Report by Dale

December 31, 2004

Tanya and I arrived at the convention Saturday around noon to meet up with Chris and Corben. Many patrons obviously waited until the last minute to purchase tickets, since we noticed a long line of winged, horned, and armored costumers stretching towards the entrance. There was a cheerleading convention also being held nearby, and baffled cheerleaders wandered through the colorful crowd. Tanya stopped to take a photo with a girl dressed in a well done Anthy costume, but was muscled out of the shot by another girl dressed as Utena. There were many well done costumes, including someone dressed as Gollum who shaved his head and hopped around on all fours for the entire weekend. We later learned (second hand, thankfully), that he had nothing on under his cloth.

We walked around the convention a bit in order to kill some time before the James O'Barr (creator of The Crow) panel. James gave us a rare deep look into the background of The Crow as well as a biting critique of Hollywood in general. The Crow was created over the span of many years stemming from the anger over the death of his fiancee in a tragic car accident. The long span of time spent drawing The Crow is evidenced by the gradually evolving quality of the artwork. Although James had a great deal of control over the first Crow movie, there were some very silly choices bandied about by the "executive suits" in the beginning. One executive had proposed an idea for the movie to be a musical, starring Michael Jackson. After the talk, James invited fans up to the table for free autographs.

Our next move was onto the autograph section. Walking around this section with a pretty girl like Tanya can be dangerous. We first stopped by Walter Koenig's (Bester from Babylon 5) table. Walter was delighted to encounter a cute girl and wrote "love" before his signature. Our next stop was George Lowe (Space Ghost), who was an absolute hoot to listen to. He wrote "snack tips" on everyone's autographs and had a garage sale of items with cheaply constructed cardboard signs posted above them. As you can see on the photo below, he obviously wanted Tanya to "come to daddy" because "daddy has values." As if this could not go any further, Tanya saw Michael Singer (Dar from Beastmaster) and approached him for an autograph and a picture. Michael complimented her on her good looks and grabbed her close for a smile and a picture.

After returning the autographs to the car, we headed upstairs only to find a line extending well beyond the entrance for the costume contest. Luckily, we managed to squeeze in. There were many entertaining costumes and performances. Our local anime club, AGA (Anything Goes Anime), had organized a group of Naruto cosplayers for the event. A man dressed as Mario drew deafening cheers after he dramatically swatted a stuffed doll with a plunger. Unfortuantely, the speakers were very cheap and did not allow the audience to hear much of what was going on. Thankfully, someone handed the announcer a bullhorn. After the contest, Tanya saw a Vash cosplayer she liked and snapped a photo with him. To finish off the night, we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner.

Sunday was visibly less busy. Tanya and I started off by finishing off our autographs with Bill Mumy (Lennier from Babylon 5), who was quite friendly. After that, Chris went off to check out the AMV's with AGA while Tanya and I checked out the Lost in Space panel, which had an impressive lineup of all living cast members. One audience member began taunting the cast about what they thought of the "vegetables" that battled them in one episode. The cast related several humorous jokes that occurred on the set, including in which the Robot began giving off smoke. When the others noticed this, they ran running over to Bob May, thinking the circuitry had fried him inside the suit. When they opened the top, they found him reading the newspaper and puffing on a cigarette. Bill Mumy also revealed that his daughter is a talented voice actress for Disney, currently starring in several shows. As we left, we peeked in a room devoted solely to Marvel vs Capcom cosplayers, with roughly 30 cosplayers from the game.

Left: Tanya with two Utena cosplayers.
Right: Gollum lurking across the convention floor.



Left: Tanya and a Sango cosplayer.
Right: James O'Barr during his panel.



Left: Tanya (and Dale's arm) with Walter Koenig.
Right: George Lowe wondering why the camera won't work.



Left: Cosplayers preparing for the contest.
Right: Tanya with a Vash cosplayer (notice the cat).



Left: Brian Thompson (from X-files).
Right: Bill Mumy with Dale and Tanya.



Left: Michael Singer getting a little too close for comfort.
Right: How to make your own storm trooper armor.

Left: Marvel vs Capcom cosplayers during a photo shoot.
Right: Someone who might have had a little too much pocky.



Left: June Lockhart speaking during the Lost in Space panel.
Right: Tanya volunteering to be that "special someone."

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