DragonCon 2015

Last year we were unable to go to DragonCon due to the fact that we were taking a trip to the UK, so we were really looking forward to going this year.  It didn't disappoint!  We've been making friends in the con community for a few years, so we knew more people than just our roommates, and we were looking forward to seeing them.  (We only ran into a few, which just shows how large DragonCon is!)

We started out Thursday night as Burt Macklin and Janet Snakehole from Parks and Rec. (Thanks to @tiarala for this awesome photo!)

We also met this fantastic Ron and Tammy 2 pair.  They were spot on and stayed in character!

While we were out roaming the floor, we decided to get drinks, which we never do, as they're SO expensive.  Also, we're not huge drinkers, so we barely drink at DragonCon anyway.  However, I thought it would be appropriate for Janet Snakehole to have an old fashioned in her hand.  Matt went off to order our drinks at the bar in the Marriott Atrium, and I lounged against the railing with my best Janet Snakehole expression on my face.  A few minutes later, an older man walked away from the bar.  He was wearing a hat, had a drink in his hand, and carried a cane over his arm.  It was Sylvester McCoy!  I gave him a small wave of acknowledgement, and he looked right at me and said, "You look very elegant, my dear."  I replied loftily, "Thank you, Doctor."

So that was pretty amazing.

On Friday we went to several panels and met up with our friend Katie, who was at her first con ever.  She is an enthusiastic person, and on an enthusiasm scale of 1 to 10, she's at about an 8 on a normal day.  At DragonCon, she was peaking at about a 15.  As an introvert, I can only exert so much energy to deal with that level of energy before I start to wear out like a wind-up toy at the end of its wind.

Katie - Just looking at that smile makes me tired.

We got into our LOTR costumes and went out on the floor for a while.  We ran into Frank Ippolito  and Bill Doran, who Matt follows on YouTube.  He'd used some of their tutorials for his armor, so he talked to them for a bit.  Then I turned around and saw Norm from Tested with his camera.  He was facing away from us, but I hoping that if he turned around and saw Matt, he'd snap a photo, and that's exactly what happened!  Matt even made it into Norm's photo gallery, which is pretty epic!

As Matt, Katie, and I were heading to Evening at Bree, we got into an elevator that was going up, as we'd been unsuccessful at catching the ones going down.  A few floors up, Michael Trucco from Battlestar Galactica hopped on with a friend.  It was all I could do to keep myself from elbowing Matt.  For the last few floors, it was just us and Trucco and his friend.  We chatted about elevators and people taking too slow to jump on or something I don't know he smelled so good and I was being so chill and not at all star struck and he smelled so good ...

Where was I?  Oh yeah.  When we got out, I waited for the appropriate amount of distance to elapse between us and Trucco's retreating back before I squealed.  I've only seen the show briefly while Matt was watching it so I couldn't even tell you his character's name, but DAMN, he is one fine specimen.

Katie wore the Eowyn dress that I made her, and I'll blog about that soon.  Three of the dwarves from The Hobbit were at Evening at Bree: Stephen Hunter, who was the emcee for the costume contest (and added his own bits of humor to the contestants' costume descriptions), Dean O'Gorman, and Peter Hambleton.  I loved seeing all of the costumes in the contest.  The creativity of Tolkien fans is inspiring, and I'm always impressed by the dwarf costumes.  One of my favorite costumes this year was made by JediElfQueen: Galadriel's battle armor from The Hobbit, which is a costume that only ever existed as concept art.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  I'd been following her construction of the piece on Facebook, and was thrilled to see it in person!

On Saturday, we finally dressed up in our Narnia costumes.  We've been working our butts off to finish Queen Susan's upgrades and Prince Caspian's costume before DragonCon.  Matt's got some posts up about his Caspian costume as well as Susan's bow, so make sure you check those out.

A random Dustin/Starlord appears ...

That night, we went to the Middle Earth 90's Dance Party.  We'd been to the party in 2013, and it was a blast.  This year, though, it was held in the Marriott Atrium, which is drunk asshole central.  At one point I left, and had to wait in line almost 15 minutes to get back in.  There were more random drunk people than Tolkien track people, but it was still fun.  The best part was wearing our 90's costumes!  Matt was Grunge Eomer, and I was Goth Eowyn.  My friend Tiara was my fashion consultant, and I think I looked brilliant!  I wish I could wear this outfit somewhere else, because it was phenomenal.  Unfortunately, I don't think anyone knew I was supposed to be Eowyn.

On Sunday, we wore our Back to the Future costumes (Lorraine and Marty) in honor of 2015 (the year that Marty travels to in BTTF2).  We ran into Disney Robin Hood and Maid Marian (and Skippy the Rabbit?) as well as the 12th Doctor and a terrifying Headless Horseman.

We later changed back into Prince Caspian and Queen Susan, and went to the Hobbit Drinking Songs event with Katie, which was great fun!  Despite all of the empty chairs in the photo, it ended up being a packed room.

We didn't just walk around in costume, though.  We both went to some amazing panels, including Hobbit/LOTR cast members, Historic Haunts Investigations, Ghost Hunters, and various prop and costume panels.  At the Sleepy Hollow panel, a fan asked Tom Mison if he'd ever been called "Super Hot Jesus", and that became the theme for the rest of the panel.  He seemed alternately bothered and pleased by the title.  We also went to the Shawn Trpcic panel, which was fantastic, as I'd been hoping for years that she'd make it to DragonCon.  She was the costume designer on Firefly, Dr. Horrible, and many other shows and films that we watch.  Shawna is down-to-earth and encouraging, and a real inspiration.

One of my favorite moments this weekend was when someone asked at the Hobbit/LOTR panel if they were the Donner Party, who would they eat first?  After some explanation concerning the Donner Party, Stephen Hunter slunk off stage while Sylvester McCoy staggered zombie-like after him.  A few moments later, they both returned, Sylvester missing an arm and Stephen licking his fingers.  Those two make a phenomenal physical comedy team, and I would love to see them perform together.

As we left on Monday, we were both starting to feel a bit of con crud creeping up on us.  By the time we got home 13 hours later, we were both suffering from full-blown con crud, which struck us in the form of a severe head cold/flu.  Four days later, I am finally feeling well enough to get off the couch and write this up.  I might even start unpacking!  It seems like almost everyone we knew at DragonCon got hit really hard this year, so something a bit more potent than usual must have been going around.

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Wizard World Chicago Comic Con

You may recall that for last year's DragonCon, my husband Matt made Eomer's costume.

This year, we can't make it to DragonCon because we're going to the UK for two weeks at the end of September and have no extra time off.  We've been pretty bummed about missing our favorite con, especially after last year's epic Tolkien track programming, including Evening at Bree and 80's Dance Party.

While making his armor last year, Matt ran out of time to make the helmet.  In June, he started casually working on it, thinking he'd have it done in time for DragonCon 2015.

Then we found out that Karl Urban (the actor who portrayed Eomer, for you non-Ringers) was going to be a guest at DragonCon this year, and we went from being bummed to throwing things and cursing.

Before I go on, I should explain something about Matt.  We've now gone to almost a dozen cons together, and he has never shown any interest in meeting celebrities (although, he seems to run into them an awful lot in elevators).  He's barely interested in celebrity panels, and usually just tags along to keep me company.  But Karl Urban is a different story because of the costume.

And THEN, Karl Urban was announced as a guest at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con.  I immediately purchased tickets and a photo op for Saturday.  Matt immediately dropped everything and began working on his helmet during every spare moment - from the second we were done with dinner until past midnight.  It was worth it - check out these photos on his Tumblr! 

We knew we didn't want to be at the con all day because we wouldn't have a hotel room to decompress in, and both of our costumes are quite hot.  We arrived around 11:30, and before we'd even had a chance to register, we were bombarded with photo requests.  That's how it went for the rest of the day, mostly accompanied by shouts of, "Horse Lord!"  He was even approached by a few women who were fangirling over his gorgeous face.  Costume.  Whatever.

Even the guys from Tandy Leather thought he did a fantastic job!

Our photo op was scheduled for 3:15, and we could queue up at 2:45.  Several people waiting in line came over to get photos with Matt (they weren't too interested in me, and one girl even asked me to take the photo!)  I've never done a photo op before, so I don't know if they're always so rushed, but we were essentially herded like cattle through the photo op area, spending less than 20 seconds with Karl.  However, as we entered, Karl said, "awesome costume!"  As we left, he told Matt that the costume was phenomenal.

We also both went a bit nuts today after hearing from a friend that he'd mentioned Matt's costume to her during her autograph signing (not knowing that she knew us).  It seems that he really was impressed!  Does it get any better than that?

Our photo was snapped by so many people, like this one (courtesy of Max/Gandalf on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/max-tim-tom/14827718039/).  Let us know if you see any floating around out there in the Interwebs, as we have very few photos of us together.

We had a great time, and left around 4:30.  We're both still completely exhausted - my whole body hurts from wearing ballet slippers for seven hours, and Matt's totally worn out from wearing that helmet (which is quite heavy!) and not being able to sit down.

Even though we can't go to DragonCon, we had a blast Ringing it up at Wizard World!

Eomer and Eowyn Photo Shoot

Two weeks ago, my husband and I met up at a local forest preserve with Lulette Gehron to do a shoot of our Eomer and Eowyn costumes.  She did a lovely job - we got some fantastic shots!  These are some of the stills that Lulette edited for us.  I'll post a separate post in a few days with some of our other favorites!

Eomer Fabrics

My husband Matt made all of the armor and props for Eomer, which you can read all about here.  However, he was running out of time before Dragon Con, so I offered to make his tunic and skirt. 

These are the reference photos we used.  I'm not sure where we got this one from, sorry.

This reference photo of the embroidery is from Alley Cat Scratch.

For the tunic, I used a Wuji Charcoal Shirting from JoAnn Fabrics.  Matt drafted the pattern for me based on a pattern he found here.

I hand-drafted the collar and attached it, using craft foam in between the layers for support.  I also sewed button holes onto the front and wove a leather cord through to tie it.

For the skirt, I used Zhan Hunter Target from Joann Fabrics.  I drafted a pattern based on length (mid-knee) and width.  The corners are rounded, and it's also split in the back.  I added ties to hold it up, but I may replace those with buttons.  There is a yellow gold embroidery all down the sides and bottom, with intricate embroidery on each corner.  I didn't get around to doing the corner embroidery, but I'll finish that up later.  The embroidery on the edges is essentially a series of ovals with more intricate embroidery connecting them.  I made a pattern and pinned it to one side and traced it with a marker to make half of the ovals, then free-handed the other side of the oval.

I embroidered the skirt with my machine using a stitch length of 3.5 with a stitch length of just over 0.  I did the ovals first, and after those were done, eyeballed the half oval that goes from the bottom of one oval to the top of the one beneath it.  It was my first time doing any embroidery on the machine, so I think it turned out pretty well.

Here's the final product (sorry, we have it tied incorrectly in this shot):

I still need to distress everything, but there wasn't time.  And again, the full costume, because it's just so gorgeous:

Dragon Con 2013: Evening at Bree

This year, because of our LOTR costumes, we spent a lot of time with the Tolkien Track at Dragon Con.  Friday night was the Evening at Bree, an event with music by Emerald Rose.  The special guests at the event were Sylvestor McCoy (Radagast in The Hobbit and the Seventh Doctor), Graham McTavish, and William Kircher, who played Dwalin and Bifur in The Hobbit, respectively.  Matt entered Eomer in the costume contest.  His entry was announced by Sylvester McCoy!  (Please ignore the bad quality.  My iPhone refused to focus and I didn't want to miss it.)  That was super exciting!  But then, Emerald Rose selected Matt as Band's Choice, and Graham McTavish, Matt's favorite Dwarf, was the one who announced it!  (You can see it here around 13:58.)  I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but we are both over the moon about not only the win, but that Radagast and Dwalin said our names!

Before I go any further, here are our final costumes (and I'll try to remember to post about the fabric portion of Matt's costume soon):

I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was to attend Evening at Bree.  We had a blast and met a lot of great new people, and met up with others like Celtic Ruins Costumes, whom we've followed for the past few years.  Everyone looked brilliant, and we especially loved all of the dwarves.  The talent at Dragon Con is unbelievable, and we both came out of the con this year feeling extremely humbled.

It is a bit disconcerting to me that most of the dwarves are played by women, as I am infatuated with Richard Armitage.  I have Thorin on my iPhone screen so that every time I turn it on, I see his gorgeous eyes staring back at me.  There were two unbelievably good female Thorins, and their costumes made me feel all confused ... (okay, not really, but I did have to remind myself several times that it would be highly inappropriate to flirt with them).

Apparently, I need to make myself clear with my previous statement.  My comment about the dwarves being "disconcerting" was a joke - I was so excited to have my photo taken with Thorin, who I am so in love with, and I felt a bit silly because I was practically drooling on her.  I have zero problems with crossplay, whether it's women dressing as male characters, or men dressing as female characters.  Zero.  For God's sake, I play a MALE Clockwork Droid!  I understand the appeal of doing a character of the opposite sex straight OR as a femme version, and I support it all.  I wasn't suggesting that women shouldn't play male characters, or that it's wrong in any way.  I just found it funny that I knew that most of the dwarves were women, and yet my brain was still like, Thorin = hot.  I'm sorry if some people find crossplay to be actually disturbing or bewildering or confusing, but I am NOT one of those people.  So, I apologize for offending anyone that thought I was saying that women shouldn't cosplay dwarves.

Speaking of flirting, I had to practically peel the women off of Matt.  He's a good-looking man, but in that Eomer costume - dear lord.

Matt also attended the Middle Earth 80's Dance Party, and I was there briefly as Shadow Weaver.

I should mention that both events were streamed lived from theonering.net, and they have the videos archived here.  Unfortunately, the clip of Matt dancing with the iPad seems to be broken, but yeah, Matt was given the iPad so that he could dance with the virtual partygoers.  I left that party wondering what had happened to my quiet, introverted husband!  I'm sorry I went to another panel before joining Matt at the party, because I missed Legolas dancing to They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!  You can enjoy it starting around 21:20 here.

Enjoy the photos that we took at Evening at Bree!

Bofur

Tauriel, Legolas, Eomer, Eowyn

Eomer and Tom Bombadil

Eomer with adorable dwarf women!

Tauriel, Thranduil, & Legolas

Tauriel & Eowyn

Eomer & Tauriel are photobombed by Kili.

Saruman!

Strider & Eomer

The elves are photobombed by Kili.

With a phenomenal Thorin.

Thorin Oakenshield

Two Thranduils = unlimited disdain.

Eowyn - Where Do I Even Start?

The next bits of fun that we'll be working on is Eomer and Eowyn.  Matt has already made the new chain maile for the top of my Susan dress, so I have to figure out if that will work just as well for Eowyn as well.

This is the outfit that I'm planning to make.  This must be what going mad feels like ...

How will I have this done in time for Dragon*Con?  Beats me.  I may have to put Shadow Weaver on hold for another year.

And here's Eomer ...

We're both still trying to figure out what we'll make everything out of.  I'm not sure if I'll do straight leather for Eowyn or not.  All I know is that I'm going to take a short break from all this cosplay stuff so I don't go completely insane.  Maybe after Christmas ...