Last time on AwesomeCon 2017, I cosplayed as Sailor Mars and got to experience my first celebrity Main Stage event after losing several battles with my wig.
My original plan for the last day of AwesomeCon was to see the Stan Lee Q&A in the morning. But with queuing for a seat starting sooooo early, we decided to go easy on ourselves and leave just a little bit later.
I debated for a while about what costume I’d wear on day 3, but ultimately I decided to rewear Sailor Mars because people responded so well to it and expressed how happy they were to see my character. Somehow, no one else was dressed as Sailor Mars, even though I think I saw most other scouts in person or on social media, and I would have interactions later in the day that reaffirmed I made the right choice here.
Our first stop of the day was The Guild Reunion. This year marked the 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of maybe the first web series I ever watched, The Guild. I absolutely loved watching those 6 seasons, so seeing the entire cast in reuniting in person was one of the highlights of my con experience. Again, a lot of questions were still directed towards Felicia Day (tellin’ you, queen of the nerds) but all of the actors were really great. (Really sad that Amy Okuda didn’t make it though…) If you haven’t seen The Guild before, I highly recommend it AND the amazing bonus videos that accompany it. (Those music videos are A+++.) It also made me happy to see Codex costumes at AwesomeCon (see Day 2). I probably wouldn’t have seen them at a con where Felicia Day wasn’t a guest, so I really lucked out with that.
After that panel, we skedaddled back over to the Main Stage to catch the Catherine Tate Q&A. I loved Donna Noble on Doctor Who and Catherine Tate is such a fantastic comedian. I somehow forgot about all the clips of The Catherine Tate Show, her sketch comedy show, that I watched on Youtube until someone asked what one of her most famous characters, Lauren Cooper, would think about AwesomeCon. She was so lovely and kind and funny, and I hope that she takes a fan’s advice to ask her agent about putting a Christmas special of hers on Netflix because I’m sure it’s great.
Although there were still other celebrity Q&As left to see, we were only a little bit interested in them and a lot more interested in spending the last hours of the convention at the Exhibit Hall. We had been hedging on a few purchases the past 2 days, but Ben finally walked away with a really beautiful Skyrim map and I was able to pick up a really cool gift for my dad. (Day 3 was on Father’s Day, so the gift was to make up for missing it and for his upcoming birthday as well!)
I had a lot of strange interactions with people on Sunday. There was the guy who came up to me while streaming to Instagram/Facebook Live and informed me that while I was on camera, no one gave me any likes, before walking away to find someone more like-worthy, I guess? A woman really loved my costume and told me I looked just like Sailor Mars and “You could be her twin!”, which is similar to her first statement but different in a way that left me feeling a little perplexed. A woman asked me for a photo and then handed me a leash to which this man was attached:
My favorite interaction, by far, was with a girl who was about 10 years old? She was with her dad and timidly approached me to ask for a photo. I’ll admit that I actually really love when people ask for my photo, even more when children do, because I basically go into Disney park princess mode and momentarily stop feeling the pain of my heels and my clip-on earrings to be look and be happy with a stranger. This girl looked so in awe because Sailor Mars was her favorite Sailor Scout! She told me that my costume looked great and I looked pretty in it, so I’m here feeling very good about myself as we take some photos together. Her dad then came up to me and thanked me himself because he knew how much his daughter loved Sailor Mars and said that they had been looking around the entire weekend for Sailor Mars, so they were very happy to have finally found me. With that, any regrets I had about rewearing Mars (and her heels) (and her earrings) completely vanished. I was SO happy to have been able to make this girl happy, and I’m only sorry I didn’t remember to say Happy Father’s Day to this great dad who knew what his daughter loved and was there supporting her to love those things.
Day 3 cosplay did not disappoint.
We were able to meet up with my coworker Joe again and I was able to convince him that he needed a throw pillow. (I didn’t realize how well I could anticipate what Joe wanted and how much influence I had over him until I realized that I was able to persuade him to attend AwesomeCon to see David Hayter in the first place… and then to buy this pillow.) I was also able to meet up with my Instagram friend, Eric, who is a co-creator of the #strideby hashtag and took this fun Boomerang of me:
Before we knew it, the Exhibit Hall was closing and the con had come to an end. As I walked out of the convention center, I still was getting photos with folks, with one person even asking me for my cosplay page. I laughed because this was literally my first time cosplaying someplace! (In retrospect, I probably should’ve just given him my social media for this blog right here.) People were still trying to ask me for photos as I walked to meet my ride home, and I closed the car door just in total amazement at how AwesomeCon exceeded my expectations.
With that, I wrap up my AwesomeCon recaps. If you’ll recall, I was in a bit of a funk since… May? While I don’t know if it’s over, AwesomeCon was definitely a high point during that prolonged low. I was so happy during those 3 days, even through the wig panic and the hanger and the strange dudes and the foot pain. I am also so grateful to Ben, who had a great time himself but definitely placed my desires above his own the entire weekend. (After all, he watched so many celebrity Q&As for people he didn’t have a clue about at all! We only recently watched The Guild because he was drawn in enough by the actors to be interested in watching.) (It’s good, go watch.)
What are your favorite cosplays from Day 3 that I managed to snap?
What convention should I attend next?? I wish I could go to NovaCon, because it’s another local con that has some cool guests, actually, but I have a conflict that weekend. I was considering trying to go to New York Comic Con but Saturday passes are already sold out, and I don’t know if I can handle a con of that size so soon after my very first one. I am currently thinking about some of the anime conventions (namely Otakon, which is coming up soon) but I am so out of the anime scene that I’m not sure I’ll be hip enough to understand the panels and stuff!
Let me know about conventions that you love and think I should attend! I was so in love with the entire experience that I am already considering traveling just to go. This could get dangerous…
Sip of Starrshine 