Monday, July 7, 2014

Miami Supercon 2014

Last year I said I wasn't going back to Florida Supercon; the facility was broken down, the staff was nonexistent, and the crowds were suffocating. But - BUT!- they moved to a new convention center this year, so John and I decided to give it another try.


The new center is miles better than the last one - lots more room and big open aisles -  but parking is spread out over 14 smaller offsite garages and lots, many of which require shuttles, so that's an added stress. We only went Thursday and Friday to avoid the crowds, though, so those days were a breeze - almost dead, really - and we were able to park close and walk.

My friend Christie as hipster Elsa. Isn't her hair perfect?


While the center is much better, the Supercon staff and organization doesn't seem to have improved much. On Thursday they would only sell 2-day tickets for Friday and Saturday, but on Friday they would only sell 2-day tickets for Saturday and Sunday - so you could never buy a 2-day ticket to use on that day. They wouldn't sell single day passes in advance, either, so we had to wait in line again on Friday. Not a huge deal, but when we tried to ask about this, we were shrugged off and ignored. Urg.

I'll attempt to offset my bellyaching with pretty cosplay pictures. Hi, Link & Zelda!

The new center doesn't allow any outside food or drink - not even water! - which is especially nuts since there are no water fountains inside (!!), and only a handful of overpriced food vendors. We heard stories from friends stopped at the door by belligerent staff and forced to throw out water bottles and sandwiches, but John and I had no trouble smuggling food and drink inside a backpack. So I guess the rule is: keep it secret, keep it safe.

 
Shhhhh.

On the plus side, Supercon had a fantastic vendor room this year, filled with stuff I actually wanted to buy. That never happens! From Totoro backpacks to Pony plushes, Portal toys to handmade assemblage robots, this place was a geeky shopper's dream.



These "Woah-Botz" were SO FUN.

And don't get me started on the heaven that was artists' alley, which was the biggest I've seen yet. I spent ALL the money!!

I couldn't even fit the whole haul on our dining room table. Awww yeeeeeeah.

(Half of those are going on the give-away board for this month's art roundup, btw. Who loves ya?)

Here's my friend Dana as an angry Sith. Everyone say, "Hi, Dana!"

("Hi, Dana!")

Now check out this photo of his:

Yep.
THIS IS AWESOME.

Dana likes getting pictures with costumed kids at cons - if you ever meet him he has some great stories - so when he ran into this little girl Vader on Friday he asked her to cross her arms and look stern. Isn't it fabulous? And what a great way to treat our next generation of cosplayers!

Moving on...

Beautiful steampunk Rogue is beautiful:
 


And I love that this Chell made her own gun AND longfall boots:


Always a sucker for any version of Wonder Woman, and for Meridas who use their own hair:


A lovely Harley and Poison Ivy:

 





Probably the most impressive costume I found, and definitely the one getting the most double-takes:

I believe this steampunk chap's chair was fully automated - you can see the control stick in his right hand - and there were "smoke" towers in the back with little spinning bits on them. AMAZING. And while I don't see how he could possibly have legs in there, I figured it would be indelicate to ask.

[Update: Someone just pointed out these two are from Wild Wild West. I had to look it up - saw it ages ago, but I don't remember anything - and WOW did he nail Dr. Loveless!]


I decided to have a little fun with my editing software, and gave their photo an old-fashioned makeover:

The folding chairs in the background were really throwing off the Victorian vibe, so I just blurred them out. Let's call it water damage. :)


Phew! I'm all photo-edited out for now, but stay tuned for more fun cosplay pics later!

42 comments:

  1. Love the pics. The last two are from "Wild Wild West."

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    1. Yeah, it's gotta be Dr. Loveless and one of his henchmen! So cool.

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    2. Oh, wow, it's been so long I don't remember that movie at all! Or maybe I blocked it out? ;) Thanks!

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    3. I'm fairly certain this is the same guy.... http://youtu.be/TgrZd3a-FWA

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  2. always love your con photos. thanks so much for sharing!

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  3. OMG, I WANT that Toothless print! Love the Wonder Woman and the Steampunk Rogue!

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  4. Excellent job on the old fashioned photo makeover!

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  5. Heh. I use Wild Wild West as my "I've never even heard of steampunk!" example because so many non-punkers have seen it and get the idea. (Though it's not my favorite movie in the world.)

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  6. OMG!!!! You have a ROSALINA PRINT!!!! You actually responded to my e-mail to you about Cosplaying as Rosalina by saying you had never heard of her, and I'm so EXCITED to see that you have a print.... must win art give away and get that print!!!

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  7. I am disappointed in you, Jen (sarcasm here). WWW was out around 1999 and by some is considered the first mainstream movie to display Steampunk. Maybe you were just too young when it originally came out. Good thing it pops up on cable TV a few times a year. Always interesting to watch. Get Netflixing!

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    1. Haha! No, no, I've definitely SEEN it, it was just so bad I only watched it the one time. :D I know it's the go-to explanation of steampunk for a lot of folks, though, and the visuals WERE awesome.

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  8. How fun! Excited to see more pics! :)
    Nice pull on the prints!! Only "fun" prints around here are sketchy (heh heh, get it?) at best. Lots of great artists, just not a lot of nerd-worthy art.
    Did you and John go as the Death Eaters?
    -- Piper P from Washington State.

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    1. No, my costume isn't ready yet, and I was nervous about dressing up in a new place, what with the parking and all. We'll dress up for Leaky Con, though!

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    2. Fantastic!
      I think that'd be the only time I'd be able to dress up! When I didn't know anyone!

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  9. Beautiful pictures, as usual :) I love that Steampunk Rogue! And Dr. Loveless is EXCELLENT.

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  10. I love Wild Wild West. I'm not such a fan of Will Smith, but Kenneth Brannagh can do almost no wrong in my books. :)

    There was someone here in Calgary a few years ago ALSO cosplaying Loveless in his chair, and that guy was kneeling in the wooden box part with his legs tucked under him. Mine would have been all pins and needles within minutes, so I'm not sure how he did it all day, but it looked really effective.

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  11. You guys are lucky you didn't do Saturday. It was the only day I did this year and it was PACKED. Parking was a nightmare and all the event rooms kept getting over capacity. I feel like I didn't get to see as much. I also realized it wasn't as personable this year because it was mostly run by the staff of the convention center (they were all very cranky people) but a bigger space is a nice trade off, my anxiety didn't get as bad as last year because it's a much more open floor plan downstairs.

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    1. I was wondering how bad it got, since Thursday was a ghost town and even Friday was a bit sparse. A lot of our artist friends were worried about making any money, so I'm glad for their sake Saturday was packed - but also happy we cut out before that! ;)

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    2. They definitely made up the money on Saturday. I did some damage purchasing in artist alley! I told Jason Thomas at Red Rocket Farm that I discovered his work thanks to you and they were happy to hear that.

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  12. I think I just died when I saw your Toothless print amonst all the art you picked up at the con. SQUEEEEE!! I'm totally obsessed with HTTYD2 right now, so yeah, in total love with that print! Do you have details like who made it, if you can get it online, etc? Love all the cosplay pics, and can't wait for more!

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    1. Isn't that Toothless adorable?? It's an original by Nathan Szerdy, who usually does mostly pin-up art, but if you ask he does the BEST cute stuff. (And John ordered it, not me, but I think we'll be fighting over it!)

      Nathan's crazy nice and really fun to talk to, so if you ever see him, tell him I sent ya!

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  13. It lloks to me like he could be sitting crosslegged in there, which would explain the larger box -- impressive if he did, though. My legs would cramp up in a hot second.

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  14. Do you know if the artist you got the robot eating cereal picture has anything on line? I love it!

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    1. Yes, you can buy that one and loads more over at Red Rocket Farm!

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  15. Ok, I have to win the art giveaway this month. I want Toothless, Totoro, and Maleficent. Did you buy all my favorite characters on purpose?? :-) Will do you a more in depth picture/artist description? I'd love to support the artists if I don't win.

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    1. Oh yes, there will be a full write-up on most of those in this month's roundup! I just couldn't resist posting an art haul pic. :) I love that so many folks are already asking about them, though; feel free to ask about any specifics, and I'll link ya up.

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  16. Is that a Bianca Puff Monster sketch I see?

    Oh and I love, love, love the Sith lord / Darth pic. Especially since I just re x 670934985403 watched Star Wars Ep 4 and 5 yesterday.

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    1. That's her Totoro and an original Puff Monster, yes! Bianca is the coolest.

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  17. in a stupid whiny voice **toothlesss!!!!** I heart toothless. and the cosplay was amazing...

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  18. Oh, cons. I have a love/hate relationship with them, too. While we enjoyed much of our time at the most recent Phoenix Comicon, we weren't impressed by the poor crowd control and rude staff (My companion, who walks with a cane, was yelled at more than once to "hurry up" by line staff, and we were also denied access to the elevator once because "it's for strollers only"). I do so love the costumes and being surrounded by fellow geeks, though, sigh...I LOVE your art purchases...can't wait for the giveaway!

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  19. I spy a puff monster by Bianca Roman-Stumpff on that table!! She's an AMAZING artist--I commissioned a picture of Anthony's cat Quorra dressed as her namesake from Tron; it's absolutely incredible.

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  20. I just love the cosplay photos. Every time you go I wait with baited breath to see what you captured on camera. How in the world did you determine that Rogue was Rogue. The x on the belt was the only clue to me it was x-men, but Rogue? I know I must be missing it. Annnd, good call on the 'water damage.' That is a really great vintage effect you did. :)

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    1. Aw, thanks, Jeanne! And my main clue for Rogue was the hair! Unless someone else has that white streak, of course...

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    2. D'oh! I thought that white was some kind of hair ornament... but like furry. I don't know... but yeah I totally mistook her white streak for something different. OF COURSE that's Rogue. How blind of me not to notice. LOL

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    3. Steampunk Rogue here.... I was in a green corset, yellow skirt, with a white streak in my hair and an X on my belt & on both of my jacket sleeves. I did my best to make it pretty obvious, lol

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  21. Awwww! I love that Toothless! He has the sweetest eyes. I just want to hug him every time I see him.

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  22. Love the B&W treatment on the WWW shot, beautiful! I alas am a) broke, and b) in the UK, so can't get to this. If I send an s.a.e., could you post me Dana...?

    (worth a try, right?!)

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  23. I'm obsessed with Hipster Elsa's shirt!! Any idea where she got it?

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  24. I love steampunk Rogue, but she should have gone for full gloves, not fingerless. Fingerless kind of loses the point for Rogue. Otherwise, slammin'! Love the bright yellow lacing on the green corset. But that gear choker has got to be uncomfortable!

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    1. I'm the Steampunk Rogue & I went fingerless on purpose. I know she's supposed to wear gloves, and all of my other cosplays of her have gloves, but I wanted to make her a little more dangerous this time. I wanted to be more steampunk genuine also, and when it comes to steampunk style, the gloves are usually fingerless.

      And actually, the choker wasn't that bad. The only downside to it was the fact that my neck ended up green, lol.

      If you want to see more cosplays, check me out on facebook. My cosplay name is Seraphima. :)

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  25. Lovely! My dotter would totes squeal over the Doctor Who art! I love Toothless. Maleficent is my favorite villainess. Love Dana! He rocks.

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