Hot
diggity damn! It’s time once again to start my coverage of the
greatest and best nerd event in all the land – Dragon Con!
Note
the lack of asterisk. That’s an official decision that was made
after Dragon*Con merged with whoever the heck Dragon*Con merged with
to divest itself of that alleged repulsive bag of shit, Ed Kramer.
I’m not going to get into a whole thing about the allegedly
reprehensible Kramer or the disingenuous boycotters who were looking
to gain media attention by making a big deal out of not going to
Dragon*Con; I’ll just say it’s nice that that’s all over.
But
for those of us who actually like fun and want to enjoy life rather
than engage in some sort of mutually destructive schadenfreude, it’s
time to talk about one of the best and most important aspects of
Dragon Con – costuming! Or cosplay, depending on who you ask.
Here’s
my personal definition of the two, which I do believe are different
things. Also, these are Con definitions, not dictionary definitions.
I am aware that a “costumer” is actually somebody who creates
costumes for others.
Costumer
– One that wears a costume to Con.
Cosplayer
– One that wears a costume to Con and
behaves in the manner of the character they are costuming as.
Is
that right? I dunno. But it sounds good to me. Somebody either
contradict me or make it official. With any luck I’ll get all the
Q&As I’m hoping to get this year and we’ll have an
authoritative answer by the time Con arrives. Because this year the
focus here on Needless Things is going to be on costuming/cosplay.
It’s something I’ve loved since I was a kid but have no real
talent for. Well, maybe no patience for would be a better way of
putting it.
In
all honesty, I think the cosplayers are the most important people at
Dragon Con. They were the reason I first fell in love with the con. I
was hanging out with Jeffistopheles in the Hyatt – back when the
Hyatt was still the
place to people watch – and it just hit me that these people were
amazing. I had never given much thought to the process of making a
costume and wearing it out in public. But from the Stormtroopers to
the Klingons to the Batmans to the weird anime chicks that I couldn’t
identify, it was all fantastic. Those
are the people that make Dragon Con magical. For me, anyway.
My
favorite kind of event is something where you can truly get away from
the real world. I don’t care for the real world very much and never
have, so anyplace where I can achieve a real separation from the
violence, hate, ugliness, and Walmarts of reality is great. Walt
Disney World is the best example. You can vacation there and never
even see a gas station. DragonCon is another example. While you are
definitely surrounded by mundane brick and mortar, you are sharing
that space with these fantastic individuals who are creating a new
reality where characters and creatures from all realms of fantasy and
science fiction come alive and coexist for a weekend. And they bust
their asses to do it.
Today’s
post is all about the costumes I expect to see at Con this year. I do
this every year – trying to predict what comics, movies, and shows
will be the most popular new things amongst the costume folk. I don’t
think I’ve had a truly successful year yet, but I sure do have fun
writing about it.
Defiance
I
love
this show, but I’m not entirely sure how it’s been received. I’ve
seen a few posts on Facebook about it and heard nothing negative, but
I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that from the very first
episode my thought was, “Holy shit, the costumes we’re gonna see
at DragonCon”. I felt like Defiance
was tailor-made (pun so totally intended) for the cosplay crowd.
Regardless of whether or not you like the plot and characters of the
show, the alien designs and costuming are fantastic. There’s a
little something for everybody, with a more than healthy dose of
Steampunk. I expect to see no less than thirty Irisas, with a healthy
smattering of every other species the show has to offer.
Man
of Steel
As
I was thinking of properties ripe for costuming, I wasn’t sure the
new Superman movie would really qualify. But then I thought about all
the Kryptonians and Jor-El’s armor and the Kryptonian bodysuits and
I decided we’ll probably see quite a few designs from this film. I
bet there are quite a few people who have been dying for a new take
on Superman, as well.
Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The
show hasn’t even started yet, but I bet there are going to be a ton
of people walking around with black suits and homemade laminates,
possibly carrying Chitauri tech around. I’m sure we’ll also be
seeing a ton of Avengers-style
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
Iron
Man 3
Speaking
of Avengers,
I fully expect to see the return of these people this year:
With
all of the crazy armors that were featured in Iron
Man 3,
there is no reason why the number of folks in that picture shouldn’t
triple. Well, other than the fact that it must be really damned hard
to make Iron Man armor.
I’m
honestly kind of nostalgic for that particular group of people
because they were the first themed group of costumers I ever really
saw together like that. They had a powerful impact on me. I’ll
always carry that mental image with me, and whenever I think of the
glory of DragonCon, those folks will come to mind.
Pacific
Rim
I
think this one is probably a long shot. I doubt we’ll see too many
Jaegers walking around (though it is possible), and I think Kaiju
from the movie are even less likely. I am halfway expecting to see
some of the Jaeger pilot suits and would put money on at least one
(Mako?). I will also put money on those patch dealers having a ton of
Pacific Rim patches. I hope they do, anyway.
Evil
Dead
It
would please me greatly
to see a lady dressed as Mia from the new Evil
Dead.
From the end of the movie, all covered in blood with her stump jammed
into the chainsaw. This would be such an easy costume to pull off
I’ll be a little surprised if I don’t see it. Deadite Mia would
also be awesome.
Video
Games
Yes,
that is a massive category. But I am so sadly out of touch with games
right now that I am probably going to look at game-based costumes and
just think, “Oh, look at that cool-looking weird thing.” Last
year there was a couple in absolutely amazing costumes from some big
game that somebody told me about and I can’t even remember right
now. But they looked rad.
What
I would really like to see in this category is more stuff from the
Batman:
Arkham
games. Sure, all those Catwomans looked great. But how about some of
the other 18,000 awesome-looking characters in the game? These are
some of the most exciting and dynamic designs that heave ever been
done for these characters and it would be awesome to see them walking
around. And it only now occurs to me that Deadshot wouldn’t be all
that tough to make and by not doing so I am only contributing to the
problem.
I
will make this specific call – there will be a ton of costumes
based on Bioshock
Infinite.
Not only was it so big and so talked about that I was actually aware
of it, the look of the game is totally Steampunk. And Steampunk is
still HUGE. Way bigger than Luchadork. But our day is coming…
The
Wolverine
Here’s
a funny thing. Well, maybe. I think it is. I’ve been piecing this
article together for over a month now, adding things as I see fit. I
am starting this part a couple of days before The
Wolverine
actually comes out. Based purely on the trailers I have seen it looks
awesome and definitely has some great looking costumes in it.
But
I just can’t seem to wash the taste of turd out of my mouth from
X-Men
Origins: Wolverine.
By all rights that movie should have ended FOX’s lucrative Marvel
mutant franchise. It is the
worst
comic book movie I have ever seen. I believe one hundred percent that
every single FOX executive owes Matthew Vaughn a blowjob for coming
in and saving the day with the excellent X-Men:
First Class.
Anyway,
I suppose if The
Wolverine is
good we might see some costumes from it at Dragon Con. If not, I
dunno. I will update!
-Phantom
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