"...though I find the fact he's a gun enthusiast somewhat unsettling."


Haha, you're all dead.

Bah...requires registration. Who approved this?

I said bah!

Seems the general consensus is that Fark is the dregs of the web.

At first I thought it was just a couple of elitist sites calling us immature, but that seems to be the popular viewpoint.

Oh well. fark it.

"Excommunicated" gets the mention too..well done

ElCorridor- think of it as a badge of honor. And just keep telling yourself they are all just full of envy. works for me anyway.

Doesn't it say somewhere in the Farq that they won't even accept links that require registration?

This is just as disturbing as when I first saw it. A word to the wise: WE DO NOT WANT TO SEE YOUR GUT OR YOUR BALLS!

micke will break it out once again:

micke is out

Are we still talking about this fat fark?

Fatty

My favourite comment came from a Farker called HotDog who summed the curse of instant fame that the internet can bestow: "The Internet makes fools into stars and stars into fools."

Should be the official FARK slogan...

Bah...requires registration.

Not for me it didn't, but here ya go anyway:

Lazy Guide to Net Culture: Tron Costume Guy

Stewart Kirkpatrick
skirkpatrick at scotsman dot com


If you want to appear like youre at the cutting edge of net culture but cant be bothered to spend hours online, then never fear. Scotsman.coms pathetic team of geeks, freaks and gimps will do the hard work for you. While you sip wine, read a book or engage in normal social interaction, they will burn out their retinas staring at badly designed web pages and dodge creeps in chatrooms to prepare for you: Scotsman.coms lazy guide to net culture.

There are many different flavours of embarrassing. There's accidentally embarrassing, where you do something that is completely normal (such as taking off your underpants and throwing them on the floor) in a context that renders that act inappropriate (you're standing in the ticket queue at Waverley Station).

Then there's determinedly embarrassing, when you are forced to do something you know to be embarrassing but have no power to avoid (this happens most often in relation to work and families).

The nadir (or zenith) of embarrassment is being obliviously embarrassing, where you blithely engage in an activity unaware of the fact that the rest of humanity is staring at you in open-mouthed horror, silently praying that you are not of their species and are merely a very tall, balding chimpanzee with identity issues.

When you fall into the latter category, there is a very special place for you. That place is the internet.

One young man who found that out was 15-year-old Ghyslain Raza, from Quebec. The name may not mean much to you but he achieved worldwide fame as "the Star Wars Kid". It all began when he was mucking around in school, waving a pole about and making light sabre sound effects in front of a video camera. Unfortunately some "friends" then posted the resulting short film on the internet and a very reluctant star was born. (Find out more at www.starwarskid.com.)

But fret ye not Star Wars Kid, for Tron Costume Guy has come to your rescue.

Tron Costume Guy, aka Jay Maynard, a computer programmer from Fairmont, Minnesota, is the internet's latest err phenomenon.

Mr Maynard was going to a Linux cum Science Fiction convention (yes, such things really exist, no, they shouldnt be allowed). One of the highlights of Penguicon was a fancy dress competition. (Yes, I am cringing right now.)

Our hero thought that it would be a good idea to create his own costume based on the 80s SF film Tron. So far, so harmless.

He bought some plastic armour from eBay, complete with electroluminescent wire. He spray-painted these items to get make sure they were the right colour. Again, so far, so harmless, if a bit obsessive. He then painted electronic circuits on to a skin-tight body suit. A very skin-tight body suit. I mean tight.

As this point it seems almost unsporting to point out that Jay Maynard is not in the first flush of body-building youth but is a balding, tubby, moustachioed middle-aged man. Like most of us, he looks far from his best in a skin-tight body suit.

Mr Maynard's website www.conmicro.cx/TRONcostume documents the painstaking creation process.

However, it is not his craftsmanship that has caused most comment. His skin-tight suit is extremely revealing, especially in the region of the lower abdomen, where it leaves very little to the imagination.

Unlike Star Wars Kid, Tron Costume Guy thrust himself into the e-spotlight by posting a link to his page on uber tech site Slashdot.org.

I think Mr Maynard should have been prepared for the response, given the comments that other Tron suit projects had received on Slashdot.

One poster had made this particularly cutting comment under a quote from www.tron-sector.com/articles/article.aspx?ID=66:

"I sat for about half an hour with pieces of drinking straw up my nose, while my mother wrapped my Vaseline coated face in plaster bandage."
I guess his swimsuit supermodel girlfriend was unavailable to help that day...

Mr Maynard received similar treatment in the comments his endeavours prompted.

AvoidTheNoid said: "Thats it. I've given up on being a mega nerd, as this guy has me beaten. Horribly."

Lullabud offered the following observation. "Spandex. It's a privilege, not a right."

WhiteBandit posted the following: "What lingering sexuality of any type I had is gone after viewing that page."

However, Mr Maynard fought back on www.livejournal.com/users/jmaynard/104666.html, in an entertaining and poignant article called "On being an internet phenomenon".

"The Slashdot commenters were savage, vicious, and brutal. They acted just like a bunch of 9th-graders putting down the new geeky kid in class. Of the 320 comments on the story right now, less than 20 are in any sense positive. It got worse. Someone posted the story to Fark. Several someones. Lots of someones. The Fark kiddies had their fun; the only difference was that it was a bunch of 7th-graders: even more juvenile."

Ah, yes. Fark.com: rude, puerile and very, very funny. Mr Maynard's thoughts did not go down well with them.

A comment by a user called Excommunicated was pretty typical:

"...the only difference was that it was a bunch of 7th-graders: even more juvenile."
Fact: People on Fark like to laugh.
Fact: You look like a fool.
The top 1/2 of the costume is fine. Little more work and it would be pretty impressive.
HOWEVER... when you hit the belt line, things get scary fast. Frankly I could give a crap if you are a bit tubby, that doesn't effect the work you put into the costume. But for the love of everything holy, belt and over for the pictures.

Other users mulled the nature of internet fame. TwoTonTim asked: "If I post a picture of my nuts on Fark, can I be a sensation too?"

Undertoad replied: "The nuts are, in fact, a critical part of this guy getting passed around the net. And that, in turn, means that we have reached the total point of insanity in this culture, where it was probably inevitable that we would see some guy's nut outline. Because that's what the internet does, it shares the fringes. If not this guy's nuts some other nuts."

Many others defended Mr Maynard's desire to live out his dream, though one poster was forced to come back to the essential problem:

Well, you did good work on the costume ... but ... I really do think you should wear some kind of costume piece in the genital area. I don't mean any offense, but it's quite distracting. Otherwise, good job.

Even those who mock him recognise there is something admirable. SomethingAwful.com, which highlighted Mr Maynard's homepage as its "Awful Link of the Day", paid this tribute: "We need nerds like him to make our dreary days full of laughter, and so we feel a lot better about ourselves. Shine on you crazy diamond!"

My favourite comment came from a Farker called HotDog who summed the curse of instant fame that the internet can bestow: "The Internet makes fools into stars and stars into fools."

I'm not sure which category Mr Maynard fits into but I salute him nonetheless, though I find the fact he's a gun enthusiast somewhat unsettling.

in other news FARK.com mentioins a story that everybody is sick of

/can't spell

hey,

I didn't go all the way through 3rd grade for nothin'!!

I find it minorly insulting that Fark was called "puerile," when TwoTonTim's commentary happens to be the most eloquently-stated quote in the article.

I wish this guy would have videoed himself as the Star Wars kid had done. Then we could have had video editting fun instead of just photoshop fun with this loser.

Hmm... They left out the part about his being a "furrie," which I find infinitely more disturbing than his guns.

Whoops. Sorry. Meant Undertoad.

Kudos to you as well, though, TwoTonTim.

(I haven't been quoted in a major news source yet.)

It didn't ask me to register.
Did they change the link?

Well you have to admit, to wear a skintight costume like that, you have to have ball, and that guy has a spare set on his arse as well !

Oh god--here comes Fark photoshop contest cliche #87--this guy may get more mileage than babyhead...

fancy dress competition

No that would be the ebay wedding dress guy. He was wearing a fancy dress. The Tron guy just had on a pianted pody suit. It wasn't really that fancy.

Fark is on the internet!

Could anyone post a pic or direct me to a picture? I have yet to SEE this guy buit I have been reading about it for days. :( I wanna see....

Attaboy Twotontim, I'll buy the first pint at the next Fark Party.

why did tron guy use michelins on his cycle?

cause So Much was riding on his tires... :P

orangeglow

Know what google is? Go there and type in "tron guy".

orangeglow

No, no you really don't.

he should be called pregnant camel toe guy

Hm... you know, Fark gets more traffic than scotsman.com according to Alexa. So, shouldn't scotsman.com be excited that they got a mention on Fark?

I wonder how long Mr Maynard can take the high road before he completely loses his shiat. I'll bet it happens when a prospective customer recognizes him, laughs at him while saying "no thanks, I think we'll go with someone else"

I can see all the points of the article, except for putting down SciFi conventions. There's nothing I love more than getting together to talk geek, eat and drink unlimited free sodas & junk food, and see my friends. I used to be into the convention RPG scene, but I'm over that, now.

No mention yet of the Camel-Toe Elvis? For shame!

I'm glad I read everyone's posts and the article first. It has prevented me from making the ultimate mistake of clicking on the website and viewing the picture. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! So, thanks everyone!

Me thinks Mr. Maynard needs to be the focus of a Fark photoshop. That should push him over the edge and provide lots of entertainment for all the rest of us at the same time.

Arnold_Ziffel

Thanks. usually when I tried to load up his webpage all the pictures had those red x's. ;) what's up with his ass? that looks.. unnatural...

what's up with his ass?

I don't know. I didn't look that close.
I don't think I want to either. lol

I bet his guild is so proud.

orangeglow

no, save your eyesight. trust everyone on this one - you really don't want to see it.

cool idea for a costume (and I remember the movie really well - I never played that game after that), but honestly, what would have been so hard about putting on a cup? JeeBUS, but the flashbacks are nasty!

What's the deal with people saying you need to register to read the article? I've never registered with that site, and the link takes me directly to the article.

Wonderful job undertoad. Very deep.

No mention yet of the Camel-Toe Elvis? For shame!

I was just thinking that Tron Guy has become so much more than Camel-Toe Elvis: the Sequel. It's logical, I suppose, since nerds like myself know far more about Tron than Elvis.

Maybe now is the time for me to begin work on a Sark costume.

Arnold_Ziffel
That South Park make your own character thing is kick ass!! thanks. :D that was FUN! :D!

Please forgive me.

omg thats awesome.

I was Tron for Holloween this year. Seriously. I wish my costume kicked that much ass. It was pretty good, but I had a lot of trouble getting the paint to stay on the fabric. I did not use spandex however, and used a more natural kind of white canvasy material that was a bit looser. I think I'll post a website detailing my step by step process with pictures.

His main failing I think was that he opted out of wearing a belt (which Tron and Flynn both did, I believe). Oh and using Spandex with that body shape was just wrong. And the whole nutsack thing. Wow.

I have gotten that website emailed to me no less than 6 times by people that went to my Halloween party.

Fairlane

Exactly what I was thinking :P

rofl! The squirrel tron guy is hilarious!!

Fairlane, you're forgiven, but just this once!

Looking at that man's disgusting body reminds me why I like girls.

*giggle*

Fairlane owes me a new keyoard. Priceless.