Friday, November 27, 2015

MegaCon Fan Days 2015: The Perfect Con For Newbies?

I'm a big fan of MegaCon, Orlando's sci-fi convention that draws even more people than Dragon Con, if you can believe it, so I was pretty psyched when MC's owners announced a new, smaller event called "Fan Days." This 2-day con would offset the larger 4-day MegaCon coming next May.

This was Fan Days' first year, and there wasn't a lot of advance notice to the public, so attendance was a little sparse. Where MegaCon averages over 65,000 attendees, Fan Days was more in the10,000 range. It was held in the same convention center, though, and had a surprisingly great lineup of A-list celebs, artists, and vendors.

So while business was a little slow for the workers, it was near perfection for us attendees. The big panel room for celebs was never more than half full, you could shop the vendor room with ease, and parking has never been faster. That said, there were still plenty of fellow geeks and cosplayers around to keep the atmosphere lively, and just enough crowds to make it feel like a con.




A conga line of Deadpools:


This Wonder Woman later won Best Comic Book Character in the costume contest:


Steampunk Lady Flash:



And an adorable steampunk droid:
The little mustache!


Our first panel on Saturday was a Q&A with Jason Isaacs, aka Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter. I knew nothing about Isaacs going in, and so left completely charmed by his down-to-earth humility, sense of humor, and willingness to share plenty of behind-the-scenes Potter stories.

Er, sorry I didn't bring the zoom lens. :/ 

To make up for it, here's a great photo of my friend Stephanie, which she said I could share:

She asked Isaacs to hand her the book (with a sock in it, natch) while looking angry. He ended up looking more confused, then told her, "I tried!" Which I think is even better. :D

And one of my favorite tidbits from Isaacs' panel:

Lucius was originally supposed to wear pin-striped suits and modern-styled hair in the movies. Isaacs convinced the producer that since Lucius hated Muggles, though, the last thing he would want to do is look like one. Then Isaacs grabbed a blonde wig and a fur robe from the costuming department, and instantly created Lucius' iconic look.
 
Speaking of which, here's my friend Dana modeling that look:


And some more death-eatin' baddies (plus Dumbledore):


Action pose!



Now some winged lovelies from Attack on Titan:


Levi was spot-on with the eye and brow makeup:


Lady Two-Face with her two little Batgirls:



John stepped out as Dreamfinder with Figment on Saturday, and once again drew crowds of delighted Disney fans:


One group of convention staff was so enamored with John they even semi-forced him to be in the costume contest, bringing him the application form - and then a pen - in person and walking him over to the line.

Then he didn't win anything. (All together now: awwwwwww.)

Still, the crowd reaction when John came out on stage was positively heart-warming, and several of his fellow contestants even came up afterward and said how much they wished he'd won, which was so, so sweet. (Have I mentioned how much I love my fellow geeks lately? Because I LOVE GEEKS, y'all.)

Plus John said the atmosphere back stage was surprisingly relaxed, as the vast majority had no expectations of winning, and were really just there to show off their costumes and have some fun. Gotta love that.

K, back to costumes!

Griff from Back To The Future II.

And the winner of the Children's Costume Contest:

Walking Dead Minion.

(I had to bump the shadows on that photo, and when I did, that face appeared in the Minion's mouth, and creeped me RIGHT THE HECK OUT. I'm pretty sure this is the scariest photo I've ever taken. I can't even look at it as I'm typing this. Soooo, let's scroll on, shall we?)

A shadowy shot of a fabulous Harley & Poison Ivy:


And my favorite armor of the day, though I'm losing geek points since I don't know what it's from:

[Update: Aha, it's from Halo. Thanks, guys!]

Think I'll end there for now!

Coming up in part two: fun photos and snippets from the panels with Billy Boyd (aka Pippin) and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), more great cosplay, and even pictures of me in costume! (Which one? Ahhh, you'll have to wait and see. :))

19 comments:

  1. I would have probably irritated the heck out of both Mr. Isaacs and fellow convention attendees by peppering him with questions about voicing Commander Zhao and The Inquisitor. Oooooo dat voice...

    This Con looks like SUCH fun, and I can't wait for more pics!!!!

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  2. The purple armor is probably a Halo armor, but not sure which. Definitely not Master Chief, but more similar to the variations in ODST and Reach. The pistol is dead-on. There is a new Halo game coming out, so maybe it is an homage to that? Hope this helps and that someone can get you further. My girlfriend is a big fan of yours.

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    1. Yup, that's Halo. The emblem on the right collar brace is Noble Team's.

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  3. So, I read this on a pretty calm voice in my head. So, when I got to the part where you mention Jason Isaacs I screamed, out loud, HOW ARE YOU SO CALM!? YOU SAW JASON FREAKING ISAACS!!! My husband thinks I've lost it.
    In other news, my husband and I are moving down to Tampa in January, so I'm so excited that I'll be able to attend cons like this without driving a bazillion miles!

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  4. Jen, these are great photos -- love the undead minion and the banana! Too funny! I'm sorry John didn't win anything in the costume contest. The details in all of these costumes never cease to amaze and delight me!

    -Zippy

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  5. Would someone please explain the significance of the flying banana? Was it coming or going? Thanks.

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    1. The banana was hanging from the arrow with fishing line, so it was swinging around a bit which caused the blur. Now that you mention it, though, it DOES kind of look like the minion is about to catch it in his mouth!

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  6. I love Jason Isaacs - he went to school with one of my favourite film critics, and they often get him to call in for a chat on their radio show.

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  7. That white angel isn't from Attack on Titan unless I'm misremembering. Any help?

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  8. Ooh - great pics! I particularly *love* the steampunk droid - he's gorgeous! I'm glad you had fun at the convention!

    On an unrelated note, since I'm pretty sure you've mentioned in the past that you're a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, did you know they're having a Kickstarter to bring back the show? (Just seemed like the kind of thing I should tell a fellow geek about...)

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    1. Shut Up! MST3000 is coming back?? AMAZING!

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    2. Yes!! You can check out their project on Kickstarter.com (not sure if this is the place to post a link, but a search for "Mystery Science Theater" on the Kickstarter site will find it). The more support they get, the more episodes they'll be able to make! (And the happier MSTie's everywhere will be!)

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  9. OMG I love Jason Isaacs so much. I mean, I appreciate his acting. Ahem.

    Didn't know he was in the HP movies, but I've only seen the first one (ducking now) (can we still be friends?). *I* know Jason as the fabulous Capt. Hook in the 2003 Peter Pan and as Jackson Brodie in Case Histories (don't bother with season 2 though, it's not as good). But YAY YOU for getting to see him! And all the other con stuff too.

    Oh and ps, I used to work with a guy who was a dead ringer for Jason Isaacs. I would get so distracted when Keith was giving me instructions.....

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  10. I loved how Jason Isaacs just kept saying "Because I'm a wizard" when he was explaining his costume to the designers. I was laughing so hard. He was wonderful and I think he would have done an amazing job in the role of Lockhart also. :)

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  11. Okay, so it took me a second to realize that it was actually John, BUT I totally thought that the Daenerys cosplayer had Figment on her shoulder and I got so excited lolololol!!!

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  12. Hey Jen, you and John know about the Figment comic . . . right? :-D
    http://marvel.com/comics/issue/50690/figment_2014_1

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  13. Jason Isaacs is one of the nicest actors out there. I met him at a signing before Half Blood Prince (the book) came out. My friend and I made "Free Lucius" shirts. We were interviewed for a radio broadcast for them, and he was very interested in our shirts... and also knew my first name because the photographer for the event was a friend of mine. (when someone you have an enormous crush on tells you they "heard all about you".. you kind of go brainless and grinning and PINK).

    He was also in the area filming for Showtime's Brotherhood at the time.. god that feels like ages ago...

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