AGSMA at Anime Expo 2000: Mononoke Talismans

AGSMA at Anime Expo 2000
Mononoke Talismans

ODV (Out Door Vending)
Churros! Cotton Candy, bottled water
Ice cream treats, assorted fruit carts, popcorn
Don't forget those glow strings for all the ravers
And the distracting lightsabers and spinning things
Where else to display the inanimate objects from Mononoke Mountain?
As the Talismans from this skit alone take up it's own page.

Ashitaka
Weapons

	A nice centerpiece to the collection of weapons at the armory. A set of bow and arrows is no exception. The bow has a metal frame, but the drawstring is only there for show, and not functionality. Eight of the nine arrows have sawed indentations for authentic styling, while the last one is a solid dowel which makes it more durable and the "action" arrow, that I can flick out and move without risking it breaking at one of the indentations. If you look carefully in the picture, three of the nine arrows are breakaway styled, so that I can break them in half for those impaled arrow shots. They were designed so that some of my audience friends could hold arrow parts impaling them during the skit, but since we are not allowed to have parts of the costume offstage during the presentation, we nixed that idea. Also, the arrow fins are among the most easily damaged and I've replaced about 10 of them for the entire set.
	Fairly straight forward sword construction based upon my past katanas, except that the blade is shorter and wider. And the other thing is the ring at the end which is affixed by a screw, and the lack of a hilt, which all my other swords possess. The scabbard has a nasty dislike for staying where it should be and slips out of the carrying straps whenever it gets a chance.
	This is a replica of the ceremonial blade that Ashitaka uses to cut his hair in the beginning of Mononoke Hime, when he leaves his clan in search of a cure for his curse. It is entirely self contained and to scale. The blade is kind of stubby, but there wasn't alot of room to make a large blade for a knife like this. The knife easily slips into it's case making it look like a run of the mill stick.

Eboshi
Weapons

	Ishibiya, is the Japanese term for the rifle that Eboshi, and the other women use to kill spirits and samurai alike. The rifle itself is quite long, measuring a good four feet, and it may look large, but is still to scale to Eboshi. The ignition mechanism on this rifle does indeed move freely and the trigger can be pressed down. The styling on the side of the cartridge matches that of Eboshi's rifle.
	Here is a good forward shot of the Ishibiya rifle, allowing you to see the contour of the ignition mechanism. Also, there is a thick metal interior to this rifle to add some weight to it, so that Eboshi can complain about how heavy the rifle is.
	Eboshi's katana and "icepick". I'm sure it has a better name, but it looks like an icepick, and that's what I've been calling it. Eboshi's sword is of course, sheathed in this picture.
	Eboshi's katana is very much like Soujiro's katana in the making, except for the lack of a hilt, which presents an interesting problem in finishing the sword. But it came out just fine. Eboshi's choice of weapons for close range combat.

San
Weapons

	San's trusty Dagger Which she seems to have an unlimited supply of in the movie, is made from kitchen countertop material, with the edges sanded out for an authentic look. This leads to a heavy weapon, and fragile when dropped, so if you are handling this weapon, don't drop it!
	San's Spear, which she left sitting on a wall at Tataraba, mysteriously regenerates later in the movie, is also fashioned from the kitchen countertop material. However this was the item that it was discovered that the stuff is not shatterproof, so the spear is about 6 inches shorter than it should be due to readjustments. The little V's are painted on. This is actually our San's favorite weapon because of it's long range, she can whap people from across the room. And again if you are going to play DDR with this spear, Don't Drop it!
	Gyoku No Kodachi is the precious marble knife that Kaya gives to Ashitaka before he leaves, and that he passes on to San, who stabs him with it later. -_-. Yay. This knife is made from sculpey, painted, and felt cloth and rope for the necklace effect.
	San's Accessories Ah, girls need to accessorize. Not necessarily weapons, they are still part of her costume. Her head band and arm bands are a combination of ribbon, elastic and washers. The earrings and the teeth on the necklace are made of white sculpey. If you were curious, San's war paint was done with regular red face paint left over from Halloween.

Miscellaneous Talismans
Mononoke Hime

The dismembered arm. A fan favorite. It's a wonder why people didnt start chanting "arm, arm, arm". Probably because a dismembered arm is just a wince more troubling than a chair. This arm is a replica of Mousse's arm from 1996, when it was created but never saw any stage time. Now it runs in infamy as being part of a careless samurai arm

This is by far Mousse's absolute worst and ugliest prop ever made! Starting life as a ramen box, and three hours later, the Shishigami head emerged. It was initially planned to be a mascot type head that people could wear but due to lack of time it became that. I guess it was a success since the Shishigami itself isn't a bouquet of roses, so ugly is what you are shooting for, but still. It reminds me of something I'd see in It's a Small World bobbing it's head back and forth.

If you take a right past that rocks and the grotto, making sure you passed the statue, and continue past the rockets, you'll find Tomorrowland.

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