Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Best of DragonCon 2012, Part 2!

(See Part 1 here.)

It's always fun to see the costume trends at Dragon*Con. I think TARDIS dresses edged out Dalek dresses this year, and there was a veritable plethora of Katniss and Lady Thor cosplay.


The Lady Loki in the middle here is probably the most subtle I've seen, but I love her 1940's style; look how the feathers in her hat mimic the iconic horns!
I just love it when art inspires cosplay like this, too. These ladies matched the original sketches by artist KelseyMichele perfectly, right down to the handbags!


Amazing, right?


And these ladies are wearing costumes based on artist shoomlah's "historical Disney princesses":

Here's the art, so you can compare:

This group looked like they just stepped off the set of Hook - the Captain even looks like Dustin Hoffman!
Granted, I don't remember the Crocodile looking quite like that...but the rest are straight off the movie screen!

This pumpkin head guy was incredibly tall and skinny; if he stood still, it was hard to believe a person was in the costume: [UPDATE: per the comments, he's the Pumpkin King from Nightmare Before Christmas, aka Jack Skellington dressed as a Scarecrow.]
I think John said those two on the right are from Skyrim. They were so big, it was actually hard to get a decent photo of them together. [Correction: they're Protoss Zealots from Starcraft. Thx, guys!]

I believe this is a steampunk Vader on the right - the only one I saw all weekend:
The Stargate guy on the left stood like that for so long he could have easily startled the heck out of some people. When he removed the head piece some time later, I saw that he was a white-haired elderly gentleman, probably in his sixties. This makes me ridiculously happy. :)

I didn't see many Furries this year, but at one point there was some kind of meet-up in our hotel lobby. I've never seen a head with light-up eyes before, so I had to grab this shot. Plus, the jaw was articulated!
 I'm told The Penguin was one of the contestants on SciFi's Face-Off, a show I still desperately want to see. It's easy to see why he was on the show - that makeup is insane!


A cute steampunk couple, and the best Labyrinth pair I saw. (Another pair actually won in the Masquerade, but from what I saw, I think these two were a bit better. And yes, that's a girl cosplaying Jareth!)

This Totoro was so good you'd think he came straight out of a theme park:

A few days ago I found some fun in-process shots of this costume, too. Check it out: the guy inside is wearing the whole thing on a backpack - you can see the straps and overall structure here:

 
See the rest of the build photos here.


Hooray for Lady Doctors!

I'm probably biased because I love Peter Davison so much, but isn't Lady #5 on the right adorable??
(Btw, did you guys know David Tennant is married to Peter Davison's daughter? C'mon. That is AWESOME.)

And now, the prettiest steampunk Jessica Rabbit you ever will see:
Why, yes, she IS hitching up her skirt to show me her bullet garter in that second photo. See what a persuasive photographer I am? ;)


I was going to guess Halo on the left, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong. A little help?

[UPDATE: Turns out they're from Mass Effect. Thanks, guys!]

Hey, you think this group uses LinkedIn?
{HEYO!!} Sorry, sorry. I'm ashamed of myself, truly. (But I love the Zelda in the middle!)


I was thrilled to spot a lady Ironman - and one that didn't feel the need to add impractical boob armor, at that:


And finally, this Dad and his two sons really stole the show in their crazy-impressive robot suits:


At least one of the kids won the kids' division in the masquerade. I was curious why the red kid's suit was advertising the "easy" button from Staples, so I did a little research. It looks like the dad runs a Robot Costume company, so I'm guessing that suit was corporate sponsored. (Now there's a trend I hope doesn't take off: corporate sponsored cosplay?)


Regardless, the dad's suit was definitely the most impressive. That screen in the middle had a constantly moving pattern, and the suit itself looks like something straight out of The Transformers:
 
Now THAT is Dragon*Con caliber cosplay. Awesome.


And that, finally, concludes my Dragon*Con coverage, guys! Thanks for sticking with me, and I promise I'll be back to a more diverse posting schedule soon!

If you still haven't had enough cosplay pics, though, head over to my D*C Flickr album. I've uploaded WAY more than what I've featured here, and there are plenty more amazing costumes to see!

52 comments:

  1. That's it, I'm gonna have to come to next year's DragonCon. Don't care if it's a twelve hour flight.

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  2. The one you guessed was "Halo" was actually Mass Effect (close guess - ME is a great game worth checking out!), though the cosplayer on the left looks like he's wearing a hybrid of Stormtrooper and Shepard's N7 armor.

    I think the woman in the art deco cosplay with the feathers is might actually be Loki.

    The guys in the golden suits are either dwarven constructs from Skyrim (as John guessed) or Protoss from Starcraft - it's hard to say.

    WONDERFUL PICS, JEN! I live in Fairbanks, AK - so I don't get to go to many cons, but it's great to see such well captured photos from your time there! Thank you.

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  3. I'm pretty sure the thing you were asking about being from Halo is actually a Turian from the Mass Effect series.

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  4. Hold on... I probably was standing right next to you while taking the Historical Disney Princesses photo... this is what happens when you have zero face recognition.

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  5. Oh, Stargate! I love it! Considering how long the show ran for, I really feel like it doesn't get enough cosplay love. :)

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  6. I'm pretty darn sure the pumpkin head guy is the Pumpkin King, pictured here: scroll down to the third picture and note the scarecrow on top of the horse. That scarecrow comes alive and dances around and then falls into the fountain, turning into Jack Skellington.

    That Hook group is FANTASTIC! As much as I love the 40s Avengers and Historically Correct Princesses, I think Smee and Capt. Hook are my favs!

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  7. All of the cosplayers are AMAZINGLY awesome (Lady Vadore included of course!;D ). The creativity people have astounds me sometimes.

    By the way, the Shadow Link in the Zelda group shot totes made my day. That was epic. xD

    Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us!!

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  8. the halo group is actually Shepard and Garrus from Mass Effect. :)

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  9. Aye, not Halo, that's a pair from the Mass Effect game series.

    Fun stuff all round! That's maybe the *only* Jessica Rabbit I've ever actually liked. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Not only is David Tennant married to Georgia Moffat, she played Jenny, the Doctor's Daughter, and they have a daughter.

    So, the Dr's daughter played the Doctor's Daughter, and she bore the Dr's daughter.

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  11. I think the "pumpkin head guy" is supposed to be Jack Skellington from the *opening* sequence of The Nightmare Before Christmas (Pumpkin King Jack):

    http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1322/5133562739_8a29005ff9_z.jpg

    Also, maybe the robots are meant to look like the ones in Real Steel? (That might explain the sponsors.)

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  12. I think the "Halo" cosplay might be Mass Effect. The guy on the right looks like a turian.

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  13. The picture that you said was from Halo is not; it's actually two characters from Mass Effect. I think the one in white is either the main character Shephard or Kaiden Alenko, and the other one is Garrus Vakarian.

    I don't know what the picture to the right of it is from, though.

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  14. The pic that you thought might be Halo is actually Mass Effect. The 'alien' one is Garrus Vakarian, a member of Shepherd's crew, and possibly the biggest bad-ass out there EVER. (Until they neutered everyone at the end of Mass Effect 3. *pout*) The other guy? Probably a Shepherd. You could customize Shepherd a lot in the game so most players have their own version of him/her. There are an official John/Jane Shepherd, but I haven't ever seen an official Shepherd cosplay pic yet.

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  15. Lovely pictures as always. I think the "Skyrim" guys are Protoss from the StarCraft universe. And the guys you guessed Halo for are definitely from Mass Effect. If you see the guy on the left, in the white armor...there were a ton of guys at Dragon*Con doing armor like that this year. Apparently it is made from cut sheets of foam tiling you can buy to make flooring for a home gym. I recognized it right away, as I had bought a package to use when I converted my computer desk to be used while standing up. It's a pretty cool idea, as I'm sure it is easy to work with, cheap, and the no-slip surface makes for a pretty cool texture to the armor.

    I got to meet Jen and Jon this year...ambushed them while they were walking through the food court. Geeks who make the jump into celebrity status always seem to be the friendliest of celebrities, and they were no exception. 8D

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  16. The screen for the dad robot is an iPad! Backstage at the Masquerade, he had the home screen up instead of the shifting-pattern image, which was pretty hilarious. :)

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  17. Uh...is the croc in the Hook group JUST wearing body paint? Please tell me the top is an actual fabric piece of some sort.
    Not that body paint costumes are unusual, but I thought most cons had rules about that due to the "family friendly" vibe.

    PS- OMG, why does your word verification hate me?!?

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  18. As some other comments have said, I am fairly certain that the "Skyrim" guys are actually Protoss from the StarCraft games.

    Also, I could be wrong, but I _think_ the one on the left is a High Templar, and the one on the right is a Zealot. Then again, I could just be making that up because it sounds cool.

    And, last but not least, you can also see them in Felicia Day's Flog Dragon Con Video... They show up around 3:28.

    Thank you so, so much for posting such awesome pictures! I truly wish I could have gone... Ah well. At least I can live vicariously through your photos! :D

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  19. Dear Jen! Our Jen! I LOVE ALL your posts, but the con pics are my favorites, so do not think for one second that you have bored this Epbotter.

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  20. Hey Jen, that steampunk Jessica Rabbit is Kristen Nedopak--she's working on some amazing Skyrim Parodies short films... check it out here! :)

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  21. Yay! That's my Loki! Thanks so much for posting!

    (Now how in the world did I miss that gigantic robot suit?)

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  22. The Penguin costume was by far the most impressive one to me when I saw him at the elevators. I even made my group wait while I snapped some shots, the closeups were amazingly detailed, he really nailed Burton's Penguin. Since you said it was one of the Face Off folks, I wonder if it was RJ, he as there for some panels and the general height would be right. Impressive either way.

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  23. Could the Father/sons team be reference to the show Tiger & Bunny? The very basic premise of the show, is that super heroes run around saving people and stopping the bad guys with corporate sponsored outfits/suits.

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  24. Also, David Tennant's wife played Jenny, The Doctor's Daughter. ;)

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  25. I second David's assessment of the "Skyrim" guys being Protoss from Starcraft. I am sure they must be based on the legs and the "energy" blades coming from their wrists>

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  26. I think someone just above mentioned it, but I think Penguin guy is from one of the original Batman movies in which DannyDavito played the penguin. Everyone was gorgeous! They all must have spent many many hours on their costumes!

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  27. Oh, you have to watch Face Off! I am hooked. Some wonderful make-up on there.

    And a companion series is coming called Hot Set. Don't know much about except it starts next week.

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  28. I'm not big into superhero movies- was the woman in the green dress the Green Lantern?

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  29. The Totoro totally made me squee!! I love it!! :)

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  30. Nnnooooooo it's never enough!! Thank you for posting so we can see, and the flickr pics are awesome too. So glad you posted so many more there! One day... we'll get to go.

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  31. Black and white female character that is a male cosplayer...sephygoth.

    http://www.cosplay.com/costume/365880/

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  32. I agree with Lauren, all the costumes were amazing but Totoro made my heart jump! I have completely corrupted my kids too because now they are totally hooked on Hayao Miyazaki movies.

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  33. Thanks for the compliment on my Totoro! We're all very proud.

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  34. Thank you so much for posting the pictures!! We were super-bummed that they shut down the hotel lobbies this year. We live about 5 minutes away but due to other commitments, we weren't going to be able to attend any panels. We did have an hour to wander around taking pictures, but we were denied. =(

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  35. About the Face Off stuff: In one of their panels, they asked for a model and my friend volunteered. I wasn't there, but his wife posted pics:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/81778387@N00/7931264006/in/photostream

    I saw the Robot Dad and kids one day, but the dad was not in costume. He was navigating for his kids who were in costume. People wanted photos. He handed out a couple of cards saying that they had their own website. I barely restrained myself from pressing the Easy button. I didn't think it would be OK to touch someone's kid no matter how tempting he'd made it.

    While the steam punk Jessica Rabbit is lovely, I'm not sure how we're supposed to know that's who she is without asking. And, in my mind, a costume isn't as good if you have to ask who it's supposed to be.

    You and I had very different cons. 1) I never saw you. 2) I can't remember seeing a single Katniss and I thought they'd be everywhere.

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  36. Love the photos! Thank you for sharing - I was particularly excited to see a serpent guard from Stargate - so so so sad Stargate is missing from TV. Was also bummed to realize I missed Richard Dean Anderson at one of his rare con appearances... le sigh. And for the record, you could post about this all year long and I'd still eagerly read each and every one. :)

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  37. EEEEeeee! I'm on Epbot! I wish I had seen you, would have loved to say hi as I love this blog!
    --the lady Iron Man

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  38. Jen-
    I can 100% verify that those guys are NOT from Skyrim. I was addicted. Trust me.

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  39. Just amazing! Makes me want to try cosplay even more (it's totally on the bucket list). And just to affirm the comments, the SO saw the alleged Skyrim characters and immediately went, "Oh nonononono. *insert finger waggle* They're Protoss Zealots from Starcraft." (http://sgthk.deviantart.com/art/Protoss-Zealot-2-115244574) Thanks for all the updates!

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  40. @Megan: Assuming that the green woman is from The Avengers like the rest of the group, the lady in green would be the Hulk. Green Lantern is from a different company.

    As for the original post, awesome as always! I think my favorite is the historical Disney Princesses, as awesome as it is to see Stargate (one, well actually three, of my favorite series) getting some love.

    And thanks to the commenters informing me that Jenny from the Doctor's Daughter is actually David Tennant's wife, and reminding me how awesome she was, I now think I need to rewatch that episode :P

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  41. Memo to self: You WILL attend DragonCon next year! Time to start planning...

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  42. I absolutely love looking at your pictures from Dragon*Con. Between your pictures and my brothers pictures, it makes me really sad I am unable to attend. Stupid Vet School, getting in the way of getting my geek on. I am hoping to be able to go next year, but it depends on when I have to report for clinics.

    Oh, you should totally watch Face Off. The work they do on there is so amazing!

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  43. May I ask what camera you're using? Your pictures are so beautiful!

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  44. THANK YOU for sharing all those pictures, and your experiences. You and John really did it full out and great this year. Hope you are feeling better? And I love that your parents came AND were dressed! Wow! Really like how you did the pictures and reporting on the Cons this year, Jen. You are a blessing.

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  45. Woo! Mass Effect cosplayers, represent! There aren't enough Garruses out there, I think we can all agree ;)

    Seriously though, corporate sponsorship is a cosplayer's dream. You spend a whole bunch of time and effort putting together ridiculous leather/foam/fiblerglass/whatever costumes, making yourself look all pretty, and posing for a bunch of pictures.......... and somebody PAYS you? Just for letting people know who paid for the materials? It might feel a little like you don't own your own costume, but it also might feel like you have more money to buy food and textbooks at the end of the month, so I'm pretty okay with it. There are more out there than you might think.

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  46. @ Noragh - Oh, hey, I'm totally on board with sponsorship - if the requirements are just that you disclose who paid for materials on, say, your blog or business card. It's when they require you to splash their name and logo on your chest (or hold up a cheesy sign every time someone takes your pic) that I get mildly disgusted. Then you're just a walking billboard, which cheapens the whole fan-art done for the love of the genre thing.

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  47. Re: Tennant and Moffet; Not only is the Fifth Doctor her father, her mother was Trillian in the BBC TV version of "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy"; their kid has numerous layers of Nerd Cred!

    And yes girl, I'm sorry to say; there IS corporate sponsored cosplay, at least at Comic Con. The beginning of the end for me was Con '07, when I saw two women dressed as Rachel and Zhora from "Blade Runner", one of my very favourite movies EVER, and two costumes I'd never seen done, but always wanted to (if not make them myself, for someone with the right figure!). I was blown away and wanted to get their photo, and knowing from experience that one sometimes gets asked to pose when it's not the right time/spot, I gushed over them and asked politely for pics, which they posed for expertly. I thanked them profusely for their time and patience (my camera was being lame), and that's when a "handler" girl in a BR shirt that was with them said "Oh, don't worry about it, that's what the company's paying them for, to walk around and take photos with people." "Company?" Oh yes; Warner Bros. had *hired* pretty women to walk around in *professionally made* costumes, to promote the 25th anniversary of BR, and if the teenage girl hadn't blabbed, no one would have known they weren't One Of Us. It completely changed they way I view someone in costume at Con now, if their costume's too good; are you On The For Real, or somebody's shill? Which is sad, and one of the reasons I stopped going. It must be insanely fun to be around people who love costuming AND wearing funny outfits SO MUCH!

    Cheers, thanks a lot,

    Storm

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  48. Glad you like my Pumpkin King costume :D

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  49. There are a few episodes of Face Off on Hulu, in case you didn't know. :) (I wish they had full seasons, but gift horses, blah blah, etc.)

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  50. The internet is a small place. This is from a webcomic I read. http://thedevilspanties.com/archives/7792

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