Wednesday, March 20, 2013

MegaCon 2013 - Final Day Favs!

I hope you're not sick of amazing costumes and fun convention stories yet, you guys - but if you are, maybe you should skip this post. :) On the plus side, this is my final MegaCon recap, so I'll be back to crafts and art and laundry room makeovers next.

But 'til then, BAM!


MOAR PEEPS IN SPANDEX!

I have even more photos from Sunday than Saturday, so I'll see how many of my favorites I can cram in here. Since I was free from my "Vadorable" trappings (and thank you for that adjective, Marigold), I was sprinting through the crowd like a gleeful child on Sunday, snapping pics left and right. The crowd levels were perfect, too: fairly packed, but still manageable. There was even enough room in the vendor area to get a little shopping done. [eyebrow waggle]

Per Vinie in the comments, this is Demon Hunter from Diablo 3. All I know is she looked freaking AMAZING.


Fifties-inspired Wonder Woman? And Hawk Girl's costume is beautifully done.


Some great couples' cosplay:
 Beeeeaaau-tee-FULL.

I saw more kids in costume on Sunday, too - although it's possible they were just easier to SEE, what with the lesser crowds.

 Hit Girl and King Boo! 
(If I'm remembering right, Hit Girl's mom is an Epbot reader!)

The second Avatar group of the weekend - and check out Ang's flier! WOW.
 I'm not sure if the flier folds up or not, but it looks like it could. Anyone who was there know?

Another Merida (we spotted at least three or four) and a girl Bowser:

 This Elvira was spot-on:
 

And this Captain Jack was constantly in character, flirting and swaggering and calling all the ladies, "darlin'." Hee.


More next generation cosplayers:
 That little Harley! D'AWW. And the Jawa on the right is the son of a reader. We'd been chatting with her for a few minutes when he turned to me with this big beautiful smile and said, "Don't you want to take my picture??" Haha!

 Mister Freeze!

And another classic Tinkerbell:

 Captain America and a steampunky plague doctor:

And finally, a super cute Katamari couple:
 

As always, if you want to see the rest head on over to my Flickr album; I can't fit all the geeky goodness in just one post!

Oh, and I promised some of you a few detail shots of my costume upgrades, so here's my spiffy new cane topper:

That's a solid glass bottle stopper I found at an antique shop a few weeks ago. My previous topper was a glass door knob, but the metal base of the knob blocked the light. This one lets the LEDs inside the cane shine through, which looks super cool in low light.

Fitting it to the cane was quite a challenge; we had to buy the reducing coupler from a specialty plumbing store across town, and then John had to cut and flange it slightly to fit the angle of the stopper. To hold it in place, he bent the tips of each flap just slightly - allowing the stopper to click into place with an audible "thonk", and then for extra security we doused it with E-6000 adhesive.

To make sure the light shone green (my LEDs are white), I painted the base of the stopper with a mixture of Elmer's glue and green food coloring (thanks, Pinterest!). That also makes the globe look green when you look down into it from above. Neat, right?

And check this out:

SO COOL.
(Or I'm just easily amused. Ha!)

My speaker box was the easiest  - and yet most valuable - addition by far. It's just a $10 "voice changer" box from The Halloween Store:

There are about 20 different voice changing effects, but luckily one is "normal," with no changes; just amplification. I sanded off the painted label with a Magic Eraser, added a little filigree and green crystal, and then painted the grill a bright gold:

The lights flash red when the mic is in use. Wrong color, of course, but still a nice affect.

My original mask tusks were made with thin copper foil folded into cones. They were so flimsy I kept accidentally smashing them, though,  'til they looked like this:

YOWCH.

While searching my stash for possible replacement pieces, I found these two filigree fans in a grab bag of goodies from one of you lovely readers:
They're nice and sturdy, so I snipped off the rings and used pliers to bend them into cones. Then I sculpted black air-dry clay onto my mask to give the new tusks more surface area for the glue to hold on to.

 
The clay is nearly invisible, but (hopefully) ensures I won't be accidentally knocking the tusks off anymore. To cover the tiny hole at the tip of the tusks, I used "bead in a bottle" copper paint to make tiny drops on a sheet of plastic. Once the drops dried, I pried them up and glued them in place on the tusk tips:

 
 Ta-da!

Here's the front view:
With my mask lights on these are the kinds of details you won't notice at first, but it means a lot to me to give the viewer more to see with every viewing. Besides, I want it looking its best for the museum exhibit!

(If you're new and haven't seen my original Lady Vadore post, you can see lots more detail pics here.)

And that, finally, concludes my MegaCon 2013 coverage! I hope you guys had as much fun as I did!

25 comments:

  1. Nice costume!

    Im am too really impressed by the second one. She's cosplaying as a Demon Hunter, from the game Diablo 3. That game got too many cosplay potential.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. im the demonhunter! nice shot whoever took it. i started the cosplay when the game was in beta... too bad it didnt turn out as good as D2 :(

      https://www.facebook.com/9livescsoply

      Delete
  2. Mega-grins on the new tusks, Jen! Well done, girlie! :D

    Thank you for sharing your photos of all the creativity of the MegaCons! I love seeing how people made their favorite characters their own.

    Hugs to you and John!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the wings on that 'clasic Tinkerbell'. If you're out there,Tink, please link a how-to!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much for posting all your con pics. I love them. I don't imagine i'll ever get to go, but these are the posts that I look forward to the most on Epbot. Thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd been waiting ALL DAY for you to post another update and you didn't disappoint! Thanks for taking all the great pictures! I love looking at everyone's creative genius!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Heading over to your Flickr now! I love these posts with all of the con photos; can't get enough of it. Also, nice modifications to the tusks and cane.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow. The guy in the Mysterio costume is a brave soul!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh my goodness, you are so talented! I enjoyed your original post about Lady Vadore, but this just goes to show how amazingly crafty you are. I wish I could come down to Florida for MegaCon next year, just to meet you! Love all of your posts. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't know who the green and purple guy behind the Spideys is supposed to be, but he is a clear example of someone's (don't remember if it was Jen or a reader) rule about men needing to wear a cup. That's just...um...unfortunate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HAH! I didn't even notice it until I read your comment, and I really consider myself a pervert. But, yeah, that IS unfortunate. Although, I guess Spandex costumes help you separate the men from the boys...wink, wink...nudge, nudge.

      Kind of scary what might've happened if that dude had stared at the Mistress of the Dark too long though. Cover yer eyes, kiddies!

      KW

      Delete
  10. Thank you so much for putting the picture of my little Jawa on your site. It made his day. He put his pin in his special keepsake box. He was showing it off all day to who ever asked him about it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love that picture you took through your crystal cane topper. I like to play around with photography like that, and that one is awesome. And those costumes are amazing! I think my kids want to start doing cosplay and going to conventions now, too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Glad I'm not the only one who noticed Mysterio's blatant region. I feel less like a perv now.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wonderful pic, am so jealous. Does any one have recommendations for cons in Texas?

    ReplyDelete
  14. The first thing I thought of with that '50s Wonder Woman was American Maid, from The Tick. I think a rolling pin was in her arsenal...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually it was her high-heeled shoe!
      I loved the American Maid! :)

      Delete
  15. Wow, so many Homestucks in the background.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Awesome pics! I love the Mal one especially. I just want to know if I'm the only one who got excited when you mentioned Captain Jack, but then was disappointed it was Sparrow, not Harkness? He does have an amazing outfit though.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for the final MegaCon post. Loved all the photos and loved hearing about your weekend!

    Excellent cane mod with the bottle stopper, and beautiful photo of the Stay Puft reflection in the cane topper.

    Your "crotch speaker" was so well-crafted that it blended into your costume completely. In fact, I didn't even notice it until I went back to look at Saturday's photos after seeing the speaker box here. Great job on that and glad it worked out so well. Did you just hang it from your belt somehow? It's hard to see how it's attached in the photos because of the black-on-black and the shadows.

    Nice work on the filigree tusks, also!

    Was this the first time you wore the costume with the fiber-optic lights in your hair? That looked great, too. Were they just attached to your ponytail holder?

    That museum is going to be lucky to have your costume on display!

    KW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I hung the speaker box on a sturdy black ribbon that John stitched onto my skirt - held it in place nicely. And yes, the fiber optics were another new addition - forgot to mention that! They come attached to a hair clip, so that's just above my pony tail holder. They're a bit bright near the top, but for $5 I thought it was a fun touch. :)

      Delete
  18. Thanks for the 'bead in a bottle' tip - I'd been trying to figure out how to make the bumps for this mini-Dalek (formerly a small detergent bottle) I'm working on.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I was the female Bowser... You took an excellent photo, thank you so much!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. So much awesomeness! Glad you were able to finally find a way to communicate directly with everybody. :) I'm hoping I see as many great cosplayers this weekend at WonderCon (it's my first time)!

    ReplyDelete

Please be respectful when commenting; dissenting opinions are great, but personal attacks or hateful remarks will be removed. Also, including a link? Then here's your html cheat sheet: <a href="LINK ADDRESS">YOUR TEXT</a>