DragonCon 2009: Costumes and General Weirdness
One of the most phenomenal things about any Con is the vast amount of weirdness that comes out of the woodwork. Seemingly normal people use the occasion to costume themselves as their favorite fictional–or in some cases non-fictional– characters. In my years of going to cons I’ve noticed a distinct turn in this trend. As with this picture of the Flash and Superman, this supports my life long research into whether ANY human being actually looks good in tights.
In my younger days, the costumes were almost completely dedicated to dressing up as you favorite Sci-fi Character. Nowadays, costumes not only show what you’re favorite flick or TV show is, but what games you play, comics you read, commercials you like, etc. Perhaps the most obvious trend over the past few years is toward video game and anime characters along with all the standards. I think my most overwhelming thoughts centered around people that spent vast amounts of time in obviously uncomfortable, horrifically hot, constricting costumes often carrying huge awkward props.
Ultimately, I think the most common reaction during something the scope of Dragon*Con is that uncomfortable feeling is dealing with someone that’s dressed just a tad too silly to be normal, but not quite silly enough for you to be sure they’re wearing a costume. My favorite encounter like this fortunately kept me out of the line of fire. At the Greek deli outside the main hotel, the guy taking the orders at the counter asked a young lady what she was dressed up as. I had seen enough that day to know she was not attempting a costume, so there mounted a terribly uncomfortable silence and just had to pipe in “she’s a tourist.” The guy at the counter had no shame, though, he just commented “haven’t seen many of those…”
Here’s the best of what we could capture on film. Wait, we didn’t use film…
CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS FOR THE FULL PICS
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- Respect his author...never mind.
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- One thousand times more entertaining than Transformers 2.
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- How many Siths must a man walk down?
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- Mirror universe Elvis.
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- The hit of Adam Savage of Mythbuster's panel was the woman who brought Jamie.
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- Commander LaForge, show us your bling!
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- A close of up the proton pack is worth the guys effort.
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- Best costume from the science and skeptics track attendees, the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
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- Lots of local bands and artists had the best vendor/exhibition locations.
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- Commemorating the worst scene in the generally excellent IRON MAN movie.
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- Left4Dead costumes seemed to be somewhat frequent. Either that, or the people wearing them just got around. Francis and Louis must have already been dismembered by the time we snapped this.
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- Back to Sith Elvis. Still love this.
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- Who ya gonna call? Four guys with way too much money and free time.
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- I bet eating salse in this costume is a real bitch.
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- LINK!
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- Anime something or other. Beyond my generation to know.
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- Sue Storm battles the Joker. Or is it just a shit shooting session?
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- Group shot at the justice league. Crap, that's DC isn't it?
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- My favorite Tom Servo was always the cardboard one from the early seasons.
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- Look, up in the sky!
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- Living proof why superheros need to be in peak shape to wear tights. As my 5 year old called this pic when he saw it, It's "Batman and Robert!"
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- Could it be? Satan?
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- Incredible(y) tiny and cute.
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- Where the hell do orcs usually park?
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- I'm sure dealing with this costume all day was no issue.
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- The trojan rabbit was so awesome that the guys that brought it earned a plug for their company.
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- If we built this large wooden badger...
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- Hell if I know...
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- More Nintendo
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- You killed Kirk, you bastard!
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- Who knew brick walls had handles on the inside?
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- This alien lives every 30+ man's childhood fantasy...sexually assaulting Princess Leia.
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- The alien medical check up to make sure he didn't catch crabs from Princess Leia.
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- The soldiers slinking through to get to the raping alien.
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- More Doctor Who costumes.
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- A couple of geeks indoctrinate their young.
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- Billy Mays Here...or an incredible facsimile.
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- Gears of War costumes? I don't know, I haven't picked up the game in months.
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- Zombie Heroes terrorize a child.
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- Another escalator photo. Hell, I don't know...DragonBall maybe?
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- Con staple Boba Fett. Couldn't go to the bathroom without tripping over a Fett of some sort.
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- This Wii-Mote feels very comfortable in your hand.
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- Indiana Jones in front of the Hyatt. He's moved up in the world of accomodations.
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- The Flinstones wrist Sundials don't work indoors for some reason.
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- Unlike the HALO tournament in the Gaming Area, my son survived this encounter with Master Chief
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- Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!
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- A UNIT Soldier from Doctor Who
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- Namaste!
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- Some obscure game named HALO inspired many costumes
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- Trying to find a Thinking Chair
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- Lots of Mario and Luigi's hanging around Dragon*Con. I just hope the ones carrying the plungers bought them new.
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- Best Tina Fey Costume of DragonCon
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- The life size (externally only) TARDIS prop outside the main lecture hall attracted multiple Dr. Who Geeks
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- My kid get's Felicia Day's sig. Felicia's table was the only one in the "Walk of Fame" autograph area that was packed every time we went. Amazingly, there were times I could just walk up to one or more of the cast of Battlestar Galactica for a chat while people were waiting for Felicia 20-30 deep.
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- The Skeptics Guide to the Universe is hands down the best Podcast on the net. I managed to corner Evan Bernstein, Dr. Stephen Novella and Bob Novella in the lobby of the Hilton before hitting some science and skeptics panels
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Tags: Dragon*Con, Sci-Fi
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3 Responses to “DragonCon 2009: Costumes and General Weirdness”
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September 14th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Also, I meant to post this in that article. What modern craze has totally passed me by that had hundreds of people walking around with giant keys and tools?
September 16th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Awesome pics and awesome coverage, Scuzz. I hope you and your son had a real blast. Some of the customes are friggin’ great. That ghostbusters pack (steampunked?) looks great along with the Alien and some others. I have appreciation for some of those home made customes for things like Halo characters even if they don’t have the most charm.
The overweight very out of shape people in tights are what throw me for a loop and the people I probably would stay away from. Fantasy land is great but at the same time … C’MON!
I dont’ think I get your comment about keys and stuff or do you just mean that everyone has a huge lanyard lol
Also, can you tell us about meeting with some of the people there? Did you get to have any good, albeit, brief conversations or ask any questions that you’ve been dying to know that answer to?
Is Felicia Day as awesome as she seems?
September 16th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Felicia Day and Michael Hogan were the two nicest, most easygoing entertainment celebrities we met. I probably talked to Hogan for 5 minutes or so and he was awesome. Felicia opened right up and talked for a couple minutes with my son. She knows where her bread and butter as far as her fans go. As far as celebrities overall, Phil Plait who wrote the Death from the Skies book I reviewed here last year probably spent the most time one on one talking to us. We probably vampired 15-20 total minutes of his time spread out over two different conversations.