Geek Tradition

So one thing I didn't speak a whole lot about concerning Comic Con was loot.  I think I mentioned that we got comics and art.  But one piece was particularly special.

Our portrait. We're not really picture people.  I wish it were otherwise.  I want to have reminders of out life, images to show our children, that sort of thing.  It's something we're working on, but at least we take pictures when we do something special.  We don't always get enough pictures together though, which is kind of why I make a point to get a portrait done.  

It's a fun addition to the pictures we take, and we try to find artists with a style different from what we've gotten previously.  We spent about forty minutes just strolling Artist Alley, looking at styles and prices.  The artist we chose was friendly, and that was actually one of the factors that won the toss up for me.

One day I hope to devote a wall to our collection but for now they go where I can find a spot.

Comic Con 2014

A-Kon 2007 and 2011

We are now at four.  Two from A-Kon, and two from Comic Con.  As the years go by and we continue to go to fun events, I hope we find ourselves with a collection attached to many fun stories.  Our special portraits might not be traditional studio shots, or fancy photo shoots, or even realistic renditions, but I think it suits us just fine.

Here's to non-traditional traditions!

Alamo City Comic Con 2015: Day 3

Alright, so I meant to write and post this yesterday, but I woke up feeling awful, and even went home from work sick.  Sleep and orange juice was my top priority.  And don't eat Boo Berry cereal when you're stomach is being traitorous.  Just saying.

Okay, on with the show.  Day three.  Let me just say, I didn't know if I was going to make it to the Con that day.  My toes hurt from being in those boots.  But I downed some painkiller, and once I got moving, it wasn't too bad.  I dolled myself up, and we were on our way.

Back in my Death costume from last year, I was feeling pretty cool.  While my demon hunter costume had other convention goers making comments and taking pictures, this one drew a good bit of notice from vendors.  I can't lie though, while I love this cosplay for who it is, the best part about it on this particular day was that it was comfy.  I skipped the boots and went with black Chucks.  There was just something fitting about Death in Converse...

 Arriving on our third and final day, I noticed that the 'cool vehicles section' had a special guest.

The Star Wars photo ops had also switched up again.  But though it was the entry, there would be more Star Wars to come...

I ran into a special set of saber wielders, a few of my own buddies.  Sith or Jedi, everyone ends up hanging out with me.  We stood around checking out some of the nearby cosplays and geeking out.

Some awesome ladies cosplaying some of my favorites.  It was really cool to see an Anastasia.  I watched the movie so many times when I was younger.  With her sass, I thought she was way cooler than most of the Disney princesses.

Gender swapped Han and Leia put a huge smile on my face.  It definitely stood out among the Star Wars cosplays.

And then there was this gem of a photo op.  My husband had gone to get a picture of Darth with his cheer squad while I was chatting with my buddies, including a couple not pictured above.  They had gotten a cardboard cut out, and proceeded to photobomb with it.  My husband said there were people wondering what the heck was going on.  It was pretty hilarious.

With a good laugh to fuel us, we split up to do our own things.  My husband and I headed off to another art panel with Brian Haberlin.  Still amusing and talented, it was another really interesting panel, this time focused on digital inking.  We made sure to swing by his booth later that day to grab a copy of the comic he was plugging, Faster than Light, and info on his tutorial site, http://digitalarttutorials.com/

We didn't have another panel to go to for a while, so we decided to take that opportunity to make final decisions on purchases.  Most of what we got was art.  We looked at shirts and what not, but so much of it was ridiculously priced.  When I have places I can go to buy graphic Ts for ten bucks a pop, it's hard to be willing to spend twenty five a piece, special occasion or not.

Purchases made, we had a quick snack, then figured we should head to our next panel.  It was a good thing, as there was already a line forming.  We got there about forty minutes before the panel.  At fifteen minutes before it was time to begin, the line had gotten to be quite long.  Another popular Star Wars panel?  Not this time.  Nope, this was for Guardian of the Galaxy, a late addition to the schedule.  The line probably would have been even longer if it had been listed in the brochure.

The guests on this panel were Sean Gunn and Michael Rooker.  The panel began with just Sean as Michael was running late.  As Sean was not only Kraglin, but also 'on set Rocket', it was cool to hear about some of the behind the scenes work involved for the movie.  We heard some good stories, and about thirty minutes into the panel, Micheal turned up, box of donuts in hand.

Gruff and hilarious, much like his character Yondu, Michael Rooker was a very lively panelist.  One audience member got a surprise tutorial on whistling when during her question she mentioned she couldn't do it.  So. Damn. Funny.  This panel put on quite an excellent show.

With it being Sunday, that was more or less all that was going on.  We took one more swing around the goods while waiting for our ride, then headed home.

I always seem to forget just how much I love doing this between conventions.  It's such a high to be so completely immersed in an event designed specifically to embrace and celebrate geekery.  All types show, with vast and varied interests, but we're all bound by the fact that we love this stuff.  It's a great way to celebrate old favorites, and discover new ones.

While I was sad it was over, I won't lie.  I was exhausted.  It took some time to recover, but I'm already thinking about the next convention.  I discovered that PAX will be held here in January, so I'm already plotting...

Being a geek rocks.

Alamo City Comic Con 2015: Day 2

Day two, Saturday, the big one.  It had finally arrived.  It was time to dawn my armor, and I was sooooo excited.  And then briefly worried.  It was a pretty hot process putting it on, and being in Texas, I was worried about the temperature.  Luck was on my side though, and it was a nice cool 77 degrees that morning.

After getting most of my gear on, we headed out.  Going out the door, there was this nice breeze, and it whipped my scarf out behind me, all action hero style.  I felt so bad ass.

As I mentioned in Day 1's post, the first area of the Con had a bunch of Star Wars themed photo ops.  This day, we found Wookiees giving out hugs...

...and Tusken Raiders ready to fight.

After getting some photos in, my husband and I set off to take in the sights and crowds.  Oh, did I mention the crowds?  It was pretty insane by mid day.  I thought I knew what to expect, having gone on Saturday last year, but the attendance seems to have sky rocketed. 

As we wandered around, I stumbled across a couple archers, and decided to bond with my fellow arrow using cosplayers.

While there were people dressed in cosplay on Day 1, there were many more on Day 2.  With the convention in full swing, and the costume contest that night, people in character were all around.

We started things strong with spotting Waldo pretty quickly.  It became something of a game for my husband.

We stumbled upon Deadpool number I-lost-count-at-this-point, along with Domino.

I was stoked to see Baymax.  I super wanted to fist bump, but thought that might be a little difficult, so I suppressed my urge and got my husband to snap a photo instead.

This Groot was pretty well done.  And though I didn't get a chance to take a picture, I did see an adorable baby Groot amidst the crowd as well.

Eventually it was time for our first panel.  Luckily we headed for the line fairly early, because everything Star Wars was super popular that day.  The line had a good start when we arrived, and only continued to lengthen.  The nice thing was we were pretty close to the front, which meant our seats were still in a good position as far as watching went.  Unfortunately, this was one of the panels that was awkward for me to sit in due to how packed it was.  My husband was a great sport, and sat in a manner that better accommodated my slightly encumbered state.

This panel focused on Star Wars: Clone Wars, with panelists Matt Wood and Olivia D'Abo.  While I haven't personally watched Clone Wars (this panel was mostly for the enjoyment of my husband), I actually enjoyed the panel quite a bit.  Particularly Matt's account of how he came to work at Skywalker Sound, and Olivia's brief story of being Tak from Invader Zim (including a jaunt with Tak's voice).

We had some time to kill before the next panel, so we decided to explore for a little while.  While wandering about, we came across some more neat cosplays amid the crowd.

I practically threw my husband at Gandalf in my eagerness for a picture.  An adventure or some fireworks would have been better, but you take what you can get.

I think this was one of the more interesting Joker/Harley cosplays we saw.  After Jedi/Sith and Deadpool, it was probably the most seen cosplay there.

This Deathstroke was pretty cool, and he pulled out different weapons for different photo ops.

My husband spotted Waldo yet again.

And we came across a pretty sweet Bobba Fett.  Always a favorite of ours.

After several hours in heeled boots (normally, I'm in sneakers), and the crowds thick as they were, we opted to just sit and people watch in the lounge for a while.  It can be fun and quite interesting.  I was actually speaking to a student who was working on a project while there.  He asked about things I was doing at the convention, and apparently I was the first to mention people watching.  If you go to this type of event, I highly recommend just taking a few minutes to kick back and watch.

After all, you might see Koro Sensei heading up an escalator.

Time for the next panel!  Being one of the art panels, which are always under appreciated, the crowd was much lighter.  I already knew it was going to be a good panel for me just based on the fact that there was room to spread out and be comfortable.  This panel was about Digital Painting, and was hosted by Brian Haberlin.  Co-creator of Witchblade, an artist for Spawn, partner in Anomaly Productions, and teacher/tutorial creator, Brian Haberline was quite entertaining.  I think his classes would be quite enjoyable to attend.  Watching him work his live demonstration, everything he did looked so effortless.  I have to work super hard to make drawings look decent, so watching those with talent work is always kind of like magic to me.

After chilling for a while, and debating on our tiredness level versus the huge line, we ended up watching the costume contest.  The judges were in full garb, and the hosts kept things moving at a good pace, with funny little quips here and there.  There were a good number of entries, so I'm just going to post a few here.

I immediately recognized these mischief makers from last year.  Their costumes were still impressive.

Given who the main audience was, it should come as no surprise that the Lone Star Samurai earned a raucous round of applause. 

Every gesture this guy made told of how many times he must have watched the Pirates of the Carribbean movies.

This cosplay of Blue was pretty impressive.  It had some pretty good rigging in it given the awesome way it moved.

This Harley/Queen of Hearts costume was fantastic.  I saw it closer earlier in the day, and it must have taken hours and hours to sew.

The only Batman vs Superman fight I will ever need to see.  Seriously, there's no way the movie measures up to this cat fight.

And the Chaos Space Marine.  Unfortunately, he was too big to get onto the stage, and the lighting where he was standing was not the best, but the fabrication and detail that went into this definitely earned him the first prize he won.

With the winners announced, we quickly made a beeline for the doors before the bulk of the crowd stood.  Day two done, it was time to leave, grab a bite to eat...

...and ditch the armor.  As much fun as I had making it, and as awesome as I felt wearing it, after a long day, I was ready to be in pajamas.  And even more important than the armor, it was time for the boots to go.  With a sigh of relief, I yanked them off and we headed home, ready to rest up for the final day of fun.

Alamo City Comic Con 2015: Day 1

So, I decided I'm going to post this as a day by day thing just to keep the length in check.  But since I didn't dress up until day two, I thought I'd start with a shot of the armor as promised.

Tah dah!  I'm super stoked with how it turned out.  And it wore pretty well.  The primary difficulties I had were the scarf sliding around a bit (fixed with safety pins), and the extra room the shoulder took while sitting in panels.  For the most part I solved that by sitting in an aisle seat, and when I couldn't do that, I sat with my arm on the back of my husband's seat.

Anyways, day one of the convention!

We got there about forty minutes early to stand in line.  Luckily, with it being Friday, it wasn't too bad, and the line was moving at a fairly decent pace.

There was even entertainment for us!  They had a screen showing some Star Wars related stuff.  While we weren't chatting with our neighbors, we could check out some cool Trooper action.  By the way, that crowd you see there were those already ticketed, waiting for the Con to officially open.  They were cleared to go in about ten minutes before we got our bands.

Waiting in line, we had our first of many Deadpool sightings.  Sorry about the picture quality, my phone camera doesn't do the zoom thing very well.

Finally we were in.  And here is where the lamest part of the convention occurred.  Paper wristbands.  For three day passes.  Really?  I was expecting a lanyard, but at least give us plastic bands so we can shower without worry.  Many people posted complaints on the ACCC Facebook page, so next year should be better.  Ours survived the whole weekend somehow, so at least we didn't have to worry about getting in line to get a replacement.  

Entering the Con brought you to what seems to be the traditional neat-o vehicle parking area.  I'm not a big car enthusiast, but even I know cool cars when I see them, geek related or not.

They also had some different Star Wars photo ops set up.  Different characters appeared through the convention, but you'll see those later.

A little further in, and we could already sense that things were a little different.  Where last year Artist Alley, and the Dealer's area were more or less crammed together in a pretty limited space, this year they were much better defined, and the number of booths had increased dramatically.

 Product and signs stretched as far as the eye could see.  Smart vendors had boosted items to stick up so you could see them from other lanes.

We made it upstairs at one point, so I took some pictures from above, trying to give a better idea of the size.  The ceiling kind of hindered that, but I thought it still looked quite impressive compared to last year.  And I just couldn't wait to look at all the stuff.

 

Our first round of looking is mostly just a breeze through to get an idea of what all there is.  With three days to ogle, there would be plenty of time to look at everything.  But of course, there are always things that really catch the eye.  Like Side Show's awesome statuettes.  

Plenty of Star Wars love.  The amount of detail in these things is incredible.

But never have I wanted a figure as badly as I wanted this one.  It was stunning.  I actually took quite a few shots of this one from different angles as I thought it would be a great reference.  One day, I will cosplay Kerrigan.  Until then, I will plot and scheme...

Another thing I had to stop and admire were the Pop figures.  I've been seeing them in more places lately, but these guys were just everywhere.  The variety astounds me.  I want to start collecting, but honestly, I just don't know where to begin...

Another booth that really caught my eye was one dealing in signed portraits.  There was quite the collection.  While very few autographs tempt me, there were a few in there that would be neat to have.  I would rather have the autograph as part of a face to face meeting though.  It's fun to have a story to go with it.

As we wandered, we also came across booths selling comic books.  My husband arbitrarily picked one to look at, and I decided to flip through too.  We walked away with 25, making me the proud owner of the start of my very own comic collection.

Eventually it was time to go to our first panel.  Titled "I am Iron Man," we got to listen to stories from the man who shaped Tony Stark into the rock star we know and love.  Bob Layton spoke of his beginnings publishing a fanzine (CPL), and how he ended up working on Iron Man.  This was a really interesting panel, and I really enjoyed hearing the history from a personal standpoint.

We didn't take pictures of this one, but the next panel was actually accidental.  We didn't get the notice that the Comic Art panel we were interested in had shifted rooms, and ended up in one about monsters.  "Kaijus and Creatures," hosted by Matt Frank (comic artist) and Thomas L. Adams (curator) was largely a discussion of Gozilla and its various appearances, but also touched on such things as good and bad examples of scientific explanations of monsters in movies.  Not what we were expecting, but interesting none the less.

The other big panel we went to was a Lord of the Rings/Hobbit panel.  Billy Boyd, Manu Bennett, and John Noble took audience questions and recounted memories from the making of the movies.  From soggy hobbit feet, to MoCap adventures, to awe inspiring detailed sets, it was another neat behind the scenes look.

The last panel we did that day was a Cosplay 101 with some of the guest cosplayers there.  While I've done some cosplay, I thought it might be interesting to hear from those who have turned it into a living.  The biggest tip I walked away with?  Apparently burlap is not a fun material to work with...

This more or less wrapped up our day.  It was time to go home and rest up (or finish a crossbow) for the next day.