Monday, March 18, 2013

MegaCon 2013, Friday Favs

I come bearing pictures of fun and costumed nerdery!! Yep, this year's MegaCon was the biggest yet, and on Saturday the crowds approached Dragon*Con-like levels in spots. (EEK.) Still, it's wonderful to see the con growing, and I've had several sources tell me it's moving to the convention center's larger facility across the street next year. Yay for more room!

Ok, let's get right to it with my very first shot on Friday, which includes the best use of a prop I have ever seen:

This Spider-Man had a long string of rubbery "web" that he'd hand to the photographer. I held it just below my camera, and got this fantastic web-slinging effect. Seriously, this is brilliant. (The guy's backpack was made with the same rubbery black and white strings, making it look like he'd made it with his own web.) I love it when cosplayers get this creative!

And speaking of creative, I have to show you the hysterical costumes of my friends Chris and Christie:

It's Emperor Palpatine on vacation, with a beach-ready Imperial Guard in tow.

John actually pitched this idea to Chris and Christie last year, at the time thinking he'd be the Emperor. He never got around to making the costume, though, so Chris stepped up (although Christie made his Hawaiian print robe). Christie also sewed her entire outfit from stretch velvet - she's crazy talented like that. (You'll see more of her work in my next post.)

You might remember that John is a huge fan of the video game Borderlands (and Borderlands 2), so this group made his whole Friday:

Specifically, the girl on the left with the giant wrench made his whole Friday. The character's name is Ellie, and this gal was talking in character - a kind of Southern drawl - which was pretty hysterical. John went nuts. He couldn't stop giggling, saying how fantastic the costume was, and a few minutes later made us go back to get another picture of just her:


For those of you like me who don't know the character, here's a reference pic:


Pretty spot on!

We actually saw quite a few Borderlands cosplayers over the weekend, but this is my favorite:

The second they debuted this character, the Mechromancer, my first thought was, "That would be an awesome cosplay." And it is! Again, here's a reference pic:






I fangirled all over Steampunk Tinkerbell here, because I follow the maker of this costume, Firefly Path, on Facebook, and saw a few preview pics just the day before:

If you love gorgeous costumes as much as I do, then you really should be following JoEllen's work. As you can see, it is stunning. (This isn't JoEllen in the pic, by the way; she's just the one who made the entire costume, from boots to wings.)

You know what I love? I love the fact that this is John's and my favorite cashier at JoAnn's Fabrics, Kathy, together with her boyfriend:

 
They made the Deadmau5 heads themselves (!!) and hers has a full rig inside with wiring and lights. SO COOL.

A cutie-pie SuperGirl:

Together with a madly grinning John photo bomb in the background. D'awww.


And the first female Pyramid Head I've ever seen:



A lovely TARDIS dress:
 
(Her headband lit up, too!)

Plus a Pokemon card dress and a rare Meg-from-Hercules sighting:


The entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation was at MegaCon this year, so on Friday we went to a panel with Brent Spiner (Data), Michael Dorn (Worf), Levar Burton (Geordi), and Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar).
 (I prefer sitting in the back. Sorry for the rotten pic.)

As usual, Spiner made the whole panel, keeping us laughing for much of the 45 minutes. (After telling us he'd been offered a role in Human Centipede 3, "I feel like I could bring some real dignity to the franchise.")

The most interesting aspect to me - other than the laughs - was the fact that they all unanimously agreed that the worst TNG episode of all time was Code of Honor, but they were clearly uncomfortable coming out and directly saying why. (The episode has long been accused of [unintentional?] racism.) For fans who didn't remember the ep in question - like John -  it was a somewhat long and confusing dance-around. I guess celebs just take for granted by now that we all know every episode by heart. :D

So that was our Friday! Now, Friday is just the warm-up day for cosplayers, if you can believe it. Saturday is the big BIG costume day, when cosplayers come out of the woodwork. I spent Saturday out and about as Lady Vadore, but John had the camera on hand to snap plenty of pics for us. Stay tuned for those shots coming up next!

Oh, and these pics have only been a sampling of my favorite shots from Friday, so if you'd like to see the rest of them head on over to my Flickr account. I'll be adding all of my convention shots there over the next two days, so prepare for the deluge! ;)

21 comments:

  1. That spider man web prop is seriously awesome!!

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  2. I want that Tardis dress so badly!

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  3. Love Palpatine on holiday with his Red Guard :) My little bro and I used to joke that it was the Red Guards who did the creeptastic choral part of the music during the throne room scenes in RotJ.

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  4. SQUEEEEEEEEE! SO excited to see the first of the MegaCon photos!

    Holy heck, the abs on Christie! She's a freaking superhero! How can I become her best friend in time for the zombie apocalypse? I'm pretty strong and kick-ass, but I still think I'm gonna need her help chainsawing through the brain-eaters.

    I know absolutely nothing about Borderlands, so I have to ask why the girl on the right side of the pic has a book levitating below her butt. How'd she do that? Did she hang it from her belt with fishing line?

    And, yeah, that Ellie is absolutely spot-on compared to the illustration. Did the girl say how much that suit weighed? Glad it wasn't too hot on Saturday or she would've passed out!

    SuperGirl! Awesome li'l cutie!

    And the entire cast of TNG was there?! ACK! I really, really wish I'd gone!

    Jen, thank you so much for the photos! Can't wait to see your next post and read about the rest of your weekend at MegaCon.

    We Epbot readers really need a way to get in touch with each other so we can be friends in real life and have someone who shares in our geeky-goodness and/or wants to go to conventions together. Any interest at all in devoting a page on Epbot, kinda like the Fan Art Gallery, where we could submit a short bio and a photo with our contact info? I know it could potentially be a lot of extra work for you, so I'm very willing to help. I have some ideas that could make it easier, and I'd love for anyone else who is interested to reply with some of their own ideas. Let's try to make this happen!

    Geek girls unite!

    KW

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    1. I'd love a page like that, too, but it's not just the work involved putting it together; it's the logistics! We'd very quickly have thousands of entries, which would need to be organized by location, almost like a dating site. I can't even begin to imagine how we'd do it! Maybe if you started a FB page for local readers, and then linked to it from here? That's a relatively easy & free option, anyway!

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    2. The fact that you think you'd "quickly have thousands of entries" makes me even more excited about the whole prospect! I was thinking more like five or six a day, heh, so that crushes all my pathetic ideas for how to make this work.

      Surely (and don't call me Shirley) you have some fans of CakeWrecks and Epbot who have the expertise, the desire, and the time to create a website where your readers can connect. Maybe they would be willing to donate their services or maybe someone could set up a Kickstarter (with your blessings) to fund the project. I know most dating websites require membership fees for full access, so we could offer six months, or so, of free access to anyone who contributes a certain dollar amount.

      I already tried sweetongeeks.com and gk2gk.com (geek to geek), but both definitely cater to daters (hah!) and are pretty dead when it comes to the "I'm only here looking for friends" department. I even put an ad on Craigslist and...wow...that is just a *gulp* scary place. Meetup.com didn't work for me either, and Facebook is a website I want to stay far, FAR away from.

      I know you must have plenty of readers in the same predicament as me. It's difficult (near impossible) to find like-minded people in real life. We're shy, dorky, socially awkward, and we don't leave the house enough. Even if we did get out more, some of us live in places that just aren't geek-friendly, so how do we even find each other?

      If anyone knows of an existing website where cool, geeky chicks can connect, please spill the beans!

      I'm happy to read that you're into the idea of this if the logistics can be worked out, because I'm certain it could bring love and happiness to so many lonely and misunderstood people. Some might just want or need a penpal; others might only want someone to go to conventions with. Some might be looking for a local friend to go see a movie with; others will want to search for a soul mate or a lifelong partner in adventure.

      Luckily, I have an amazing husband (whom I met online!) and a beautiful son, so I'm not all alone in the world, but I seriously long for a female friend in my life. I'm 37, and I haven't had a female friend since I was 16, and I swear I'm not THAT unlikable a person.

      Thanks for bringing me so much joy with Epbot and CakeWrecks.

      KW

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    3. We could do a forum, like (the late great) Regretsy! We could have a board dedicated to *con meetups, crafting parties, and awesome geeky get-togethers. I think that's an awesome idea... Jen?

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  5. Great coverage!

    I'm actually cosplaying as Gaige this weekend at Pax East. I'm still working on the costume...I hope I'm done in time!!

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  6. So much amazing work! The boots on steamy Tink are zomg amazing. And super mega points to the gal cosplaying as Ellie!

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  7. I saw your mention of MegaCon on Cake Wrecks and was like, "Wait...I haven't seen that come across my reader!" I'm so impressed by these cosplayers. Steampunk Tinkerbell is a brilliant idea, with fantastic execution, and I'm impressed by the Deadmau5 heads. I haven't heard of half of these characters, but that totally doesn't matter!

    Oh, also, your friend Christie must work out like a demon--nice abs! :D

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  8. I waited all weekend to see some pics (I live vicariously through your con adventures) and can't wait to see the rest! I hope you guys had a great time as always.
    I agree with KW, that would be fantastic! But certainly only as long as it wasn't too much more work, your plate is pretty full as it is :-)
    I hope you were able to get some rest! And enjoy the rest of your week!

    Nikki T

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  9. Ahh, I've been tormented this whole weekend by you and another blogger I follow about Megacon awesomeness! You guys suck so bad! I also wanted to be there but alas, South Africa is a bit far away! Lol Thank you for all these beautiful shots Jen! Can't wait to see the rest!

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  10. Dear lord, the TNG cast looks old. *looks at self* Okay....yeah. :)

    Too awesome...I shared the Tardis pic on Facebook and got several likes...from all my geek friends. :D More please!

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  11. Hi! I am the cosplayer that did Ellie. Thank you for all the support! The suit was heaviest in the stomach since foam was used there, but the rest of the suit was fluff and fiber fill. When wearing the suit, I was much less sweaty than I though I would be, actually.

    Thank again!

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  12. Carol was amazing and Monica (Maya's) book is her class mod. She did a great job with it and I'm sure will comment here soon and tell you the specs. I was the Lilith laughing at something is the corner and not realizing we were having our picture taken. That seems to be ok because she laughs a lot anyway while shooting people ;) Thanks for sharing this!

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  13. *Dances* I know someone on your blog! Steampunk Tink is a fantastic mermaid character up here in the Vancouver area where she has been known to hang out with pirates and others from the B.C. Renaissance Festival. Check her out as Oceana, Mermaid of the Pacific.

    From another shortie gal

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  14. I'm going to be 'that guy' for a sec and say that the male Deadmau5 guy fills out fitted jeans nicely.
    And OMG that Ellie costume is AMAZING!

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  15. Nice work @9GAG, for STEALING the Ellie photo and having the BALLS TO PHOTOSHOP OUT THE OWNER'S LOGO AND REPLACING IT WITH YOUR OWN.

    Jerks.

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    1. Yeah! At least Cheeseburger kept the watermark!

      http://cheezburger.com/7153834752

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  16. Nice pictures!!! Too bad you didn't see me; I was Briar Rose/Princess Aurora that day. And the black suited Spidey with the epic photo prop is a friend of mine! He did other versions on the different days.

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  17. The Supergirl is MiniHarleyQuinn.com her name really is Kara... Nice picture! :) costume by Holly Messenger...

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