OzComicCon Brisbane 2015

The next event on my calendar in September was one of our local conventions – OzComicCon. This year I attended with my bestie – helping her out with her stall for the weekend. Unfortunately this meant that I didn’t get to see quite as much of the convention as the previous year, and I got very few photos, but I still cosplayed for the occasion and I did get out from behind the rack.

This year, we were lucky enough to have Richard Dean Anderson attend along with a few Stargate Atlantis actors. The huge Stargate fan that I am saw this as the perfect opportunity. I dressed up in my Stargate Offworld uniform (with a few new pieces added) and toted along my Zat. I wanted RDA’s autograph added. He was lovely to meet, but I am sad that I missed seeing his panel and I regret not being able to afford a photograph with him as well. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles. It was great to wear my offworld uniform again. I’ve spent a lot on it making sure I am screen accurate, so I should really wear it more often. The problem – it’s way too hot for most of our Queensland conventions and it’s hard to travel with as I cannot take the weapons.

Sunday though, saw me cosplay as a pair for the first time. We were Sadness and Joy from the recent Disney movie Inside Out. We loved the film, and when we saw it together, we walked out of the cinema planning our costumes. While they were supposed to be “easy” costumes, we take accuracy a little too hard and spent a bit more time that I had necessarily planned getting it ready. I was lucky enough to find the perfect jumper to wear but I need to bulk up my wig by sewing two together, sew an undershirt and leggings and we decided to make glowing memory balls. So much for easy. But, and it’s a big but, our costumes were received so well. It seems that everyone loves Inside out and we had many complements throughout the day. The challenge for me was staying in character as Sadness. It is incredibly difficult to not crack up all the time and it feels very strange to not smile in photos. The makeup though, is what made me happy. I haven’t had a lot of experience with skin tone changes and going blue is one of the hardest (your skin undertone shows through pink). I chose to use a white and blue cream stick to mix up the correct pastel blue colour and rubbed it into my skin (over a primer of course). It’s much like applying normal foundation, just blue. I topped it off with white setting powder. A bit of blue eyeshadow, dark blue brow powder, pink blush, mascara and blue lipcolour and I was done. The best part is that it lasted most of my day. I put it on at 7am and didn’t need to touch up until 5pm. Quite the success.

And the couple of other cosplays that I did take photos of...

The First Queensland OzComicCon

Last weekend, The Brisbane Convention Centre played host to the first Queensland OzComicCon. Now, while I don't really support the way that the company has ripped off the ComicCon franchise, I am happy to have another convention in the town where I live. And best of all, this one fell in our Spring. It's the most irritating part of Queensland conventions - they are always in the hottest part of the year for us - which is a real nightmare as a costumer. There is nothing more gross then trying to look good while sweating under layers of costume and makeup. But the nicest part of the con was that it was in a completely air-conditioned building. 

For this convention, I decided that I was going to be wearing three different costumes. I don't normally do the middle of the day change, but this year, I really wanted to wear certain specific costumes while it was not hot. The first one, for Saturday morning was my Stargate Offworld Uniform. The main reason that I wanted to wear this again was so that I could meet Chris Judge (Teal'c) and have him autograph my Zat. My butt has grown since the last time that I wore the costume, so it was interesting getting my pants zipped up this time. But I was determined. And I was particularly glad for the aircon. The jacket that I wear for this costume is a screen accurate version which features some wonderful padding inside which would be truly perfect for wearing in colder climes - ie, the snow. So, while 24 degrees celsius is quite pleasant, I was still over warm for the day. But I did manage to get my autograph. Which I guess now means that I need to get a new Zat for my costume as this one is strictly display now. 

After meeting some fellow Brisbane Cosplayers from a facebook community that I am a part of for lunch, I hightailed it back to my car where my second costume for the day was waiting - Senator Amidala. I had yet to wear my newest incarnation of this costume to a con, so was rather excited to bring her out. Thankfully the makeup is very simple for the costume and the hair is all wig and hairpieces, so it was a very easy transition from Stargate to StarWars. Best of all though, I had my photo taken in one a StarWars toy box - particularly appropriate for this costume. 

It was an exhausting Saturday and I was glad to get home and shower after my day out and about. Unfortunately, I had a pending Uni assignment to work on that evening, so I didn't really get the chance to just kick back and relax. However, I was up and ready for another day of costuming on Sunday. This time, my dearest friend had asked me to dress in Steampunk with her. So I saw it as a great opportunity to bring out my Steampunk Black Widow for a con. I would not normally take this costume to a con as between the huge skirt train and very delicate spider, it's not a crowd-friendly outfit, however give the small crowd at OzCC, I saw it as the correct venue. The costume was very well received and I was so happy to be able to wear it again. 

I picked up a few purchases for the day, sat in on a panel and chatted with friends before calling it an early day and heading home to get some more assignment work done. Overall, it was a very exhausting weekend. But I had a great time. The con itself seemed to be run very oddly. Attendance numbers were quite low compared to Supanova. And while they had a good range of guests, the auditoriums for the panels were on the opposite side of the complex to the vendors hall (about a 10 minute walk around) which made it really inconvenient. I'm not sure that I will attend for both days next year, but it will be a matter of who is going to be there.

But to finish off, here are just a few of the amazing costumes that were about: