Dragon Con 2017: The Best Cosplay, Pt 1!

Tonight Irma's gonna rock us like a hurricane, but 'til we lose power I'll just be here in my boarded-up house, writing about stuff I love.


I always have a hard time choosing which of my favorite cosplays to show you peeps, but this year, with our new flash setup? SO MUCH HARDER. Now that most of my shots are actually in focus I have lots more options, and options that look pretty dang cool, if I do say so myself:

Looooooove.

I'll still have some non-flash photos mixed in for that "con feel," of course, and to remind you just how terrible my photos are without flash, ha:

 

(I will never not photograph a Mulan group of Geisha guys - plus they have the Match Maker!)

The flash doesn't work for large groups or on especially dark costumes, so I often had to switch back and forth on the fly.

But enough jibber-jabber. ON TO THE COSTUMEY GOODNESS.

[Sith: Once Upon A Khaleesi Cosplay Leia: Red Enchantress Cosplay]

Starting with the most unholy crossing of streams ever: Star Wars Trek.  Though I'm loving Leia's uniform. Also a quick round of applause for John's photoshoppery on those lightsabers, because how sweet do those look?! (The flash turns 'sabers into colorless white bars, so this is a HUGE improvement.)

 This is the same Firey couple who won at the Labyrinth Masquerade last year:

And while we're talking Labyrinth, check out this human-sized Sir Didymus!

 

[Lolly Lardpop]

Get ready to see a lot of Belle this year; much to John's delight she was easily the most popular princess of the con. Here she is with Ariel in the most STUNNING showgirl outfits:

 

 And check it out: Belle's headdress has Lumiere holding the feathers!

Two doppelängers: the Matt Murdock especially was making people do double-takes:

And now, WINGS:

That's Akroma, Angel of Fury from Magic: The Gathering.

 I'm still learning what works and what doesn't with offset flash, but I've discovered that vivid reds - usually the bane of my existence in regular photos - look amazing with it:

How awesome is this Red Skull?!

Joker's face really pops, too:

[Elliot's Cosplay]

Pure perfection from this Hamilton trio:

 

 Right down to the shoes! YUSS.

Another character I don't know, but I'm loving her headdress and gown:

Ready for some seriously creepy characters?

I assume The Ring girl was OK with having a photo taken; she wasn't too talkative. o.0

The zombie Stormtrooper actually made me laugh with his half-eaten Mickey bar.

 This IT cosplayer brought his A game all weekend; you'll be seeing more of him in future posts:

[Brandon the Shape Shifter]

Seriously terrifying. Love it.

Two Belles and one glowing-eyed Beast:

This adorable Ewok was significantly shorter than me, and I'm only five foot. SO TINY:

 

 This Johnny Carson brought his own little desk and microphone, and set up against a back wall:

It's Carnac the Magnificent!

(Yes I had to Google it, which John gave me a hard time for, but then John IS older than me. [evil grin])

 Again, these are the kind of niche pop culture cosplays you really don't see anywhere else; so many obscure characters and memes!

I'm only about 20% of the way through editing my photos, but this is my favorite one so far:

Check out those iridescent wings! Combined with the rich red dress and her pose? MAGIC.

A giant Kuchi Kopi, Louise's toy from Bob's Burgers:

I'm pretty sure someone WAS in there, though I don't see how they could, you know, see. Ha! 

Two more to make you giggle:

White Walkers - with ice pops -  and Avatar's Toph with Ember Island Player Toph! Hee!
(The Tophs are the same Epbot couple from my Bunny Hutch post. Hi, Kat!)

Gorgeous Sailor Moon & a lady Hatter:

And a pretty-in-pink example of Rococo Punk:

More Beauty And The Beast, this time from the new movie:

 [Belle is Alexie Star Cosplay]

We did a bunch of twirls to get that shot just right. (For Belle, I mean. ...You probably got that.)

One of my cosplay heroes is Paige Gardner, and John & I got to see two panels with her this year, where we learned she is friggin' hilarious. Paige is like me in that she doesn't like to show her face, so she creates the most incredible masks and headdresses - almost entirely from thrift store finds. Talk about inspiring!

Paige's costume this year was a devil to photograph, but here's my best shot so far:

 

 The stained glass headdress lights up! And by layering a veil over the mask under her eyes, she fooled people into thinking the gold part was her own face. SO COOL.

Now for something completely different:

Oh my. I'm guessing I took this at the Bunny Hutch.

And my parents read this blog, so...

NEXT! 

I found this sweet Pinocchio over in the Hilton with his strings cut, poor puppet.

 Then I looked down in the lobby, and spotted a Moana group with a Tamatoa!!

 I love Tamatoa. He's so shiny.

 I'll leave you guys (for now) with a perfectly broody Kylo Ren and Rey, assuming "broody" is actually a word, which it may not be, but you're with me, right?

COME TO THE DARK SIDE, we flash you.

With our cameras, I mean.

(What kind of evil overlords do you take us for?)

Stay tuned for more Dragon Con, but please be patient as I don't expect to have power after today for who-knows-how-long. o.0 (THANKS IRMA.) Other than power loss I'm not expecting any major issues here in Orlando, but if you're worried just keep an eye on my Instagram and/or FB, where I'll do my best to keep you updated. See you on the flip side!

PS - Oh! And please feel free to ID these cosplayers in the comments, with links to their pages if they have them. I'll add those in to the post as I'm able.