So this Halloween, my intent is to go as a Starfleet officer from the Star Trek V/VI era. As a cosplayer, I tend to take pride in my costumes and try to get them as close to accurate as budget and time will allow, but I try not to be elitist, and I try to keep in mind that it's not always feasible to be 100% accurate. To that end, I've acquired a Playmates Assault Phaser, which will do nicely for the phaser prop, though it's got red LEDs instead of blue and no cricket phaser. Alas, acquiring a truly accurate (Master Replicas) one costs around $800 and I'm not about to drop that on a prop. I have uniforms on order made to my specs. The first one came and was so far off from the photo used, I'm currently arguing with the seller trying to get a refund--it's not even wearable. Hopefully I won't have to get eBay involved. The second one is still en route and I'm hoping it's better. Worst case scenario, I think at least the one I got can be modified, b...

Negative reviews are a very complicated thing in the arts community. On one hand, I understand that it's very important to have balance; on the other hand, I'd call upon people to think very, very carefully before you lambast someone's work online. Your words have power, and here's the thing: art-- all art-- is subjective. You don't have an obligation to somehow save other people from wasting money, and honestly, that's not what you're doing when you post a negative review of someone's work. In truth, what you're doing--and I'm speaking both as a creator and a reviewer, here--is sabotaging somebody's career. The more negative the review, the more damage you're doing. Is a Negative Review Really Deserved? There are certainly negative reviews that are deserved. Let's say you buy a product that you're using exactly as the directions state, exactly as it's intended. Something in the product itself goes wrong and you suffer a...