PAX South 2015

Photo by Liz Locksley

I don't self-identify as a gamer. I play games, but I tend to play "casual" games like Animal Crossing and The Sims, and I don't like a lot of the associations that come along with being a gamer.
So when PAX South came to town, I wasn't sure if I would attend. PAX was the first convention expo aimed at gamers, and it has a totally different vibe than an anime, comic, or pop culture convention. I was also nervous because Penny Arcade has left a bad taste in my mouth a few times -- did I really want to go to a convention with Penny Arcade supporters in the wake of not-so-great gaming happenings?
Between several internet friends attending the convention, being invited to be on a panel, and learning how much the convention itself embraces diversity, I decided to give it a shot. Long story short, I'm so glad I went and gave the convention a fair shot. I'm pretty sure I'll be a regular attendee!

PAX South 2015

Photo by Liz Locksley

The expo itself was mostly based around industry-related events, game demos, and more. Compared to the average convention I attend, there was far less fan-run content and far more industry guests and professionals. It was sort of unreal to be in the same room as companies like Twitch and Nintendo.
Because of the different vibe, I didn't cosplay myself. It was a relief not to have to worry about costumes! There were some cosplayers present, but the large majority of people were in street clothes.
PAX South was the smallest PAX so far, but it has plenty of room to grow. I think the timing was a little off -- some big players in the industry didn't announce that they were attending until a week prior. Even though it was small, it was still one of the most organized events I've been to.
The only strange part was the gender disparity -- there were definitely more men than women present. Even though PAX itself was very accepting -- the diversity lounge was AWESOME! -- it was a little weird to be so far in the minority. I know gaming is kind of a boy's club still, but I expected a more even split at the expo itself.

Photo by Liz Locksley

Women in Geek Girl Media Panel

I was so happy to be a part of this panel and meet these lovely ladies in person. The panel went really well -- we had a totally full room! We even had people talk to us after the panel to ask questions on how to get started creating content and how to be inclusive of others. It was a fantastic experience and I hope to do more panels soon.
You can watch the panel in its entirety below, and be sure to check out my fellow panelists!

Panelists:

• Katey Lee (@ohkatey) from Bitch Team Alpha 
• Asia al-Massari (@twittysuch) from Set Phasers to Blog and The Rainbow Hub 
• Melissa Kay (@THEquadskater) from Can't Talk Media 
• Brittney Bombacher (@BlondeNerd) from The Blonde Nerd 
• Danni Danger (@DanniDanger) from Weird Girls 

Game Demos

  Like I said, I'm not a big gamer, especially not with the more popular games, like first-person shooters. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of games at PAX South. I love creative indie games, but there were also bigger companies like Nintendo, tabletop classics and newcomers, and more. Here are some of my favorites that I recommend and you should definitely check out!

Photo by Liz Locksley

• Capsule Force. I'm a little biased because my friend Jelfish is on the dev team, but Capsule Force is chaotic fun with retro, anime-inspired graphics. Fight against your friends to get to your side of the map and win. It's available now on Steam and PS4.
• Just Shapes and Beats. This is a co-op rhythm-based game with awesome music. You are a shape fighting against music... or something? It's awesome and I definitely want to play through the game when it's out.
• Gigantic. Gigantic reminded me of Team Fortress 2, but more robust. You pick a character from a variety of classes and play against another team. It's only in alpha testing for now, but I can't wait to play the full version.
• Fibbage. Fibbage is like Cards Against Humanity, but everyone fills in the blank of a given sentence and tries to trick other people into thinking their answer is the correct one. It's great for literal people, so Liz and I really enjoyed it.

Convention Swag

All my convention purchases were painfully practical this time around. I guess that's how you know you're getting older! Oh well.

• A companion cube sweater. I love We Love Fine and Valve, so when I saw this, I knew I had to have it! This counts as a practical purchase because I own very few sweaters.
• Gunnar Optiks glasses. I can't pretend they don't look dorky on me, but I'm hoping that these computer/gaming glasses will help protect my vision. I spend so many hours on the computer every day; it seems unreasonable not to try and protect my vision! Liz and I bought matching pairs because we're total nerds.
• Disney tsum tsums. Okay, this doesn't count as a convention purchase or a practical purchase. After the convention on Sunday, we visited the mall right next door specifically to buy tsum tsums. The cuteness is unavoidable. I got a medium Marie and a small Minnie and Daisy.

Overall, I was impressed by the quality of PAX South! I will more than likely become a regular attendee. If you are into gaming or gaming culture in any respect, I definitely recommend that you check out a PAX near you! 

Finally, Liz made an awesome video that really captures the scale and fun of PAX -- check it out!

Do you consider yourself a gamer?

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Rose Tints My World

(Photo: Woodlawn Theatre)

Science Fiction, Double Feature

Rocky Horror is something near and dear to my heart. I've had an obsession with the show for years and years, and when I turned 18, I joined a shadowcast to live out my dreams of performing the show on stage. Even though I don't perform anymore, October just isn't complete without a trip to see Rocky live, and whenever I go to a convention, I HAVE to see Rocky or Repo!

I'm really not sure why Rocky Horror appeals to me so much. It's campy, it makes fun of B-grade science fiction, and the cult following means the show is still alive and well decades later. There's something unabashedly fun about dressing up, shouting, and throwing props. The movie itself is even great to me - I love the music unironically, and I've devoted a lot of brain space to memorizing call-outs, the dialogue, and choreography.

Performing at my first-ever Repo! The Genetic Opera show (left). (Photo: Smolder'n' Scully Sins)

Halloween Tradition

My Rocky Horror experience this year was the stage show, which differs from the movie in several important ways. The stage shows are rarely direct replicas of the movie - it stands on its own with a few musical additions, different costumes, and usually, a totally different feel.

This year's stage experience was special because it starred three ladies from RuPaul's Drag Race fame - Bianca del Rio, Courtney Act, and Michelle Visage. I love drag, I love RPDR, and seeing these ladies in person was like a dream come true! The small nods to the Drag Race fans were perfect and not overdone. In fact, although I mainly bought my tickets to see my favorite drag queens, the entire cast was super talented. And, as an added bonus, the entire show was circus-themed, with Frank-n-Furter as the ringmaster! As a lover of circus arts and a die-hard Rocky fan, I couldn't have been happier with how the show was staged.

It was great when it all began, I was a regular Franky fan!

Columbia Rose Tints My World

For the first time, I also had the opportunity to dress up as Columbia, my favorite character from the show. Costume Supercenter, an online costume shop, contacted me to try out a costume from their site, and I chose my favorite glitter monster!

Cosplay is for everyone, regardless of skill level, and I think this costume proves it! While I don't have the skills or confidence to sew my own sequinned jacket yet, I trust myself to modify pieces to my heart's content! The costume itself came with a hat, bowtie, jacket, top, and shorts. I purchased and modified the hat (more on that later), wig, fishnets, socks, and shoes.

The costume itself is not as high-quality as a professional seamstress, but it worked out perfectly for me. I really like the jacket -it's the right shape and color, and even has coattails! The shorts are not my favorite, so I would like to replace them with handmade shorts in the future, but they are comfortable and look great in photos. The top isn't the correct shape, but I love how sparkly it is!

The hat that came with the costume was poor quality and too flat to even fit on my head! I knew from reading reviews on Costume Supercenter's website that it would probably not work out, and made plans to create my own hat. I bought a felt top hat online, purchased sequinned fabric and a ribbon, and glued the fabric onto the hat. I love the result and it was pretty easy - if a little tedious. I feel like the hat makes a huge difference in the costume overall!

One of my favorite parts of Columbia's original costume is her sequinned tap shoes. I bought some similar character shoes and added sequins myself.

The last step to this costume was Columbia's distinctive, over-the-top makeup! I'll go into more detail in a future post, but suffice to say that extreme makeup looks are my new favorite thing. It's hard to tell in these photos, but my blush and lipstick were BRIGHT! I also covered my eyebrows with glue for the first time.

Sneaky theater selfie! We weren't allowed to take photos of the show, sadly.

I had a fabulous time at the Woodlawn's Rocky Horror Show production, loved seeing some of my favorite queens, and had such a great time putting this Halloween costume together!

Do you have any Halloween traditions?

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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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#FGBloggers Twitter Chat Recap

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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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