Friday, July 29, 2022

MetroCon 2022: Our New Cosplay Music Video!

Outside of Dragon Con, which is in a class all its own, MetroCon is my favorite convention. It's smaller, younger, funner (YEAH I SAID IT), and has a huge open dance area on the bottom concourse bopping all con long with a mix of popular dance and Disney tunes. I'm too self-conscious to join in myself, but I could watch OTHER people dance forever, so this area is pure joy.


TWO HOPS TWO HOPS

So armed with our brand new camera and gimble, John and I set out to capture as much of the spirit of MetroCon as we could, which of course means MAXIMUM DANCING.

My new favorite thing is watching cosplayers break character when I ask, "And how do you feel about... dancing?" while doing my most awkward butt waggle. Over the course of two afternoons' filming we only had a single cosplayer NOPE out of frame (while her partner stayed to boogie). The vast majority lit up with big grins and busted moves. I was continually surprised and delighted; even the shy ones usually matched my awkward energy and gave us a little hip sway with a big laugh.

Keep scrolling; the video will be at the end. I have a few pics and stories to share first. :)

Metro is an anime con, but it reps plenty of other fandoms like Avatar, Critical Role, and Disney shows like Gravity Falls or Owl House. (Special shout-out to this Ember Island Player "Toph" on the left, ha.)


Also worthy of shout-outs: these furries. Imagine wearing a full fursuit in Florida... in JULY. 

My favorites are the neon rainbow one in the middle, and the adorable Saint Bernard on the floor.

Metro also has the best vendor room:

Soooo much Kawaii pastel eye candy: art, jewelry, clothing, and, of course... lounging John DeLancie pillows from Star Trek:


I have no explanation, but really, is one needed?

My other favorite merch find was the "Adopt A Worm" booth:


The "worms" are furry tubes with googly eyes, and you could buy a variety of accessories and costumes for them ala Build A Bear. The three up top are dressed as a clown, princess, and cowboy. (Really enjoying the red nose on the clown and mustache on the cowboy, ha.)

There was also a worm nursery, with the "babies" wrapped like sausage rolls in lil blankets:


This whole concept was so completely random and silly I was instantly entranced - but alas, I didn't adopt a worm. Kinda regretting that now that I see they had tiny eyeglasses for $2. GAH.

Ahem, right, back to the video you haven't seen yet.

You're going to see a phenomenal Madam Razz from She-Rah, who was wandering around in character.


This is Madam Razz.

The music was so loud we couldn't use her audio, unfortunately, but she was talking to herself and going up to people asking questions and it was so freaking cute. When she saw how delighted I was she circled back and gave me this pie tin:


 

I figured it was her cosplay card  - which is genius - so I didn't scan the QR code until I got home the next day. Y'all. It doesn't lead to a cosplay account... IT LEADS TO A .PDF RECIPE FOR RAZZ-BERRY PIE.

Ahhh-mazing. And another reason I love MetroCon. The whole vibe here is so much more relaxed and social than our average con. In fact you'll see more groups sitting on the floor chatting together than big lines for autographs.

Ok, one last story, then we'll get to the video.

So I didn't ask *everyone* to dance; I'd wait to get the right vibe, and some characters are kinda intimidating. For those we'd just grab the in-character beauty/drama shots and go. But for one of these - a tall warrior dude in a fur cape - John surprised me by yelling out playfully, "Now, DANCE!"

The guy looked at John, eyes narrowed. "You want me to dance?

I was already cringing away, but John didn't back down. "Yeah!"

And y'all. Y'ALL. This badass Viking broke out the ballet arms and explored the studio space. Heads turned, we were straight howling, and he danced all about, face completely deadpan. After that he did some dramatic hair flips, a hood toss... the works.

Just goes to show, you never know what you'll get when you ask cosplayers to dance.

Now your reward for making it through this post: our MetroCon 2022 video! Watch for warrior dude, Madam Razz, and an especially perfect Crowley & Aziraphale from Good Omens, dancing in character:



I loooove how crisp this new camera is for close-ups, y'all. Dang. Watch this on a big screen if you can!


I hope this brings a little more light and life to your day! Oh, and I forgot to mention: Metro required either vaccination cards or a recent negative Covid test to enter, which also helped put us more at ease. Kinda wild that smaller cons are being more strict than the giants like MegaCon, but I'll take it.

We have one or two more conventions this summer, so let me know if you miss my dramatic flash portraits, or if you prefer these videos, or a mix of both. Just gauging if I should dig out the flash rig next time.

Last thing before you go: June's Squeegineer winners are Destiny K. & Angela O.! Congrats, you two, and please check your inboxes for a message from John to choose your prizes.

Everyone else: you still have 2 days to enter for July's give-away, so go, go, go!

If you're new here, the Squeegineer Give-Away is my way of saying thanks for being here. You can enter for free each month by e-mail, or by giving any amount to help support the blog through Paypal. Prizes are a wide variety of geekery - most unearthed from my office closet - like a cold cast resin Jareth pendant from Labyrinth:

(Hand sculpted and cast by the phenomenal Kristi O.)


Or this original Soul Eater painting by Bianca Roman-Stumpff:


There's lots more on the prize boards to choose from, and I add new items every couple months. You can see it all - plus all the give-away details - here on the Squeegineers page.

Love y'all! 'Til next time!

24 comments:

  1. While dressed as Belle at a con a videographer asked me to dance. Being immensely awkward and having no idea how to dance, I proceeded to do one spin, paused, and then said "Sorry". As you may expect, I was no in the final video (I've since learned prop making is more my forte :P)

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    1. Ohh, I feel for you, which is the only reason I'm laughing, hee. This is also why we get multiple shots of everyone, and only ask for dancing *after* the initial beauty/dramatic poses. As someone easily embarrassed myself, I take pains to make everyone feel super at ease, and assure them it's perfectly OK to just stand there and look cool. ;)

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  2. That is some amazingly crisp and clear video! I love the dramatic shots, but I also like these videos. Do whatever moves you that day - it's all good content. :) Glad to hear you're physically on the mend and able to enjoy events again.
    Andrea in MO

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  3. I'm not the only one who blushed when thumbnail girl winked at the camera, right? Right???? Ehum, anyway, I liked the video, it looked fun, but I also like the pics because then I can pause to look at the details of the cosplays I like the best. But I feel like you can't go wrong either way, so do what makes you happy!

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  4. Flash rig. Always a vote for flash rig from me. I rarely watch the videos for various reasons, and when I do I never really feel it - I really prefer having time for each in individual cosplay :)

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  5. Excellent job on the video! Those costumes are a-MAZE-ing! You took great pictures. Thanks for sharing that.
    Maureen S

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  6. I tried entering the Squeegineers contest by email and got a message back saying that my message was blocked.

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    1. Ack! Thx for letting us know; we just had a change in our e-mail servers and missed transferring the Squeegineer address. John's fixing it now, so try again in a few hours?

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  7. Ooooh, a mix of both, please! I love the high drama of the flash rig photos, but also the pure joie de vivre of the videos (especially the dancing, heeeeeee)

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  8. Amazing video! My favorite part was catching the zip-tie tiara!

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  9. Seeing all the cosplays was amazing! In general, I prefer still pictures of some kind (because then I can go through at my own pace), but I think for this specific event, a video (so you could get the dancing) was the way to go.

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  10. Wow. Just, wow. This is so amazing! I love, love, LOVE the dancing! It seems to make people happy, and it so fun to watch, and often really shows off their outfits and/or personality. And so crisp! For the first time, I didn't really mind that I only recognized a fraction of the cosplays, because they were all so incredible, beautiful, creative, stunning- I'm running out of adjectives! I would gladly watch a 10-15 minute video, because I would have liked just a little bit more of many of them (warrior dude!). But that's probably a lot of work for you, so I'll settle for watching this one over & over. I also like the portraits, but this made my day so much that I would choose fun happy dancing folks over still shots. Thank you so much for taking time to create these wonderful videos.

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  11. I just wanted to say that I am stuck at a sleep clinic right now waiting for doctors to come cover me in wires and medical adhesive and I was in a terrible mood, but watching this video reminded me of all the joy and creativity in the world and by the end I was bouncing around on my little medical bed and smiling like a dork along with my fellow dancing nerds. So. Thank you

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    1. Aw, I've been a bit discouraged by how badly this post is doing on FB, so your comment did my heart extra good tonight, Baker. Thank you thank you, and I hope your sleep study goes well!

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    2. Jen, don't be discouraged. I had to say goodbye to my kitty on Friday and I've been off social media for most of the weekend so I didn't see your post. But the video was fabulous and I really miss going to cons. D23 Expo next month will be my first con since 2019.

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    3. I'm so sorry your kitty passed away,friend. My condolences.

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  12. I agree with Baker, I was grinning through the whole thing! So joyful!

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  13. I rarely watch videos (although you've definitely succeeding in talking me into watching several of yours, and they are fun!), but I looooooove the flash rig drama shots.

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  14. Did that porg just swing it's ass for the camera?

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    1. Yes, yes it did. :D (I wish we could've used some of the audio so you could hear us laughing in the background.)

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  15. A mixture of both please! I love your flash-rig & regular portraits as it allows me to catch tiny details that are harder to catch in video. The videos make me smile seeing the silliness of some of the cosplayers and the movement of their costumes. ~SM3

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  16. I’m usually pro photos over video (just usually prefer to scroll rather than watch), but this made me smile the whole time! So maybe both?

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  17. OMG, I love the Ember Island Toph. Nailed it. :) I do prefer still pics over video, just because I often don't have the ability to watch a video when I pull up the blog and don't remember to do it later. I also can scroll and go back to pictures, but the video I have to restart the whole thing if I need to stop partway and come back.

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  18. Dance like no one's watching. Sing like no one's listening. Life's to short not to live joyfully.

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