bubble not burst , dragons must have thick skin and years of welding have left me looking the part .

dont get me wrong the collective is nice , but don't we do what we do to separate ourselves from the heard , and bring the heard to our levels respectively .
normally i don't duel for the experience , i don't duel for the friendship , i duel for no better way to describe but to get the wave of victory wash away my doubt. As a sculptor and painter these duels are exactly the same as when i submit art to galleries and shows and juried exhibitions , i am (even if i don't want to ) being weighed and measured constantly against everyone else who wants in . and if im ever going to get my comic's and concept art robots that are complete scratchbuilt to look up to snuff with what big companies like bandai sell then i need to be like a viking , compete fight struggle win , untill my name is forever burned into the memory . the only duel that is any different was over the studio space where me and my friends work , and since it was all about destruction and recreation (salvage all unsold art and remake into one ) i was dueling myself and not really anyone else , there could have been 1 opponent or 1k , once i have my opponent i have my drive .
but back to the point
well the conventions that happen here in D.C. and in N.Y. often have cosplay and other events with prizes reaching in the tens of thousands of dollars , i rember one where litteraly 2 armor clad transformers were being judged , both were obviously in the top of the ranking , both had been made to look as close to the show as possible and still be somewhat nimble , eventually the judges let the soundwave win because he had a voice changer , and the optimus prime did not . both were imaculate years of work over 15 minutes of fame in a room full of otaku. and thats just the cosplay , at the model compititon , the prize was a custom made f91 head made out of aluminum , and it was roughy the size of a motorcycle helmet , the winner was a guyver completely scratchbuilt , before he even left the show , someone bought it for 1500, i ended up selling some of my gundams also , but not for more than 100 on any of them .
i even competed in the lan party , won a hefty prize for a computer made to look like an Egyptian temple . won 500 , and i didnt even end up close to winning ,

*i could not compete with a bender the robot computer*
and also , we had gundam girls as judges for all events , and one was a gouf type ( had shinguards , gauntlets , heatwhip , sword , breastplate and shield ) and a knockout (barely fit in breastplate

) , and a guntank girl , in red tank top with guns on shoulders ( funniest girl in there , needed help even getting thru a door)
the sheild was meant to be a trophy peice , so in theory all of the people who visit this site ( quite a lot) and magazines ( who know about FichtenFoo well ) will know this is a trophy
i was planning it with steel letters on the back that read "i pilot the gouf for the glory of zeon (second line) :
_____ winner of ___ competiton (third line) : sponsored by _____ .
i was going to weld one for myself anyway sell some on my website so i have priced it at 48$ steel , 70 for aluminum , and if i skimp and just pop rivet , i can bring that down to just price of sheet metal .
and the dogtags and other zeon stuff ive been selling for years at conventions , so its not like some jerk walked in looking goofy , its more like the guy in the gouf just sold you a gunpla