Tag Archives: Cosplay

Sunday At Cincinnati Comic Expo

Keleigh and Sam
Keleigh and Sam (Photo credit: BrainMuffin)

For this year’s visit to the Cincinnati Comic Expo, it was necessary to go on Sunday. Sure, this would mean there was a good chance that not all the celebrities would be there, but those are the breaks some times.

Arriving just before 2pm, my daughter was target focused in finding the Jason David Frank booth to get his autograph and perhaps talk to him a bit. The irony is had we gone counterclockwise from the entrance, we would have found it straight away, but we went the other way instead.

The Legoland area this year was quite larger and included a very large model of the John A. Roebling bridge. Many comic artists and some professional cosplayers. Still we kept walking.

Finally in line for Jason to return at 2:30, my daughter became more nervous with each moment. Jason finally came out and wound up the crowd with a mobile phone video run by. His energy is contagious. He seems to really like meeting his fans and talking about his life, family and faith.

I was finally Keleigh’s turn to get her autograph. Jason wanted to interview her, so he pulled out his cell phone and recorded a video. He also asked her friend Sam questions, as well as me. I was too concerned about getting a photo and neglected to record him recording us. Oh well. Keleigh also posed with David in showing a punch.

Afterward, Sam wanted to find her favorite professional cosplayer LeeAnna Vamp. So, it was off to find her. Sam bought a picture, got an autograph and then posed with LeeAnna.

We then walked around for a few more hours. The girls bought several things and I took some more pictures. I even was able to capture an image of Henry Winkler signing autographs for fans, many of them quite young. I did get to flash him a Fonzi “Ayyy…” as he walked by later. He smiled.

John Rhys-Davies talked to one couple who was in line for autographs for a good 20 minutes. I’m not sure what they discussed, but he seemed completed interested in what they had to say. He quite genuinely engaged them and listened intently.

I am getting better at taking pictures at the cons. I am still a bit bashful about asking. There are some many great customs and cosplay outfits. I really appreciate everyone who wears them and the time they took to create them. If you see me, don’t be afraid to ask me to take your picture.

I was sad to have missed Jewel Staite.

Till the next con.

Brainmuffin’s View Of Matsuricon 2014

Keleigh as Madeline Hatter
Keleigh as Madeline Hatter (Photo credit: BrainMuffin)

It is Saturday evening of my first Matsuricon here in Columbus. The evening of Friday was spent walking about the convention floors, but not having a pass to anything. The young age of the crowd surprised me and despite my daughter’s encouragement to take pictures of other people, I felt too creepy to take many. During lunch on Saturday I decided I had to get a pass.

The line for passes midway through the second day was far longer than I would expect. Perhaps people came and then decided later to sign up, I’m not sure. On Friday evening, they closed registration down a bit early and many of those who pre-registered did not get their passes and could not attend Friday evening’s festivities.  The organization for passes seems to need some work.

Once the line was down to a manageable length, I queued, filled out the form and then had sticker shock. Here it is 1:30 on Saturday and thinking the 3-day pass at the door was $40, I was surprised that just Saturday was that price. Oh well, at least I can go to a few panels today.

Attending some panels was good experiments. Now with a pass, I felt less like “creepy old dude” while walking about. Still shy to ask for many photos, I did get a few. The newly purchased PNY 32GB SDHC cards however, continued to give fits. Friday night they kept messing up and only a scant few minutes of video was shot. Practice time with the Glidecam XR-2000 was also too limited and the video was not the best anyway.

I’m sure I’ve walked miles today. Waiting for the elevators takes too long. Good thing we are only on the eighth floor, so walking up the steps is not a bad option. No need for cardio this weekend.

Overall, the experience was not bad. It is definitely not the place to just walk about taking pictures. More than once someone told me that Ohayocon is better. There are so many kids here running around. Doing Cosplay seems to be a mid-twenties thing and down. If I come next year though, I’ll be rocking some old school Cosplay. Which character to dress as?