The Best of MegaCon 2011, Part 4

Ok, final post on MegaCon - all from Sunday, the last day of the convention.

Let's start with a little GI Joe action:

You might recognize the steampunk Baroness from my photos of the Miami Comic-Con last month. I got to chat with her for quite a while on Friday: we talked corsets, steampunk, her various other costumes, and some of her stranger encounters at cons. It was fascinating. (She goes by Aleta Pardalis online, btw, and I did my best to convince her to start her own blog - so fingers crossed!) Now I kind of want to do a documentary on cosplayers - although I'm sure several probably already exist.

The Scarlett was especially adorable:

Love those colors!

You might ask why there are KISS cosplayers at a scifi and comic book convention:

But the real question is, Why not?

I'm sure it will surprise absolutely none of you to learn that this was one of my favorite shots of the day:

Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster: yes, have some!

Which is a perfect segue into the Ecto 1:

K-9 was there, too!

Here's the youngest Harley Quinn of the con, with a sweet Poison Ivy for a mom:

This guy on the right was a steampunk Shredder:

Let's pause to hum the theme song to TMNT to show our appreciation. Hmmm mm mm mm ummm mmm, turtle power!

Another great Plants vs Zombies costume:

And some lovely ladies from the new movie Sucker Punch:

Hey, remember the lady bombshell of the blue suit? Well, it turns out she wasn't Samus of Metroid; she was Sue Storm from the Fantastic Four. We know, because we asked her. While she was wearing this:

Now, if only we'd asked her who this was supposed to be. Any guesses?


Since that's a hard cosplay act to follow, allow me to instead show off the cutest backpack of the con:

We learned during the costume contest that this is Clank from Ratchet & Clank. (Hence the girl's ears.) Isn't he adorable?

In fact, there were tons of great plush backpacks around: Star Wars, teddy bears, cute little anime animals - you name it. This Animal one made me laugh:

Now I'm inspired to turn a few of my larger stuffed animals into backpacks. Who's with me??

Ok, back to the costumes:

A sweetly refined Victorian lady...


...and a kick-@ss Roller Derby Leia:

And yes, she was wearing roller skates. Awesome.

Two My Little Pony fillies:

There was always a huge crowd out in front of the entrance to the main con area. A lot of the Anime kids would set down boom boxes there and hold impromptu dance sessions. Which is what these three are doing:

Only at a con. ;)

Meanwhile, right behind them this was happening:

And this:

And also this:

Here's a great Captain America:

An evil clown pirate:

Ha!

[Buggy the Clown from One Piece? Ok. If that means something to you guys...]


Ooh, and this was cool: Spider-Woman!

And finally, an adorable steampunky Moogle:

Isn't she great? I love the hair.


And that's it! [Whew!] We now return to our regularly scheduled geekery. :D

Procrastination Station

Because work is overrated.

- The Secret Messages in 12 Logos

For example:


Can you spot the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo?
(Yeah. Mind = BLOWN) Hit the link for the other eleven.


- Make a Book a Day

Donna Meyer is making a new book every day for 365 days. So far she's used everything from boxes to leather, and playing cards to LPs:

Thanks to Craft: for this fun find.

With over fifty days and books already under her belt, you're sure to come away inspired!

Or, for a laugh, there's always:

- Awfully Photoshopped Wedding Pictures

So bad, they're good.

And speaking of bad, don't miss:

- Badass of the Week (found via Wired)

This is the story of a Japanese hero, Hideaki, who grabbed a set of scuba gear after the tsunami and dove in to his flooded village to rescue both his wife and mother. You'd think a post like this would make you cry, but in fact it's written in such a hilarious (and NSFW due to language) manner that you'll be grinning and high-fiving everyone around once you finish. Great pictures, too.

The Best of MegaCon 2011, Part 3

I got so many great photos at MegaCon on Saturday that I had to split the day's post in two. Here's the second half:

I don't know the character, but I love this costume! Let's call her Samurai Fish. With piglet.

The Joker & Harley Quinn get married?

These guys are ready to believe you:

This is the first time I've seen The Real Ghostbusters - aka the animated version - cosplay! Love the red glasses on Spengler. (The guy on the right just happened to be standing there; he's from GB2.)

These three were amaaazing:

Again, I don't know the characters - assuming they *are* characters, and didn't just invent cool costumes.The guy had small birds all over his costume, which you can see better here:

The feather headpieces on the girl in red were just gorgeous, too.

Anyone else play Kingdom Hearts?

That's one creepy looking Halloween Town Sora.

This lady had a neat concept costume: "Sarah, Queen of the Goblins."

Hey, any reference to The Labyrinth is good with me!

When I pointed this next girl out to John, I'm pretty sure he blushed:

While I took her picture John stared studiously at the floor. Ha! (He was convinced she was 16. I'm pretty sure she was older than that, though.) She's from World of Warcraft, btw.

Time for a Bender!

Saturday evening was the costume contest. We photographed most of the best entries before or after the show, but the only shot I got of this Super Family was onstage:

They entered their newborn baby as baby Superman, and then dressed as his parents Jor-El & Lara! Talk about starting your geeky parenting off on the right foot - this kid is going to have a super childhood, I just know it. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

Here's a handmade Zazu puppet, ala The Lion King:

And now those Bioshock photos I promised:

YES! They even found a willing Splicer to play dead for them.

Look out! There's another one behind you! *giggle*

(Actually, to be more accurate that Splicer should be ambushing me in the bathroom. Eh? Am I right, or am I right?)


Hey, Jokers, why so serious?

Captain America:

This next guy made his entire Iron Man costume. As often as I've seen great Iron Man costumes, I still can't wrap my brain around that.

Amazing.

A cool looking Mandalorian:

I got a chance to chat with the builder of that great Time Machine, Thomas Galvin, and also to take a few detail shots:


The large disk/saucer in the back actually rotated, and the whole thing is built on a medical scooter, so Thomas can drive it! It took 15 months to build, and took first place in the 'Technical Achievements" category of the costume contest.

Here's a shot of the console, which was set to the day's date:

You can see a few progress pictures, plus get links to Thomas' video series, here.

And finally, here's the stuff a geek's dreams are made of:

Two time machines! Can I get a "Awwww, yeeeaaah!?"

Just one more post of MegaCon costumes coming up, and then we'll get back to some crafty tuts and general geekery. Thanks for bearing with my cosplay craziness, all. :)

The Best Costumes of Megacon 2011, Part 2

Oh, you guys, Saturday at Megacon was sooo crowded!

Don't believe me? Check this out:

Yeah. Oy.

With great crowds, however, come great costumes. So let's get right to 'em:

An excellent (though backlit) Joker and Batman.


Everyone's favorite Big Sister:

You'll be seeing more of her (with her Little Sister and Big Daddy!) in my next post.

Old school Joker with a gorgeous Harley Quinn:

I really like the way this Splicers shot came out:

Sometimes a little over-exposure can be sweet.

And now: Steampunk!

And a closer look at these two:

Check out the hardware on these guys:

Pyramid Head:

Ok, this next one made me laugh. I was shooting this awesome zombie pirate - he just had a skull for a head - when he suddenly noticed me standing there with the camera. Now, you wouldn't think a zombie skull could smile, but darned if he didn't manage it!

Take a look:

It's all in the head tilt.



Prepare to do a double-take:

It's the Christopher Reeve look-alike from Dragon*Con!
And can I just say: grrrrrrowl.

(That was my sexy tiger growl. In case you couldn't tell.)

Oh, and also the Silver Surfer. (He's on his surfboard, but I'm so short I had an arm get in the way. Sorry.)

These guys were fun:

And this guy was just plain "Weird."

Can I call you Al?


More great Tangled cosplay:

Heh. Aheh.


I actually managed to startle myself with this one:

Hey, you try having this pop up full-screen while you're sorting photos. It's kinda creepy, Ok?

Oh, I should mention that we went to both Trek panels: first for William Shatner, and then for the TNG trio:

Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, and Michael Dorn.

Interestingly enough, right off the bat Marina assured the crowd that this panel wouldn't be as bad as the one at Dragon*Con last year. So I guess they must have gotten a lot of (deserved) flak for that train wreck. Anyway, I'm happy to report that it was much better: plenty of laughs and fun, and no drama at all.

Now let's continue with a pink, half-nekkid Snork:

Just kidding. He's not a Snork. He's a [commenters, please fill in the blank here*], of course!

[*Majin Buu from Dragon Ball Z. Thanks!]

And speaking of mysteries, who wants to guess what's keeping this lovely lady in her costume?

I'm going with "a hope and a prayer," myself.

This one's for my friends Scott & Missy:

And finally, one more goofy cartoon reference:

It's Powdered Toast Man.

Who is from Ren & Stimpy.

Which I learned from Google.

That's only the first half of Saturday's photos. Part two, coming soon!