Top 10 Comic Book Nerd Gifts

     First, I must apologize for being away from my blog for so long. Since I started my new job as a freelance editor/proofreader, working at home has turned all of my free time thoughts into , "I could be working right now instead of other things," but luckily I need a break every once in a while from that. I was really surprised last month when one of my friends heckled me about not blogging last month. I suppose I should be happy to know someone who reads (and enjoys?) my blog.

 I might deserve this

     I finally thought of something clever to talk about this month, and how much more appropriate can you get for the Christmas season. This is my top ten list of gifts to consider getting your comic book loving friend, spouse, boyfriend, or, I may even go as far as... self, for Christmas this year. With less than a week before the big day, this list may help out a few of you who are needing something quick and thoughtful for those nerds in your life. Even I, from time to time, hesitate when my fiancee asks me what I want for Christmas, simply because I know that in less than a year she might not be letting me bring it into our new home. So, with the short amount of time I have left of being a bachelor, I must be very selective in the things I ask for. Needless to say, this list is purely from my own perspective and may not reflect on the person who you are buying for. But, I want to make it very clear that buying a rare book or single issues for a hardcore collector might not be the approach you want to take. Some people are sticklers about every detail of their books being in mint condition, that they would rather you not waste money of single issue purchases. So, on this list you will not see me telling you to buy This book or That book, but if you want to go that route, I might recommend cash or a gift card to your friends favorite comic shop. But, money has no thought and gift cards are lame, unless for groceries, so lets see what else we can come up with. Keep in mind that this list is in no particular order.

#10. Loose Action Figures

     Yes, loose. Preferably not broken or dripping with child spit either. From the nerd perspective, action figures are really cool, but from the collector perspective, a sealed toy is another dust collector. You can find some really great open action figures online which have been lightly used. Being able to customize your work area with your favorite characters in different poses never gets old, but lets face it, if you give a collector a sealed toy, it's as good as saying, "Look at all the fun you could have... if I wasn't MIB, (Mint in Box for those newbs.)" But, I must warn you that if the person you are giving the toy to has a child, you may want to move onto the next gift.

#9. Busts or Statues

     This is the gift that most collectors want to have, but never want to buy for themselves. Statues are really great motivators to get your friends to dust their apartments more often and can be great conversational pieces. Not being articulate like action figures, there is no fear of wanting to play with it and breaking it. For the collector, it means that if they were to resell it for more money later, they can still open it, much like any buyer would, to inspect it for damages. Beware that these can get very pricey, and too many of them in a home can cross the line from collector to herder. So please, only one every couple of years.

#8. Christmas Ornaments

     There is such a thing as going overboard with comic book related Christmas decorations. The idea behind this gift is that once every year your friend gets to reopen the Christmas decoration box and reintroduce themselves to that favorite super hero ornament you gave them 3 years ago. Beware that if you want to keep surprising them with a new ornament each year, it can become expected and boring. This may make a great, one time, gift for an office party.

#7. Novel Adaptations

     Sometimes you just want to slap your friend and tell them that comics books are not real books. Well, now is your chance to politely tell them. There are many great novelizations to some really great graphic novels out there. Not only will you give them something that will increase their vocabulary, but I assure you that they will feel more confident when showing their book collections to their friends down the road. Making people think you are more literary inclined is the gift that keeps giving. (PS: We don't want mainstream stuff like Twilight, Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings.)

#6. Comic Book Accessories

     Nothing says, "I encourage your habit" like buying long boxes, organizers, and bag and boards to a collector. Its pretty expensive to store comic books properly, and it must be done properly. Take not as to what type of accessories your friends may be short of, what kind of sleeves they use, or just pick up a couple picture frames that your friends can put comic books in to rotate on their walls all year round. Just be sure the frame can hold the comic and the bag and board comfortably.

#5. Be Creative

     If you have an artistic talent, put your interests aside for a few days and try to make something custom that is comic book related. I have recently seen people doing custom art on long boxes that are much more aesthetically pleasing than just labeling the box "Spider-Man" comics. Custom wall art is always eye catching to guests throughout the year, and it may even give you a job down the road if someone else commissions your work because of it.

#4. Home Accessories

     I am not quite sure how to describe the euphoria of hopping out of a hot shower lined with an X-Men shower curtain, drying off with your super soft Batman towel, slipping on your Superman bathrobe and making an ice cold drink with a few ice cubes from your Deadpool ice cube tray. Take your pick of any of the above, all are great ideas.

#3. Banks

     It became, increasingly, aware to me that there is a huge saturation of comic book related money banks out there. This is coming from personal experience, because, I too received an amazing Infinity Gauntlet bank from a friend this year. It is definitely becoming a focal point in my living room. What better way to save for comic books each month, than saving in a bank specifically designed for your needs. There are many figures to choose from. Think of this as a statue, only with a use, and less chance of being broken...unless your planning on breaking the bank!! (oh snap)

#2. Apparel

     This one is relatively simple. T-Shirts, wallets, hats, belt buckle, anything you can use on a daily basis. I feel like this is a pretty weak gift simply because you can get all this stuff whenever and almost wherever you go throughout the year. It's simple, safe, and almost not exciting enough to bother with. But, if you see a friend whose Superman shirt has fades from a giant S to a 5, you might be having their best interest in mind.

#1. Backpack

     Shoulder bags, book bags, man purse (satchel... Indiana Jones had one,) all are exceptional gifts. A friend from a show once told me, from the retail perspective, that the people that don't carry a bag to a show are not their to buy. I think he is absolutely right. If your making a sale rests on spending time talking to a customer with a bag or talking to the guy in the Deadpool costume, you better believe you will be getting more service while carrying a bag. It only makes sense that people would go to shows and not want to fill their hands with swag, when they could simply have a designated back pack. Going the extra distance to get a back pack that is comic book related is where your true thought and effort goes into getting this gift. Like me, I just buy buttons and put them on my bag at each show, and I love it. It is a must for every comic book collector, in my opinion.

     That's the list! I hope you enjoyed reading over it and, as always, I would love to hear your feedback about the articles. What would you add or take away from the list. Let me know if you actually go buy something from the list for a friend. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great holiday season and a safe new year.

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DragonCon 2014 Part 3: The Costume

     Halloween is in a few days, and what better way to begin the holiday than to get some great ideas for costuming. Although it may be too late for some of you to start something as intricate as a full body costume, I felt waiting until now to release my final DragonCon 2014 blog, was appropriately timed. Among other things, I have been busy starting a new job, which I am happy to announce is in the same field that I had went to school for, and is pretty awesome. Before it's too late, Happy Halloween!

     A while back when I was trying to find ways to make a full body Steampunk Darunia costume, I ran across another blog that really intrigued me. Volpin props is a costume/prop creator who specializes, professionally, in character creation. With a lot of free time in between calls at work, I read most of his blog and came across some pretty cool costume hacks that I felt would be valuable while starting this process. Another helpful video I found was from the Youtube channel 2DayWithPatrickJ who explains in great detail how to use EVA foam and big gap filler. I felt these two sources needed a shout out, and I highly recommend watching their videos if you are planning a large scale project such as this.

     Why do this project and from where did I get most of my inspiration?

     As I had mentioned in a previous blog entry, the idea to do Zelda was forced onto me, but the idea of making a Darunia costume was really what sparked my interest. The steampunk rendition was chosen as a group with my friends, who respectively went as Zelda, Gannon, Link, and Saria. The steampunk variations allowed for an easy way to customize the character but still remain faithful to the original content. Because of the way the costume turned out, and also because mistakes were made, I allowed the character of Darunia to be more rock like than skin. Below you will see just a few pieces I found on the internet that I tried to implement into the costume. I thought it was really cool that with the recent reveal of Darunia in the Hyrule Warriors game, my costume would be a little more known to younger people, and thought it interesting that the character too, had a Mega-Ton hammer weapon.

     The first part of the costume was the head piece. Without a head, there was no costume, it was as simple as that. I had no idea what to make the head out of, but after researching the internet, I concluded that Big Gap Filler was what I needed. Without the sculpt of my head, I was crafting blind, but ended up using a wrestler's head guard with a football in it as the original frame. The problem I ran into with this, was that I had assumed I would still be able to fit my head into the head guard after the foam was put on top. However, what I had not expected was that the foam would continue to expand inward and implode on the head piece. After about a week, I was content that the foam needed to be carved out of the inside, which I did at a later time. I ripped out the head gear and was pleased with the room it had allowed for me to try it on. The next few coats of foam would be all exterior, and I would expand upon the depth of the helmet as well as the width of it.

     Carving the face went through a lot of trial and error. Sometimes you think you know what the character looks like, and others you realize you have no idea what you are doing. luckily, Big Gap Filler is forgiving when it comes to being carved. If you mess up, you can spray more on and try again. Here are a few transitions I went through till I got to the completed carving.

Once I found the shape I was looking for, I decided that if any part of the costume would be bonded with Bondo, it would be the helmet. It took 2 small cans of the stuff, but since I had never used it before and was on a time constraint, I had to make due with how it turned out. The Bondo didn't come out as smooth as I would have liked, and since I was working out of my apartment, I had to leave it inside of my car on hot days. A word of advice: when leaving Bondo in heated areas, it may crack. There were a few cracks and it was only layered once, but since it added to the rock like effect I was looking for, I felt the end product was pretty good.

     I wasn't sure at first how I wanted the body to fit together, but decided later on that I was going to be making a shoulder pad with a front and back piece. The rest of the lower torso would be covered by a loin cloth. For most of this costume I started with something from a thrift store, and for the chest and shoulder piece, I took an old sleeping pad you would use under a sleeping bag as the frame work. It was sturdy, but pliable, and was easy to cut. Having someone make the cuts is necessary for this part, and so I was able to make some shoulders that would bend when tied with string on the hinges, and I was able to get a chest that was still in one solid piece. This is a photo of the foamed piece.

     I apologize for the lack of photos here, but my next step was creating a chest that was later glued under the front of the shoulder chest piece. it was just a big piece of cardboard that had articulation points and light foam that I was able to make look like muscles. Another shoulder pad was made from cardboard and placed on top of each existing one that added to the bulk of the costume and hid the gap that you see above. At one point I tried to use some old hockey gloves and some of the padded foam to make gloves, but because the foam imploded when expanding, the idea was scrapped last minute and I bought some gloves without tips and attached some pvc pipes that looked like fingertips on them. I did keep the foam wrists that are pictured below and turned one into a steampunk mechanical arm with a light up Goron Ruby in it with some steampunk style furnishings. The other arm remained natural with a Goron Bracelet around the wrist.

     The feet for this project were all built around some Nike knee pads and shin guards I found at a thrift store. They didn't have feet on them, so I ended up bending and measuring cardboard around the shoes I thought I might be wearing to get the frame. The tape and foam did the rest to hold it together. A final touch was some EVA foam that I cut and glued to the bottoms; this allowed me to walk around with only socks on. It was quite comfortable.

The back piece was quite crude. i simply made a backpack out of the shell and once I carved the foam, I put some random slices of padding, you find in cushions, on the back in a rock like formation.

The final part of the main costume was the Mega-Ton hammer. I knew I wanted more lights on the costume and something original, and so I decided to make the hammer look like flowing molten lava with the Fire Seal as the head piece. The frame for the hammer was actually a metal frame lamp shade that had the glass pieces removed. With a few zip strips to fill in the gaps, I was able to make the foam stick to it well enough to harden. I put 2 push lights inside the larger side of the hammer which I made holes to reach in and push them. The back piece was separate and has one light inside of it. It was simple enough and didn't require a lot of wiring.

     The final part of the costume was the cosmetics. I had purchased some PVC flanges and various piping to make the goggles. The vinyl straps around the goggles house the 9 volt batteries on the sides of the head to power 4 LEDs on each flange. Plexiglass was custom cut to make the goggles as well. PVC pipe was also used to make the handle for the hammer and gloves. The hammer handle didn't withstand the weight of the hammer head, which was ok, because it made it easier to carry while walking around.

     The hair for this project was all 1 inch thick pieces of carpentry foam. I manually painted it with whites and browns, and the green from the foam gave it a mossy look.

I wore a desert color Under Armor shirt and tights under the costume to get the full effect. I had created a Bombchu as a throw in, but I never got around to showing it off. The following images are of the finished project.

     Well, that about raps it up. I hope you guys learned something from my experience, and please, if you have any questions (I know this was rushed) just submit a comment below and I will try to facilitate the best I can. Happy Halloween!

DragonCon 2014 Part 2: Hotel Hijinks

If you haven't read part 1 of my Dragon Con experience and my proposal plans, you may do so by clicking HERE.

This blog may start off with more of a rant than a description of what happened when we finally made it to Atlanta, Georgia, but I assure you there is plenty about our wonderful experiences together on our trip...so keep reading till the end. Originally my group was able to obtain two hotel rooms in the Hyatt this year. This was also the first year having a hotel in one of the hosting hotels which was perfect, since my costume was so large I could simply, put it on, go down the elevator, and walk around. My friend Spencer had procured his room and had called the Hyatt ahead of time to secure his room and had requested it be right next to mine so we could open up the doors between the rooms and have more space. Everything seemed in order when we finally left around noon on our 9 hour journey. Spencer's friends had checked into Spencer's room around 8 o'clock that night and had already began partying. Spencer and his brother Adam however, were still working that day and didn't leave until 6 o'clock that night. Mandi and I were in one car while KP, his wife Katie, our friends Austin and Joe, were all riding together just behind us.

Check-in: Thursday Night

Coming into Atlanta is an amazing experience in itself. Living in rural Ohio for so long, tall buildings tend to appear intimidating, but quite beautiful when lit up, such as they were in Atlanta. Traffic on the interstates had already set us back about 50 minutes more and so, being tired wasn't an option once the adrenaline started flowing with our arrival. Mandi and I had arrived about 15 minutes before KP and his car, and so we had the luxury of making a few directional mistakes while trying to navigate the one way streets and heavy street traffic of random cosplayers. Eventually we found the Hyatt which, when we drove up to the front, they immediately directed us to a parking garage on the side of the building. After circling around a few more times, we pulled into the garage and was told to check in a few floors up and left our car sit idle. Grabbing our bags and leaving our costumes, which took up a majority of the space in our car, behind. Things were getting pretty exciting, and as soon as we made it up one flight of escalators, I immediately noticed a particularly famous bald man. Turns out it was George Perez! Before even getting off the elevator, I looked at him and shouted, "Mr. Perez?" in which turn he began to approach me. Knowing that famous people must have this happen to them all the time, I shook his hand and told him I was a big fan of his work, and briefly mentioned I would look forward to seeing him later in the weekend to get a few books signed. He acknowledged my sincerity and we parted ways.

George Perez, being ...well...George Perez

Heading up another flight of escalators, Mandi and I made our way to the front desk. A young gentleman was there and after about 5 minutes of waiting while he typed away on the computer he finally announced to us, "I do apologize Mr. Kouse, but it appears we have overbooked our hotel." Confusion began to seep into my head, and thoughts of us driving back home this very same night seemed like a very possible thing. He then followed up with, "We are very embarrassed by this, and would like to put you up at the Sheraton Hotel at our expense. We will also take care of your parking because we know it can be expensive. On top of that, we are willing to offer you first priority booking at our hotel for next year's DragonCon and your choice of either 1 night stay for free between now and the end of next August, or 12000 points on your gold card, which could be used to help pay for a room next year." I wasn't quite sure what was going on, but apparently they had not closed the reservations in time for the event, where as I had called in my reservation on the first day of booking. Frustration eventually ensued, but I knew yelling at this guy would do me no good. Working in retail, where I have to listen to customers all day beg and whine for things, doesn't always guarantee you stuff. I was patient with the hotel clerk and selected the 12000 points option, which he then signed and printed me a copy. How this was going to effect my costume wearing was going to be a problem. I immediately called KP and his group, once then had arrived in the city. I explained that we were being put up in another hotel and we would have to figure something out for parking.

 This WAS, supposed to be our hotel.

Heading back down to the car, we loaded it back up with our luggage and asked them about parking. They said there was two options, we could take our luggage the to Sheraton and then drive back and park at the Hyatt for free, or they would comp our parking at the Sheraton. We drove to the Sheraton just in time for KP and his car to arrive behind us. After calling Spencer and telling him about the problem, he said we could put my costume in his room, thus solving the costume issue. Checking into the Sheraton was pure chaos, simply because everyone was being redirected there. Once I ran to check in, I asked them about parking in their garage, which they said they knew absolutely nothing about free parking. This was beginning to get more aggravating, and so we devised a plan to drop off our luggage and then drive back to the Hyatt to unload my costume and park the cars for free. After dropping off what we needed in the Sheraton, which our room happened to be in the basement, (no romantic skyline for us,) we proceeded to drive back to the Hyatt to park. Upon driving up to the garage we were promptly stopped by a man, who I assumed didn't understand a word we were saying, but all he said was that they were all filled up. I told him, we were told to drop off our luggage and we could come back and park for free. Eventually he let us in the garage and after a few minutes of flashing our papers which stated they would comp our room and parking, they decided to let us park in their garage.

With two problems taken care of, now we had to figure out how to get my costume upstairs to the 15th floor. We loaded it up on a couple of bellhop dollys and received tickets for them, which we took upstairs to the lobby again. Speaking with another gentlemen, we explained we needed to have them sent up to Spencer's room and dropped off. Naturally they wouldn't just allow us, who were not on the reservation list, up to his room. So, I got on the phone, talked to Spencer and told him to call the hotel and add me to the list. After a few minutes I got a text saying it was done. The gentleman who I was working with pulled up the room list, and low and behold, it said I was cancelled off of the room list. He asked for my ID and walked away, which I felt was quite odd. He came back a few minutes later and told me to call my friend back, which I then proceeded to do. Once I got him on the phone, the gentleman from the hotel took my phone and ID this time, and decided to walk away with them to the end of the lobby, (I've never felt so naked.) Eventually he returned with my affects and told me to take a slip of paper to the front desk and it would be taken care of. Once there, we gave the paper to the clerk, who had absolutely no idea what was going on and after a few minutes of suspiciously measuring us up, she gave me a key card to the room. By this time we had spent about 2 hours managing our luggage cars and costumes, I had to request if she could compensate us a meal at the hotel since we had had nothing to eat all night. She walked in the back room like all the others and came back with a simple "NO!" Needless to say, I kind of figured as much from this hotel, and I kind of dread the fact that this is my cheapest and easiest option for next years con. As of right now I have no clue as to whether the 12000 points they gave me will be able to be used on the convention, but at least they can work on the Thursday before the con or room service.

 

See that guy in between the two on the left at the desk? That's me, dealing with all this.

Heading up to Spencer's room to await the arrival of my costume, I was jealous to find their room had an amazing view which I wanted to badly, mostly for the sake of my girlfriend, who was spending her first time in this city and was about to be proposed to in just a few short days. Alas, my costume arrived and we stacked it neatly in Spencer's room and headed to ours. Once back to our dungeon of a room, we called Domino's and ordered about $40 worth of pizza and called it a night.

Our hotel room, with the view of the sidewalk.

The 1st Day: Friday

Many of us were still tired, but again, with a little left over pizza to get the ol' mojo working, we were excited, for what we hoped would be an experience like none other. Sadly, Mandi was starting to feel under the weather. It was getting hard for her to talk and eat, which we later found out to be bronchitis and an ear infection, so she remained pretty doped up for the rest of the convention, (probably partially why she said yes to my proposal.) Once we were all suited up and fed, we headed to Spencer's room, which was unoccupied at the time and I suited up for the first time in my steampunk Darunia costume. I was a little worried about the ventilation of the costume, and only days before decided to put in a computer fan powered by two 9 volt batteries. The fan was tested, but how long it would have lasted had still remained a mystery. Up to this point, and I know this was unwise, but I had not put on all of the pieces at once. Surprisingly the suit held up and wasn't too hard to walk in. Although I was a little slow, I had my fellow comrades to hold my hand and guide me around the mob of photographers. Prior to getting on the elevator we found that the Megaton Hammer I had created, the head of it was too much for the rest of the handle and it promptly broke apart, but this worked out so much better. Looking back on the costume, I don't think the whole hammer would have made it through the con. Our first stop was a test run at the bottom of the Hyatt lobby by the elevators. From there I could make out all of the photographers and the passersby, but had very little head mobility to return their thanks for letting them take my picture. A few times Mandi had to run upstairs to change shoes, so she missed out on a lot of the cosplaying at first. Since the costume took one other person to put on, once she left I began to have some loin cloth problems and I am sure there are a few photos out there where my loin cloth was dangling around my ankles instead of my waist. Luckily we modified the situation and once we were ready we made our way to the Marriott hotel. I knew this was the junction that most people meet at since it was between the Hyatt and Hilton. After a lot of photos and a slow, but steady walk, we made it to the Marriot central area for more photos. This was the only time I recall us all meeting up in costume with Spencer at the convention. At one point a man with a Tri-force hat asked us to pose for a video, which we managed pretty well. We were asked to come down with our weapons in a domino like effect towards the camera (If anyone has seen this video, please share it with me!) it was definitely a highlight of my day.

After about 2 hours, we were getting hungry again and so we made our way to the food court again through the connecting sky bridge. Once there, my fan finally gave out and I was able to reload on water. Once finished, I decided to take the costume back to the room, but only after switching out the batteries from the goggles with the fan batteries for one last round of photos. Back at the Hyatt we were stopped by some people taking our pictures and a man by the name of Ross Lincoln, from theescapistmagazine.com , noticed my costume and asked my friends if they could give me his card later so I could set up a time to do an interview for his article. I was really thrilled by his proposal and was more than happy to accept... only I couldn't because I was stuck inside my suit. He managed to grab a quick photo of me and a young girl named Samantha who was dressed up as Link. This ended up being my favorite photo of me in costume because it made it to the escapist website, but the proportions of Darunia to Link was just about right. Not to mention, this little girl was adorable.

Photo by Ross Lincoln, TheEscapistMagazine

Fistbump

Once out of costume we headed back through the lobby and decided to go check out a few other sights. Along the way I recall running into Ross, who had never seen my face, and I mentioned who I was and we set up an appointment the following morning to do an interview. I also mentioned I was getting engaged the following day and he was very adamant as to put that in his article, which I happily agreed to. The rest of day 2 was filled with lots of walking around and trying to find one another amongst the chaos of people. A very successful day, and without the hassle of dealing with the hotel.

The 2nd Day: Saturday

Today was to be the big day, I was finally going to propose... but if you read Part 1, you would know there was a slight miscalculation on my part, and it wouldn't be until Sunday that this happened. However, I was dressed in my fancy white over shirt, Captain America shirt, jeans, and nice shoes. I was ready to propose. The plan for the day was, no matter where we went or if we got separated, KP and Katie were to make sure my fiance to be was to be at the Hilton photo shoot by 3:45. I hadn't planned to do anything cosplay wise until after the engagement took place anyway. Most of my group was dressed with the exception of Mandi, who was still reeling from the medication and illness. Katie took a few Advil with what looked like water, but turned out to be some alcohol that was left out the night before. Everyone seemed to want to go to see the vendors, which I had no intentions of going, but instead I took the time to get some comics signed. Originally, I had wanted to meet George Perez, Tim Sale, Mark Bagley, and also meet, author, Christopher Golden. Patrick Stewart was another person I wanted to meet, but I figured there would be time for that on Sunday. Heading to the artist alley, George Perez was gone early for the day, Time Sale was only making appearances the first and last hours of the day, and although I got my first appearance of Carnage signed by Mark Bagley, I wasn't really impressed with his conversational skills. I assume many of the writers and artists get tired quickly, but there's never a need to never make eye contact with your fans. So after getting my books signed, I walked around a bit and eventually made my way back to the top of the Hyatt for my interview with Ross Lincoln. I must have waited a good 30 minutes for the elevator, but luckily enough, Spencer squeezed into an elevator and had already pulled the pieces of my costume out into the hotel hallway for inspection by our guest. Ross eventually showed up, and we spent about 30 minutes recording our interview and he took some pictures of how I had constructed it. Once done, I told him he could come along with us to the Marvel photo shoot and watch me propose. This would also allow him access to an area to take photos he otherwise would not have been able to get.

Once everyone showed up at the hotel room, we put the costume back in the room and I was interested to see that KP and Katie had purchased a real Hylian shield and Master Sword replica. They left them in the hotel and we took off for the photo shoot. I could tell Mandi was struggling with her illness, and as we made it to the Marriott lobby, somehow she stopped to take a picture of an other Saria and we lost her. Ross had also taken another turn and had disappeared. Things were falling apart quickly and I was under a lot of stress, trying to get us to the photo shoot in time. Eventually, Mandi found us and we made our way to the Hilton balcony. Onto one balcony we went, but there were only DC characters, so we went to the other side. Again, Batman and Harley Quinns galore. Eventually Ross caught up with us, and I assumed the Marvel shoot was about to happen soon. I noticed Allen, the director of the photo shoot from afar, and knew that we had to approach him, and so I had previously given Spencer the ring to sneak to him. Once Allen had walked away, Spencer quickly chased him down and gave him the ring. Standing in direct light was really taking its toll on us all, and eventually Mandi said she was done taking pictures. I knew I had to make my move and asked her to follow me. We approached Allen and I introduced us, just as we had talked about over the phone. I could see he was caught off guard, just a little bit, but I figured it was part of his acting to not tip off Mandi of the proposal. He played his part magnificently, and eventually he said, "Are you guys coming back for the Marvel photo shoot tomorrow?" It finally dawned on me... we were one day early. How stupid could I have been. We said we would be back and Allen encouraged us to come back because he had special guests coming to the shoot and he also needed civilians for the photos. After we had left the balcony, I texted Allen explaining how things got mixed up, which gladly he was okay with it, and with the worry that the Marvel photo shoot would be more hectic and crowded, at least Mandi was sold on the idea of being there, dressed to impress, and Allen already had the ring to give to Thanos. I remember falling to sleep that night worrying, "What if he loses the ring?"

This was not the photo shoot we were looking for, but still cool to watch.

Now that we were able to spend some time cosplaying, since the rest of the plans were postponed till the next day, we headed back to the Hyatt, to Spencer's room, to put on my costume. With fresh batteries loaded into the fan, we again traveled the floor of the Hyatt and then again into the Marriott. This time we were in time for a much larger afternoon crowd. I was much more relaxed that now that the important things were prepared, I could cosplay with a mind at ease. Mandi and I had spent some time repairing my costume that day, so it was good for another beating. While we were in the Hyatt I found a nice gap in the wall that allowed me to fit into perfectly. I had a great time standing like a statue, and when people took my picture, if they had a flash, I would slowly walk forward toward them and give them a hug. A lot of people got a kick out of it, and I even got a photo with an Assassins Creed Deadpool which I saw off to the side. Later, I realized Mandi took a video of him break dancing, which was pretty spectacular to watch.

I'll take it to the face, if you take it to the groin.

Once back at the Hyatt, my batteries in my fan having died 10 minutes earlier, we made our way to Spencer's room to unload my costume and grab my belonging. Knocking on the door we were greeted by Spencer's half naked roommate, who stared at us blankly when we explained what we were there to do. He simply replied, "Yeah...that's not going to work," and promptly shut the door. Confused as to what the situation was, we called Spencer, who woke up in the room and quickly came out. He had just woken up from our call, and told us we would have to come back in a little, since his roommate was a little... preoccupied. Being slightly frustrated and really tired, I pleaded my case for why I needed to drop off my costume and grab my belongings. Mandi went inside the room and dropped off the costume and grabbed my stuff, and we went on our merry way to the hotel. A slightly awkward ending to our second night at DragonCon.

 

Spencer was tired when we knocked on his door, not drunk, just tired.

Spencer's friends Kevin (Ruby) and Ed (Right)

The 3rd Day: Sunday

George Perez and Kelly Sue DeConnick at the photo shoot

James Gunn with Allen at the photo shoot

Now!...today was the day of the proposal. Everything was in place. My clothes from the previous day were soiled with sweat, and so I had to wear black and the only shirt that was clean was a Batman shirt. I would have to make sure to button that up once at the photo shoot. Again, the plan was to not wear my costume until the proposal had taken place. No one wanted to get up this morning as early as I did. I had made it my mission to find Patrick Stewart, and so I made my way to the Walk of Fame, where I knew celebrities would be. Once there I sat in line for entry and I learned that Patrick Stewart had in fact, already left the con. :(... So, I decided to make the best of it and I hopped in the first line I found of someone famous. Of course, there was no one there celebrity wise once the doors opened. (Shocking*) Well, I saw Billy Boyd from a far, and I eventually hopped in Karl Urban's line. He was supposed to be there in about 20 minutes, so I though I would meet Judge Dredd and Bones while I could. 45 minutes rolled around, still nothing, so i left his line and I heard it wasn't for another 45 more minutes that he showed up. While waiting in his line I had more celebrities walk by me than I did of Karl. I saw Giancarlo Esposito, who played Gus from "Breaking Bad," and Tony Curran from "Underworld: Evolution." Once I started to make my rounds, I waited in line to meet Peter Weller, who you may know as the original Robocop and the bad guy from the latest "Star Trek: Into Darkness." I got to shake his hand and tell him I had been "Staying our of trouble" since the late 80s. Another person I wanted to meet was Manu Bennett who recently played Slade on "Arrow" and did motion capture for the white orc in "The Hobbit." When I hopped in his line, there happen to be 3 really tall guys in front of me, decked out in Slade gear. Once they approached him, he stood up and greeted them as a group. Manu looked over at me and said, "Hey Brother, would you mind taking a picture with me and them." I was shocked and happy to oblige. Manu handed me his phone, which I promptly looked over at his publicist, who may have also been his girlfriend/ wife, and said "I'm holding Slade's phone!" I took a couple pictures and then one of the guys dressed as Slade gave me his phone to take a few shots. At this point I thought I might have a chance to get a quick pic with him. As soon as I pulled out my phone to get it ready, his publicist said, "He isn't going to take a picture with you." My mind immediately took a 360. I told her I knew my chances were slim, but I figure, I just did the guy a favor, so what does it hurt to ask. Again she said, "No, he has a photo shoot down stairs where you can have your photo taken with him." I responded with, "I took a photo for him, I just assumed he might take one with me, it couldn't hurt to ask right?" She again said no, I couldn't, and that he only does this some of the time with fans. Sadly, I didn't feel like fighting with her and potentially risk getting beat up by Slade, so I "Failed my resolve" and surrendered my phone to my pocket. Manu was really cool though. I shook his hand, and he does have a firm handshake, and I told him I enjoyed his work and was hoping we would see him on the next season of "Arrow." I mentioned I just wanted to come up and meet him, shake his hand, and take his picture for him, in which he thanked me again. I recall walking away, I really wanted to tell his publicist that he needed to delete the photos I took of him on his phone, since I charge $50 a picture (lol), but again I didn't want to be "that guy."

Just...not a photo.

 Spencer as Aghanim

Heading back to the Hyatt and then to Spencer's room, I grabbed a few slices of morning pizza and hung out with Spencer while he put his costume on. I snapped a few photos since I hadn't really had the opportunity to see him in his costume. It so happened he was going to the Sheraton to see a panel, and so I figured I would head back, knowing that Mandi was still in bed, and everyone else had gotten up and went to get food. Once I was in the hotel room with Mandi, I helped her pick out something nice to wear for the photo shoot. I kept telling her, "You should wear your hair down," and "You should not wear your glasses during the shoot." Go figure, both requests went unfulfilled. Once we left and arrived at the shoot, KP, Katie, Joe, Austin, Spencer, and Ross were already on the scene. We waited a few minutes for the photo shoots that were based on genre to finish up. Allen had texted me the night before and told me that he told his crew that Mandi and Chris would be arriving to help out with the shoot and to let us pass into the restricted zone. Once everyone was loaded on the stairs for the final shoot, I worked my way up to the security guard and asked him if Allen had told him about Chris and Mandi, in which he responded, that he was waiting for us and had started to worry. I motioned to my group and told him they were all with me. I took point and walked around the back drop area when I noticed that half of our group had been stopped by the security guards, and so I had to go back and retrieve them. After a few minutes, Allen brought out George Perez and Kelly Sue DeConnick for some quick photos and walked over to Mandi and I and told us we were next. I was pretty pumped for the whole event, and kept going over what I was going to say. If you want to read about the proposal in more detail please click HERE.

After the hard part was done, we all made our way back to the side of the stage and the DragonCon TV people brought in James Gunn to do a live interview with the cosplayers. Although we thought that was pretty great, it couldn't hold a candle to our big moment together. We talked and hugged and took a few more pictures. Once everyone dispersed from the stairs, we said our thanks and was congratulated by a few people from the shoot. Mandi and I went and grabbed some bottles of water and just took in the moment to discuss our future with one another.

Later that night after heading back to our hotel, everyone just kind of shut down for a while. We took showers, then naps, and then barely was able to wake up again for what we thought would be our last Hoora of cosplaying. KP and Joe had already started the drinking festivities a little earlier that evening and KP thought it would be funny to mash up the costumes and go out for pictures. I decided to not go back for my costume, but instead I walked around to take some last day photos of everyone else. Mandi and Katie put on their costumes as well. KP decided to wear some of his Gannon costume, with Links sword and shield, while taping a Malibu bottle to his chest and wearing a horse head mask. It was pretty epic, and what ensued was quite hilarious to witness.

Joe took the drunken fairy catcher path

No one really knew what he was, but they took his picture anyway. There were a few moments where he was videoed doing some ridiculous stuff, so be on the look out Youtube. People kept finding one another and then became missing again, so Mandi and I decided to grab dinner. I took her to the Velocity restaurant in the Marriott for a nice meal. Sadly, as soon as it arrived, her throat began to hurt again and so we grabbed some to-go boxes and took it back to our hotel. We talked about our evening and Katie told us she was hit on by a creeper who told her that Zelda was his fetish. Mandi and I packed up our luggage the night before and went to sleep with the intent on leaving before checkout at noon, the following day.

Other than having to go back because I left a camera charger in the hotel room, checkout went pretty smoothly. We managed to stuff my costume into the back of the car better than when we originally packed it. Everyone met up at a Waffle House, which is quickly becoming a tradition for our DragonCon trips. No one died or was sent to the hospital this time. I think we could say this was a successful trip, and I am 90% sure most of us will be going back next year. Although not much will top my proposal moment, I am sure our cosplaying will be even better next year. Stay tuned, because my next blog will be all about my Steampunk Darunia costume. I tried to take lots of pictures of how it transitioned from a can of foam into a full bodied costume. Be sure to click the Angelicomics link below to go to my facebook page and like it. Thanks for reading. Till next time.