MegaCon Fan Days 2015: The Perfect Con For Newbies?

I'm a big fan of MegaCon, Orlando's sci-fi convention that draws even more people than Dragon Con, if you can believe it, so I was pretty psyched when MC's owners announced a new, smaller event called "Fan Days." This 2-day con would offset the larger 4-day MegaCon coming next May.

This was Fan Days' first year, and there wasn't a lot of advance notice to the public, so attendance was a little sparse. Where MegaCon averages over 65,000 attendees, Fan Days was more in the10,000 range. It was held in the same convention center, though, and had a surprisingly great lineup of A-list celebs, artists, and vendors.

So while business was a little slow for the workers, it was near perfection for us attendees. The big panel room for celebs was never more than half full, you could shop the vendor room with ease, and parking has never been faster. That said, there were still plenty of fellow geeks and cosplayers around to keep the atmosphere lively, and just enough crowds to make it feel like a con.

A conga line of Deadpools:

This Wonder Woman later won Best Comic Book Character in the costume contest:

Steampunk Lady Flash:

And an adorable steampunk droid:

The little mustache!

Our first panel on Saturday was a Q&A with Jason Isaacs, aka Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter. I knew nothing about Isaacs going in, and so left completely charmed by his down-to-earth humility, sense of humor, and willingness to share plenty of behind-the-scenes Potter stories.

Er, sorry I didn't bring the zoom lens. :/ 

To make up for it, here's a great photo of my friend Stephanie, which she said I could share:

She asked Isaacs to hand her the book (with a sock in it, natch) while looking angry. He ended up looking more confused, then told her, "I tried!" Which I think is even better. :D

And one of my favorite tidbits from Isaacs' panel:

Lucius was originally supposed to wear pin-striped suits and modern-styled hair in the movies. Isaacs convinced the producer that since Lucius hated Muggles, though, the last thing he would want to do is look like one. Then Isaacs grabbed a blonde wig and a fur robe from the costuming department, and instantly created Lucius' iconic look.
 
Speaking of which, here's my friend Dana modeling that look:

And some more death-eatin' baddies (plus Dumbledore):

Action pose!

Now some winged lovelies from Attack on Titan:

Levi was spot-on with the eye and brow makeup:

Lady Two-Face with her two little Batgirls:

John stepped out as Dreamfinder with Figment on Saturday, and once again drew crowds of delighted Disney fans:

One group of convention staff was so enamored with John they even semi-forced him to be in the costume contest, bringing him the application form - and then a pen - in person and walking him over to the line.

Then he didn't win anything. (All together now: awwwwwww.)

Still, the crowd reaction when John came out on stage was positively heart-warming, and several of his fellow contestants even came up afterward and said how much they wished he'd won, which was so, so sweet. (Have I mentioned how much I love my fellow geeks lately? Because I LOVE GEEKS, y'all.)

Plus John said the atmosphere back stage was surprisingly relaxed, as the vast majority had no expectations of winning, and were really just there to show off their costumes and have some fun. Gotta love that.

K, back to costumes!

Griff from Back To The Future II.

And the winner of the Children's Costume Contest:

Walking Dead Minion.

(I had to bump the shadows on that photo, and when I did, that face appeared in the Minion's mouth, and creeped me RIGHT THE HECK OUT. I'm pretty sure this is the scariest photo I've ever taken. I can't even look at it as I'm typing this. Soooo, let's scroll on, shall we?)

A shadowy shot of a fabulous Harley & Poison Ivy:

And my favorite armor of the day, though I'm losing geek points since I don't know what it's from:

[Update: Aha, it's from Halo. Thanks, guys!]

Think I'll end there for now!

Coming up in part two: fun photos and snippets from the panels with Billy Boyd (aka Pippin) and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), more great cosplay, and even pictures of me in costume! (Which one? Ahhh, you'll have to wait and see. :))