Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Best Cosplay of Dragon Con 2014, Pt 4

Time to dive back into Dragon Con cosplay, 'cuz there's still SO MUCH to see!

Let's start with my dear friends Robyn & Christie, who once again blew me away with new costumes this year:

 Fire & Ice Dragons!


 
Robyn as the Ice Dragon.

The sisters made everything themselves, but it's those elaborate headpieces that really steal the show:
 
The wire armatures outline dragon heads! WOW.

(I so want to make a giant feather headdress now, you guys.)

I later learned they also made elaborate - not to mention stunning - back spines that trail all the way to the floor, so I'm bummed I didn't get a shot from the back. I talked Christie into posting build photos, though, so head over to their Facebook page for more pics and to see how they did it all. (Christie's armor is made of individually cut scales of craft foam!)

Moving on, another gorgeous pair:

 Elphaba & Glinda from Wicked!

Belle, Meg, and Lilo:

 And I just realized Westley/The Dread Pirate Roberts is wearing a vial of Iocane powder. LOVE. (He's the Cary Elwes look-alike from my last post.)

You see a lot of "only at Dragon Con" stuff at DC, but I thought this group was especially perfect:

Yep. That's Dragon Con.

And a close up of one of the Borg:



I was thrilled to find this: Karen Hallions' famous Haunted Mansion Leia!

 She asked me to help with the pose, but I think she nailed it on her own.

 This steampunk Wizard of Oz group is perfect. PERFECT, I SAY:

I especially love the Tin Man's design; his metal heart had a rotating light feature in it. Also check out Dorothy's little Toto & sparkly boots, and the Cowardly Lion's Courage medal!

Oh, and Glinda's staff blew bubbles! You can see some here in a later shot:


Harrison from Volpin Props in his "Marriott Chariot":

You probably remember, but I posted a group shot of the Marriot carpet ninjas earlier.

If you love amazing prop builds, btw, check out Harrison's site. His Skyrim armor is the stuff of legends.

Oh! Speaking of armor:

Awesome.

Anyone remember the live-action show of The Tick?

Captain Liberty & Bat Manuel! YES!!

I'm having a terrible time finding a clear reference shot, but here's a general idea:

Those two are so spot-on, it's scary. They even look like the actors!

Lady Skeletor:


 Here's a dapper twist on Jack & Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas:

 Plus a great Doctor Doom.

I was in costume myself Saturday night, and this is my second favorite shot of the night:

 My vision is so limited in the helmet that I had NO IDEA who I was posing with until afterward. Ha!

There were two or three truly amazing kid costumes at DC this year, and this Doc Oc was one of them:

It was hard to get close to him, but my dad - who loves costume hunting as much as I do, and was often right beside me taking his own pics - got a fantastic shot:


In fact, while I'm at it, here are two more of Dad's, of cosplays I missed:

MINE?
(I love how everyone's headgear is different!)

And an absolutely stunning Maleficent:

You can see the rest of my Dad's Dragon Con photos here on Flickr.

K, back to my stuff! A great Borderlands group:


And I'm not sure of the character, but this girl's giant keyboard had fun color-changing lights underneath:

(Aha! Per the comments, she's Arcade Sona from League of Legends. Here's a reference:)



Not sure this counts as cosplay, exactly, but this lady had her own Mobile Virtual Presence Device, like Sheldon's from the Big Bang Theory!

If you're not familiar, it's basically a web cam on wheels that she was operating remotely - I assume from her hotel room. The device DID have a handler walking beside it for protection, but how cool is this for folks who don't want to brave the crowds in person?

Here's a classic:
Blue Screen Of Death!! ha!

 I've seen some impressive Homestuck cosplay before, but this is my new favorite:

It's a Homestuck Star Wars mashup! So, so good.

(Homestuck trolls have gray skin and orange horns. If you go to any conventions, you've probably seen the cosplay, even if you didn't know what it was.)

And another great mashup:

Iron Man Totoro!

I featured this Totoro last year, I believe, and his makers told me they planned to make different costumes for him to wear each year. I LOVE this idea; like Totoro is cosplaying, too!

One of the Iron Man armor variations:

And a spookily-lit Splicer from BioShock:


Splicers come in all different outfits, but here's a general reference shot:

My gosh that game is scary. 

(I still haven't made it all the way through the first BioShock; I chicken out when the lights go out on that second floor hallway. [shudder] For some reason I didn't find BioShock 2 as bad, though.)

A terrible shot, but this is a lovely Doctor Crusher doppelgänger!


And more loveliness: an Athenian warrior:


And... Jean Gray? I think?

Scratch that; she's Black Widow. Thanks, commenters!

Ok, THIS one I know:

Uncle Fester!


Emma Frost has a diamond form, so this cosplayer is kind of mid-transformation:

Spaaaarkly.

I'm not sure what to call this style of Anna & Elsa, but it's vaguely Moulin Rouge-ish, and completely gorgeous:

Check out Elsa's levitating snowflakes! I assume there's a wire wrapped around her finger - simple, but oh so impressive for pics.

I loved this Effie Trinket from Hunger Games so much I had a little fun with her photo:

If you look verrrry closely, you can see there are even butterfly shapes in her eyelashes.

And here's Effie from the movie, for comparison:


The attention to detail is amazing; she even has the little butterflies glued to her arm, and the same yellow blush!


I'm going to end there, since John tells me I've spent more time and effort on this post than I have an entire week's worth of Cake Wrecks post. Heh. I do hope you guys are ok with me dragging out my Dragon Con coverage like this. Truth is, every year I feel so rushed to get all my photos posted that I think we both miss out. This way, I can take my time, play with photo editing as much as I like, and you guys get an extended DC visit, broken up over a longer time period.

Of course, I take so many photos at DC each year that I just realized I could easily post a different costume every day for a year. Hm... now THERE's an idea... for a different blog... when I have unlimited time. Ha!

Hope you guys are having a great weekend!

***
{Click here for Part 5, or here to go back to Part 1.}

33 comments:

  1. "Jean Grey" is, in fact, Black Widow. :) love the photos!

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  2. Pretty sure the "Jean Grey" chick is supposed to be Black Widow. Also, the girl with the huge keyboard might be Hatsune Miku.

    I love these costume pics, so you can drag it out as long as you like! :)

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    Replies
    1. Hm, maybe not Hatsune Miku. The outfit is different. But same blue/teal hair and she's a "singer," so...

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    2. It's Arcade Sona from League of Legends.

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  3. The girl with the blue hair and keyboard is Arcade Sona, from League of Legends.

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  4. Amusingly, the "Jean Gray" photo file name actually does say "Black Widow" in it. I think you might be playing with us, Jen. :)

    I love the photos! I will never be able to attend these conferences in person because my anxiety just ... ugh. No. But I love to see all the creativity shown in the costumes!! Thank you for sharing!

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    1. lol - no, I just couldn't decide between Black Widow & Jean Gray! Maybe I'll stick to my first guess next time. ;)

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    2. The clue to tell it's Black Widow is the red hourglass shape on the belt (like the markings of a black widow spider).

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  5. Take your time! As far as I'm concerned, you can keep right on posting these until the NEXT Dragon Con rolls around. I don't want to miss a one!

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  6. The girl with the keyboard is Sona from League of Legends. These are all awesome! Don't worry about how long it takes to get your photos up. No one on Epbot cares about seeing your photos more than your stress level. This is the relaxation blog, remember?

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  7. the Jane Grey is actually Black Widow ;)

    Love all the shots and Effie Trinket is awesome!

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  8. Take your time. I enjoy all the posts whenever they come.

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  9. I, too, was going to mention that "Jean Grey" was actually Black Widow (and I'm a DC fan), but I see a few people already beat me to it. So I'll just mention that, thanks to the two sets of Oz pictures, I can tell everyone that I featured this post on my Wizard of Oz blog. Check it out at The Wonderful Blog of Oz.

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  10. Came to point out black widow as well...but since that's been done I'll stay to say thanks for stretching out the pictures over a few posts! Makes the giddy glee last a bit longer. :)

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  11. The Bat Manuel and Captain Liberty are Ian and Tammy Leino. He's a graphic designer and sells awesome geek/fandom shirts (I have his first Doctor Whoville design). Here is a link to Tammy's interview with the Geekiary about their cosplay: http://thegeekiary.com/summer-cosplay-series-1x14-tammy-ian/17100 and here is Ian's FB page which has some in process shots for their costumes https://www.facebook.com/IanLeino

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    1. Thanks for including us in a Best of DragonCon post - that's a high honor! We loved being Batmanuel and Captain Liberty, even if just for a day :)

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  12. Are we "okay" with trickling out the photos? I think these posts are gifts. Thanks for allowing me (us) to live vicariously though your conventions. I live in Vancouver and am only just starting to experience bigger cons with amazing costumes like this.

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  13. I love seeing all your photos! Since I haven't been able to make it up for Dragon Con the past 2 years, I look forward to the photos - I don't feel like I'm missing out *quite* so much on my favorite event every year :) So thank you!!

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  14. I know Batmanuel and Cptn Liberty! Ian and Tammy are crime Asheville. Ian is a geeky artist and I think you'd love his stuff. His website is http://ianleino.com. We own lots of his tshirts.

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  15. Yes we're OK with it! Do you have more?????

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  16. Take your time! I'm still running on a DC high from having an epically awesome experience this year, and am already SOOO excited to go again next year (already bought our memberships!). I, for one, would be totally cool with you posting DC pics year-round, because it will never get old. :-)

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  17. love the pictures, keep posting them,
    and the butterfly lady, just fantastic

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  18. Wow! So many great costumes - I'm on complete inspiration overload! The dragons are especially amazing - thank you for linking to their FB page. The construction of the fire dragon is so clever!

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  19. I LOVE you dragging out your posts like this! I forget that there's going to be another, then it pops up in my feed and makes my morning. Thank you so much for putting all the work in.

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  20. I'm also enjoying the gentle trickle of posts, it makes the experience last longer and lets you also fit in lots of other fun stuff too! Plus they make me pay more attention to all the details and prettiness - those dragons! But I would be happy with whatever situation you find most convenient - if this works then great!

    (I feel you on Bioshock too - I'm playing it now (years behind and on easy mode, that's pretty standard for me) and I could not have finished the first section without my friend sitting next to me and poking me in the side going 'Dooo it, go into the dark you'll be fiiiine.' She was lying of course. But still, the effort was appreciated.)

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  21. LOVE the pics! Thanks for sharing them - I don't mind the multiple posts.
    In the vein of "only at DragonCON"..... that mashup pic had...... a costumed character relaxing on the floor checking out their iPhone (on the right), amiright? And in the same shot is a man in a fairy (?) costume obviously posing for someone out of sight. LOL!! I bet those kinds of shots happen a lot.
    Also had to say something about your own photo with the photo bomb squad. You had no idea who you were posing with, but look at your POSE, gurl!! You rock that attitude!!
    Maureen S

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  22. Those fire & ice dragons are GORGEOUS.
    Freakin' A! Effie Trinket is perfect. That's amazing. I wouldn't even know where to FIND that many butterflies.
    Thanks for the post Jen, always fun to see so much creativity!
    --Piper P from Washington State

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  23. That Effie is amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing.

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  24. I love these posts... and I love your inclusion of reference shots with your amazing pictures.

    Sometimes, I feel like seeing your posts may be better than being there! I get to notice the intricacy and detail that would get lost in the Con Blur!

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  25. I love the costume pics since i am not able to go to cons due to work / money/ life (laaaameee) I really love those dragon pics the costume it is just amazeballs n.n!! I really do love your pics.
    and a note I am the same Nancy J that always posts but i started a blog (you totally inspired me to just do it) that is why my google thing is different.

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  26. Love that one of the 'mine' seagulls is sitting on a pizza planet pizza box!

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  27. Thanks for including my sister and I as Anna and Elsa! It's an honor for such a good photographer to want to shoot us and to be on the same page as the Rees sisters. (We were going for a Victorian style, or more specifically- a Lolita style.)

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