Shock Pop Comic Con, 2015

Last weekend John and I drove down to Fort Lauderdale for the first ever Shock Pop Comic-Con. It was held in a nice convention center, had excellent vendors and artists, easy parking, a great selection of media guests like Corey Feldman, Elvira, & Sylvestor McCoy... and practically no one there.

Yep, Friday was a complete ghost town, and even Saturday brought out very few attendees. I felt bad for the vendors, some of whom barely even made the cost of their table back, and I can only hope the con as a whole made enough to come back next year, since it really was nicely put together.

For our part, John and I had a blast in Artists' Alley buying ALL the things, hanging out with our artist friends and making several new ones, and roaming the aisles looking for cosplayers to photograph. There weren't too many, but what we did find was pretty dang impressive:

This Groot went on to win his category in the costume contest. Gotta love the plush Rocket attached to his back.

SUPER impressed with this young Maleficent's wings:

Aren't they gorgeous? (She also won in her category, I believe.)

Plus she did a great job matching the jewelry, side pouch, and dress texture from the film:

And check out the sculpted "bone" tips on the wings:

 


John brought his camera along, too, but with a wide-angle lens. He tried this once at MegaCon, and found you can get some ahhh-MAZING shots if you ask the cosplayer to lean in to the lens, like this:
 

 (I had a lot of fun editing these. That one visible eye is just too creepy, right? HEE!)

This Predator turned out a little bobble-head-ish, but I like it:

 But my absolute FAVORITE is this Skeletor:

SO GOOD. 

I should convince John to take the wide-angle to all the cons now.

I think it being the weekend of Friday-the-13th MAY have influenced a few of the costume choices:

Although these three were actually some kind of comedy troupe there at the con:

Gender-swapped Edward Scissorhands & Aquaman, plus a dapper Doctor:

 An adorable Alice & Hatter:

And be still my heart, because is this not Harold Ramis' doppelgänger?!

 EGON! 

Now I'm happy AND sad at the same time. Dangit. [sniffle]

Here's another of John's wide-angle shots:

 And Crysta from Ferngully:

(In case you don't remember her:)

 You guys know I'm a sucker for a good mashup, so this colorful Batgirl Jedi is just perfect:

 And I found him somewhere else, but I'm guessing this Superman Jedi probably came with her:

How much do I love that the one guy in this trio is dressed as Batgirl instead of Joker?

 SO SO MUCH.

:D

 More winners from the costume contest: this mom and her four daughters dressed as the MLP ponies in their Grand Galloping Gala dresses:

Parenting: you're doing it right.

Here's a comparison shot from the show, so you can tell who's who:

I love how they really nailed all the accessories! 

Plus the girls were really into their characters:

Rainbow Dash is winking, Pinkie Pie is sticking out her tongue, and Twilight is just, well, so Twilight. Love it.

And lucky for us, sleepy little Fluttershy eventually peeked out at the camera:

I think my ovaries just did a Kermit flail. SO CUTE.

So should we tell mom/Rarity that she has to have one more, to be Applejack? :D

[Update: I just heard from Seraphima, the mom, and she has a fan page here on Facebook! Oh, and Twilight Sparkle is actually her niece, not her daughter. So she's an awesome mom AND the cool aunt. ;)]

And finally, here's the costume contest's Best-in-Show:

I'm sure they announced the character, but I completely missed it. Help? 

(Love her pull-along pig!)

Update: She's wearing the Rathalos armor from the game Monster Hunter - and she's got a Facebook page here, if you want to check it out! I looked for a reference image from the game, and found this cool figure:

I like how she's even posing the same way! Hee!

K, that's does it for Shock Pop! Although lemme tell ya, I found some stellar new prints, so next month's art roundup is gonna ROCK. Can't wait.

Ah, which reminds me: I stil haven't heard from one of my three winners this month, so Swarztikoff? Please e-mail me to claim your prize!