Wizard World day three

After of Friday, it didn’t seem like the convention could get any better. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The Saturdays of conventions have been known to be the busiest, but nothing could have prepared me for the crowd that we saw on day three of Wizard World. The entire con was packed, especially toward the entrance and in rooms for panels. Many people look at this negatively, but for me, the crowds only add to the experience. Seeing so many people who have similar interests is strangely heartwarming to me. Maybe it’s because I feel like I belong, maybe it’s because the crowd ups the excitement. I don’t know.

Then again, I didn’t have to deal with the plethora of people brushing against or running into me. Most con-goers actually tried to avoid contact due to the fact that I was covered in body paint. Others rushed toward us in hopes of taking a picture either of or with me. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I was cosplaying.

I did cosplay on Thursday and Friday, but on Saturday I decided to go all out as Jasper from the new Cartoon Network show, “Steven Universe .” My sister was also dressed up as another character from the show. I made a lot of our costumes over the summer and thought that they turned out pretty well for someone who doesn’t even know how to sew.

While I was proud of how they came out, our cosplays looked like child’s play compared to some of the others that I saw throughout the weekend. The best of the best were displayed at the Wizard World Costume Contest that night. In previous years, I had always missed any cosplay championships that conventions hosted – not because I couldn’t make it, but because there were so many people attending that there was never enough room. I remember showing up an hour early to wait in line to see one costume contest earlier this year and being turned down because it was already packed. Con-goers don’t play around when it comes to cosplay.

I had wanted to attend a cosplay contest ever since I started going to conventions, which was three years ago, and was never able to. So, for this convention I had my schedule meticulously planned so that I wouldn’t miss it. There was only one panel that I really wanted to make it to on Saturday, “Tea Time with Deadpool,” a forty-five minute long show about the Merc with a mouth. After that panel was scheduled to finish, I would have nearly an hour and a half before the Pre-Show Concert for the costume contest would start. I was so ready.

Unfortunately, I didn’t plan well enough. The Deadpool panel was packed by the time I got there. Resolved, I vowed to myself that just because I missed one panel that I wanted to attend, I absolutely would not miss the cosplay contest. So, I decided to head over to the room where the contest would be held over two hours in advance. Since I was there so early, that meant that I would have to sit through other panels that were being hosted in the room before the contest started.

I was okay with that, though. I’m always looking for new fandoms to get into, movies and shows to watch, books to read, etcetera.  The first panel that was going on when I got to the room was a showing of the first episode of “Minority Report,” a new show that will be premiering on Sept. 21 on FOX. I felt like such a hipster getting the first look at an otherwise unseen show. So if it becomes popular, just remember that I saw it before it was cool! Seriously though, it was a pretty good show and it is probably going to be added to my “to watch” list.

Following the “Minority Report” panel was the “Evil Dead I & II Reunion and Q&A Hosted by Bruce Campbell .” To be honest, I had only slightly heard of “Evil Dead.” I knew it was a cult classic horror film, I knew that it was probably inappropriate, and I knew that there was a guy who had a chainsaw  on his hand. Surprisingly, I came out of the panel with a very strong desire to learn everything I could about the series.

Bruce Campbell, who I learned played the guy with the chainsaw hand, better known as Ash, hosted the panel. He was hilarious. He had no reservations, insulting fans, his fellow cast, and himself. The cast recounted the terrible conditions during filming, including, but not limited to extreme heat, horrific makeup accidents, inadvertently being thrown into objects and/or stabbed, and excessive re-shoots. He even tipped the panel’s translator. The panel was really interesting and the comedy made it even better.

Campbell also released never-before-seen footage of a new show titled “Ash vs. Evil Dead” which will be premiering this Halloween on Starz. It will center on his character from the original movie and how the evil spirits that he escaped from several years ago have found him once again. After watching the footage, I was so intrigued that I read everything I could online about the movie. My mom’s a little iffy about whether I’m allowed to watch the movie or not, but maybe I’ll be able to do a review of the show when it comes out.

After that panel was finished, the long-awaited Costume Contest began. Actually, the pre-show concert for the contest began. The band Critical Hit along with Jason Hayes, a composer for the video game “World of Warcraft” were the performers. The symphonic rock band played covers of geeky tunes ranging from the Pokémon theme song to Zelda’s Lullaby. While the band was performing, Rob Prior, and ambidextrous artist, painted a picture of Yoda in the background.  You can see glimpses of Prior painting to the music in the few videos that I took during the concert here.

Once the concert had ended, the contest began. There were several categories that a participant could win in- Best Hero, Best Heroine, Best Male Villain, Best Female Villain, Best Group/Partner, and Best in Show. The winners would receive a 3D-printed sculpture of themselves along with a few other prizes. With around a hundred entries, the entire thing took about two hours. There were so many spectacular entries, the judges- one of them being the Green Power Ranger- really had their work cut out for them. The winner ended up being a handmade cosplay of a Skeksis from the movie “The Dark Crystal.” My personal favorites included a Doctor Octopus, who ended up winning for Best Male Villain, Zoidberg from “Futurama,” and the Infinity Gauntlet from the Marvel Universe.

Not every cosplayer competed in the competition, even though many probably could have with the quality of costumes that they were wearing. Here’s a gallery of my favorite cosplays throughout the weekend. And yes, I shamelessly put in a picture or two of myself.