Boston Comic Con 2014-Day Three

Life has been a little hectic over the last month. Moving a whole house, including about 3 times as many games as I thought I had, has kept me busy the last few weeks. But I'm glad I'm finally getting to sit down and type up the last day of Comic-Con. It has been almost exactly a month now, so hopefully I can remember everything. I'm also going to use this as a space to house the best cosplays we managed to get pics of. There were hundreds of great costumes but we sucked at getting pics.

Anyway, on to....

Day Three

Day Two was a fairly crazy affair, so we were looking forward to a much easier Day Three. We only had three goals that day: An autograph from Jewel Staite, John Barrowman's personal panel and the walk-on costume contest, which Brigid had signed up for.

Easy, however, was not on the agenda.

The con was starting a little later in the day, so we were able to sleep in a little bit. We made our way over and immediately made our way to the autograph area. We were significantly early, so we were third in line! We felt very proud of ourselves for making it early so we would have plenty of cushion time before Barrwman's panel, considering the Torchwood fiasco the day before.

This turned out to be a futile endeavor. Jewel ended up being about an hour late, which made us panic immensely. Not only did we question our time frame, but after her being so elusive the day before, we were worried she might skip out altogether. Eventually, though she did appear and I got my pic signed.

I had her write "Stay Shiny!" on it, which probably made her want to kill me with a hatchet. Scrawling the same word over and over in some variation on thousands of pictures of her own face probably was starting to wear a little thin. Whatever. Screw her sanity, I got my commemorative item.

I don't want to sound ungrateful, but Jewel Staite was probably my least favorite celebrity interaction. It was wonderful to get to meet her, but it just didn't come off as warm or friendly as the others we'd had. That's not to say she was rude. She was perfectly pleasant and I was still thrilled to be near her and shake her hand. But the same energy just wasn't there. I like to think that maybe she was just exhausted or feeling ill (hence being late) and that the fun, quirky, happy woman we had seen in the panel earlier was still in there, just taking a small nap.

We made a mad dash for the panel area, getting there a scant 2 hours early. People were already lined up for Barrowman and had been for at least an hour. In order to mitigate the possibility of a situation like the day before, no one was allowed up the escalators/stairs unless they were going to another panel or entering the costume contests. Anyone done with their business had to go back downstairs immediately. A pre-line of 125 people had been allowed and there would be an announcement when the second pre-line would be formed.

Of course the same problem persisted: the area at the end of the stairs was big and soon began filling up with nerds waiting to be in the second pre-line. And yes, we were in that group of nerds. So we were part of/witness to the shenanigans that followed.

As soon as the first line began to move and the second line announced, the wave of geeks surged forward. The mighty Linemaster, blocking the end of the stairs, raised his arms and shouted, "Anyone within 10 feet of me is not getting in!"

Dorks scattered like cockroaches away from him, to sit perched at the perimeter of his ultimatum like hyenas around a lion's kill. Every attempt to form a second line ended in a similar result, even with threats to cancel the panel. Once again there were a good thousand people who didn't realize that they weren't getting in, as if some miracle was going to add seats to this wondrous, extra dimensional amphitheater. Somehow they managed another 125 people up the stairs without an act of savagery. Only 100 people remained but the natives were getting restless

The final solution is that everyone was forced out of the lower area and past the 5 sets of double doors, people streaming out into the general convention area. It was then announced that they would take 20 people from each door. We rejoiced because we were easily within the first 15 of our door. In case you doubt the mass of people that was there, I did manage to get a few quick snaps of the crowd this time.

Yes, those are all people waiting to see John Barrowman. Soon our door (slightly right of the center doors) opened and the lady said she would start by taking four people, two couples. Our hands shot up and we and a pair of boys were let through and instructed to see the lady in the very tactical looking vest by the stairs. As we made our way over, the center doors burst open and a column of nerds surged through, heading for the stairs. We hustled over and were given our numbers as the staff yelled at each other about ignoring the plan. Apparently the even promoter told them to open the center doors. They were very lucky no one got trampled. We took our ink (I was number 200; I don't pretend to understand their numbering system) and headed upstairs, the worst over.

Once again, the John Barrowman panel was amazing. Easily the best time by far. The only picture that can sum it up is this one:

However if you require a more in-depth account, Brigid has several videos on her YouTube account. If you have to watch just one though, it has to be this one.

After the panel Brigid attempted to get to her costume contest, but three days of stress and exhaustion finally caught up with us. We cut our losses and made our way back to the hotel to gather our things.

We did, however, happen to have one last celebrity interaction before we left. It turns out that Jason Momoa was staying in our hotel and he walked through the lobby while we were waiting for our cab!

We feared decapitation, so we didn't say hi.

Soon, though we were on a bus and on our way home, happy and exhausted. The whole thing was an amazing experience. In fact, Brigid had so much fun that she has signed up up for Vermont Comic Con in October. I'm not sure it'll be as fun, but it might be less stressful.

That's all for the con adventures. Now I will just leave you with pictures of amazing cosplays!

Cosplay Critters

We managed a ton of pics of Doctor Who related pics with some lovely people:

Brigid also made Con-friends with an Ianto and Jack couple (also seen above):

We also got a nice variety of other characters from various sources:

Steampunk Tony Stark

A very Bale-esque Batman

An incredibly impressive Predator

Piracy is alive in Boston

Who ya gonna call?

A Rosie The Riveter themed Wonder Woman

One bad-ass Mr. Freeze

A very horny Loki-lady and the whitest of Power Rangers

The best at what he does and what he does is cosplay.

They certainly put a smile on our face.

The god of thunder demands to check out!

This Planet Express crew has a shiny metal ass you can bite.

I have no idea what this is supposed to be.

This is just plain insanely awesome. The Imperium is definitely safe with these guys around.

And that's it for cosplays! I hope you enjoyed the report even if it was insanely long. And if you missed out on the other parts, you can find them here and here!

Have fun!

Birthday Gaming Extravaganza 2014

As I did last year, I threw another gaming weekend in celebration of my birthday. I don't have anything too special to say about it, but  I have a few pictures of the fun.

Saturday night was a few games of Epic Spell Wars, then a long roleplaying session with our home-brewed Marvel Superheroes rules. Pizza was interspersed throughout. I would have taken pictures but it was all theater of the mind and I'M NOT LETTING YOU SEE MY IMAGINATION. So there.

The lazy bastards slept in so I got a game of Marvel Dice Masters in against myself. I need to play more of this. No one else agreed that morning so they missed out on a great game. I shouldn't have made them breakfast but I did.

Then we played more Epic Spell Wars. We really love this game. Like LOVE it, love it.

And then I forced everyone to play HeroQuest. I don't know why everyone puts up a fight when I break this out. A fantastic time is always had by all, especially since we have no problem interjecting roleplaying into the mix. This adventure was actually a continuation of last year's quest, with the heroes hired by Prince Magnus to hunt down the true leader of the sinister cult encountered last time.

Madness inducing fishmen are encountered. Heroes in the room had a chance to lose their turn, based on Mind points.

Some culty cultists, who were having a nice meal until the heroes showed up.

The Elf and Wizard find an evil idol...

While the Dwarf and Barbarian clear out the rest of the monsters.

The cult leader and his Chaos Warrior bodyguards, one of which was murdered by a Genie, courtesy of the Elf.

The Barbarian joins the fray while the Dwarf struggles to even get in the camera shot with his stumpy legs.

After slaying the Barbarian, the cult leader is shanked by the Wizard while the elf distracts him.

All in all a fun quest. My favorite moment was when the Elf tried to search for the dead Barbarian's loot:

Elf- "I grab the Barbarian's coin purse."

Zargon- "As you lean down to grab it, a rat runs by and snatches it, scampering down the hall and disappearing."

Elf- "Shit. Well, I'll take the Barbarian's broadsword then."

Zargon- "As you turn to reach for the sword, you find a much, MUCH larger rat with its paws wrapped around it, growling at you."

Elf- "You know what? Fuck it. He can keep it."

After that it was burgers and everyone went home. It was a fantastic time and I can't wait until next year's BGE! Happy gaming!

Boston Comic Con 2014-Day Two

After crashing hard following Day One, we woke early the next morning to continue the Comic Con madness. Hereafter follows the account of...

Day Two

This being only our first con, Brigid did an extremely brave thing and decided to cosplay. She worked up a full costume for Doctor Who/Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness, complete with awesomely badass (and extremely expensive) coat.

The day before had been about taking in the sights and checking the lay of the land. Today was to be all business. With a jam packed schedule of autographs, photo ops and panels, this was going to be the true test of our con mettle.

The first thing we did upon entering was head straight to the signing area. We waited in line about an hour for John Barrowman, who was a tiny bit late since he had come straight from shooting and I'm sure was exhausted. However, John was extremely friendly and accommodating to his fans and had great energy at the table. Not only did he sign a picture for us, but he also signed Brigid's Captain Jack coat while she was wearing it!

Then we stopped at Sean Astin's table and he was very friendly. I got him to sign my mini Lord of the Rings SBG book, right over Samwise's profile.

We also spotted James Marsters at a distance:

And Jason Momoa, who did a walkthrough of the signing area. Dude is fucking huge. I took a video and the thing looks like a damn sasquatch film:

After getting our signatures, we went to the Star Wars comics panel. We let shortly after it began. We didn't recognize the artists, the room was small, it was hard to hear and generally bored us to death. So we snuck out and went back to get Eve Myles signature.

Eve was awesome. She was super friendly, and even though we had to pay $20 for table pictures, she let us do multiple for that amount and was fun and silly. The whole thing was a riot.

We tried to hunt down Jewel Staite, but she seemed to have disappeared. She didn't seem to be around much on Saturday at all. Oh well, we would catch her on Sunday

Giving up on Jewel, we hurried over to the amphitheater because the Torchwood Reunion panel was going to start in an hour and a half. Now, this might seem excessive to try and line up that early, but people had already been lining up for an hour before this. Try as they might to keep the area clear and send people away, a mass of about 1000 people eventually congregated at the bottom of the stairs to the auditorium. Brigid and I managed to sneak in the side near the front, but that was about the time shit hit the fan.

You see, at the bottom of these stairs was a foyer surround by a semicircle of glass with 5 doors situated at even points in this semicircle. The foyer held about 500 of these rabid fans, who were packed like sardines. I wanted to take a picture of the crowd, but I literally couldn't get my phone out of my pocket. Now, only two of the 5 door were open and the other 500+ people waiting were streaming out these doors into the convention center. The nutty part of all this?

The amphitheater only holds 350 people.

This mass of writhing nerds was composed of people who had been waiting 2 hours (while breaking the rules about where to wait as much as possible), people who had been waiting an hour or less (while following the rules) and a small war was beginning to break out as to who could get in first. Some of the 2 hour people had been pushed further back and were pleading to be let in first. The hour people were trying their best to keep them back and wanted only the front of the crowd let in. There was yelling, pushing, and some people who tried to climb the sides of the escalators and run past the crowd control people.

At this point they threatened to cancel the panel and a deafening silence fell over the crowd. The organizers asked everyone to move back, so the crowd started to move. But then, the rear of the crowd past the doors (who couldn't hear the announcement) began to push forward to keep their spot. This meant the people at the back near closed doors had nowhere to go, so were being squished and also pushed forward. People not at the edges of the crowd (Brigid and I included) began to be ground together and generally mushed. It was a miracle nobody actually got hurt.

Finally the organizers made everyone stop and began taking people 10 at a time from the front of the crowd to get in, under threat of cancellation if we made a fuss. Luckily Brigid and I got in and the panel was fantastic. Nothing I post here will be able to do it justice, so I am just going to direct you to Brigid's YouTube Channel, where several videos reside.

We went home and crashed shortly thereafter with a dinner of various snacks acquired from the nearby 

7-11. Not the best of plans, but we could barely move and that was the easiest, closest thing.

That's Day Two! If you haven't checked out Day One, go here and stay tuned for Day Three!

Boston Comic Con 2014-Day One

This past weekend my wife and I attended Boston Comic Con.

This was our first time going, and our first con in general, and we had a blast. So much happened that I honestly can't remember everything that happened, but I figured a few of my fellow nerds might like to hear my experiences. This is probably going to be long, so settle in. This is just the first of three days.

Day One

Bags packed, we hopped a bus down to Boston. We were both excited and terrified.

We left with enough time to get to our hotel, check-in and head right to the con. Luckily we stayed at the Seaport Hotel, which just happened to be right across the street from the Seaport World Trade Center where the con was being held. That meant we could exit the building and look right at this:

We didn't get a good pic, but there were two lines that went into the building: one that went down the street to the left and another that went down the street and around the side of the building to the right. We ended up in that line, and our timing couldn't have been better because the line ended up doubling, then tripling back on itself after that. Being smart, we got our bands ahead of time and didn't have to slow down to get scanned or buy tickets.

We had a little bit of time before the first Q&A panel, so we wandered around a bit.

We got to meet gorgeous cosplay maven, Ivy Doomkitty:

You're welcome for that link up there, by the way.

Took a short trip in the TARDIS:

This one was the same size, inside and out.

And found some fuzzy, fluffy versions of the Doctor as well:

Don't worry, I was keeping an eye on those angels.

The first panel came up really quickly and we had to rush but we finally got to see Samwise Gamgee himself, Sean Astin.

He was surprisingly higher energy than I expected and told some great stories. Most of the questions were about Lord of the Rings of course, but that was why I was there anyway. It was most thoroughly enjoyable.

This is where I get to impart a little bit of wisdom learned my first con that I will carry with me all my days.

At some point, as we did, you will realize that you haven't eaten all day. You will be starving and head toward the food line. This line will be filled with sweaty, cranky, hungry people, half of which will be wearing some sort of costume. As the line grows closer, you will get your first glimpse of the menu. Among the $3 cans of soda and $8 slices of pizza you will see what seems like a sensible option. The cheapest item on the menu, it still looks like a robust choice that should last the rest of the day. As you near the counter, you can finally see it, its smooth, pink skin glistening with drops of oily sweat and surrounded by an envelope of golden bread. The smell will make your mouth water, but I am telling you now.

Do not eat the Con Hot Dog.

Not only will it fail to live up to your expectations, it will dash all hopes you have had up until this point that food was ever an option. The hot dog itself will me dense and salty, sitting in your stomach like an anchor. The bun will be dry and tasteless, its abrasive texture flaying what few taste buds survive the hot dog's initial assault from your tongue. And the next morning you will have a bout of gastrointestinal distress that will leave you glued to the toilet at 6:30 am and questioning the merits of your religion or lack thereof.

We made this mistake. Listen to us. 

DO NOT EAT THE CON HOT DOG.

After our "meal" we wandered around some more, and ran into the local chapter of the 501st. They had a great backdrop where we did our best to imitate action figures:

Well, I did anyway.

We also got to pose with both Rebels and Imperials:

The Dark Lord of the Sith does not appreciate selfies.

We also found a stand that sold some amazing prints. We bought five total, but these two are my pride and joy:

Those two are definitely getting framed an hung up in the ol' underground lair.

We ended our day by going to Jewel Staite's Q&A and that was an absolute blast. She was sweet and funny, and probably very sick of Firefly and Kaylee questions by the end. However, there was one event during the panel that was just amazing. You see, apparently Jewel and Nathan Fillion have been having a middle finger war for many years now, thinking of new ways to flip each other the bird at any opportunity, Jewel decided to get the audience in on this. She used her phone to take a picture of everyone there flipping Nathan Fillion off. About 15 minutes later, this ensued:

I don't think I've laughed harder in a long time. Getting to have Nathan call in and be a part of things was one of those amazing things that only happen at cons and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

After the panel we made our way back to our room and crashed hard, readying ourselves for another, longer day the next day.

So, that's it for my Day One report! Head on to Day Two!

Witches Be Crazy

The weather and my schedule of late haven't been co-operative with getting models primed, so I haven't made much headway on my Cryx. I was hoping to have everything done by August, at least for small battles. With the time I have left it could be doable, but I'm gonna have to rush.

I spent June, however, doing a painting challenge and chose my Warwitch Siren as the model to paint for it. I really like this model for a number of reasons, but one of those is not the metal nightcap helmet she sports. So I left it off and filled the back with putty, giving her a pointy, Dark Elf-y look that I think works quite well.

Now I like painting models with details and such, but this one was a little over the top in some cases. What a person does with three belts is beyond me. Strap after strap after rivet after strap. The contact for the arm and back spikes were a little weak, so after they snapped off after priming, I was forced to paint her in pieces. This is not something I normally do but I can see the appeal.

You can really see the helmet from this angle. This way it looks more like something someone would actually wear into battle and not for sleepy-times.

Not kidding. The original has a freaking tassel on the end...

I also added an extra rune to the end of the blade, which you can barely see here. My camera apparently disagrees with my artistic choices.

So much so that this is the absolute best shot I could get from it. I need to find my old phone and start using it just to take pictures. This auto-settings thing is ridiculous. I need macro in my life.

BEHOLD MY MIGHTY HAND!

I ended up pretty happy with the way she turned out, and I can't wait to actually use her on the battlefield. Warwitch Sirens are great because they are speedy little bombs of "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" goodness for just 2 points. Add in the ability to provide an extra point of focus where needed and occasionally dousing the enemy in corrosive goo and you have a winner.

Anyway, that's this installment. Happy gaming!