CONjure 2016 - And John's First-Ever Costume Win!

Remember about a year and a half ago when John and I presented Mark Sheppard with his own custom Crowley POP! vinyl? That happened at CONjure, a local con that drew in such small crowds, I felt like the vendors outnumbered the attendees. It was bad, y'all. So bad, they even stopped charging admission by the second day, hoping to get more bodies in the vendor hall.

I was astounded, then, when CONjure returned last weekend for a second show. And even though it was beautifully run - gorgeous hotel, solid celebrity guests, plenty of panels, etc - once again, almost no one showed up. It always breaks my heart to see a dead con (lookin' at you, ShockPop), but I think CONjure's steep $25 daily admission could have had a lot to do with it. (And, once again, they dropped admission and let everyone in for free on Sunday! This is setting a bad precedent, guys...)

I planned to skip CONjure this year, but when a friend offered us an extra badge, John and I decided to head over for the last few hours on Saturday. I even convinced John to go as Dreamfinder last minute:

It's so much more fun for John in costume, and even though we were warned there was no one there, it felt like CONjure had better crowds this year. (Although "crowds" may be too generous of a word.)

I won't bore you guys with more heart-warming stories of complete strangers going gaga for DF and Figment, but suffice to say, seeing happy people just never gets old.

Here's a mashup I've never seen: Star Wars in Oz!

Check out the little BB-8 in her basket!  Hee!

As much steampunk as I've seen, I'll admit I can sometimes get a little jaded. But this steampunk family? AMAZEBALLS:

They had several light-up elements, like the lady's monocle and inside the gent's snake head cane. They went on to win "Best Group" in the costume contest, and deservedly so!

With so few cosplayers there, John decided to enter the costume contest. It was surprisingly fun for him last time, even without winning anything, so why not, right? So we headed over to the pre-judging room, which took about an hour:

Near the end a guy in a red jacket snuck in and started filming the judges' Q&A with the contestants. I immediately recognized him: Sandeep Parikh, aka Zaboo from The Guild!

 So of course I started snapping pics with my phone:

For this interview he sat in the Xenomorph's lap:

:D

This is the #1 advantage to small cons, you guys: you just don't get this kind of interaction with celebs anywhere else. (Later Sandeep hosted a Party Bus from the con, where he and 30 guests went drinking at geek bars all night! And I know at least two of them were Epbot readers, so... how was it, guys?)

The contest itself was emceed by Dana Snyder, aka the voice of Master Shake on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Dana is HUGE Dizgeek, and zeroed in on John from stage right away.

Of course now I sound biased, but Dana seriously made this the most entertaining costume contest I've ever seen. He really played with the contestants: backing away in fear, cracking jokes, and keeping it quick and silly. (The first contestant was a little girl Ariel, so he sang the "Aa-aaa-aaaaa, a-aa-aaaa!" bit from Ariel's transformation... and then proceeded to sing the same thing for every. single. contestant. Including Deadpool and the Alien. LOVE.)

Dana did try to sing the Imagination song for John... and failed. Which was excellent.

Even though there weren't many contestants, neither of us figured John would win anything. Don't get me wrong; our Figgie is beautiful, but beside him John is really just wearing a custom suit. That's hard to stand up against foam armor and intricate dresses and whatnot.

AND YET:

He won! 

Not Best In Show, of course (that went to the armored couple beside him), but Best Individual!

(From left to right on stage there is Best Junior,  Best Technical (with the wings), Best Group, Best In Show, & Best Individual.)

Here's Dana Snyder with him afterward: 

And then Sandeep interviewing him on camera:

I'd finally fought my way through the crowd to get these pics, and John pointed me out... and then Sandeep was interviewing us both, and making dirty jokes that I went along with, but had John blushing and laughing non-stop. It was hilariously adorable. (Though I'm kind of hoping none of that ends up online anywhere...)

Afterward Sandeep asked to take a selfie with Figment, but the hand-off ended up looking like John was working out some anger issues, so I had to share:

 "No, Dreamfinder! NOOOOO!!"

:D

John was super nervous through it all, but he was positively glowing the whole way home. I'm so proud of him, and so happy to see him getting love from fellow geeks! So thanks for letting me brag on my hubby, guys. More Dragon Con cosplay is coming up next!