Hey
everybody – Phantom here. I am looking for stories about Dragon
Con. I don’t care how long they are, how dirty or clean they are,
or when they took place. If you have a Con-related story you’d like
to share, send it to me at phantomtroublemaker@gmail.com
and I will post it here on the site. Be sure to include pictures (if
possible), how you want to be credited, and any links you’d like to
attach. We have less than two weeks before Con, so I’ll be posting
your stories as soon as I get them.
To
paraphrase the great Dave Barry:
Once
could not possibly overstate the importance of cosplayers at Dragon
Con.
Well,
one could,
I suppose, if one said something like, “Without cosplayers at
Dragon Con the balance of the entire universe would shift and Earth
would go hurtling into the sun.”
Although
I think that might be entirely possible.
If
no celebrities showed up it would be disappointing, but the overall
atmosphere of the Con would still be great.
If
no vendors showed up we would all save a lot of money and not have to
walk all the way over to America’s Mart.
If
no artists showed up that would really
suck. It would seriously bum me out. But again – the atmosphere of
Con would remain.
Loathe
as I am to admit it, we could even get by without the folks in the
fan tracks. As much as I love the fan experience, there was a time
when I enjoyed Dragon Con and didn’t even go to panels – fan or
otherwise.
I’m
not saying I want to, but I could still enjoy Dragon Con without
those things. Take away the cosplayers and the atmosphere they help
to create – the fantastic, otherworldly atmosphere – and you lose
a lot of what makes Dragon Con so special. That is, the escape from
reality.
So
here’s to the cosplayers and their hundreds of hours and dollars of
investment, their passion for dorkery, and their pure damn stamina
for walking around in a hundred pounds of armor for hours at a time.
Or
for walking around half-naked. Let’s not forget those brave heroes.
Anyway,
here are my best guesses at what the hot costumes of 2014 will be.
Guardians
of the Galaxy
There
will be tons
of Rocket Raccoons. Furry Rockets, sexy Rockets, lazy Rockets,
amazing Rockets, and probably even puppet Rockets.
But
I’m sure we’ll also see the rest of the cast represented to one
extent or another. Star Lord has a specific look, but one that I
don’t think will be too hard to pull off. I’m sure there will be
huge gaps in accuracy – everything from a red jacket with goggles
to screen accurate coats with detachable bottom portions and masks
with light-up eyes.
I
would love
to have a Nova Corps uniform.
But
mainly I want to see a Howard the Duck.
All
of the other Marvel movies
Guardians
may be the new flavor of awesome, but Thor
2 and
The
Winter Soldier
also happened since last year’s Con and no doubt inspired
cosplayers. I know there will be at least one incredible Winter
Soldier walking around this year. I’d love to see some of the
supporting characters from Asgard. The issue there is that it would
cost so much time and money to make somebody that nobody is going to
recognize. Even an excellent Volstagg would still just be Volstagg –
somebody only the hardest of core is instantly going to recognize.
I
fully expect a multitude of Black Widows. And I wouldn’t be too
surprised to see some crafty soul bust out a movie-fied variation of
Arnim Zola. That’s the kind of weird shit that happens at Dragon
Con.
Robin
Williams
I’m
writing this the day after Williams was found in his home. I’m
about as broken up about it as I get over celebrity deaths. He was
one of my earliest heroes that wasn’t a cartoon. I had rainbow
suspenders because Mork from Ork was, quite frankly, the most
incredible person on the planet.
I
think there’s a fair chance we’ll see a few of Robin Williams’
memorable characters represented at Con as a tribute to the man’s
genius and influence on all of our lives. I could definitely see
Mork, Mrs. Doubtfire, Teddy Roosevelt, (others). I might have even
ordered a brand new set of rainbow suspenders as my own small form of
acknowledgement.
Arrow/DC
TV Universe
A
lot of comic book shows are somewhat shy about putting the heroes in
costumes. Arrow
is not one of those shows. At least, not anymore. The last season was
chock-full of costumed superhero and supervillain goodness and I
fully expect to see Deathstroke, Black Canary, Huntress, and more
running around Con. Obviously there will be plenty of Oliver Queens,
but if you’re gonna do that one you had better be ripped and
charming as heck. Somebody set up a salmon ladder in the Hyatt.
Of
course, now you can’t mention Arrow
without mentioning its little brother series, The
Flash.
I’ll be very impressed if anybody is wearing Barry’s costume. But
not surprised. Cosplayers are an amazing bunch and I daresay have had
more than enough time to build costumes based on the shots we’ve
been given of the TV costume.
Gotham
doesn’t seem to be offering much in the way of costumes, but I’ll
be very surprised if I don’t see some guys walking around in trench
coats and red ties, a la Constantine.
Maleficent
We
will see LOTS of Maleficents. I don’t even know for sure how the
movie did, but the character is so iconic and was marketed so well
during the ad campaign for the film that everybody
has that image of Angeline Jolie burned into their brains. The only
question now is which variations we’ll see. There’s no doubting
we’ll see classic Disney versions, movie versions, and the one with
the wings. But will we see variations like Furry Maleficent, sexy
Maleficent, lazy Maleficent, or even puppet Maleficent?
Frozen
I
think it’s likely that a lot more people are going to read this
post then read my July Previews rundown,
so I’m not going to repeat my diatribe about how intensely I
disliked Frozen.
I don’t want to put anybody off.
There
will be an absurd number of Frozen
costumes at Dragon Con. It’s going to be ridiculous. Kudos to every
lady (or dude) that chooses to wear something other than that same
damn Elsa dress that everybody
wears. And my sincerest thanks to all of the ladies (and dudes) that
choose to not wear anything from this terrible movie.
And
yes – feel free to abuse me in the Comments. I know ours is the
only family on the planet that hated Frozen.
![]() |
From BookofLifeMovie.com |
Book
of Life
Okay,
I know this isn’t going to happen because the movie doesn’t even
come out until October 17th,
but LOOK AT THIS GORGEOUS TRAILER:
Really
I just wanted to draw attention to the movie. Man. I’m more excited
about Book
of Life
than anything else that’s coming out the rest of the year.
X-Men:
Days of Future Past
I
may have disliked this movie (though not as much as Frozen
and DEFINTELY not as much as I hated Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles),
but it featured a ton of fantastic costumes. As rife
with problems as Days
of Future Past
was,
the way the characters were dressed was not one of them. Even
Quicksilver – who barely had a costume at all – had a
recognizable and distinctive look. I would love to see a big group
dressed like the future X-Men. Or present X-Men. Or whatever the heck
they were supposed to be.
Sin
City
I
always like to throw in something that I think is sort of a long
shot. Book
of Life
wasn’t really that. That was just me drawing your attention to the
trailer for that gorgeous movie.
I’m
not sure if expecting Sin
City
cosplay even is
a long shot. This stunning Nancy was there at least two years in a
row:
And
I’d imagine with a new movie coming out she’ll be back this year.
While a lot of the characters in the Sin
City
universe are suit and trenchcoat people, there are certainly enough
distinctive looks that might appeal to cosplayers. I think it would
be awesome to see black and white costumes. I’m sure it’s been
done, but I haven’t seen it.
That’s
all I’ve got this year. I’m sure I will once again be surprised
by the creativity of the cosplay community and how off the mark I was
or how many new concepts I overlooked.
The
Secrets of Being Happy At Dragon Con: Part 2
Wear
some kind of costume at some point over the weekend. Probably
Saturday night.
It
doesn’t have to be an elaborate, homemade, recognizable character.
It doesn’t have to be a spandex suit or armor or some giant set of
wings. Throw something together, rent something, just go and buy a
mask. Do what you’re comfortable doing. But give it a try. I spent
one year wishing I had a costume and the next year wishing I had a
better
costume. Aside from the masks I wear everything I put together is
just a bunch of clothes I buy. But it’s what my character wears.
It’s different from what I wear when I’m not in the mask. It’s
a costume, regardless of anybody else’s definition.
So
take a night to not be yourself and play around at the Marriott or
wherever you decide to hang out at Con. I think you’ll find
yourself feeling sorry for the shorts and t-shirt crowd and all the
fun they’re missing out on.
Then
again, maybe those folks are accountants and looking like slobs is
their
costume.
The
point is, try something different. Which segues into Part 3. But
that’ll be up… sometime soon.
One of these years I'm going to cosplay as you or schweck. But probably lazily. Probably so lazily that I'll never get around to doing it, but it's funny to kick the images around in my head
ReplyDeleteSchweck would be cheaper, but I'd be easier.
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