Pittsburgh Comion 2008
Luminara Unduli and Bellatrix Lestrange made appearances at last weekend’s Pittsburgh Comicon. The Star Wars Association of Pittsburgh (SWAP) was involved in some panels, and had a table there, filled with lots of geeky SW stuff and a charity raffle each day. We invited a local Star Trek group to play with us, as well.
Saturday I went as Luminara and debuted my new “Lightsaber of Earendil.” There are always a few kids around, and they are fun to pose with. One boy had a toy Darth Vader with a lightsaber, and I came up, lit mine, and touched his little blade with it. I think that made his day. But he told me he thought I’d died with all the other Jedi. But of course, no one actually saw what happened to Luminara, did they?
Dan/Fluke came up to Chris/Greencat and said that there was a “Why can’t the fandoms all get along” panel that was going badly: there was only one speaker, representing BSG, and could she pop in and lend a hand? She did. I was intrigued and entered shortly after. I created a stir being the only costumer in the room, hehe.
The general message was, regardless of what fandom we love or how we express that love, we are outsiders in the “normal world,” so why should we also fight amongst ourselves?
Chris is a great improviser, and can talk about SW, her favorite subject, all day long. The panel was much improved with her presence. I congratulated her on not being too dominant, which she can easily do if she’s not careful. There was some very good dialogue between the audience and Chris and Mr. BSG (whose name I can’t remember, of course). I added my $0.02 from a costuming point of view and noted that my lightsaber has Elvish runes on it. This impressed a few people. One guy was wearing a military style outfit with a sash bearing pins representing just about every fandom I’ve ever heard of, and some I haven’t.
Best geek moment of the day:
The guy from Alienated Productions who emcees the costume contest (his name is Scott, I think), and is dressed in a superhero costume of his own design, “Captain Ohio,” was teasing me about the “bicycle tire” mark on my chin. dlocke says, “You want me to beat him up? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure those muscles are fake, and I could take him.”
Sunday Bellatrix made her first Pittsburgh Comicon appearance. This was a big hit, though after the massive popularity of HP costumes at Dragon*Con last year, I was disappointed to find I was the only HP costumer at this con.
I hosted a costuming panel, as I’ve done for the past three years. I had enlisted the help of some Klingons and other Trek personnel. We ended up talking amongst ourselves and one non-costumer who said he'd like to make _____ someday, blah, blah, blah….
Costuming isn’t very big in this area unless you’re into Star Wars, and they have the 501st and Rebel Legions for advice. I’m glad to be able to say I won’t be doing a costume panel next year.
I decided to enter the costume contest. I figured I could have fun even if I didn’t win anything. Bellatrix is a fun character to cosplay, and I was sure I could do something that would entertain and hopefully impress the judges. They do take into account construction and whether or not you made it yourself, but they also want something entertaining for the audience. The emcee and judges were all dressed as bad guys, so I basically flirted with the emcee and one of the judges. I rendered the emcee momentarily speechless, which is hard to do, hehe.
I won a prize for best TV/Movie costume - $25. Yeah, a prize I can actually use, and group prize winners could easily divide amongst themselves. Imagine that! I also got a nice looking certificate.
Best geek moment of the day:
After the con closed, SWAP and the Trek group went to TGI Fridays, where Angry Qui-Gon joined us. Chris gave him my wand for a picture. One of the Trekkers said, “Remember, swish and flick!”