Friday, March 28, 2014

MegaCon 2014, Part 2

Saturday at MegaCon was the truly infamous day - a day that will live on in tragic ballads, a day that saw many of the show's own vendors trapped in traffic for hours past the con's opening, a day when the roads for a dozen square miles ground to a halt, as somewhere around 75 THOUSAND people all tried to get into the same building at once. (Those are Dragon Con numbers, you guys. I still can't wrap my brain around it!)


Some attendees averaged over two hours to drive three miles. Most got out and walked for the last mile or so. The "lucky" ones arrived in the pre-dawn hours, so that there was a massive line stretching outside the building by 7:30 AM - and the doors didn't even open until 10.

It was insanity.

And I was so, SO glad I decided to skip the costume that day.

Thanks to my phone's traffic app and arriving a little later (around 11 or 12), John and I missed the worst of it coming in. It still took an extra hour, and we had to park a mile off and walk, but that beats sitting in gridlock!

The true scale of the crowd didn't hit me until we stepped onto the entrance escalators - a new logistical nightmare that requires everyone entering the convention to go DOWN an escalator and funnel through a tiny bottleneck to reach the doors.

This was my view going down, and my first real glimpse of the crowd:


And I was all:



Again, I don't have crowd anxiety; I have "escape" anxiety - but in the face of that wall of people - most of whom were not moving - I felt a heavy rushing in my ears and a split second of panic, thinking I would be crushed at the foot of the escalator. Then I mentally shook myself, focused on the ground in front of me, and pushed through - literally!

Within seconds of making it through the doors my panic was forgotten, as I focused on taking pictures. I'll say it again: after a smartphone, a camera is THE best anxiety distraction.

K, I've already written about John's fantastic experience as Dreamfinder that day, and you've waited long enough - so let's get to the costumes!




My photo just barely shows it, but this Hiccup even had the false foot attachment!

And I love Toothless perched on his head. :)

You always see a lot of Poison Ivys at cons, but this steampunk version was especially lovely:

And the lady on the right used REAL pufferfish for her hat and balloon/bag thing. Which kinda freaks me out. But the goggles & wings on the top one are cool.

 This creepy Hatter had a rather brilliant hat design:

 Recognize the interlocking floor mats? Lots of great details there, too.


Ready for the best pun costume of the con? Ok. Then meet...


DEF BEATER.

Yep, instead of a turn table (or clock), this guy has a giant TIME TURNER.
(Srsly, the genius. It is blinding.)


And speaking of genius: THAT'S NO MOON:

Her hair clip is a LEGO tie fighter!

A snappily-dressed Joker (or Duela Dent?) & Pinkie Pie:



And a stunning Wonder Woman in full battle armor:



We saw some fabulous wheelchair and scooter costumes this year:




I'm pretty sure this guy was the most popular, tho - Wil Wheaton even tweeted his photo from the con!

Not only did he turn his chair into the Iron Throne, he even added false legs so he could cosplay as Tyrion! That is some genius construction, right there. Love it.


And now... DUCKY MOMO!!

But we all know it's *really* Candace Flynn in there, right? 
:D

(I just realized I have no idea how that cosplayer can see anything. Theories?)

Not a great pic, but here's Elizabeth from the first half of BioShock: Infinite:

...plus some Power Puff Girls ('played by guys) flying the Mayor around.

I think I mentioned before there were a LOT of Jack Frosts - but this was the most adorable of the bunch:




A beautiful Rarity:


And female Skeletor? Maybe?

 
[Correction: she's Evil-lyn, Skeletor's second-in-command. Thanks, guys!]

 (Those giant windows you see on the right are the one true advantage of the con's new location in the OC convention center - they almost make up for that awful escalator bottleneck. That much light flooding the whole wing makes for some suh-WEET photos - provided you get the cosplayers to face the light, of course.)


 And finally, a fabulous Guardians of the Galaxy group:

Whew! Ok, I'm going to break here and give you guys another batch of pics next week; looks like I have at least two more post's worth to go, so I have to pace myself. :)

Hope you guys are enjoying your extended virtual visit to MegaCon! And I cannot WAIT to show you the rest!

51 comments:

  1. Your female skeletor would be Evil-lyn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil-Lyn) and Skeletor's second in command.

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    1. Yes! Evil-lyn! Jen, please go watch the brilliant Masters of the Universe movie with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093507/

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  2. I am pretty sure the Def Beater is trying to do a Flavor Flav thing, so he has a time turner instead of big watch:
    http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/bwe/images/2009/10/FLAVA-FLAV-DAYLIGHT-SAVINGS-TIME.JPG

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    1. lol I saw that and was like "Steam punk flavor flav??" I like the costume though no matter what he was. its a giant freaking time turner. :D

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    2. Heh-- I thought before I scrolled down that he was going to be the "Grim Rapper."

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  3. Maybe...MAYBE, Ducky Momo has a little, itty, bitty, camera stuck on his crown, that transmits to a secret satellite, which then transmits to a secret room on the VERY top of the building, and people in there pick out important things (people, people wielding cameras, walls) and then speak into a microphone, which is then transmitted into a speaker inside the costume, telling the person where to go.

    Or it's really thin fabric. But I like my first theory.

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    1. I was thinking a periscope to the eyes that they looked through that had a wide angle lense so they could see a panorama ish view of the con!

      Or really thin fabric.. but i like your first therory too lol

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    2. Well, duh! Ducky has two great big eyes right in front. THAT'S how he sees.

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  4. I have to admit I have no idea who about half of these cosplayers are, but those are some pretty awesome costumes still. My favorite is that hatter--he is so amazingly creepy.

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    1. I have no idea who about 90% of these cosplayers are! But they are amazing!

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  5. Oh, terrific! It is hard to pick just one favorite -- I am in awe of all the time and effort that went into these costumes. It might be the lady Death Star. Thanks for sharing, Jen! Can't wait to see more!

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    1. Reading this comment made my day! That's me in the Death Star skirt and seeing cute pictures of it made all the effort worth it!

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  6. I'm loving the full-armored Wonder Woman. That's a lot of hard work right there.

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  7. i love these pics!! my daughter makes me show her all the pictures you take for the cons- we totally geek out together trying to figure out the con nearest to us and what we would be if we could go. The dream is to make it to COMICON one of these days lol but who knows. just wanted to say thanks again for the pics we live vicariously through yoou!!

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  8. Oh. my. gawd. Those crowds! Ack! So glad you were able to have a great day despite that.

    As always, thanks for the fantastic photos and the commentary. I know it must take hours and hours of work to bring us such awesome posts, but we truly appreciate it.

    All the costumes are amazing, and I loved seeing them.

    KW

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    1. Thanks, KW! These posts would no doubt go faster if I didn't enjoy editing the photos so much, but as it is I'm staying up 'til 3 and 4am each night playing - and then wondering where all the time went! :)

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  9. The Iron Throne chair <3. I don't know that I'll ever be able to get to a con myself; just the logistics of getting to one makes it less likely :-/, so please keep these pictures coming so I can live vicariously through your blog!

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  10. The woman might not be the Joker, but instead Duela Dent, a character that (when cosplayed) often gets confused with a female joker.

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    1. Yeah, I'm guessing it is Duela Dent too. Great costume either way.

      Thanks for the post, Jen. I love all the costumes.

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    2. The Fem Joker was me! I can see how it might be confused with Duela (also a fave of mine). Thanks so much for taking a photo of me! :)

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  11. OMG. I don't have anxiety issues or crowd fear, but that picture made my heart race a bit just to look at it. Yikes!
    Love the cosplay. All of them. Just so much fun and creativity. Thank you for sharing!

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  12. Those are super amazing! The Elizabeth is actually from the first half of Infinite, not the DLC - that's my favourite Elizabeth outfit, and I'm so glad to see someone cosplaying it for a change!

    I'm looking forward to your next batch! :D

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    1. Ack, the shame - I should know better!! Just fixed it, thanks, Molly!

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    2. No problem! :D Thanks so much for posting all these gorgeous pictures - they're so inspiring!

      It sounds like you need to do another play-through ;D

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    3. I also cosplayed as Young Elizabeth that day! I ran into this girl and she tried to steal my book ;) Riddle (the cosplayer from Heroes of Cosplay) posted a pic of me in one of her photo collages!

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  13. There's actually an episode of the Powerpuff Girls where a trio of thugs dress up in (very obvious) PPG costumes and wreak havoc in Townsville, and people basically just let them because hey, they're the Powerpuff Girls. Pretty sure those guys' costumes are based on that.

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    1. Yep, I think that's probably what they're going for. Definitely the first thing that pipped in my head when I saw them. Those heads are too perfectly the ones the crooks used in that episode.

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  14. These are great! I have some friends who went but for some reason took all their pictures over by the food court with the crappy lighting and concrete floor. They looked terrible unfortunately. I also asked them to go check out the AT-AT baby rocker, but they never made it there. :( I am SO glad you have more to post, can't wait!

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    1. The con had an enormous hall set aside for crowd overflow - also with the icky concrete floors & poor lighting - but that's where a lot of cosplayers would go to get out of the main crush of people, so it's possible that's where your friends ended up. Even a lot of my pics - like Wonder Woman - were taken there. The plight of the con photographer: you grab the pics wherever you can! ;)

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  15. Ohhh I was there Saturday. I didn't think I had crowd anxiety until I saw that view going down the escalator! It looked like a kicked-over anthill down there. Thank you SO much for getting pics of all the awesome cosplayers... I was so overwhelmed I just didn't take any. Haha!

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  16. That Jack Frost is adorable, but just imagining walking around barefoot on whatever crud lives in the convention center's carpet makes me shudder!

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    1. If you look closely I think you can just see the straps on her feet; she had some kind of foot pads on. That said, there are always some ppl going barefoot, if only because their crazy high heels hurt too much after a few hours!

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  17. Jen,

    1. The crowd shot...OMG...my palms got sweaty and my heart started pounding and I had to remind myself that I am sitting in an empty classroom and not about to plunge into that see of humanity. I am 5'1' and have pretty bad claustrophobia and crowd anxiety. *shudder* I may have to pass out or throw up or both when I finish typing this!

    2. I adore all of the costumes! Every cosplayer in the pictures you posted looks fantastic! I'm so glad a lot of the girls (and guys) picked costume designs that are not only awesomely cool but also flatter their figures no matter what size they happen to be. I am a firm believer in everyone's right to cosplay but I also think if you are going to cosplay you should do it in a way that flatters you and brings all of your awesomeness to the forefront! And also, the wheelchair and scooter cospayers may have made me get misty-eyed! So amazing!

    3. Ducky Momo!!!!!!!!! I may or may not have squeed outloud and started singing the Ducy Momo theme song when I saw it! (Okay I totally did!) I think it's awesome that you are also a Phineas and Ferb fan!

    4. Thank you so much for the great posting! Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures! And btw you costumes are gorgeous!

    Kim P. (not Possible, but I wish!)

    P. S. I am waiting on some pieces I ordered to make a (hopefully) cool Harley Quinn cosplay for our local Con. Wish me luck!

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  18. I just keep looking at that escalator picture with absolute fear. It seems to me that a moving escalator feeding people into an already packed room is just a bad idea. You'd think at some point people would have to be back-stepping up the escalator to avoid getting smooshed. I do have some crowd anxiety (pretty mild--my husband and I are both tall and can usually push our way through to gaps and get ahead of the slowest movers), but that picture looks like it would induce some major anxiety for me. Yikes!

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  19. All those terrific pictures! All that inventiveness and imagination in one single building!!! How did it now just explode with the awesome-ness??? Thank you! I can't wait to see the rest!

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  20. I love that Steampunk Hatter! The Pinky Pie and especially the Rarity were also awesome, and I almost wish I'd gone as Rainbow Dash for a picture with them!!

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  21. Awesome photos! Others have already mentioned it, but I'm guessing that's black mesh on the eyes of the duck costume. I was the Rat King in the Nutcracker ballet one year and that's how I saw out of my giant rat head! Looks like solid fabric from the outside, but actually surprisingly easy to see out of!

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  22. Thanks for the advice about dealing with the crowds. I'm determined to try going to Denver Comic Con this year, if just to say I've gone to a con -- I'm also terrified of crowds and its popularity is growing fast. But I will definitely bring a camera with me. :-)

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  23. I was *just* wondering the other day if anyone had done a Ducky Momo cosplay. I love it! Phineas and Ferb is the best.
    Thanks for taking all these great pictures for those of us who can't be there to appreciate the awesome in person.

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  24. I ran a couple of LARPs there this year, and yeah...Saturday was hell. Good news is, I heard we're back in the old location next year! So no scary escalators of doom!

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  25. The Bloggess linked to this post! Check it out:

    http://thebloggess.com/2014/03/im-not-even-sure-who-the-enemy-is-anymore/

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  26. The "guy" Powerpuff Girls are actually from an episode where some (male) jailbirds broke out of prison and wreaked havoc on Townsville by dressing up like the Powerpuff Girls. The cosplayers up there did a great job! They even made the ugly helmets of the PPG's heads. I'm impressed. :-)

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  27. Oh my goodness, The Bloggess linked to your blog today! YAAAY!

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  28. I could use some good Sherlock art
    and Mike's superheroes! *_*

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  29. I can't help but look at that first picture and try to find a Waldo in there... (there is one, isn't there? I mean... there HAS to be SOMEONE as a Waldo!)

    I don't know if my anxiety is crowds, or like yours escape... but dang.. that escalator pic makes my heart race just to look at it..

    I learn so much geeky stuff from your Con recaps!

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    1. Actually, there was a whole family displaying as Waldo, was super cute.

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  30. The Evil-Lyn is my friend Holly and the Wonder Woman is my friend Miracole Burns. Miracole actually showed about the making of the armor on her personal page.
    They're as sweet as they are gorgeous!

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  31. Shoutout to the new Iron thrones with wheel from 2019 LMAo

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