All-Con 2013: Day Three

Sundays at All-Con are always Superhero themed.  Naturally, I was dressed appropriately as Green Arrow.  Not just for the sake of Superhero Sunday, mind you, but also because my final panel of the Con was a history class All About (Green) Arrow.  The costume was much the same as the last time I'd worn it, save for a redesigned beard and a new quiver that I could more easily draw out of.

My definition of a successful cosplay has become "one that leaves me posing for more pictures than I take".  I say this because the last few times I've dressed as Green Arrow, I wound up taking much fewer pictures than on the days I was wearing a different costume.  So forgive this con reporter being briefer than the rest.

Rick Gutierrez of  The United States of Geekdom dressed as Finn The Human from Adventure Time. 

The original Jay Garrick Flash.

 

A rather obscure one this - R'amey Holl, Green Lantern of Sector of 700.  She later went on to win Best Hero and Best in Show at the day's superhero cosplay contest.

Here is Reese of Reese's Pieces (the geek girl blog - not the candy) as Pixie from X-Men. 
You can read her report on All-Con here.

 

 

C. Viper and Rose from Street Fighter

Me and Kimmie Britt of IHO Geek as Green Arrow and Black Canary.

All-Con 2013: Day Two - Part Three

The early evening allowed me a chance to meet up with some more old friends before my final panel of the day - Start of Darkness: The Bronze Age of Comics.  I had a decent enough turnout considering I was competing with the costume contest.  After that, my evening was spent taking a few more pictures while I waited for the annual All-Con Burlesque Show before Amber Does Dallas presented the annual Repo The Genetic Opera performance.

This is my friend Yvonna - proprietor of the Charisma +2 modeling firm and editor of Charisma + 2 Magazine.  She's cosplaying Black Cat and was a good sport when my sleep-deprived brain committed the faux pas of addressing her as Catwoman.  

This is Perky - one of Charisma +2's newest models.  She's cosplaying the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku.

Here's another familiar face - CAJ Cosplay (who you might remember as both The Dark Phoenix and Madelyne Pryor from Dallas Sci-Fi Expo 2013) as The Scarlet Witch.

The Riddler & Stephanie Brown Batgirl.

Catman from Secret Six.

The Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Amy Pond from Doctor Who.

I think this couple was on the way to the All-Con formal prom.  

Well, I suppose Ms. Frost's outfit is formal by the standards of the Hellfire Club.  

The sleep deprivation was really taking it's toll at this point in the evening, as I was waiting in line for the Burlesque show.  I completely failed to recognize this fine lady - The Time Lady Romanadvoratrelundar.  Or is that Fred?  No, it's definitely Romana.  Not Romana Flowers.  Or Ramona Quimby.  Just Romana.

This was my first time attending All-Con's Burlesque Show, organized this year by La Divina Burlesque.  In previous years it either sold out before I could get tickets or it was scheduled at the same time as another event I was involved in.  But this year, I made it a point to attend because a friend of was performing - the lovely Amber DeVille.  Sadly, it was at this point in the evening.  I discovered that the Night Photography mode on my camera was not reliable without a flash.  So I only have this one rather blurry picture of Amber's routine, dressed as Babydoll from Suckerpunch and nothing of her Catwoman routine. 

This is Bazuka Joe - the sole Boylesque performer of the evening.  You have to admire anyone who has the courage to perform in this kind of production but as a comedian I have to tip my hat to this guy for his obvious sense of comedy as a performer.  It takes a certain kind of humor to dress like Lion-O from Thundercats and strip down to the Stray Cat Strut.  To say nothing of his final routine of the night, where he performed as Speed Racer to Greased Lighting from the musical Grease.

Diamond Jim himself snapped this picture of me with performer Ruby Joule, who performed a spectacular routine as Jessica Rabbit.  She usually performs down in Austin with her troupe, The Jigglewatts.  Methinks I'll have to make a field trip to Austin one of these weekends to see them.

All-Con 2013: Day Two - Part Two

I can't say for certain that All-Con 2013 was the biggest one ever.  I haven't heard any specific numbers from the convention organizers nor have I heard any statements to that effect.  But I suspect it probably was the biggest All-Con ever for one reason and one reason alone - it took me the better part of an hour to find a place to park after I came back from lunch.

However, once I'd eaten, parked, power-napped for an hour and showered, I was ready to hit the floor for some more socializing and picture taking.

    I ran into this lovely Poison Ivy on the way from my hotel room to the convention floor.

    I've mentioned before how increasingly common cosplay mash-ups are becoming. Well, this is one of the best ones I've ever seen. This dapper fellow is a Steampunk Blue Lantern.

    He was paired-up with this lady, who was dressed as a non-Steampunk Indigo Tribe member. She looks more like a lounge-singer than a tribal to me, but it's a good costume regardless.

    Ms. Marvel - not yet a Captain - in a slightly more modest version of her Warbird costume.

    I think Emperor Palpatine is planning to steal that TARDIS.

    Speaking of the TARDIS, here's the cutest little Doctor you ever will see. Well, the cutest Tenth Doctor, anyway. I heard that someone had a baby dressed up as The First Doctor but I didn't see them.


Remember: The Geeks of Tomorrow Are All Our Responsibility. Support Youngling Geeks!


Speaking of younglings, here's Asajj Ventress from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

    There's always at least one Catwoman at any con and this is a damn good take on the Adam Hughes version.


One of the high-points of All-Con is the yearly Roller Derby demonstration by the ladies of  Assassination City.  This is partly due to the fun of their presentation and partly due to the colorful geek-friendly costumes you'll see the ladies wearing throughout the day, on-wheels or off.  I snagged a picture of this stunning Elektra while she was off-wheeling it in the hotel hallways.


Later, I ran into this AC Derby member in the dealer's room.  I'm informed that she's a more-than-passable Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.


I'm not sure if this young lady was meant to be a specific character or not, but her mask reminded me of Repo: The Genetic Opera so I snagged her picture anyway.  If anyone does know who she is, please speak up in the comments.  I'd love to know.

All-Con 2013: Day Two - Part One

Note To Self: The next time you teach a class at a convention, do not agree to a 9 AM start time the morning after you're up until 4 AM driving home from a late night performance. Good advice to anyone, I think.

My first class of the day - indeed, the first class of everyone's day on the second day of All-Con 2013 was Time Keeps On Slipping: The History of DC Comics.   Naturally speaking on such a complicated and difficult subject involving multiple time-lines, alternate universes and other wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey matters required a good deal of inspiration.  And what better inspiration could there be than dressing up like The Doctor?


Of course I was far from the only Doctor Who in attendance.  Heck, I wasn't even the only Tom Baker Doctor present.  Of course having all these Doctors running around risks warping the space-time continuum.  If one isn't careful one can wind up with a Pair Of Docs.    



Geddit?  Paradox!  Ha!

Doctors of all kinds abound at All-Con as The United States of Geekdom held a second showing of Doctor Horrible's Singalong Blog Saturday morning.  This time, the show was prefaced with an evil laugh contest, with the winner winning a small statue of the character of Penny.  I'd show you a picture of the proud winner but modesty forbids my putting my own picture in a report more than twice.

Besides, I'd much rather show you a picture of this amazing Dr. Horrible cosplayer and the equally amazing Penny cosplayer who was with him.  To my astonishment, she said I was the only person who realized she was supposed to be in costume.  I sympathize.  Many's the convention I cosplayed Jack Knight only for people to think I was just some random steampunk with goggles and a bomber jacket.


With that done and no solid plans until my next panel in the early evening, I opted to wander the floor and take a few cosplay pictures.  I swung past the ADD booth and snagged this picture of my friend Rikku, who was dressed as Yoko Littner from the anime Gurren Lagann.  This is an old costume for her but it's the first time I've ever snagged a pic of her in it.


I think Browncoats may outnumber Whovians at DFW cons.  At least, it seems like I saw just as many characters from Firefly as I did Doctor Who characters on Saturday.  Take this pair - Jayne Cobb and the most cheerful Malcolm Reynolds I've ever seen.


Here we have a Kaylee, in her pretty dress from the episode 'Shindig'.



Mash-up costumes are a common theme at many conventions now.  Take two films or shows and combine them together to make something new.  This can get quite wacky at times and/or prove quite brilliant.  I think this example is brilliant - Jayne Cobb as a Ghostbuster!  Shockingly, his proton pack is not name Vera. 



Of course you'll see the more mainstream science-fiction and fantasy represented at a big convention like this.  Jedi and Sith abound.  And then you get something truly intricate and impressive like this Queen Amidala from Star Wars: Episode One.  


Video game character cosplayers, like Cammy from Street Fighter here, are also a common sight at All-Con.


My favorite animated movie of the past year was Wreck-It Ralph.  So it did my heart good to see this trio, bringing Venelope, Ralph and Candlehead to life.


 Meeting new people is part of the point of a convention, of course.  But meeting up with old friends is also quite fun.  Friends like my buddy Taffeta Darling, who spent Saturday playing the part of Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors when she wasn't hosting her own events.


Also in attendance was frequent Taffeta Darling collaborator Lhars Ebersold.  You might recognize her as the Pris to Taffeta's Zhora from my Dallas Sci-Fi Expo photos.  This day, she was resplendent as the best damned Mystique I've ever seen.  And I've seen a few.  You can check out Lhars' artwork here.


It was at this point that your reporter found himself in need of a nap and a meal and departed the convention proper to seek out both.  The morning was over but my day was just beginning... 

All-Con 2013: Day One

Friday would prove to be my shortest stay at All-Con. I only had one panel to teach (Secret Origins: The History of American Comics) and with a show in Dallas to perform in that evening (Amber Does Dallas' bi-monthly performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the historic Lakewood Theater) my time was limited.  Still, I found plenty of time to wander the halls and snag several pictures of some interesting cosplays and other interesting sights before I had to dash off for the evening.

Despite our troupe doing double duty, with a show at our regular venue on Friday night and a performance at All-Con on Saturday night, some of our number took the time to create and staff an amazing display table to promote our work.  Pictured behind the table is our promotions manager Ali, looking cool as ever.

I'm no Bronie but even I can appreciate the craft and complexity of this costume, which I am informed by someone much more knowledgeable about these things than myself is the character Rarity.

This costume, however, I knew straight away.  That's The Shoveler from the cult-classic Mystery Men.

Here we see my fellow ADD member, Nako Sweet, cosplaying the Winter Lady Maeve from The Dresden Files.  Note the poor fellow frozen in time behind her, due to Nako's very real fairy magic.

Batman and Romana Flowers.  A strange pairing, no?  But nothing's truly strange at All-Con.

I haven't seen Rise of the Guardians yet, but even I recognized this wonderful Jack Frost cosplay. 

Great Hera!  It's Kingdom Come Wonder Woman, with the golden eagle armor.

My buddy Paul Riddel was present, manning the booth for The Texas Triffid Ranch. If you've ever had the hankering to adopt a carnivorous plant, Paul's the man to talk to.

This lady cosplayed a most impressive Princess Zelda and her music was as lovely as her costume.  She played various themes from The Legend of Zelda games on an ocarina and it was enchanting.  But don't take my word for it!  You can hear some samples of her work at crisgale.com. 

 

My friend Rick Gutierrez of The United States of Geekdom cut quite a fine figure as Captain Hammer, MCing their annual Doctor Horrible screening. While Amber Does Dallas wasn't a co-sponsor this year, I was still on hand to offer my riffing expertise to the proceedings.

Sadly, not all of my pictures from this day turned out clearly after the fact. So I'd first like to apologize to Princess Peach and the other Princess Zelda, whose pictures I couldn't share with everyone.  I'd like to apologize to my friend make-up artist Lizzie Lynch, whose class on special effects make-up I learned a great deal from but - again - failed to get any clear pictures of.  I'd also like to apologize to my friend Zander Price - proprietor of Nerdy NotionZ - for failing to get a decent picture of him in his Casey Jones costume.  I hope that encouraging everyone to buy one of your amusing decals or charms will make-up for it. :)

Finally, I'd like to give a shout-out to artist Jessica Grundy, who was kind enough to share a brief conversation with me after I mistook her for someone else and patient enough to wait until I could break a $20 to buy one of her adorable buttons.  Check out her store at the above link.