Better Late Than Never? Florida Supercon!

Since I just featured a bunch of the art I found there, I figured it was high time I actually posted my photos from Florida Supercon a few months back!

 

(Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2. I didn't' realize until I zoomed in that his left eye was green!)

Ok, bad stuff first: this convention was terrible. It was massively overcrowded, understaffed, and poorly run. Escalators broke down, bathrooms ran out of paper, the lines to get food took up to an hour, and there were no volunteers to be found for help or panel management. Like I said: baaaaad.

Oh, and here's the line to get tickets on Saturday:

And this:

 And this:

From here you rounded that building in the far distance before making it to the inside line. And that's AFTER most folks waited up to 2 hours to get a parking space. (We parked a quarter mile away and just hoofed it up the highway.)

Fortunately we'd pre-ordered* & picked up our tickets on Friday, so we got to skip the line madness, but we heard from some poor attendees inside who didn't even get through the doors until 2 or 3 pm. GAH!

[*Correction: John just reminded me we bought our tickets at the door - that huge line is all the people who DID pre-order tickets. o.o]

I could go on about the panels that were cancelled with no warning or explanation, the credit card machines that broke down, and how the main event stage was on one end of a massive room where everyone goes to sit and talk - meaning you couldn't hear anything on stage unless you were in the first two dozen rows - but I think you get the idea. We've been to this con three times now, I think, and this year we decided would be our last. Don't go. It's not worth it, and there are much better local cons. (MegaCon, for instance.) Or, if you do go, plan on just being there Thursday and/or Friday to avoid the insanity.

Now for the good stuff: I got some great art, we heard *most* of George Takei's & Adam Baldwin's panels (over all the talkers & portable boom boxes), and I manged to grab some Ok cosplay photos. Most importantly, though, this was a good excuse to get out of the house for a few days,  since that was right after I'd hit a virtual wall blogging.

So, onto the photos!

Pretty Ariel with her dinglehopper. :)

Steampunk TARDIS! I love the staff with the lantern and exploded clock.

Lovely Star Trek crew members

(I vaguely remember an episode where some natives put flowers on the crew...)

My dad recently bought me a new photo editing program called Perfect Photo, and I've been playing around with it for the past few weeks. It seems to do just about everything I'm used to accomplishing in Photoshop, so if you're looking for a more user-friendly (not to mention less expensive) PS alternative, I think I'd recommend it. (I tend to stay away from the portrait settings, though, since it's way too easy to make faces look like glowy plastic. Heh.)

I'm far from proficient, of course, and a lot of my photos weren't that great to begin with, but here's an example of what Perfect Photo lets me do:

Fun, right? (I've been playing with this program all night, you guys. HALP.)

Every cosplay pic so far in this post has also been adjusted with the program. It's pretty time-consuming, though, so for most of the rest I stuck with just a few basic iPhoto tweaks:

Ack! DOCTOR DOOM AND MINI DOOM! SO. CUTE.

I like to get down on my knees when photographing kids - and in this case, I think that helped get little mini-Doom's attention:

  I love this shot.

This steampunk Poison Ivy had fun glittery eyebrows:

Like most cons these days, this one was overflowing with Homestuck trolls:

 (That's not an insult, btw; the characters are actually called trolls. :))

I found this delightful group just inside the doors:

On Saturday we literally couldn't even get onto the main floor, so I hugged the wall by the entry doors and snagged cosplayers as they rounded the aisles. I only lasted a few hours that way, but Saturday tends to draw the best costumes!

 Bane, Cobra Commander, & the Baroness.

More Borderlands baddies.

Deadpool duo and a sad little Castiel. (D'awww.)

Journey and Final Fantasy.

Iron Patriot and random Burlesque prettiness.

This little cutie is becoming quite the celebrity:

Her website supports a dog rescue charity, though, so rest assured she's using her powers for good. :)

Proof that cosplay doesn't have to be too difficult or expensive to be super fun: 

Not to mention a reminder that we should never take ourselves too seriously. :D

More Perfect Photo magic:

 This Scarecrow is a girl, btw.  RESPECT.

Here are a few photos from the giant room off the main floor - the one with the wrestling ring, celebs, panel stage, and a thousand weary con-goers all vying for space:

That's my friend Christie as the 6th Doctor. The guy with the wings was trapped alongside one wall, but people kept standing in front of his wings, so it was impossible to get a clear shot. (Poor guy - he looked kinda miserable.)

And finally, some badass women:

Yes, including the dwarf. 

LOVE IT.

Hope you liked my pics, guys! There are still a few more, so if you'd like to see the rest just head over to my Flickr gallery.

Today John and I are off to yet another local con, and tomorrow we're heading to a Ren Faire down in Sarasota. Wish us luck, and watch for my photo reports next week!