Friday, September 9, 2011

Dragon*Con 2011, Day 3

We started Sunday at Dragon*Con with the Steampunk Exhibition - a collection of great steampunk gadgets and personalites - and John and I and my parents all went in costume again. I'll post those photos separately, though, since I took quite a lot.

That afternoon we had a little Cake Wrecks party in the ConSuite, organized by CW fan Priscylla. I had no idea if anyone would even show up, so it was wonderful to have a good sized group packing into the tiny room:

Some of them were even there to see us. (Or they faked it well for the cake, any way.)

Priscylla had arranged for two cakes and lots of ice cream, which all went fast. Here's the one she decorated:

John and I served cake slices and bowls of ice cream, and then spent an hour or so squeezing between tables in order to talk with everybody. At one point I was thrilled to discover I was sitting with the girl responsible for the famous Doctor Who Weeping Angel Costume. You know, this one?

Go here for more pics and a link to her amaaazing in-process shots.

I totally geeked out when I realized who she was - I've been drooling over her foam armor tutorial for weeks - and she reads my blog! And now I can't remember her name! Ack! Penwiper, if you read this, jog my memory?

[update: Penwiper has spoken, and her name is Gen! Hi, Gen! You're awesome!]

Plus, she had this AMAZING K-9 purse that she made herself:

Check out the circuit-board fabric for the lining! Genius!

I took pictures with several fans, and another gal even gave me a fun gear necklace she'd made for me.

My parents, I should mention, were having an absolute blast mingling with the Wreckies. My dad later related that someone excitedly asked him if he knew me, and he replied with a grin, "Yes, actually, I know her pretty well." In fact, I think he was grinning the entire weekend. I'm pretty sure he got a bigger kick out of seeing fans find me than I did - and that's really saying something!

Sunday night was the Masquerade, aka the big costume contest, and the crowds outside the contest hall were INSANE. No, really. Worse than Saturday, even. Which is why the few photos I did get there are mostly from the waist up:

I had to take the pictures so close I could reach out and touch the costumes.





We had better luck on some of the lower levels:

Surrounded!


These two were fantastic:

Their bowls fit on their helmets with Velcro, so they whipped them off for this action shot when I asked for a pic. Love it! (Anyone else out there remember Double Dare?)




I would blame this next photo's lack of detail on lousy lighting, but to be honest, this is exactly how it looked if you were there:

The girl's skin was so matte it seemed to absorb all light. I'm still not sure if it was body paint or a body suit - and I was standing within ten feet of her!


This guy actually won second or third place (sorry, can't remember!) in the Masquerade later:

First place went to a demon named Cuddles [smirk] with big extendable wings. I don't think I have a picture, but I'm sure you can find one on the Dragon*Con website.

Earlier in the food court I found this Portal Turret gal:

You can't tell here, but she was wearing vivid red contact lenses. Nice touch!


Female Captain Tight Pants:


And a really LARGE cunning hat:

Ha!

I think this is my favorite Batgirl costume:


And it's not a con 'til you see Dark Helmet!


Or Westley!

To be honest, this cosplayer kind of scares the crap out of me:

It's hard to take it all in, there's so much detail in her costume:


After the masquerade I finally - finally! - got to say hello to Paul from Paul and Storm, who I'd been texting all weekend trying to arrange a meeting. John and I wandered over just as they were coming out of a panel late that night, and before I knew it I was being introduced to geeky greats Jonathan Coulton ("Oh my gosh! Cake Wrecks! I love Cake Wrecks!"), Bill Corbett, and Drew from Fark, in addition to Paul and Storm. They were all incredibly nice, even though my knees were knocking and the most eloquent thing I managed to say was, "Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH!" Plus, the fact that most of them know CW and Paul was telling me how much he loves the site made it a pretty ridiculous-sounding mutual geek out. Heh.

Speaking of mutual geek-outs, I also got to meet up with Len Peralta, the artist behind the Geek a Week trading cards, earlier on Saturday. He was super sweet, and a big CW fan - aaand now I have trading cards. :D

Oh! And I have to mention - with extreme pride - that my friend Christie won the D*C Comic Book Babe's Costume Contest on Saturday night! I can attest to the fact that she did everything herself, and put countless hours into it:

Isn't she gorgeous? And isn't it kind of sickening? (Love ya, Christie!)

Christie designed a cable system for the wings so they could collapse or extend, and also hand-dyed the wig and sculpted the crown and hair pieces. Just amazing. Oh, and the character is Soulfire, for those of you who (like me) hadn't heard of her:


And finally, here are two blurry pics from the Wil Wheaton panel on Monday morning, which was the last thing we did before leaving to drive home:

Being cloaked with the Cape of D*cks (with Paul & Storm serenading him on the side).

He shared the story of William F***ing Shatner, which is hilarious and poignant and NSFW due to language. It was awesome. (Ooh, and someone put the whole thing on Youtube! Check it out.)

If you've seen my post over on CW, then you already know what happened during the Q&A: a CW fan called me out at the mic, Wil was very gracious, and I nearly died from embarrassment. But it was all good, because Wil also said I was awesome, which made my whole month even if he was just being polite, which is very possible. (The same fan, Morgan, later got a picture of Brent Spiner putting on a carrot jockey necklace and...oh, just go read the post, why don't you?)

And finally finally, here's a cute picture of my mom from Monday morning:

Yep. I'd say Dragon*Con is the place for her.


Hope you've enjoyed this year's Dragon*Con coverage, guys! Stay tuned for pics from the steampunk exhibition, and the final detail shots of my own costume. (And THEN I can collapse. Right?)

35 comments:

  1. This post is full of so much awesome! I can't believe I never went to D*C when we lived in Atlanta...

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  2. I was trying to remember where I had heard of penwiper before - then I remembered she designed this completely awesome and challenging knit Dalek: http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/who/extermaknit.html

    I really enjoyed knitting it. It is fairly amazing to learn that she is crafty and awesome in so many other respects.

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  3. I definitely sqealed with glee/envy at the Double Dare costumes. That was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid! (Along with Figure It Out). Gotta love 90s Nick! I will definitely be wearing that costume someday.

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  4. So much talent! Are there instructions for the K-9 purse anywhere? I'm not super crafty but I want to try that.

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  5. I so want to move to Atlanta...or just attend Dragon*Con really, really soon...and then I can die a happy, geeky gal.

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  6. The entire reason I decided to finally go to Dragon*Con was because of your posts about it.
    Thanks Jen (and of course John).
    This meek geek girl was super excited to make the 12 hour trip to and from Atlanta and every second was completely worth it.
    Next year is going to be even better.

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  7. I'm kind of trying to get my brain around the fact that not only did I get to meet you (SO EXCITING), but you actually REMEMBER me. BRB, hyperventilating from shared crafty-geek-love. :) I don't think I ever said my name, but I'm a Gen, too, even if I spell it differently!

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  8. @Penwiper...as a fellow Jen I can assure you, it doesn't matter how you spell it.
    We are all awesome!
    ;)

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  9. The white costume where you weren't sure if the skin was a body suit or paint - it's a body suit. And it's also a guy - and if I didn't know him personally, I wouldn't have guessed either!

    Bummed I missed the Double Dare costumes, but I did see a full Legends of the Hidden Temple group!

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  10. Marie, you just blew my mind. And considering how much John was staring at "her," now I can't wait to go tell him. [evil grin]

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  11. Oh, my - I'm pretty sure that Westley is the real Westley...

    Thanks for all the picts! So awesome! :)

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  12. Loved the Weeping Angel! I clicked on the link; do you know she actually strangled Jewel Staite?! There is an awesome story and pic on her blog! That ranks right up there with the Spiner-Carrot-Jockey-Necklace-Wheaton-"Hearts"-CWs squeeeeness!


    Andrea

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  13. Oh, and thank you so much for taking so many great pics of the Con! My teenage sons and I looked at EVERY picture you posted on flickr! We spent last night planning what costumes we could do if we ever made it to the Con!

    You and John have done a fabulous job. And your parents are adorable!

    Andrea

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  14. I feel like all I ever say here is that I'm speechless or wow.

    You are just making me hound hubby more and more about going next year. ^_~

    Love the Double Dare folks!

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  15. I stand in awe of all of the work these folks have put into their costumes. So cool. :)

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  16. So awesome you got to meet everyone like that! Of COURSE they think you're awesome. :) That Crying Angel costume is amazing and I totally remember Double Dare!

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  17. I always love your con pics! Also, I just have to say, I was at the panel at PAX when an adorable Amy Pond gave Wil the Cape of D*cks. Epic! :D

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  18. Those Spaceballs costumes are great! I live in Atlanta and realllly should have gone - maybe next year.

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  19. I'm with Molly--I got excited, too, when I saw the Double Dare costumes. LOVED that show! I even had the home game. It was kinda lame, though.

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  20. I have a picture of myself and my little buddy with the Weeping Angel at this yrs Emerald City Comicon (99.9% sure it's the same one)-Calvin, Hobbes, and a creepy statue covering her face. She was awesome. And we were just watching Spaceballs last night (before seeing this post), discussing how one would go about designing a cosplay Dark Helmet.

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  21. Quote: The white costume where you weren't sure if the skin was a body suit or paint - it's a body suit. And it's also a guy.

    Yup, check out Cosplay.com, he's got a whole profile and galleries.

    http://www.cosplay.com/member/15675/

    Pretty impressive work he does too and you'll see what he looks like in real life! ^_^

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  22. I've wanted to go to DragonCon ever since I discovered it (I'm a huge geek & not afraid to admit it.) Unfortunately it clashes with first day of school duties. But I'm hopeful that next year I can drag my kid with me & actually go.

    Thanks for sharing your pics.

    And, um, what the heck is behind Wesley from Princess Bride?? lol

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  23. Hard for me to be completely sure, but I think that your Harry Potter is my fellow Luna-C cast member Cheralyn Lambeth!

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  24. Cuddles was amazing, by far the best costume at the Masquerade. I wish the hosts hadn't been so dreadful, I was especially disappointed by Aaron Douglas because I like him a lot! And I agree with you in regards to that night elf type girl with the all black. I too have pictures of her and I too got close to her and I have NO idea how she accomplished that look. Really impressive. I loved reading your recaps! I'm slowly writing mine, I can't believe how quickly the weekend flew by!

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  25. Those costumes are AWESOME, but I am most partial to the Double Dare contestants. I wrote a post not long about about my inappropriate obsession with Family Double Dare:
    I double dare ya!

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  26. Oh my goodness - I didn't realize until I saw your pictures that Wil Wheaton played Fawkes in Guild! - there was a fair amount of geeky squealing, and my husband had a good laugh. Awesome photos - thank you.

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  27. Love your pictures! By the way, I came across this Etsy site today and immediately thought of you! They have awesome Dr. Who and Firely jewelry!

    http://www.etsy.com/shop/imaginationemporium?ref=seller_info#

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  28. Oh. My. GOSH.
    Thanks for sharing this! Thanks so MUCH! How totally awesome in any way shape or form or universe that your parents went with you? In COSTUME?! Love the pics, love the dialoge. Almost as good as being there except, you know, I didn't actually get to see anyone in person. THANK YOU JEN!!!! (and John of course)

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  29. I love seeing photos of my friends on your blog! You've posted photos of at least four people I know :D

    I shall have to find you next year because I guarantee you'll like my costume- steampunk Princess Leia.

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  30. Jen-
    It was truly the highlight of my con to meet you. (I found you via the awesome bracelet.) thank you for taking the time out of a very busy con to hang with the wreckies. :)
    Steph

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  31. The guy in the red dragon armor is MaddogMax from DeviantArt. His stuff is epic. Was his wife not there when you got the pic?

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  32. I believe she was right in front of him, Alaskan, but I only managed to snap the one pic as they walked by.

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  33. I know Batgirl! She is my Mom at cons (It's a What-The-Hell!? Con thing) and does an awesome oracle also.

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  34. The Captain America right after HP could pass for Arthur Weasley!
    -Paragrin

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