All-Con 2014 - Day Four

Sundays at a convention tend to be the slowest, most sedate days.  The final day of All-Con 2014 proved to be no exception.  The halls were relatively empty when the day's events officially started at 9 am.  Deadpool had very few people to serve his famous flapjacks.  Then again, given the reason why said flapjacks are famous, most people were reluctant to take them anyway. 


    Still, Jedi Cole and Rick Gutierrez of United States of Geekdom were ready to kick the morning off with All-Con's most popular early morning zoo podcast - Jedi Cole's Morning After.  The fact that it's also All-Con's only early morning zoo podcast is not important. 



What is important is that dozens of people - fighting either hangovers or the sleepless nights caused by the people in the next room over who were up all night earning their hangovers - turned up to eat from tiny cereal boxes, enjoy a few laughs and win prizes like a never-emptying Guinness baby bottle!


Immediately afterward, the same room hosted USG's All-Con Wrap-Up show.  Joining Jedi Cole and Rick in commiserating over the awesome weekend were Hey Kids Comics! co-host Andrew Farmer and Cult Film Fanatics host Roy Buckingham.  I also got to speak a bit about my experiences doing panels and podcasts with these gentlemen.  Hopefully I'll be able to do the same again next year.




After that, I had to dash to my final two panels of the weekend - a double feature of Secret Origins: The History of American Comics and All About Arrow. With my final bit of hosting duties discharged, I had some time to take one final batch of cosplay photos.  A shame most of the cosplayers had departed at that point and a goodly number of people were already packing up to go.

Still, I did discover one lively group of Gothamite Steampunk Cosplayers downstairs waiting in line at the Neither Noir booth, who were willing to camp it up for me while waiting for their shot before the best professional cosplay photographers in Dallas.











I should note that this was one thing about All-Con this year that I think much improved on previous years.  This year, Neither Noir was allowed to set up shop in the lower lobby, near the information booth on the ground floor.  I think this helped to eliminate traffic problems on the second floor, where they had previously been set up on a corner before the grand ballroom most of the big events are held in.  In times past, it was not uncommon to have complete bottlenecks every hour, on the hour, as events let out only to run into a wall of cosplayers eagerly waiting to have their pictures done.  This year, I don't recall seeing or hearing about any similar problems in the lobby.

That is, I think, the best summation of All-Con 2014.  It was an improvement on previous years and it was a good time all around.  I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store!

All-Con 2014 - Day Three, Part Two

And now... more cosplay photos!


Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz



Han Solo and Princess Leia



My pal Glitzy Geek Girl and her friend Garrett as Jessie and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.


Marty McFly from Back To The Future



My friend Monica as Steampunk Faye Valentine


The less I think about this picture, the better.  The best case scenario is that an amorous R2D2 just had his little droid heart broken by the revelation that those trash cans were NOT R2 units.



You can never have too many Wonder Women.



Deadpool and Domino.



DEATH TO MING!



Jubilee and X-23



Dallas Fan Girl as a crossplay Yamcha from Dragon Ball Z.



Two gladiators from Sparatacus.



Arkham Asylum Scarecrow

All this fancy cosplay about, I felt a little embarrassed by my understated costume for this day.  I revamped my Slade Wilson cosplay - this time wearing a tie that had the blue, orange, white and black shades that make up the Deathstroke costume.  I wasn't recognized by many people as the day went on.  On the other hand, I only had one person ask if I was Nick Fury, so I'll consider that a success.





I'd heard tale there was an Arrow cosplayer running around that day, but I didn't see him until my All About Arrow panel that evening.  Apparently he'd heard about me and had been seeking me out as well.  We finally snapped a picture together after my show was over.




With my last panel over, it was time for another great All-Con tradition - The Saturday Night Burlesque Show!  As always, the show organized by Diamond Jim was amazing, though I must admit to a bit of bias given the disproportionate number of redheads among the performers.  You can blame Diamond Jim himself for that, as the man admitted to having something of a redhead fetish as he MCed the show. But who can blame him given the talent he is surrounded by?

The show offered a balanced line-up of traditional burlesque acts and more geek-friendly "nerdlesque" acts.  Nerdlesque, for those unfamiliar with the term, is burlesque involving geeky themes and characters.  Some of the acts split the difference, with Blaze, The Red Rose of Texas performing as Satine from Moulin Rouge (definitely a classical burlesque number, but based on a very geek-friendly musical) and Black Mariah doing a classic strip-tease to the music of Blade Runner while dressed as Rachael.  More traditional burlesque was provided by the ever-classy Minxie Mimieux and La Divina.

On the nerdy side of the street, the show's co-producer, Ruby Joule, once again offered up her famous Jessica Rabbit act.  Catrina Le Purr was a delightfully chipper Princess Leia.   Hana Li was equally adorable as a geek girl stripping out of her pajamas.  Angi B. Lovely offered up a hilarious skit as Daphne from Scooby Doo and provided the show's Tron-based finale along with Black Mariah.

Alas, I had little time to hang around after the show.  For I had promises to keep and miles to go before I'd sleep.  Well, actually I had to run across the hotel to the Cult Film Fanatics Symposium of Shlock.  Hardly miles but I HAD promised to be there.  And it was amazing and hilarious, as I knew it would be.  Plans are already in the works for another Symposium next year.

All-Con 2014 - Day Three, Part One

Saturday was my busiest day at All-Con by far. It started with the early-morning screening of Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog - once again organized this year by Rick Gutierrez and The United States of Geekdom.  While I wasn't helping out in an official capacity this year, I was still on hand to riff the movie along with the rest of the usual suspects. 

I was, however, officially involved with USG's Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Story So Far panel.  Rick Gutierrez, Andrew Farmer and I spoke for an hour about the hidden connections between the various Marvel Studios movies.  I don't think I added much to the panel, save that I was the only one of our trio who had seen every episode of Agents of SHIELD and thus the only person who knew the significance of Odin (i.e. a disguised Loki, as of Thor: The Dark World) sending Sif to Earth to recover Lorelei - a frequent Loki ally/conspirator in the comics.

Speaking of Loki, the trickster himself showed up for the panel along with one of Captain America's back-up dancers.  Because even a god gets lonely.



After that, I had to dash to lead my own Introduction To Doctor Who panel.  Once that was over, I had a few hours to walk around and capture some cosplay pictures before grabbing a late lunch/early dinner - a necessity given my schedule had my entire evening booked solid.



Black Mariah (of Naked Girls Reading) on her way to the Ms. Star Wars contest.  


Sif and The Enchantress


 Enasni Volz as Slumber Party Harley Quinn.

Storm


"Gallifrey Stands!"- The War Doctor



Ariel from The Little Mermaid


A little dancing robot with blinking lights.  



Neil Gaiman's Death


Anna from Frozen


White Lantern Kyle Rayner


Poison Ivy attempting to restrain a hyperactive Riddler.



Another new attraction at All-Con this year - a Slot Car Racing Arena!



Wonder Woman, Black Canary and Zatanna after their race was done.

All-Con 2014 - Day Two

Friday was my least-busy day this year at All-Con.  I had only one panel I was running myself and only one major event to worry about attending.  Given the more casual nature of the day, I opted for a casual costume - one I improvised after considering what I could possibly do on short notice with my beard trimmed into a goatee. 

And then it hit me.  It would be easy enough to get a blue shirt and red shorts.  I already did the voice quite well.  And it didn't take much effort to fashion a sign out of cardboard and a lanyard so I could be recognized at a distance.  For many years, I've been so the go-to guy for comics news and trivia for many people.  It seemed fitting then that I should be The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.



My first stop that morning was at a new addition to the All-Con events calendar - The Game Room.  This room gave attendees a chance to try a variety of board and card games.  It was sponsored by local game shop Roll2Play, which is also sponsoring its own upcoming gaming convention - T.A.B.L.E.  I spent the better part of the morning in the convention's Game Room, playing a few games with my friend Wes and demonstrating  Chrononauts and Fluxx to other gamers.


Of course I still had some time for cosplay pictures as I played.


The TARDIS and The Eighth Doctor


Hogun The Grim from The Warriors Three from Thor.


A female assassin from Assassin's Creed.  
Catwoman and Black Widow.   

This Cassandra Cain cosplayer has a web-comic well worth checking out.
I ran into the female assassin a second time and she asked if I could get a picture of her in her new corset.  Since she didn't have a camera of her own, I agreed to take a few pictures for her as she posed with a variety of weapons in front of a mock Stargate set.  Because if being a geek blogger for over a decade has taught me anything, it is that you can never have enough pictures of a heavily armed geek girl on your blog.



 Hood Down

Hood Up


Dual Wield


Amy Pond from Doctor Who
A medieval group of Gothamites - Poison Ivy, Robin, Batman, Bane, Catwoman & Harley


The Second Doctor and Black Cat


Doctor Girlfriend from The Venture Bros.  

I hadn't planned on attending Don't Lose Your Geek Card: The Comic Book Trivia Edition but decided to show up after realizing my schedule allowed me the time this year.  I didn't take part in the game, amusing as it might have been to have played The Comic Book Guy while doing so.  After winning the game for three years running, I decided to retire before I got retired.  Since then, I've befriended the hosts - Cole Houston and Andrew Farmer - and even been a guest on their podcast, Hey Kids Comics!  It was enough for me to sit in, enjoy the comedy and answer most of the questions for everyone after the contestants were buzzed out.


    My night ended the same way my Friday nights have ended at All-Con for the past three years - with United States of Geekdom's screening of Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog.  It was an enjoyable evening, as always, and I had a lot of fun riffing on the film with my buddies Rick and Roy from Cult Film Fanatics.  I also got a picture of my friend Beth (of Wilde Designs) in her Captain Hammer cosplay.