Wednesday, April 2, 2014

MegaCon 2014, Pt 3

Time for more of the best MegaCon cosplay!

First, an adorable little Hiccup:
 I didn't see too many kids on Saturday - not sure if they were just swallowed up in the crowd or the parents knew better than to attempt the madness with little ones in tow. Heh. (Definitely bring the family on Sunday or Friday, guys. Saturday is too stressful!)

Love this Green Goblin - and I extra love a good action pose:



Suki from Avatar and a creeeeepy side-eye from the stilt-walking clown:


This is going to sound weird, but how perfect is this Borg Queen's head?


Absolutely flawless bald cap, and the painted "veins" and tubes are perfection.

A couple of Pyros from Team Fortress 2:


With the giant lollipop! Ha! (From this hilarious-but-really-disturbing commercial.)


This is Jinx from League of Legends

And FYI, if you ask Google who "girl with shark gun" is, it totally knows.



I have a feeling this guy will be back.

"FEEL THE POWER, KRONK."

 

"Oh, yeah, I can feel it."

 Right after I snapped the pic of Gru and his minion, they called out to me; turns out they're readers! (Forgive me for not remembering your names, guys, but it was fun chatting with you!) In fact, we met all KINDS of readers on Saturday; having John in a big red beard & top hat made it easier for lots of folks to find us. :)

My friend Thom of Love and Capes first tweeted a picture of these three, so I was totally psyched to find them myself a little later:

THE SPACE DOG!!

This is the kind of sci-fi cheese we original series 'Trek fans grew up on: they literally dyed a dog pink and called it an alien. Ten million points to this fabulous couple for making their own version as a prop!

And speaking of original series 'Trek aliens, I didn't catch this girl myself, but LOOK:

The Salt Monster!!

I just found her online, and Anniemee made everything you see from scratch! So. Impressed.

Oh, and that pic's by my favorite convention photographer, Howie Muzika. You'll know him by the double flash poles on his back and his big smile - the most enthusiastic and unfailingly sweet con photog I've ever met. He took John's pic on Saturday, too, and has taken mine a few times as Lady Vadore.

K, moving on...

I was delighted to discover this Claptrap sounded JUST LIKE Claptrap, so after I took his picture I had to drag John over just to hear him: 

He was perfectly in character, too, cheerfully addressing everyone as "human." I wish I'd grabbed some video! NEXT TIME.

Here he is a few minutes later with a whole Borderlands group:


And speaking of groups, here's one from Nightmare Before Christmas:

I just now noticed Zero hanging next to Dr. Finkelstein! Ha!

A fantastic Krang & Shredder from TMNT:

Seriously, that Krang. SO GOOD.

John and I love chatting with cosplayers when we can, and Briana and Adam here were super cool:

Turns out they made everything they're wearing (except her cowl) from scratch - right down to the utility belts! I think I've always assumed most spandex costumes were purchased somewhere, so wow have MY eyes been opened!

Also, let me encourage my fellow con-goers out there who are intimidated by great cosplayers: the vast majority of them will surprise you with how sweet and approachable they are, if you ever have a question, or just want a quick chat. (Crowds permitting, of course.)  I'm an introverted hermit who abhors parties and mingling, but even I have met some of my closest friends by striking up conversations with total strangers at conventions. (Not to mention costumes are the best ice-breakers EVER.)

Of course, some costumes are more approachable than others:

:D

(Then again, just look at that big smile! Hee!)

And finally, one of the most impressive costumes of the entire weekend was this Pink Decepticon:

 
The detail here is mind-blowing; I've been working on these photos for over an hour, and I'm STILL finding new things to look at. She has a steering wheel in her back, headlights over her, er, headlights [ha!], a tire hitch for a belt buckle, hubcaps on her ankles, and rubber tires wrapped around her back side. (There was also a small "Princess" license plate tucked between her shoulder blades.)

And then there's her head piece and face paint:


Wowza.

As a Dragon Con regular I recognized this cosplayer right away; she always stands out in wild, eye-catching costumes and amazing makeup. (My next post will have her Sunday outfit.)  I ended up following her a ways on Saturday to get some better photos out of the crowd, and I'm glad I did; this final shot is one of my favorites:


Ok, I think that does it for this post. I still have one more to go, though, so we won't be saying goodbye to MegaCon just yet!

Speaking of which, you've entered your comment on this month's art roundup, right? 'Cuz I'll be announcing a winner in my next post, so watch for that soon!

21 comments:

  1. Amazing! I have never been to any type of con but I really want to now! The detail, care and hard work everyone put into their outfits is astounding.

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  2. KRANG! Not Kang. Kang is a Marvel character, Krang the brain alien TMNT thing. Sorry. I'm nuerotic...

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    1. D'OH! And here I thought I'd finally managed a cosplay post with all the names right. Off to fix!

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  3. Your pictures are amazing and your commentary is spot on - there is something about costumes that make it so much easier to talk to people! I love it.

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  4. That Suki was fantastic, in no small part due to how she was posing. She had it dead on.

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  5. Reading through your Con posts through the past few years has always been a joy for me. Seeing the cosplay, art, and hearing about your experiences is always a pleasure. We have an Ohio Comic Con every year here in Columbus and I've always wanted to go. The price of the tickets is the only thing keeping that from happening (that sh!ts expensive!). So thank you Jen for sharing so much of the time that you spend there. I think for many of us, it's somewhat of a way to experience it, even if we can't get to one in our own areas. :)

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    1. Sometimes Sunday is cheaper. So maybe since you have never been just doing a one day ticket would be a way to check out the convention without breaking the bank. AND... usually the last day is when vendors markdown the merchandise so you may be able to save some money if you want to buy things when you are there as well. Just an idea.

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    2. Awesome tips, thank you so much! :)

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  6. Is that Bubbles talking to the clown?!

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  7. Beautiful photos and gorgeous photo-editing, as usual. Thanks for all your hard work, Jen. Always love seeing the con pics!

    KW

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  8. OK, here's my two cents about costumes. When you go trick-or-treating or out for Halloween night to the bars or a party you are usually in the dark and only seen for a short period of time. You don't want to spend a bunch of money and don't care too much about quality so the store bought costumes aren't a bad way to go. However, if you are going to be seen in good lighting, examined critically, or photographed, then you want to have a better quality costume. This either involves paying more or learning to sew.

    Example: my church was putting on a Passion play and needed a pair of Roman soldiers. I was already making over 60 Bible costumes with the help of a bunch of great ladies and when they said the soldiers were purchased I was OK with that. Until I saw the guy come in at dress rehearsal. He looked like a dog that had been shaved for the summer and just wanted to tuck his tail and hide under the bed until it grew out. The tunic was thin knit nylon, the "leather" armor and belted skirt was made from vinyl tablecloth material (complete with fuzzy white backing). The plastic clamshell breastplate and helmet were tacky, and the helmet sported red chicken feathers. The poor guy looked horribly embarrassed to be wearing that costume. And it cost $75.00! I pitched a fit and came up with a plan B. I made two cotton tunics from a nice weight of fabric, then pulled a length of dark grey woven wool that was felted and thick from my fabric stash. I cut it into an armor shape with the dagged skirt, then put in an announcement at church for two people that could sew on buttons. They sewed heavy enameled and metal buttons on the bottom and top of each dag and around the shoulders to give the strips weight and swing when the soldiers walked. They looked great, and it cost a whole lot less than the store bought version.

    Moral: Oftentimes it pays to make your own costume since the end result in quality and fit is always better.

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  9. These are FANTASTIC! I'm really hoping to get to take my children one year.

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  10. I am in awe, as always, at the costumes. Wow. Just wow. And I also enjoy that everyone seems to be enjoying themselves - how fun. The terminator guy did not come across so well on FB -- when I see him here I REALLY see his costume. How did he DO that??? Thanks for sharing and letting us attend the Con vicariously through you Jen and John.

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  11. That Pyro. Oh how I love to play the Pyro. You get some amazing costume shots! I love seeing your con posts. ^_^

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  12. Now that comment about Star Trek TOS was a little unfair! They did more than just paint a dog pink. They also gave him a horn and antennae! HA! But we did love our cheese, didn't we? ¯(ツ)/¯

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  13. I love the elaborate, hand made costumes. But sometimes the simpler ones are the ones that I really enjoy. The Terminator costume is so elegant. It is simple, perfectly portrays the character and is something that would not be hard to replicate if you needed a simple costume idea. These posts are great. Thanks for putting them up for us.

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  14. I love the Kronk Costume!! its not one of my favorite disney movies, to be honest its not even top five. But i have always loved Kronk and Squeee cute costume!!! There are some amazeballs costumes i love looking at all the pics.

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  15. I'm liking that space dog! :-)

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  16. The pink decepticon is performance artist Defenz Mechanizm. Her costuming is consistently amazing.

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  17. After running into you guys at Celebration and last year's MegaCon, we had hoped to meet you this year to see John's mythic DF costume in person. Couldn't find you on the floor this year; will he make a command appearance at the upcoming 24 hr MK event or MNSSHP?

    Regarding little ones, yeah it was a challenge on Saturday. Between the crush of humanity, lack of changing tables in the restrooms and overtly mature cosplay that seemed to dominate Saturday, I think we'll try Sunday next year.

    Still, our kids did amazingly well considering, and we had a good time doing our first family cosplay: the Lego Movie.

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  18. That is my adorable little Hiccup! He was Woody from Toy Story the day before. We had a great time even in the madness! Took us 2.5 hrs for 3 miles also. Already working on next years costumes! Hope to run into you again! This was our second year!

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