MegaCon Orlando 2019: STORY TIME! (With ALL The Photos)

MegaCon Orlando was bigger - and arguably better - than ever this year, and John and I had an absolute blast taking cosplay photos and video all weekend.

I used to hoard my photos until I'd edited them properly, but lately I've been posting more Instagram Stories - pics and highlights almost in real time, right from the convention floor. Since this is in-between our flash photos and filming, I'm not sacrificing our "real" coverage to do it, and it makes the day more fun for me.

The great thing about IG Stories is they're fast and easy, so I can share a few little things every few hours.

The bad thing is they disappear after a day, so only a fraction of you get to see them in time.

So, since John and I are both furiously editing our video and portraits over here, how about a down-and-dirty YouTube compilation of all my Stories from the weekend?

(Mind your volume; a few clips have sound around the halfway mark.)

 I recommend watching this full-screen on YouTube so you can read my captions. Just consider it the graphic novel version of my usual cosplay post, ha.

That doesn't even scratch the surface of what I took on my phone, though, so brace yourself: here come a bunch more!

(Jenifer Scout)

Vanessa from Little Mermaid is showing her Ursula side. Clever girl. 

(The tentacles are attached with clear line to her arms, so they moved with her.)

Darkwing Duck the Mandolorian:

 

 Let's. Get. DANGEROUS.

The perfect pun mashup, Captain Jack:

(Mark K)

His shield has the skull and crossbones!

Another pun cosplay - and this one will separate the nerds from the SUPER nerds:

Finding Nemo. (Nemo being the captain of the Nautilus in 20,000 Leagues.)

I'm proud to say those are our friends (and FOE) Jen, Jeff, and their daughter Em. After all, people who are THIS nerdy pretty much have to be our friends. :D

 INCOMING CUTENESS ALERT:

There were sooooo many costumed kids there Saturday, and seeing these cosplayers interact with them renewed my faith in humanity.

(BMBshellCostumes)
She-Ra handing little Anna her first sword.

I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING

(OK I'm crying.)

There were also tons of gender-swapped cosplays this year! I'm a fan. Anything that lets cosplayers put their own spin on a character is fantastic.

One of the things that made MegaCon so great this year was Cosplay Alley. It was just three photo backdrops set side-by-side, but they were placed on one end of a MASSIVE open floor area - far bigger than last year's. That allowed plenty of room for large crowds of cosplayers to mingle, and plenty of room for photogs like us to chase them down:

MegaCon also scheduled group photo opps in this area every 30 minutes, so there was a constantly rotating crowd of cosplayers. This was BRILLIANT, and made it easy for lone cosplayers to find their groups:

Umbrella Academy!

 

Umbrella Academy, Part 2!

These two are in my Top Five from the whole con:

(AllDogsGoToDevan)

Uncle Fester and his fiance Debbie, from Addams Family Values!

We got video of these two later, and they were so good at acting in character that we about died laughing. (I think John's leaving our laughter in for the video, ha.) Look for that in my next MegaCon post!

There was a lot of deep cut cosplay this year - things you almost never see -  so much so that it started to feel like Dragon Con! Usually you only see the more obscure and super nostalgic characters in Atlanta, but last weekend I spotted Fieval, Cone Heads, and even Teen Wolf:

 Boo from Monsters, Inc.

... in her own costume!

Gorgeous Rose and Pink Diamond from Steven Universe.

I'm showing off this Scrap Baby everywhere, so yes, I'mma post her AGAIN:

Scrap Baby is from Five Nights At Freddy's, which I've never played, but I already love her. C'mon, she's a murderous (I assume) orange robot with pigtails. And this build is stunning! There are lights and rust and wobbly knee springs, and the maker, @purplemako, is a total sweetheart who made every bit of it herself. (John and I chatted with her dad for a while. Great family!)

Another epic Jack mashup: Jack Sparrow, Disney Princess:

(KosplayKev)

I like how the light-up skirt looks like ocean waves.

These two ladies are high-fashion versions of the River Spirit and Haku from Spirited Away:

(Jessica Harkonnen & Peekaboo Cosplay)

That's John filming her on the right; I was snapping these from off to the side.

I can't get over how beautiful this Haku headdress is:

Swoon-worthy.

My friend Emma does the most amazing cel-shading for her Tank Girl:

(EmmaJiqRubini)

And more jaw-dropping makeup skills on this Hades:

(Travampire)

WHOA.

These three would fit right in at Disney's Dapper Day:

Dapper Kylo, Praetorian Guard, and Leia!

Hazel and Cha Cha from Umbrella Academy:

And the DC Bombshells!

(TheBombshellsCosplay)

My final photo of the con was taken while waiting to cross the street to get to our car:

You're welcome, ladies and gents.

But wait, I have more!

Because I'm obsessive, I'm been watching the Megacon hashtags on IG -  and found a few more magical moments you're gonna love:

 "We're from another another dimension."

(Photo via @ghostprincesscosplay)

I thought this was a photoshop of 2 cosplayers, you guys, but it's actually 4 people! Hit that photo link for all their accounts. CONVENTION MAGIC!

Here's what happens when 7 Rapunzels are startled by 5 different Flynn Riders:

Sha-POW! I like that the one in the middle has Flynn tied up with her hair, haha.

Photo via @seraphima2846, hit that link for all their accounts!

And one last interactive cosplay I wish I'd caught in person:

Frankie here found every Daenerys and presented her with coffee, like this:

Bahahah! I love how quickly cosplayers play out the latest memes and insider jokes, it's just so good.

There's a whole slide show of Frankie offering coffee here, along with all the cosplayers accounts. Go see!

I'm doing my best to credit every cosplayer that wants it, so if you see yourself and have a cosplay account you'd like me to link to, please comment with your info! And as always, cosplayers, feel free to download & share my pics of you. 

 

I know this was a long post, but I hope these made you even half as happy as they've made me. Mostly because I'm going to keep going to conventions, taking photos, and raving about awesome cosplayers anyway, so it's nice if someone else enjoys my efforts. :P

*****

Speaking of which, if you DO love posts like these, and want to help support me and John so we can keep going to cons and paying for hotels and giving free photos to cosplayers, consider shopping through our Amazon links! (USA, UK, Canada.) That costs you nothing, but gives us a little kickback.

Or, if you're feeling super-duper generous, you can donate to us directly through Paypal. If you do that, well, dang. I love you an EXTRA 3,000.

Thanks to everyone for just being here, though, and letting me have the best job ever.