equal degrees.

*I used to make toys.





Currently Playing:
Skyrim





Favorite Games:
Mass Effect 1 & 2 & 3, Portal, Final Fantasy VIII, The Witcher, Azure Dreams, Sims 1 & 2, Lego Star Wars, and other stuff I can't think of right now.




MMO's I've played:
SWG, Vanguard, Ryzom, EQ2, CoH/CoV, Guild Wars, LOTRO, Star Wars TOR, and millions (literally) of the freebie ones.




Community Awesomeness:

I've been interviewed by LawofThermalDynamics.

The wildly talented AlphaDeus made me a theme song. Momeration

I'm an element on the Destructoid periodic table. Thanks Corduroy Turtle


I got a card!


Thanks Qalamari

I'm on the Community Manager Podcast, Communitoid with some amazingly talented people. Check us out!
Player Profile
Steam ID:Zodiac_Eclipse
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Twitter:@ZodiacEclipse
Google+:Link
Joanna Mueller's sites
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Following (29)  




After the success I had with Plushtoid I got a PM from my forum buddy Jesus H Christ asking if I did custom orders. Feeling a bit overconfident I told him I could, then he asked me to make him a plush Gordon Freeman. Now to put things into perspective for you folks at home, I'm not some master crafter by any stretch of the imagination. I taught myself to sew and am very much still learning the ropes as far as proper protocol and making shapes correctly goes. I've never made anything even remotely human shaped and certainly nothing with such a detailed armor case to build.

I delicately tried to talk him out of it, assuring him that it wouldn't come out as amazing as he hoped, hell I haven't even played Half-Life, what was he thinking? Still he wouldn't be dissuaded and I finally found myself agreeing to do it. I started googling hard core and jotted down some sketches to give him an idea of what I could make. After they were approved I went to work on my most complicated piece yet.



First up I made the body. This wasn't too bad, mostly felt and fleece cut to look like Gordon's outfit. I really should've taken more pictures of the inside to give you an idea of how many layers there were involved in this, but frankly it was way more than I should have needed so lets save me the embarrassment and just pretend I forgot.

After the front was finished I laid out the back and matched up the sides as best I could. Then it was time for the real challenge, his face.



This was my biggest concern since there was so much room for error here. With the armor I at least had the advantage that so long as the colors were in the right areas it would look right. Faces require more effort and planning. In the end I went for a "less is more" approach to keep him from looking too busy and hectic. It took a few more days for me to track down from fuzzy hair material, but then he was ready to be sewn shut and stuffed.



Even after I had flipped him rightside out I still had to go around and check all the seams and correct a few places where they weren't sealed properly or didn't line up right. I had estimated the final product to be around 16 inches tall. What a liar I turned out to be when Gordon ended up at 21 inches. Still I think the extra space helped me add in a few small details that made it worthwhile. I even went back and made a quick felt crowbar to go along with him so he wouldn't have to be unarmed out in the world.



So that was pretty much the process I followed and while I have no intention of doing another one of these I figured I'd share it with you guys. Hopefully I'll find time for more video game related custom's in the future and will be able to post those as well. I learned a tremendous amount working on this one so the extra work was time well spent in my book.

For more cute things check out my site Story Builder Toys
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Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)


Wow. That's awesome! I wish I had talent *sobs*
OH MY GOD. You're so good at this, this one looks amazing! I hope your company really takes off for you, you deserve it.
:O

tempted to order a 1:1 scale dragon.
Think you can do it?
LOL please don't. I might be tempted to try and that wouldn't end well.
Awesome. You should do Guile from Street Fighter.
@Usedtabe
Replace 'guile' with Dan, and ill agree.

Also, OMGWTFIWANTTHATSOOOOOHARD!
Oh, that's aD'AWWWable!
@Epic:
If your Dan could beat my Guile I might consider it.
that's pretty cool

love the crowbar
Woah, this is so rad! If I lived close so you I would pour my piggybank through your window and slide request notes under your front door, I´m loving it!
Also, nice work on the hair!
Haha! They remind me of the TMNT plushes I had when I was younger. Totally awesome work on the Gordons.

:D
"It"....and "on Gordon". 3rd person of the singular Kraid, L2English.
What about a DOMO that is somehow DESTRUCTOID related . . . ^_^ I could use something that combines the two together . . . d('-'d)
@Usedtabe
Do I smell Friday Night Fight? OH SNAP!
Awesome work! Can't wait for my Mr Dtoid head to arrive. :D
@Funktastic like a green DOMO? That's a thing that could happen. PM me if you're interested.
@Epic: Nah, I work Friday nights overnight now :(

But anytime Monday thru Wed. night, I'm down. Hit up the Super Street Fighter 4 thread in the forums, a lot of us play together. Or just add me: Us3d ta b3
How much did I smile? A lot.

Great job, this is amazing work.

Now I'm to play some Half-Life, because you've inspired me.
I hereby honor this as the most adorable rendition of Mr.Freeman I have ever seen. Be proud, it is an honor I do not find myself giving often.
Brilliant work.

Think you could do a Megaman X? ;P
Bearded samurai... make it happen. Old people need to stick together you know.
@Y0j1mb0 you do realize that I'm still a few years away from my old folks badge right? Calling me old before I've even had my birthday this year isn't the best way to win me over to your cause. :P
Awesome work!!
Awesome!

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