Thank you, Abalard… (Adam)

For the group costume we have decided to each be a character from the series “Archer”. I LOVE this show and so far the second season is turning out to be just as good as the first. If you haven’t seen the show, please stop reading this post and go check it out. It’s ok, I’ll wait for you to come back. It is far more important that you understand the awesomeness that is this show.

http://www.hulu.com/archer

Anyways, now that you’re back or already understand the amazing show that is Archer, I can continue to tell you how really excited I am to go as the leading character, Sterling Archer. After much research, I’ve discovered that I really only have the option for two outfits that are instantly recognizable, a black tailored suit or a black turtle neck (I’m not wearing the “Got Dick?” shirt). With that said I’ve decided to go with this look.

Yeaaaah, awesomeness!

For the record I will be wearing a crisper, less sex addled suit for the occasion. Now all I need is to get the suit I own tailored, which is fortunately very similar to the one above. The only real addition I will need to make is to add the tie clip, an item which shouldn’t be too hard to get a hold of …………………………………………… (brb)

And purchased on Amazon. Yeah, Amazon <3!

Anyways. Now on to the most important piece, Abalard!

Oh Abalard, your my favorite part of Episode One and you will be represented at Comic-Con!! This is the dog that Sterling brings home, as well as a slutty international stewardess. He can sing “Putting on the Ritz”. Because I say so.

Instead of carrying a big gun around all day I have decided to carry around Abalard. The pieces I will need to pull this off are a stuffed animal Pug and a voice recorder (soon you will know why). And OMGs whats this? Internet, you have these items available to me at low low prices? Why thank you internet!

Now for some math… yes I’m going to subject you to math, but it shouldn’t be to bad. The formula goes like this:

 

+

=

 

Awesome math indeed! Now you must be wondering what the voice recorder is for. Well I’ve decided to give him a collar with the voice recorder on it. Whats on this voice recorder? Because thats “Putting on the Ritz” man! Watch Episode One and you will know why thats amazing.

I can’t wait to put my Abalard together and make this an amazing costume.

Mo’ Cosplay, Mo’ FUN! (Melinda)

So I’ve been informed (made fun) of how long my last post was, so I’m going to try to keep this one a little shorter this time round. I’ve had some stuff come in the mail for two more of my cosplay bits, so I figured I’d talk a little about what I am planning.

I wanted to do something simple yet recognizable for one of the days, preferably for under $30 total for the whole costume. As a result, something that I’ve wanted to do that I thought would be simple and fun is to go as Mary Jane Watson. For the record I was planning this before Alex’s post. Also Alex is gross (that’s right, come and get me fucker). But he’s also hilarious so there’s that.

Anyways, so Mary Jane is fabulous and subtle, but the problem is that when you’ve got a character who dresses in plain cloths, its hard to actually differentiate costume from normal outfit. So I’ve been working with little tweaks that I feel will make the costume a little more obvious.

 

This is the Mary Jane Model I’m hoping to base the outfit on.

Tee shirt, jeans, but the spider man symbol gives more of the MJ impression which I am a fan of. Found a good shirt for it, not white, but still has that spider sense about it. 😛 I figure I’ll cut more of a bust line into the collar and hack at the sleeves a little bit, to give more of a ripped/torn kind of feel. It wont be exactly like the picture, but it will be my own unique variation on the character.

I also have this adorable little thing.

ITS A BACKPACK THAT HUGS YOU FROM BEHIND!

(giggity)

So the whole costume is just a tee-shirt and a backpack. A super awesome useful backpack that is going to be great for carrying shit around the convention center. I’m pretty pleased with how it is all going to come together.

So I guess the moral of this story is that if you’re thinking about cosing but you don’t want to spend a ton of dough, there are totally options out there for doing so. There are a lot of characters that can be done simply and elegantly. So that’s pretty cool. 😀

Ultererior Motives ((and Alex))

I’m really only going so I can try and bang random, insecure, nerdy girls.

Love, (and Alex)

Blondes are okay too. (I'm looking at you, Gwen Stacy)

“Nobody Likes a Fat Huntress”, and Other Costume Conundrums. (Caitlin)

Here’s the thing. I’m a superhero fangirl. I spend hours upon hours of my life reading comic books (Batman is my drug of choice, right after a good red wine), playing video/computer games that feature superheroes, and beating my computer with a stick until it yields the newest Captain America trailer. There’s just something about the idea of a superhero that is so… well, damn heroic.

He really does love fish. Look, he's going to find some now.

There’s that sense of order in the chaos to which real life never quite measures up: Superman is a boy scout, Aquaman loves the shit out of fish, and Batman is THE GODDAMNED BATMAN. The Joker is forever evil and will cause nothing but suffering to those around him, but Batman will always hold back that final, neck-snapping punch (I may have gotten teary at the end of Batman: Under the Red Hood, guys… don’t judge me). It’s not reality, but I’ll be damned if shit doesn’t get real.

Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, Queen of Badassery

This year, for SDCC, I would love nothing more than to throw on some purple spandex and be the most bitchin’ Huntress this ‘verse has ever known. Kickin’ ass and takin’ names FOR JUSTICE… or, at least for play.

Well, no. Not so much. And the title post says it all: nobody likes a fat Huntress. I, being both a grad student and lover of fine pizzas (I assure you that these are, in fact, mutually exclusive–Denver is a mecca of beautiful bodies, and  many of those bodies belong to grad students… other grad students) find myself at a disadvantage for looking even remotely hot in spandex. It’ll probably take me a solid year of gym time to look respectable in a costume with what is lovingly referred to as a “belly window”, so in the meantime I’ve started working on my options for this year’s costumes.

First up: (Lady) Dr. Henry Killinger, Venture Brothers

Ah, Killinger. The silly bastard with the accent and the Mary Poppins-style murder bag. The advantage to Killinger is that he already looks kind of dumpy, what with being an old guy and all. In lieu of finding a real (read: expensive and not quite what I wanted, anyway) Howie coat/dental coat, I purchased a black chef coat on Amazon.com (there are some in women’s cuts, which was neat, so I bought a size down from what I normally get as chef’s coats run gigantic). Some iron-on decal paper from Michael’s will help to get the Killinger logo in place. I found an amazing base for the mask at a costume shop in Lakewood called Disguises, and will be building up on it with clay and paint, possibly with a layer of mod podge on top for shine.

Since I’m doing a Lady Killinger, I decided to take a few liberties with my interpretation. Instead of plain black leather gloves, I bought super cute black lace gauntlets. I plan to wear a skirt with the outfit, which I’ll make myself–my current plan is to make a blood-red skirt (to match the logo on the coat) and build a black lace overlay to give it volume and keep the balance in the outfit.

What I still need to buy: a stethoscope, black fuzzy slippers, and an old black bowling bag that I won’t feel terrible painting. I already have the Adult Swim officially licensed magic murder bag, but it’s really more of a magic murder duffle and would look silly being carried around SDCC.

Mallory Archer, Archer

This costume will be my contribution to our big group costume, the cast of Archer. I’m having a crazy difficult time finding a suit that looks like Mrs. Archer’s, but I’m hoping that thrift stores and Goodwill can provide in the next few weeks; otherwise, I’m making the damn thing from scratch. I did, however, find a damn good broach at NY & Company that looks like a real-life version of the one she wears in the cartoon, so go team! I plan to use spray-on hair dye for the gray/silver hair (I’m a brunette, and whilst still in my 20s I plan to stay that way). I’ll find a nice sensible pair of pumps to match the suit and hopefully call it a day.

(Lady) Castiel, Supernatural

Watching football and costume-building are similar in that I drink during both activities.

Castiel is the socially awkward angel friend of Sam and Dean on Supernatural, and yes. I know. Two guy costumes. I’ma make ’em sexy. We’ve been over this. Cas is all about his big khaki trench coat, blue tie, white shirt, and dark pants. Oh, and black angel wings. This is where the costume gets tricky. How the hell do you A) transport angel wings through airport security and B) not destroy a perfectly good trench coat and still make it look like the wings are coming out the back of it? This costume is a work in progress, for sure.

So, there. That’s what I have so far, guys. In the weeks to come, I’ll hopefully be posting pictures with the spoils of retail war.

OMGS Superman! (Adam)

Sooo Excited!!

So first off, I don’t really make my own costumes for anything. Normally they look really sad and get thrown away after the event.  However, nothing says bitchin clothing like something you’ve made over the course of 8 months. However I don’t really have that time to do that, or the skills, or the drive. So for Comic-Con I decided to enlist the help of the internet to put together everything for me. Yeah thats right… the internet. Apparently through this magical piece of modern technology any costume piece auto-magically comes to me.

My first costume that I’m putting together, is all about this guy.

 

Superman !!!

Yeaaaaaah Superman! Hes been among my favorite super hero characters since I was very very little, and this would make me so happy to give homage to him at Comic-Con.

But lets take a step back here. While I really want to go as superman, I have a kryptonite of my own, TIGHTS. Fuck that noise. It takes someone who is REALLY dedicated to make that commitment at the gym and I just cant see myself doing it. Also, if possible, I want to get some additional wear out of what I buy for Comic-con. To solve this conundrum… enter Tom Welling.

Oh Tom Welling, you didn’t think you would be playing Clark Kent for the last decade, but you did! This year marks the last season of Smallville, however I’ve actually only started watching it recent months, but I have REALLY enjoyed it. The show, despite nerd/internet rage, is actually decent and fun, in a campy kind of way. As long as Lana Lang isn’t around (she has a terrible storyline). But anyway thats not what this is about! This is about me wanting to not wear spandex!

So Mr. Welling plays Clark Kent on the verge of becoming Superman and recently he has finally donned the famous “S” Shield, (it only took them 10 years :P), in the form of a more modern leather jacket. I’ve decided to go with this incarnation. It’s sleek, its recognizable, its awesome and most importantly it makes me look like a godamn badass. So there. Also, I think leather jackets rock and I TOTALLY will wear this all the time in addition to Comic-Con. And as I’ve mentioned before, anything can be acquired through the internet. So here is the jacket that I’ve ordered.

Pretty bitchin right? Hopefully it will arrive as awesome as I want it to be. That is the only downside of the internet. While I am getting this custom made for me, I will have no idea what it looks like or how it really fits until it is at my door. I’ve already got the other parts needed (its really simple stuff), so I should be all set once this comes in. It is going to be amazing and I can’t wait!

TANGENT TIME! My Wonder Woman Conundrum (Melinda)

TANGENT TIME!

… as the title so states.

 

I am about to do something very dangerous on the internet.

I am going to express an opinion.

You have been warned.

 

So I’ve been trying to figure out more cosplay stuff and when in doing so, I have come across a conundrum that I wanted to share with the group. So here is a little insight into the mind and workings of Miss Melinda….

which will be swiftly followed by an explanation.

I am a huge Wonder Woman fan. Always have been. Which, for the record, is STUPID difficult considering the amount of crap that Wonder Woman fans have had to endure, from bad story telling, to MORE bad story telling, to invisible planes, the entire Golden Age, plot holes, origin changes and overall, a very VERY stupid costume.

For more information on why most people hate Wonder Woman, please refer to this…

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/08/10_reasons_no_one_cares_about_wonder_woman.php?page=1

So think of how happy I must have been in recent days! Wonder Woman comics are finally selling better than they ever have before! The “Blackest Night” 3 issue arc turning Diana into a Violet Lantern was the beginning of the awesome. This was quickly followed by the Issue #600 where we have seen the resurgence of a fabulously well written Wonder Woman story line as well as a very interesting new costume.

And herein lies my conundrum dear readers.

I absolutely positively adore the new Wonder Woman Costume.

I think its brilliant. I want to cosplay as her  for Comic-Con. But I can’t because most people absolutely abhor it.

So I want to take a moment and talk about the new Wondy duds in hopes of possibly changing a few minds and making this a more acceptable cos option, if not for me for this summer, then for Wonder Woman fans of the future.

_________________________________________________________

As we can see via this lovely, well, what I am going to call diagram, the Wonder Woman costume has already evolved over the years. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. No matter what though they very rarely deviate from the original design that creator William Moulton Marston came up with back in the 1940s. Amazonian Princess Diana, later referred to as Diana Prince or Wonder Woman, was based on the combination of Marston’s wife Elizabeth and Olive Byrne, the woman who lived with the Marstons is a poly amorous relationships.  She was adorned with the colors of the United States of America as a symbol of her fighting for the American people against the Nazis. Now, I’m not going to encourage people to actually look up the background of William Marston but if one so chooses to, one will see what an… interesting individual he was when it came to sexual proclivities. You can also see a lot of this implied in the original design for the Wonder Woman costume.

Metal Belts and Cuffs, threaded heels, corset top and a golden lasso used to tie men up to make them tell the truth. While innocent looking enough, the original costume made Wonder Woman into an instant sex symbol through the sheer basis that it is based out of bondage.

So you would think that over the years, maybe with a character who is so intent on representing women, we night be able to give her a little more fabric to cover her ass. After all, Wonder Woman is running around doing a ton of shit for humanity. She shouldn’t be worried about having her boobs pop out or getting a bikini wax every week. But nay sir. We have in fact taken things OFF the costume over the years as a result. The iconic Wonder Woman  that we knew until recent days was in what is essentially a one piece strapless bathing suit. Don’t let this smiley photo fool you. I bet if you could hear this cartoon talk she would be very displeased at the fact that she has to fight space monsters and meta-humans in heels and an outfit commonly used for nerdy comic fetishism. Do you want to fight Doomsday in that? I don’t. And thats one of the ultimate Wonder Woman problems that has developed over the years. She is the ultimate DC Universe sex symbol, but for all the wrong reasons. This confident Princess stands up for the rights all women everywhere and is the embodiment of Love in many cases in the DC Universe, “Blackest Night” again being one of the biggest and most recent examples. She is a shining example to young girls who want to grow up to be superheros. And she has been reduced to this…

The representation of the ultimate female superhero done in body paint for Playboy. Good job America. We should be super proud of ourselves. For more examples of the objectification of Wonder Woman, go rent the new Justice League porn just released by Hustler in which my childhood hero sexually services the entire Justice League. And while you do that I’m going to go vomit from anger.

Ever see the old Lynda Carter Wonder Woman television series? That poor woman, even with the utmost respect for the character she was portraying, had to try to fight Nazis, gorillas and other such nonsense in an outfit that barely stays on her.  It’s like going to the grocery store in a prom dress. Completely impractical and most likely detrimental to the actions you are trying to accomplish.

Another thing worth mentioning in all this is that Diana, Princess of the Amazonians, has also evolved over the years into Diana Prince, Diplomat, Secret Agent and Defender of Earth. It made sense for the longest time for her to continue to don the colors and symbols of America. much like her counterpart and fellow Justice Leaguer, Superman. But with the more recent plot revelations within her current story (*SPOILERS*), the American government has attacked her home and forced her people to flee to the corners of the world in hiding. Upon killing Maxwell Lord (*CONTINUOUS SPOILERS*), Wonder Woman became a fugitive, making the government see her as a rogue super human. Her current story line actually has her running from the American government as they try to wipe out whats left of her people. Her priorities have shifted. She no longer defends the Americans. They are trying to kill her and her entire culture. So why should she be wearing their flag right now? That seems a little silly if you ask me.

Other superhero’s costumes have evolved with their stories. Green Arrow got rid of the stupid little hat and looks more like the guy from “Smallville” now. It’s more practical for his current story of hiding out in magical makeshift Sherwood in “Brightest Day”. That… did not sound as serious as I wanted it to, but if you read the series you know what I mean. Batman has gone from tights and spandex to frickin’ body armor. It makes more sense considering he’s taking on more than just painted Gotham thieves. Adam West fought villains with gas bombs and other clever gadgets. Now they all have guns. And meta human abilities. And they freaking KILL PEOPLE. The stories have just elevated over the years. These men’s costumes haven’t changed too dramatically because they had a solid base to begin with. Wonder Woman has kind of sort of always looked like a flying pinup girl. Unlike the guys, you’re going to have to change a whole heck of a lot more to make it practical.

And so here we are at the final costume in question.

If the badassery of this photo does not have you sold, maybe the fact that WONDER WOMAN FINALLY EARNED SOME FUCKING PANTS will persuade you. The metal pieces actually look like they were forged by the gods instead of by Barbie toy makers. The arm wraps have a fabulous “Spartan” element to them that keeps the femininity of the outfit. The colors and symbols are still there but they in no way represent America. Even the jacket seems in character, for in many of her issues pre “Blackest Night” she was doing things such as shopping with Black Canary, queen of the black leather jacket. She is a modern woman with modern and practical tastes. Maybe it gets freaking cold as shit when she’s flying around all over the world. I’m sure as well as pants that Wonder Woman has earned sleeves after decades of saving the world. And she doesn’t wear the jacket that often, again, because its not always practical. Also no more high heels. Because in no way did that make any fucking sense. Ever. For once, she looks like a goddamn BAMF instead of something you should see in a Teletubies bondage porno.

Overall, Wonder Woman is not a pretty pretty Princess anymore. She is a Queen among a race of women who have been blessed by the Gods. And she is PISSED. The costume is vastly different than anything else we have ever seen her wear, but every piece is justified in her character lore. The real problem is not that she has a shitty costume now, its that she had a shitty costume to begin with. I hope that a few people will read this and have a change of heart so that people like me don’t feel embarrassed to embrace this fabulous new look for a superhero who is long overdue for a little respect.

Wonder Woman has endured a lot of crap over the years. A lot of crap. And we the fans have had to endure it too. So come on.

Wonder Woman deserves pants.

Shenanigans! Finding a Hotel! (Melinda)

So I’ve been trying to do a bunch of research on planes and hotels! A lot of people are having a hard time actually getting hotel reservations right now, but I came across some very interesting info that I thought would be super helpful and awesome to share with everyone.

So, I guess the majority of ticket holders have been having a super difficult time getting hotel rooms right now. Well on top of people booking before they even officially have tickets, I guess SDCC actually buys up a bunch of hotel rooms and then distributes them via their website. The hotels they have connections with are the ones that are close to the convention center or ones that they will be running shuttles to actually get to the aformentioned convention center.

But, be forewarned. Apparently shit kind of went down with this last year. People who were first in line to get hotels  were apparently getting some of the farthest away, having to take the shuttle. Obviously this is not a huuuuge deal, but if you’re first in line obviously you want the best seats, so to speak. As of my current research I do not know if those problems have been worked out yet. I’m going to assume… yes? Or at least since it was such a problem last year I can only imagine that it is being worked on.

So if you are not able to find a hotel yet, fear not! You are not only one. In fact, it would seem that you are in the majority range of folk right now.

The best advice I’ve found and can share is to keep (compulsively) checking the hotels section of the SDCC website for updates. Happy Hotel Hunting all! 😀

Playing Dress Up: the Start of my Cosplay Work (Melinda)

So, while most little girls liked to dress up as Disney princesses as a kid, I wanted to be Batman. Well, Batgirl, but you get the idea. I started cosing when I went to a few VERY small local cons when I was in highschool, but nothing too intense. That’s kind of my only con experience, going to these small venues with  one main celebrity that the whole event was really based around. I went with friends and it was fun but it was never anything incredibly intense.

Now I just do stuff like this in my spare time. Dress up like Clark Kent and get my picture taken.

So naturally one of the things I am SUPER excited about is the idea of cosplay for SDCC. Its like prom, but for people like meeee(nerds)eeeeee! 😀 I get to wear a kick ass outfit that I am super proud of, that I have built/put together myself representing some of my favorite things in the nerd community.  So I’ve been putting a lot of work into research these past few months, before we even had tickets. That’s just how excited I was. I really REALLY wanted to dress up!! Bare with me on my girlish moments…

I have made some very interesting discoveries as a result. Back when I was a kid cosing as Wonder Girl in jeans and a tee-shirt, it was about people throwing in representation for their favorite things. Of course there were folks who got super into it, but they were fewer and farther between, thought that may have just been because of the venues I was at. Often times when I went to con, it seemed like there was a big college costume party and the theme was “Awesome”.

This is no longer the case. It would seem that cosing has taken on a sense of professionally that border lines on ridiculous. And by ridiculous I mean SUPER AWESOME. People building full on body armor, spending years and (literally) thousands of dollars on the costumes that they build out of sheer love. It is so cool. But with SDCC being the red carpet event of the geeky year, it also means that we have to raise the bar for ourselves. As cool as it would be to get featured on a website as some of the coolest costumes there, my greater fear is to be ridiculed on the internet for doing it half assed.

I will not be a half asser! And with that declaration, here’s some of the work I’ve been putting in the past few months, leading into Comic-Con!

__________________________________________________

So, the friends and I have been planning some group costumes and some separates, but I’ve got a breakdown of both group and non group stuff that I’ve been researching that I am super excited about. The biggest thing for me has been picking characters that I can balance quality and cost with. How can I make stuff look awesome/at a pro level on a small budget? I’m also not much of a seamstress, though I want to learn more. So since I can’t build something from the ground up, the past few months have been scouring the internet for base pieces that I can add little things to. I feel like I don’t need to spend thousands of dollars in order to put together something awesome. I have given myself a meek budget, which honestly I think creates more of a fun challenge.

As a result of cost though, I’ve been working with the idea of doing three mild to medium priced costumes and only one on the pricier side. For now they’re all conceptual, but as I start to gather everything I plan to post production photos and the like for all to see! 🙂 So lets dive right in!

Group Costume: ARCHER

So one of the best new animated shows of the past year, in my humble opinion, has been FX’s smash hit “Archer”. Created by Adam Reed (Frisky Dingo) it is the thrilling and epic tale of Sterling Archer, Codename Duchess, the most inept super spy you will ever meet. Accompanied by his “crack” team of office drones and his partner Lana, Archer works for one of the top spy agencies of the world, which also happens to be run by his overbearing mother, ex black ops agent Mallory Archer. If you’ve never checked out the show, I highly recommend it. Running on FX, it has recently just started its second season.

Its new, its hip, it’s all the rage! So that’s what we shall be cosing as this year. We’re thinking we would probably do this on the day of the Archer panel. I should clarify that one has not been announced yet, BUT there was one last year, so presumably with its great success there will be one again. Adam will be going as our “hero” Sterling Archer and Caitlin will be the lovely Malory Archer. I will be going as the auto-erotic asphyxiation enthusiast/secretary, Carol. Or Cheryl. Or Crystal. She changes her name to fit her mood. Also because no one ever remembers it.

The episode I’m choosing to model the cos after is “Diversity Hire”. Carol normally wears a skirt and shirt kind of ensemble, but in episodes where she becomes obsessed with people sleeping with her, she usually is wearing something that she can rip open pretty quickly.

These are the reference photos I have so far.

I will be the first to admit that these photos are not very good. lol. Please bear with me. Or watch the episode. Either/or shall suit you well dear readers.

Unlike the lovely but slutty lady in the photos, I do not plan on ripping off my top every five minutes, so in order to keep it slightly more simple, I have decided to go with a dress instead of the skirt and matching button down top. The hair should be easy enough, a simple but big bun. I’m hoping to find one of those old 90’s “Snap a Bun” things to add heightened volume and shape. Also I feel like one of those would be hilarious to own.

This is the base dress that I am planning to acquire.

It still has the buttons, so if I want to alter the outfit into a two piece then I am more than able to, but the crispness of the outfit and the boldness of the colors I think will be iconic enough, though fans of the show if you disagree, I would love to hear your opinions!

The other thing about a show like Archer is the iconic nature of the characters isn’t what they wear. It is the jokes they are associated with. Adding props or makeup additions seem to be a neat, cheap way to really accentuate a character. To make this outfit more recognizable, I want to add two major adjustments. For starters, I want to wear a series of “Hello my Name is” nametags with all of the names she comes up with on the show. Another one of my favorite aspects/jokes is Carol’s intense need to have people choke her all the time. Another little aspect that I thought would make the cos “pop” so to speak would be to have red hand marks around my neck to indicate a recent choking. I felt that would be something easy that would make the character shine through, not just the costume. But again, I don’t know. Fans of the show, what do you think? Too much?

Anyways, I will do another post later this week with the other three costume ideas. I would love to hear feedback on this one though for people who are familiar with the show! So far I think the concept is off to a pretty great start. Can’t wait to start putting it in action!

Yeaaaaaaaaah Comic-con! (Adam)

So I’m going to Comic-Con. Its finally hitting me today that this is really going to happen this summer. I now have the confirmation email and everything! Mmmm official documents. I’ve actually never been to a con of any kind, ever. I’m a nerd at heart but mainly a gamer first, a tech lover second, and a Comic / TV fan third. Kind of amazed that this will be my first con since its in my 3rd favorite thing to nerd out about. I always thought it would be PAX or Blizz Con. Top two North America for Starcraft 2 didn’t work out this year for a free Blizz Con trip. BUT this is awesome none the less! Caitlin and Melinda we’re so excited about the idea of Comic Con last year (even though they weren’t at the event), that when we started talking about going this year I wanted to be a part of it. Also, even though it is my third love, I freakin LOVE Comics / SciFi media so that probably had something to do with it too.

To prep myself for SDCC, I’ve decided to go to some local Con stuff in the area. Mainly a space SciFi con and a gaming event. Possibly a table top gaming con this weekend, but not sure if I’ll have the time to go. This is probably the best I can do before going to SDCC to get me prepped to go outside of looking at past events. I’m still putting together costume ideas for what I might want to cos as, but all in all it looks to be good times ahead!

Day 1 – Getting the Tickets! (Melinda)

So, here’s the start of our story!

Adam, Caitlin and I got up this morning at 7:45am expecting to begin compulsively logging in to the SDCC badge registration site at 8:00. Unshowered and unkempt we made our way to the living room with a sense of hope and fear pitting in our stomachs. Tickets are difficult to get because nerds world-wide all try to log on to the site at the same time to purchase them. Twice now the website has become jammed and crashed, pissing off the internet internationally. This was to be the third time we would be waiting for hours at a computer screen, praying to get to the next step. What if the site crashed again? What if we couldn’t get tickets?!? There was no time for this kind of negative thinking! We all gathered around our computers within shouting distance of each other, the plan being that if one person was able to get into the purchasing part of the website, they would order all the tickets at once. It has been cold as a vagina on Hoth up here for the past few weeks, so we were snuggled in blankets, sweatshirts, hats and cats to keep warm at this wee hour of a Saturday morning. Coffee was brewed and we were ready to rock!

Of course, our plans were thwarted when we realized that we had miscalculated the Pacific to Mountain time ratio. Tickets would not be available untill 10pm our time. After much groaning, blame throwing and silly name calling we turned on the television and proceeded to sit nervously at our computers for the next two hours, periodically checking back to the SDCC website to see if anything had changed (even though we knew nothing would).

Finally at 10:00 we began logging in. Over and over and over again we refreshed pages waiting, hoping, praying that the next time would be the time we go the magic screen saying that we could enter our credit card information. I have never been more excited to spend money in my entire life. No seriously. NEVER. BEEN. MORE. EXCITED.

But I digress. It was the fabulous Caitlin who won out, clinching the deal and getting to the order confirmation page before any of us could even access anything beyond “We are over capacity”. We called our fourth in the party, Alex, who had been subsequently been sitting at his computer in his apartment at his computer doing the same as us, and we all rejoiced and reveled. I specifically started to squeal and hop up and down. Adam and Caitlin proceeded to stare at me. This is neither here nor there.

But viola! That is our humble beginning! I promise the rest of our articles will be more interesting! Horray! WE’RE GOING TO COMIC-CON!