MegaCon 2016 First Photos: Thursday Is The New Friday!

This is the first year MegaCon here in Orlando will last four days, so most expectations were low for Thursday's attendance yesterday - which meant we were pleasantly surprised at how many fans showed up! Still perfect shopping conditions, but also plenty of folks to give the con a fun, full feel.

 Always a good sign.

These queue lines will be full soon enough!

I will say the new MegaCon owners devised a strangely convoluted ticketing system, wherein you fill out a form in the main atrium, then follow an unmarked maze of curtained-off paths inside one of the exhibit halls to find the "ticket counters." Convention staff sent us on a wild goose chase, there were no directional signs anywhere, and I worry tomorrow's heavy crowds will find pure chaos. Fingers crossed they get this fixed soon!

In happier news, the relatively empty vendor floor meant I got some great shots of Roxy the Rancor's newest friend:

 The Luggabeast from The Force Awakens!

Roxy is still there, too:

 She's a hugely popular photo op, so by tomorrow it will be MUCH harder to get a clear shot of her like this.

But back to that Luggabeast:

I don't think they let anyone sit on it, but man, I want to sit on it.

Elsewhere on the floor, Anovos has a nice display of some of their officially licensed costumes:

And here's another display from UD Replicas:

Another great photo op:

That's a Batbike, Batcopter, AND the classic Batmobile.

 Even the steampunks have a vehicle on display:

I didn't grab pics yet, but this year MegaCon has not one, but TWO Back to the Future Deloreans available for photo ops: both the classic and the hover version from the second movie. Yesssssss.

It's only day 1, but I'm already calling it: this will be the year of Undertale cosplay:

Sorry I don't have time to post reference shots, but it's awesome to see so many cosplayers just NAILING these 8-bit characters. So, so fun.

Cosplay was of course sparse today, but here are the rest of my favorite finds:

John flipped for this one:

 She's a steampunk Vault Boy from Fallout - and those numbers are sewn-together patches from other Fallout vault uniforms. Which is super cool, if you're a Fallout fan. ;)

 More pretty steampunkery:

And check it out, Hamilton fans:

 

The Schuyler sisters at WERK!

 Disney princesses, all pre-ballgown transformations:

And here's Ariel with Eric AND Vanessa:

Oh, here's a fun one: remember how I mentioned my friend Dana makes custom wands, and does a mini-presentation where he helps your wand "choose" you?

Here he is with Alexie, our friend and his new helper, already being swarmed. (Alexie made that gorgeous dress herself, just for this!) I don't know of any other vendor who sells their goods in character like this. Looooove it soooo much. (Say hi for me if you go - I didn't want to interrupt!)

And finally, adorable little Rey is adorable:

That's all for now! I don't expect to have time to post again this weekend, so stay tuned for full reports on our Junk Lady debut, and of course ALL the cosplay pics from the rest of the con. (SO EXCITED.)