Looks like another great year for Dragon*Con attendees. The 2008 convention in Atlanta, GA ended yesterday and tons of photos are appearing online.
You can browse Dragon*Con photo galleries Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.
I imagine most people have come home exhausted and are still trying to organize their photos. We’ll post more about Dragon*Con soon!
We’re continuing with our Star Wars theme this week. I thought it would be fun to show some Youtube clips of great costumes and creativity.
Star Wars (Sweded): A Cardboard Hope
We’ve talked about Sweding before. This video was made for the popular BeKindReWind’s sweding competition, and it’s very well done.
You know, George Lucas invented the lightsaber over 30 years ago. It’s rather hard to believe that our top scientists haven’t been able to make one for real. What’s up with that?
Are you ready for more Star Wars? With the new animated Clone Wars hitting theaters this Friday, the Star Wars fans are out in full Force. I thought it would be fun to show some fantastic costumes from Comic-Con.
The Official Star Wars Blog has a great article about the best Star Wars costumes in their Comic-Con photo gallery.
So many great costumes! It’s fun to see the traditional Star Wars characters as well as the creative variations such as the pink Darth Vader and Legos characters. And of course, no Star Wars photo gallery is complete without Leia in her metal bikini….
CLICK HERE for the entire photo gallery.
And remember, The Clone Wars opens in theaters this Friday. See you there!
An estimated 10,000 people wore costumes at Comic-Con last weekend. Lots of great photos are showing up online. Cinemablend.com just published a gallery with dozens of excellent photos.
Wow, everybody looks great! Be sure to visit Cinemablend.com to view the entire gallery.
It’s that joyous time of year again — Comic-Con! And thousands of people in costumes flock to the big event in San Diego. All the great costumes… it’s brings a tear to my eye.
Wired.com has a good article and photo slideshow of this year’s costumes. Looks like so much fun!
Well I hope everyone has a fun and safe Comic-Con. I know it’s sold out, and I’m so jealous for the people who get to go.
To view all of these great photos, head on over to Wired.com’s entire photo gallery.
Have you heard of the Wolfpack Elite? When it comes to costumes, conventions and cosplay, these guys are the best of the best. When they say Elite, they aren’t joking.
They are well known for throwing big costume parties at every major comic/sci fi convention in America, “because there’s nothing like throwing back a few shots with Batman on one side and a storm trooper on the other.”
Heh, I like the sound of that!
You can literally spend countless hours on their website, browsing through the photo gallery and forum. The forum is especially helpful for sharing ideas and costume-making tips, and just talking about costumes in general.
The members of Wolfpack Elite seem to be a very fun, welcoming group of people. If you love costumes, you should head on over there and say hello: www.wolfpackelite.com.
Remember these guys from Sesame Street? Yip yip yip yip…
Well, thanks to Instructables.com, you can learn how to make your own Yip Yip alien costume! They offer a step by step guide using fleece, sponges and mesh. Looks great!
Do you want an original costume that can’t be purchased, but you don’t know how to sew? Or perhaps you need a crazy prop for your costume and you just can’t find anything like it in stores. I went to CONduit in Salt Lake City on Saturday, and there I attended a panel that was all about turning ordinary, random things into costume items, to create items that no one else has!
There are two basic tricks to making a costume item out of something else:
The first is to break down the idea of your finished product into components. You won’t be able to find the exact thing you need, but you will be able to find various things that you can put together to make what you need. Your costume is a puzzle, and you’re looking for the pieces.
I had a great time last weekend at CONduit, the annual sci fi/fantasy convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. The event, which ran from May 23-25, is a great way for fans of the genre to come together to discuss and share ideas about all things sci fi/fantasy.
CONduit features professional authors, artists, actors, game designers, singers…and of course, COSTUMES!
Most people don’t think of Memorial Day as a great costuming event. What are you doing to do, go to a graveyard dressed in black? But if you’re a Civil War re-enactor, you feel a little differently about this holiday!
At Greenwich Village in Michigan, there is an event this weekend called Civil War Remembrance. It’s an awesome opportunity to learn more about this tumultuous time in America’s history. There are events and exhibitions regarding all facets of life at the time, as well as concerts and re-enactment shows! But what caught my eye, of course, was the costuming.
ThatCostumeGirl is letting people choose which costume she will wear at this year’s Dragon*Con.
So head on over there and vote for your favorite costume!
www.thatcostumegirl.com
According to a note posted on Mediumatlarge.net at least 64,000 people were in attendance at the New York Comic Con over this last weekend. That’s a hearty boost up from the previous year which rolled in just under 50k.
Yeah, comics and comic book culture are big in a big way. It seems to only be getting better too.
Put together the combined efforts of film, print media, and now a growing video game market and it makes a lot of sense. This kind of growth has been a common trend for the last seven years, and it looks to grow even more through 2008 with the big Iron Man release.
With so much going on, it’s hard to highlight just one thing. However, I’d say the emergence of Frank Miller’s new on screen project will do just fine. This time, Miller is taking on The Spirit in tribute to Will Eisner’s core comic classic. Fans will be watching this project and trying to keep pace with the success of the artsy combination of animation and live action that Miller does so well.
Here’s a bit of a teaser to sharpen your comic wits on for now…
You might catch yourself in a public place wearing a costume that may not be deemed as “normal”. So what, right?
…well… you may want to go in numbers. As cool as it is to be socially offbeat, costume fans need to be supplied with reinforcements whenever possible.
A lot of costume fans find that they would have fun getting dressed up, but don’t know where or when to do it. Unless you’re holding a sign on a street corner to advertise business, you’re going to get funny looks.
So, as a generous task, we’re providing you with a solid list of people and places to find other costume fans to fraternize with.
The first place to look for a community is online. This will help you find out who is where, and what they participate in.
Forums - Forums exists all over the net, and for about every niche group possible. Cosplay, steampunk, general costumes, collectors, you name it and you’ll find it. Forums are a great place to ask questions that only a true fan would know.
DIY Web Sites - The great thing about DIY sites is that there are so many types of people there. You can be into any type of costume, and DIYers are all over it. Also, they’re extremely involved in the creation process, putting them in the know for all good resources on a particular subject or idea.
Digg, and other Social News Sites - Why Digg? Well, Digg is a haven for all the crazy stuff you will find on the web. How many ideas or articles have we found via social news? Well, lets pretend they’re all original things I see in person, mmkay?
The good news is that there is nearly always something going on for a costume fan to take part in, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get involved and make some friends, right?
Conventions - Cons are big in a very big way these days. They come in all shapes and sizes and attract everyone you could imagine. If you’re a fan of something like comics or anime, there are cons all the time for you. Find a costume, make a reason, and go dress up. People love to see their peers show their pride. Some cons are getting more well known for their costumes alone… sound like fun?
Release Events - Harry Potter movie, new Halo game, Star Trek release, on and on and on… if your costume is specific, and you’re in good company, you have all the reason to get decked out.
Fan Festivals - Fan festivals are akin to Conventions, but are usually surrounding a certain product or IP. The gaming industry is big on these. Fans of Blizzard Games, Sony Games, or Square Enix games can all find Fan Fests happening almost annually. It’s worth it to get in some garb and go to at least one.
The Right City - Tokyo is great for Cosplayers. New York has all kinds of dress up events, cultural mashups, and groups of enthusiasts. Los Angeles is home to the Hollywood hills, and the entertainment capital of the world. It doesn’t stop there, as most big cities have something unique to boast. Celebrate the city you love.
Cultural Celebrations - We’ve already covered Carnival and Oktoberfest. It doesn’t end there. If you want to immerse yourself in a really cool side of costuming, find a way to travel and get into some traditional threads. It’s always more acceptable and fun to blend into another lifestyle.
Well, not sure you got enough? We can think of many more. Check out our post on 79 Days, Reasons and Events made for Costumes. Search around for the ideas we’ve found and add some of your own.
Kotaku boasts the fanboyism and the audience enough to post a great article that may just be eons too late for the rest of us. That’s why, today they put up this Midna cosplay from last year. What does that mean for a blog like ours that blatantly shares the very same cosplay on the very same day, despite the lateness thereof? It means that it’s just that good. And besides, our blog is all about costumes so we have the RIGHT to do it! Right?
In true cosplay spirit, Midna is a character from Nintendo’s recent installment of the Zelda series, The Twilight Princess. This is a true blue, fan loved, authentic costume based on the character. From the head piece to the pattern design, it doesn’t get much better. Can anyone top this?
Somehow, I wish these were original. Nonetheless, I’m working on getting over the fact that I didn’t get out to Wonder Con and cover it. I’m trying to move on. I’ll be scrounging up all the good info and pics I can find for those of us who haven’t already located every tidbit of information on the Internet.
I’m also testing out this new gallery, so for now feast your eyes on the new gallery feature and our “found” Wonder Con pics.
Yeah, colossal mess up on our part. Wonder Con is only one of the most classic dress up events this side of the equator. You would think we would have been on top of it. Missing Wonder Con coverage is about as bad as having to suck on sugar free candies for a month straight. It’s bad… real bad.
Luckily the guys at Wired took care of getting some good high quality photos in their Geek Chic Gallery.
For those of you who don’t know, Wonder Con is a haven for Comic, Gaming, Anime subculture gurus. It’s the spiritual sibling of Comic Con and is sponsored by EA… yeah that’s right, it’s big bananas. I can’t even justify this mistake.
I’m hopping on the phone today to scrounge up whatever deets (uh, details that is) I can. Maybe get me a press pass to next year’s event or something special for Comic Con.
So, I leave my most heartfelt apologies. I’ll scour the Interweb for the best pictures… in the meantime check out Wired’s gallery and forgive me as much as you can.
It’s been awhile since we’ve said anything about Cosplay. Meh, the lines are blurry, right? Either way, we want to get some cosplay goodness out to you. It’s time we start keeping an eye on the World Cosplay Summit for ‘08. That way we can get a head start on all the action.
For those of you who don’t know, World Cosplay Summit takes place in Japan and is the cosplay event. It’s more than a convention, it’s a landmark moment for any serious cosplayer. As the originators of cosplay, the Japanese know how to put these events on right.
Vital stats? Here you go.
Event Time: Summer next year.
Location: Nagoya Aichi Japan
This is actually only the 6th annual summit to ever be held, so there’s something to be said for the popularity.
As the event is far off, there’s not much more to say than that. There looks to be around 14 countries already participating, and that includes the U.S. Each country sends a team of 2 to represent them and compete in cosplay contests. The event is huge, with the summit of ‘07 already boasting around ten thousand spectators for only their fourth year. As the buzz around the World Cosplay Summit grows, so does the media attention.
Last year’s summit, the biggest ever in participation and attendance, brought some unbelievable competition with some of the best cosplay ever seen. France’s Damian Ratte and Isabelle Jeudy took home the prize portraying Tsugiri and Myōbi from Alichino.
In recent news, the New York Anime Festival has made a key partnership with the Summit in efforts to proliferate the importance of Anime culture even further across the globe. According to the Anime News Network:
Festival organizers note that the partnership will provide NYAF with the opportunity to stage the World Cosplay Summit’s Official USA Preliminary Round. The winners of the convention’s Masquerade will receive a free trip to Japan to represent the USA in the World Cosplay Summit Finals in Summer 2008. The New York Anime Festival is the only American anime convention approved to be part of the World Cosplay Summit.
The World Cosplay Summit joins existing Masquerade sponsor, Anime Insider Magazine, which will feature a photo spread of the Masquerade’s winners in an upcoming issue and also award the winners a complimentary year subscription to the publication.
If you’re not a resident of Japan and you plan on heading to the World Cosplay Summit this year, sit tight for more news as the year unfolds. We’ll be tracking this huge event as the info hits our inboxes so we can have you prepped and ready. Until then, hit up the World Cosplay Summit website for more details on the preliminary round qualifications and outcomes.
There’s something about Comic-Con. It could be the more general acceptance of comic book stories and heroes with the steady release of comic themed movies. It could also be that celebrities seem to pop up as well. Whatever it is, it’s huge.
In fact, Comic Con is bringing in all walks of life this year. T.V. fans, true blue comic fans, movie fans, etc. In fact one report talked about the majority of visitors being working class adult males. Interesting, but not a surprise as comics were a bigger form of entertainment before T.V. and video games ruled the roost. Whatever the case, it’s a huge event every year. Enthusaists get the chance to feast their eyes on some really rare comics and see the makers behind them. In an industry where collecting can be a large investment the pomp is almost not enough.
The doors kicked open last night for a preview event. That is, Comic Con officially starts today but those who paid for an early access pass got into the doors as of yesterday. Early birds got a sneak peek at all the displays and even got their hands on some unique swag. Merchandise is everywhere, covering anything from video games to collectibles. And that’s just the tip of the Iceberg.
Comic Con will be a haven for big producers and directors to preview their upcoming projects that comic fans will want a bite of. Last year, Frank Miller’s graphic novel adaptation for 300 was a huge excitement. After the movie pulled in massive amounts of money, fans are perched to see what’s next. J.J. Abrams, producer of Lost will also be bringing some information regarding a trailer for Cloverfield. Needless to say, other big franchises like Blade Runner, Dragon Ball Z, and Battlestar Galactica will all have big showings at this year’s convention.
One of the biggest cultural excitements for Comic Con are the costumes. Fans of cosplay and just dressing up in general come out in their best concoctions. We’ll have to see what emerges over the next few days, and we’ll stay close to observe the creativity. This is one of the crown jewels of the costume world. The creations are limitless and clever. So far, little has emerged after last nights preview event. But there are a few days left and thousands of fans, so the good stuff is bound to peek out of its hole.
In no way is this going to be disappointing.
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