Tampa Bay Comic Con Side Quest (2019)
This past Saturday Starbat and I joined the masses and journeyed to the Tampa Bay Comic Con. Thousands of fantastic geeks, sensational costumes, great panels and entertainment, and of course tons of ridiculously awesome loot. Last year I was only able to go for the Friday events, but this time we were able to get into the thick of it. Getting there at about 10:30am, it was surprisingly short lines even without buying tickets in advance. I think the only difficult line we encountered was getting coffee.
We started off with the Mortal Combat and Street Fighter crossover event, where iconic characters like Johnny Cage, Ryu, Katana, and Chun-Li faced off in choreographed fights. It was a tiny space for it, but with well-practiced moves, great cosplay, and few wacky sound effects it worked really well. Later we were able to go a favorite from last year, the improv comedy show Penguin Knife Fight. It's never the same show twice, and the cast is certainly quick and funny on the draw and nerdy enough to compete in this crowd. Also their name is hard to beat.
Besides cruising the floor for woodcut prints of Godzilla, Art Deco illustrations of Lord of the Rings characters, and assorted memorabilia, there were also several ongoing meet-and-greets and panels for celebrities. Some of this was back-and-forth with geekdom experts, and in particular we were able to stop in with another cosplay group I didn't know existed: DC Bombshells. They had a lot of information about the costuming community in general, and a lot of advice on designing costumes, finding patterns, modding clothing, and working with makeup and wigs. We were also able to sit in on the Q&A sessions with Michael Rooker (Walking Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy, Cliffhanger) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy, City of Lost Children). Neat twist, since while there were tons of celebrities at MegaCon most of the big stuff was locked up with ticket upgrades or buried behind enormous lines. A lot of interesting stories and personality all around.
As the hours stretch and the kids filter out, the bar carts and adult shows started to roll in.Two of the later events we went to were the Hogwarts Battle Royale and the Freestyle D&D. In the former, a tipsy panel of House experts sorted the crowd and then expanded into presenting fictional characters for us to sort. By crowd vote, we helped determine that She-Ra is a Gryffindor, Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid is a Hufflepuff, and apparently non-denominational God is a Ravenclaw. And apparently Slytherin is hard up for non-villains? But probably our favorite event in the whole con was our last, the Freestyle D&D. In general you might think of D&D as the game where several nerds sit around a table with giant maps, character sheets, and a +2 Rusty Sword. Well this one sure strips out all the monster manuals, carefully planned encounters, and most of the math, adding instead a heaping helping of comedy and improv. Audience members petition for roles in the classic adventuring roles of mage, warrior, healer, rogue, and villains, and by virtue of their answers and dumb names are launched into a situation by a improv dungeon master. Each person chooses their best attempt to remedy the problem of an attacking ogre, and are fated by dice role to either succeed or fail hilariously. Honestly this is how I'd like to play, but it definitely gets sillier with more alcohol.
Anyway, Starbat and I were also in this to show off our costumes. Starbat went as Pooja Naberrie, Padme Amidala's niece in a beautiful lake dress and headpiece. And then I put all my harness and gadgets together for my almost-complete Iden Versio costume. Together we obscurely defend the galaxy!
To save our feet and costumes, we switched into the lower maintenance Supernatural costumes that we'll be writing up soon. Thus we have our serious boxed-set pose for Sam and Dean Winchester. I guess even they take a break from saving people and hunting things and go to a con.
All things told, another great con, and hopefully we will be able see even more of these great events next year!
We started off with the Mortal Combat and Street Fighter crossover event, where iconic characters like Johnny Cage, Ryu, Katana, and Chun-Li faced off in choreographed fights. It was a tiny space for it, but with well-practiced moves, great cosplay, and few wacky sound effects it worked really well. Later we were able to go a favorite from last year, the improv comedy show Penguin Knife Fight. It's never the same show twice, and the cast is certainly quick and funny on the draw and nerdy enough to compete in this crowd. Also their name is hard to beat.
Besides cruising the floor for woodcut prints of Godzilla, Art Deco illustrations of Lord of the Rings characters, and assorted memorabilia, there were also several ongoing meet-and-greets and panels for celebrities. Some of this was back-and-forth with geekdom experts, and in particular we were able to stop in with another cosplay group I didn't know existed: DC Bombshells. They had a lot of information about the costuming community in general, and a lot of advice on designing costumes, finding patterns, modding clothing, and working with makeup and wigs. We were also able to sit in on the Q&A sessions with Michael Rooker (Walking Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy, Cliffhanger) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy, City of Lost Children). Neat twist, since while there were tons of celebrities at MegaCon most of the big stuff was locked up with ticket upgrades or buried behind enormous lines. A lot of interesting stories and personality all around.
As the hours stretch and the kids filter out, the bar carts and adult shows started to roll in.Two of the later events we went to were the Hogwarts Battle Royale and the Freestyle D&D. In the former, a tipsy panel of House experts sorted the crowd and then expanded into presenting fictional characters for us to sort. By crowd vote, we helped determine that She-Ra is a Gryffindor, Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid is a Hufflepuff, and apparently non-denominational God is a Ravenclaw. And apparently Slytherin is hard up for non-villains? But probably our favorite event in the whole con was our last, the Freestyle D&D. In general you might think of D&D as the game where several nerds sit around a table with giant maps, character sheets, and a +2 Rusty Sword. Well this one sure strips out all the monster manuals, carefully planned encounters, and most of the math, adding instead a heaping helping of comedy and improv. Audience members petition for roles in the classic adventuring roles of mage, warrior, healer, rogue, and villains, and by virtue of their answers and dumb names are launched into a situation by a improv dungeon master. Each person chooses their best attempt to remedy the problem of an attacking ogre, and are fated by dice role to either succeed or fail hilariously. Honestly this is how I'd like to play, but it definitely gets sillier with more alcohol.
Anyway, Starbat and I were also in this to show off our costumes. Starbat went as Pooja Naberrie, Padme Amidala's niece in a beautiful lake dress and headpiece. And then I put all my harness and gadgets together for my almost-complete Iden Versio costume. Together we obscurely defend the galaxy!
To save our feet and costumes, we switched into the lower maintenance Supernatural costumes that we'll be writing up soon. Thus we have our serious boxed-set pose for Sam and Dean Winchester. I guess even they take a break from saving people and hunting things and go to a con.
All things told, another great con, and hopefully we will be able see even more of these great events next year!
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