Dragon Con 2014

The iconic carpet inside the Marriott Marquis!

Because my usual Birthday Con didn't fall on my birthday this year, I decided to go to a convention I've heard so much about - Dragon Con!

Dragon Con is unlike any other convention I've been to. It's often compared to San Diego Comic Con because of its size, but it's a totally different beast. SDCC is a giant celebration of consumerism - there's a bigger focus on celebrities and swag. Dragon Con feels more genuine and fan-run. Both are massive in scale, but have totally different focuses. I also noticed that overall, Dragon Con has more elaborate costuming - probably because there is far less walking involved - as well as just really obscure costumes.

At the airport - Dragon Con, I'm coming for you!

Dragon Con runs literally 24/7. I'm not one to stay up too late at conventions - usually, I want to wake up pretty early to get into costume so that I don't waste the day. It's so disappointing to get into costume late in the day and wind up changing out before you get to do anything! At most cons, programming ends pretty early. At Dragon Con, though, most of the events I wanted to go to were late at night. I got back to the hotel room around 4 AM every day, still in costume, and was shocked to see how many people were still hanging out, still in costume! It's just a totally different vibe, but I loved it.

I also think Dragon Con differs from other cons because while there are multiple host hotels, they are mostly connected by easily accessible sky bridges. For the most part, I used these instead of heading outside - they were more convenient and I didn't have to deal with the threat of street harassment for being in costume. This makes it feel like Dragon Con is its own world. It's amazing.

I can't begin to list everything I did at the convention, because most of it was spontaneous, but my weekend definitely included rum buckets, kigurumis, nerdy burlesque, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, photoshoots, and, as always, lots of cosplay.

Costume-wise, I wore Ramona Flowers, Luna Lovegood, and a new costume - Butters from South Park: The Stick of Truth! My beautiful friend Mary has an amazing Princess Kenny costume, and when she asked me to join a giant South Park: The Stick of Truth group at Dragon Con, I couldn't say no! This was my first time cosplaying a male character and my first time in a group so large. It was so much fun to get to meet everyone in the group and chat with other fans.

Photos by Agent Topanga Lawrence Cosplay!

You may remember Mary as the Roxy to my Ramona from SDCC last year - we reprised the roles again this year! I always love having other Scott Pilgrim cosplayers with me, especially my favorite evil ex-girlfriend. I also cut and styled Mary's wig for her to make it more fluffy and voluminous, and it was surprisingly fun! I want to take on more wig projects in the future.

Photos by Agent Topanga Lawrence Cosplay!

Have you ever been to Dragon Con?

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Anime Fest 2014

Anime Fest is a four-day con because it usually falls on Labor Day weekend (my birthday!). This year, it was in mid-August, but I managed to stay for all four days anyway.

For the first time ever, I organized a panel! The Superheroesque team (myself and Liz) invited a few of our friends, Starman from My Geeky Geeky Ways and Camille from Samurai Pizza Kitten Cosplay, to talk about confidence in cosplay! You can watch the full panel (minus Q&A) below.

Putting the panel together was a learning experience. I had never tried to organize people in multiple cities for something like this before. Everyone was super flexible, but there was definitely a learning curve. It can be a little difficult to make sure everyone knows what's happening.

With Anime Fest, you have to submit your panel, badge holders can vote for it, then it may or may not get approved. While voting can help your panel, it doesn't mean that the panel will get approved. I was definitely surprised when we got way more votes than expected and then we were approved!

Camille always has the cutest cosplays!

I was nervous that nobody would come to the panel... and I was nervous that lots of people would come to the panel. We noticed a line forming before we set up, and I was totally shocked. We ended up mostly filling up the room we were in -- which wasn't huge, but still totally unexpected! I feel like we had a really good reception to the panel, too. We had lots of people come up to us after to ask questions and get more information. I definitely want to do another panel in the future!

Liz and I wore our Archer costumes for the panel and did a shoot with Aperture Ashley too. That was easily one of the most fun photoshoots I've ever done! The absurdity of Archer lends itself to a lot of silliness, like arm wrestling, choking, fighting, and dolphin shenanigans. I can't wait to share the photos with you all - I'll probably post them on my Facebook page first!

Making ugly faces with Kat and Matt!

With the panel over, I didn't have any other big commitments (besides cosplay). I brought my Luna Lovegood costume to wear with Kat's Ginny Weasley! We did a shoot with Cosplay With Me and met up with Matt later, who basically looks exactly like Ron Weasley. It's always surprisingly fun to bring Harry Potter costumes to conventions, everyone always gets a kick out of it!

We hung out in the hotel room a lot and made friends with our neighbors. Through a series of coincidences, one of our neighbors knew someone working at the hotel, but they hadn't seen each other in years. They ended up taking us up to see the rooftop of the hotel, which was awesome! Photos couldn't really capture how high up we were and how much of Dallas you could see. 

Wearing kigurumis with Liz!

Hangin' out with Leia and Kimmie from Sub Cultured!

One thing we do almost every year at A-Fest is the art auction! I love seeing anime characters re-imagined in different art styles, and there's always lots of creative work at A-Fest. If you get the chance, you should definitely check it out.

I also brought Ramona, as usual, and took a few photos with Liz as my photographer. The last day of the convention was rainy - combined with the skywalk, it made the perfect Toronto-esque background.

Overall, the convention itself was great this year! Last year, the con moved to a new hotel, resulting in a lot of growing pains. This year, a lot of those issues were fixed. I wish that a few things had been different - the cosplay contest was Sunday night, for example, making it difficult for most people to participate, and the hall cosplay contest was way too early in the con - but I still had a great time.

Have you ever been to a four-day con?

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Cosplay: Luna Lovegood

Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter

Long, long ago, a friend and I put together Harry Potter costumes for the midnight release of a movie. I decided I was Luna Lovegood, because I was blonde and had a Ravenclaw tie. I loved her spacey, unique character and wanted to embody her the best I could.

Now, after delving into cosplay, I laugh at 2007-me's attempts at cosplay - not because they were wrong, but because I just didn't know anything about costuming. What a difference a wig would have made - or even just a few accessories!

When I went home for Thanksgiving, I sorted through all my high school stuff in my old room. When I unearthed my first few costumes, including these Luna pieces, I thought it would be really fun to cosplay Luna again. This time, though, I would know everything about cosplay I know now. I really love the results - I finally have a Luna costume I'm proud of!

I was also inspired by my friend Anna at Glitzy Geek Girl's Luna Lovegood - she looked so great as Luna that it encouraged me to try again. I also won a wizard wand from her giveaway, so I used that in my costume!

Conventions

• Ikkicon 2013

Materials

• Wig - Claudia from Arda Wigs in Platinum Blonde, cut and styled
• Sweater - Hobbie's House of Wizard Wear
• Tie - from the now-defunct Wizard Ties, but there are plenty on Amazon
• Skirt - French Toast (school uniform supplier)
• Mary Janes - Thrift store
• Spectrespecs - Amazon
• Earrings - custom order from TrenoNights on Etsy
• Wand - giveaway prize from Anna, her tutorial is here
• Quibbler - DIY with Anna's tutorial here

 

Because I already had most of the pieces from the first time I did a Harry Potter costume, I only had a few things to add. This was probably one of the easiest costumes I've ever done!

I also unlocked a new cosplayer achievement - I did my first-ever photoshoot with someone I didn't know beforehand. I was really nervous, but I love how the photos turned out! Thanks bunches to Mel - all the photos in this post were taken by her.

The most surprising part about wearing Luna was how many people loved my costume! I figured since Harry Potter is over and done, the fandom had died out, but lots of people were excited about my costume. I was stopped by the person checking badges to get into the Dealer's Room to take a photo - I don't think I've ever had my photo taken by staff before!

Do you love Harry Potter? Who is your favorite character?

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Ikkicon 2013

Ikkicon is usually a pretty chill convention. It's during New Year's weekend (or, this year, the weekend before) and everyone is still recovering from the holidays. Ikkicon is time to take it easy, hang out, and just relax before school starts up again.

Conventions are always an excuse to see some of my favorite people that live across the state and country. This time, Glitzy Geek Girl, aka Anna, stayed with us for the first time, which was super fun! Check out her Ikkicon album for lots of pictures of our room and her adventures.

At Ikkicon 2012, I debuted my first Ramona Flowers costume - ahhh, memories! I seem to be on a schedule of a new Ramona costume every 6 months or so. In keeping with this newly discovered tradition, I decided to throw together a volume 5 cover costume last-minute. All told, it was fairly easy to put together - an Amazon order, a thrift shopping day, an Arda Wigs package, and a few modifications later, my costume was complete.

I added a new prop to my arsenal - cosplay contact cards! I got a few printed with Ramona's phone number on one side.

 

My other newly debuted costume this convention was Luna Lovegood! I love this character, but I wasn't expecting such a warm reception to this costume! I figured Harry Potter is kind of old at this point, but I was stopped a lot for photos. I also did my first-ever photoshoot with someone I didn't already know - cosplay achievement unlocked! I hope the photos turned out cute and I can't wait to share them with you all.

 

Another fun part about this convention was taking photos with Cosplay in America! I interviewed him a while back about his Kickstarter for a second book, but in case you missed it, his new book focuses on the behind-the-scenes parts of being a cosplayer. Late night JoAnn's runs, poking your eye a thousand times trying to get a contact lens in, exploring the convention itself, and learning all kinds of new skills. My friends and I were one of the groups he followed around the convention, which was super fun! My group is in the video below - check it out!

Other than cosplay, I didn't do much at the con. We ordered delicious food, played Cards Against Humanity and Pokemon, and took lots of cosplay selfies. Ikkicon will always be a chill con for me, and that's exactly the way I like it!

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