Saturday at the Calgary Entertainment Expo 2015 - aka The Return of Tank Girl

I'm super tired, so expect this to be riddled with typos and strange sentences.

This day follows the adventures of Tank Girl and her friend Jet Girl! Sarah and I met up early in the morning and experienced Saturday at the con together. I decided to dress up as Jet Girl as Sarah will be moving in a few weeks and will miss the next couple of cons. Figured it'd be fun to do a combo cosplay...though Sarah's Tank Girl game is way better than my Jet Girl.

We arrived and not long after we were told to check Sarah's prop (i.e. rocket launcher) at the weapons and prop check. We're like, okay that's no issue. Well we were wrong. The girl at the counter gave Sarah a really rough time about her rocket launcher asking if it was made out of metal. 1) If it were metal, it would be about 20 more pounds (or more) than the plastic pipes its made of. 2) If it were metal, she would not have been able to lift it with one hand, which she was doing while busy telling us that she couldn't tell if it was metal or not. Finally after thorough inspection, she gave it back and started asking Sarah if she was wearing anything under the rockets and warning us that she might be asked to leave later in the day because of indecency. Note that she has gone to the con, over three times in the past with this costume and had absolutely no problems or wardrobe malfunctions. We were never bothered once about it, by anyone. In fact, all the con workers, security and volunteers were among the ones complementing her and taking her photo. Then when we think we're done, Sarah turns to leave and she spots her fake grenades on her belt. They were confiscated immediately to be returned at the end of the day. They were metal and too real for the con, because apparently these were too real and would scare people. Because people actually think they are REAL GRENADES AND ROCKET LAUNCHERS AT A COMIC CONVENTION. BECAUSE THESE THINGS ARE TOTALLY LEGAL IN CANADA.

So after that borderline harassment (seriously, I get you were doing your job and you HAVE to follow the guidelines for people's safety, but she was extremely catty about the entire process), we enter the con and headed over to one of the leather vendors to have Sarah's bag fixed. A day in the life of Tank Girl!

Afterwards we spot Barf (who I'm fairly sure I saw last year) and got his picture. We also spotted Dark Helmet, but he escaped before I could capture him. This got creepy really fast.

I swear the cosplay gets better every year. This toothless had wings folded up on her back. She released them for the photo. I don't even know how you'd go about making something like that. Seriously impressed.

We wandered the exhibition halls, taking in the con and searching for an illusive pair of feather earrings. We took pictures of the cosplayers we met along the way (and were able to snag for photos).

Meeting the Punisher was especially fun as I ended up watching the awful 2004 movie later that evening. So much brooding.

Was super excited to meet this cosplayer. Yay Elizabeth! 

Sarah was particularly impressed with this cosplay. They could have come from the same universe...if I didn't know better.

This is likely my favourite picture from the con. We happened upon all the power rangers and we decided this was a golden opportunity that could not be passed up. 

After wandering the exhibition halls for a few hours, Tank Girl was ready for some pizza. We picked up our food...

...and had a random encounter with a friend! I got a picture of the happy occasion (once we stopped holding up the pizza line) and took our precious pizza outside for a break. We enjoyed our food while watching a group of Once Upon a Time cosplayers get a million requests for pictures. Poor Evil Queen was just trying to have a smoke and kept getting press-ganged into photo ops. Apparently they were all a group of strangers that met on Facebook and decided to do a group cosplay together. A cool idea and a great way to meet new people...unless you want any kind of break.

We wandered the Big 4 building next and met many fantastic cosplayers in there as well. We also found the Spock look-alike (who is not featured in a photo unfortunately...also he was super tall...it's 2am and I feel like this is important information). There were also a horde of steampunk and Victorian cosplayers, which was interesting to see.

We dropped by a time machine and a group of gentlemen running a contest for a bit-role in a local movie they will be creating. We got a photo in front of the time machine, but we were unsure of where and when the scientist in the background escaped to.

Shortly we encountered one of Sarah's cosplayer friends, who incidentally won the costume contest a few years back. Sarah exchanged some fake blood for a photo and we were on our way once more.

Outside I took full advantage of some guy wanting out photo by getting our own. So much easier to get photos when you are also cosplaying. Everything is just so much less awkward...unless you are Sarah's comic con stalker. Then it's just weird.

This woman looked like she had a pipe sticking right through her, though you can't see the back. Blow off some steam Bennett!

Yay Isaac cosplay! Was talking to some friends later about this costume and apparently each of those little bits is metal. And very sharp. So he has to be careful not to cut anyone by walking in their general vicinity. Also surprised he wasn't confiscated at the door. Yes. His entire self. Confiscated. Did I mention I'm tired?

Found two Tank Girls in a row! First in front of a booth...

...next around the corner in a vehicle display for the airsoft gentlemen (who might I add were allowed to bring in their VERY REAL AIRSOFT GUNS and wander around the con...but remember, fake rocket launchers aren't allowed; too real and dangerous). I will also add that the Tank Girl in this above photo reported that she had her own rocket launcher confiscated, even though it was made out of the exact same materials as Sarah's. Consistency. What's that?

Who you ganna call?

We met up with some more of Sarah's friends before we headed over to the Stephen Amell panel (Sarah was super excited to see him). These lovely ladies were the first to report on a vendor that was kicked out of the con...more on that later.

Line-up for the panel was naturally quite long. We arrived in good time and found some seats.

And we waited for the show to start!

Stephen Amell seemed like a down-to-earth guy and was good to the fans and people that came to ask him questions. I'll admit, I don't know much about the guy, so it was kind of fun to watch the panel and see what he was about. He had funny stories about other actors and their farting habits...

Not too many awkward questions for him aside from some guy asking if he'd take off his shirt for the audience. Apparently he had finished filming season three of Arrow the night before (apparently at 4am) and flew to Calgary right after. So kudos to him. Also we learned that we shouldn't have dairy products.

Sarah and I took a quick break afterwards and returned for the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. panel with Ming Na-Wen and Brett Dalton. Quite a large crowd turned out for this one!

Ming was way more positive, upbeat and smiley than Agent May. Took me by surprise to be honest, but it was a pleasant surprise none-the-less. She also kept teasing Brett relentlessly. He took it really well.

The two of them also finished filming the evening before the con and reported that they had had very little sleep. This was probably the reason for Ming thinking the Spiderman kid asked who would win in a pee fight rather than a regular fight. Essentially he had asked whether the characters ever needed to pee (that or the actors, I can't remember) and then Brett asked him how he went in his Spiderman suit. The kid replied with a "uh...question 2" and asked who would win in a fight between Coulson and May. Ming misunderstood and hence the pee battle. Then some dude asked who WOULD win in a pee battle and it was assumed that this would be who could hold it the longest. We also learned Brett has a small bladder and likes to keep hydrated.

Almost ready to head home, we walked outside and met the Silver Surfer and Wolverine.

Before we could collect Sarah's things, she got stopped for an interview where she was asked a lot of...interesting questions about superheroes. We retrieved her grenades and out of curiosity I asked the fellow at the counter why they were not appropriate (I was nice about it I swear!). He said that they were metal and looked too real, which really wasn't much of an answer as we got it before from the other girl. Next time she needs to make sure they are more "cartoony." I think Sarah should just paint smiley faces on them. That's cartoony right?

Anyhow, another awesome day at the con. I am extremely exhausted now and will go to sleep. One more day! Hayley Atwell! Yay!



So cool story. As I mentioned earlier. we were talking to Sarah's friends and heard from them that some vendor got kicked out of the con without a refund for offending people and promoting hatred. I wondered what they could have possibly done to have this happen. Well, turns out they were Gamergate asshats. I couldn't be more pleased. Despite my irritation with the costume and prop policy, Calgary Expo has done something right.

Also apparently I don't exist. Excellent. They won't be expecting me. Mua ha. Ha. Sleep time.

Friday at the Calgary Entertainment Expo 2015

Friday at the con is usually pretty low-key for me. I don't go for long because I REALLY need to save energy for the Saturday. I'm still experiencing quite a bit of fatigue, so I only went for a couple hours again today in the evening. One of these days I'm going to have to try and watch the Parade that precedes the show on Fridays. I've never actually gone to watch.

Not too many pictures to share today. Don't know why, but I was pretty shy today, so I had to build up a lot of courage to ask people for pictures. It's easier to take pictures of merch, because merch doesn't have feelings or reactions to photos...UNLESS IT DOES.

Arrived on the grounds by train today. I wasn't interested in paying a ridiculous parking fee today, so I got uncomfortable on the train.

Not sure if it was because it was the last couple of hours, but it wasn't all that busy this evening. Definitely had more people milling about, but they were all spread out enough that it didn't fell claustrophobic.

I found the LEGO display that I somehow missed in my travels yesterday. I actually thought they didn't show up this year, but I obviously skipped over their aisle by accident. The display was as impressive as always.

Finally built up the courage to ask some people for their photos. This is always much easier when I'm also dressed up...and actually with people. Feels weird when I'm on my own asking. These costumes were amazing though. Some of my favourite so far (Lucina!).

Wandered outside shortly after and watched a Viking murder some other Vikings in front of the coke stage. I decided to head back towards the Big 4 and see if there were any good cosplayers in there. A lot of cosplayers head over to that building when they want a break as it is less busy and there is food. It's a great place for photo ops.

For instance...I found the Ninja Turtles actually eating pizza. I'm going to assume it was planned.

I left them in peace and returned later when they were ready for pictures again. I think I saw them with an April...but I didn't get the photo of them again...as it would have been even more weird.

Found where the gaming section was. I remember the one year it was in the BMO centre and people were crammed in there like sardines and everything was hot and uncomfortable and they looked hot and uncomfortable. Anyway, I enjoyed the group wearing wizard hats.

Back outside, I sat down for awhile to rest and enjoyed just watching people pass...and enjoyed getting their street passes on my DS. I was there for a good amount of time listening to Harley Quinn talk about her friend and continuously have to abandon her smoke for photo ops. Meanwhile the Joker was having trouble enjoying his coffee. I got many street passes and then decided to head back to the BMO centre to join up with some friends that were getting autographs (yay not a loner anymore).

Passed this amazing cosplayer on my way back and then...

I spotted Mayor Nenshi getting his picture taken with the Vikings. I snapped my own terrible shot and attempted to get closer, but then they finished and broke it up. I passed by a game of quidditch being played by a bunch of small children and a couple of incredibly bored looking teenagers, and entered the BMO centre again.

Was super excited to see Groot, Rocket and Drax while my friends were talking to Spongebob, so I got their pictures. I don't know what it is about Groot...but he kind of creeps me out here. Don't get me wrong. It's an amazing cosplay...

Maybe it's the frown.

After my friends got all their autographs, I bid these three lovelies a fond farewell and headed for the train.

Now I'm just at home, preparing for tomorrow. If only I could find that DAMN LIPSTICK.

Saturday at the Calgary Entertainment Expo 2014

Saturday at Comic Con meant we had to be up early and ready to go for opening at the grounds. Sadly, this Saturday did not include the adventures of Tank Girl (as she is currently in Asia...quite obviously kicking ass somewhere). I was slightly paranoid after previous years that we would not get into the building after the death line-ups we encountered in the past. The staff and volunteers at the Expo were on top of their game this year.

Line ups outside were handled like the photo ops where there were a series of rows set up in a parking lot and each group of people was loaded into a row, alternating between sides. We were on the left-hand side facing the building and these fine people were being loaded into the right. The middle actually never fully filled up, which surprised me. Crowd management this year was top notch. Good job Expo.

After accidentally taking a video and being told my exposure level was off (thanks Oliver), I discovered I really am terrible at photography. Guess any skill I may possess with video creation does not extend to cameras with a more than a few simple buttons. At least I remember the memory card today.

We waited out in the snow (yes, snow) for the doors to open and the staff to let us inside. I snapped a close-up picture of the opposite side to showcase the crowd's eager anticipation. Also I saw Captain America over there. Some volunteers climbed up to the roof and tried to get everyone's attention for a mass photo. The woman really could have benefited from a megaphone. Then, we were allowed in side and...

It was really not that bad. The people all filed in so gradually that there were no swarms of people. In fact, the majority of the day was quite good for crowds unless you happened to pass by the tower of t-shirts (that's...always an uncomfortable adventure). This photo was actually taken moments before I approached the booth with the books there and purchased a subscription to a science fiction/fantasy journal. Comic con really gets me with the impulse buys...

Regardless, we met up with Rachel here and browsed while we waited for a panel.

Ended up passing by the medieval weapons and armour booth. Some of the items there are so tempting. Sooooo tempting....

Actually got a decent photo of an Ezio this year. He seemed a little surprised that I wanted a photo of him though. This was probably because there were about 500 assassins walking around the con that year. Okay...that's not quite right...it was clearly 1000. I saw Connors, Ezios and Edwards all over the place. I only spotted one Altair though. Why does Altair never get any love?

Rachel, Oliver and I made our way over to the pavilion for another panel with Billy Boyd, this time joined by Sean Astin. Unfortunately while we waited, we were subjected to god awful Metallica covers. Because apparently we all needed a little more blue grass Metallia in our lives.

Most of the questions were pretty good aside from the cringe worthy lead-in of "this may be a bit personal but..." covering topics about favourite sets to memories of filming. There were some fantastic stories about Elijah Wood and his metal music, Tree Beard being the most uncomfortable thin Billy Boyd has ever sat on (and he has "sat on a lot of things") and some of the most memorable fan gifts they had been given. Then we got to watch Sean Astin run around to a bunch of the cameras near the stage so he could show us a picture of their fellowship tattoos on his phone (which was what that "personal" question ended up being about).A slip from one of the question askers led to Billy Boyd endorsing the name "Tree Love" as a name for a child and we ended the panel by singing Happy Birthday to Billy's son, Jack.

Shortly after the panel, Rachel and I lined up for our photo op with Billy Boyd and Sean Astin. We waited in line for a good 45 mins despite being there fifteen minutes early for the session. Across from us was the Dr. Who photo op, which I spotted at least three Daleks in. I did not get pictures of them all, so perhaps that does not count towards the overall Dalek count. There is one in this photo, however, so we will let it slide.

This weekend I should have been counting line-ups rather than Daleks as I remember experiencing much more of those (line-up to get inside (2) + line-up for Billy Boyd (1) + line up for Hobbits of middle Earth (1) + photo op (1) + line-up for pizza (1) + line-up for washrooms (3) + line-up for Cyanide and Happiness (1) + line-up for Felicia Day (1) = 11 (some spoilers included as I'm writing this on Sunday)).

Once we got there we got the usual production line style of "no hugging, no conversations" from the volunteers and we had our photo taken with the two (who seemed nice for the 5 seconds we were standing there). We picked up our pictures and well...

I never really realized how small my head was until now. Regardless, I don't look like a complete goof, so I consider this a decent picture!

After the photo we returned to the upper floor for some delicious pizza. We then spent a good few minutes as table vultures as we waited for a few free seats to open up. When we finally snagged a couple chairs, we ate our lunch and said hit to a few friends we spotted. After lunch we got a few photos of the cosplayers in the area (the first two may actually have been from before the photo op...), my favourite being the last one with the Ring Wrath. We watched that fellow put on the helmet. It appeared to be an arduous affair. What really impressed me was that the armour on his arms and hands were actually metal. I was super impressed.

As for the previous two photos, they were quick snaps, but I'm not sure what was going on with Optimus there. I remember when cosplaying with Sarah a lot of people asked her to hold signs or other materials to promote products or services. I think this was one of those instances.

PS - Loki in the side of that last picture had an amazing costume.

 We eventually left the Big Four and headed back to the main exhibition hall where we met up with Jay, Hayley and Bev once more. We did more shopping and I finally caved and got a leather cuff/bracer. I have been ogling them for a few years now so I stopped torturing myself and made my wallet suffer instead.

While we waited for Bev to purchase a new jacket, this fellow walked by. We decided that it was a beholder, but were wondering if he had caused any accidents in the aisles yet. Jay mentioned that costumes over 4 feet in width had to have a dedicated guide (not a volunteer or staff...but a friend willing to steer the costume through the crowd). Seems like a lot of effort to me. I'm lazy though.

Before we headed out for the day, I snapped another two pictures of cosplayers, which might be a couple of my favourite from the con. The first was the Captain America I spotted earlier on in the line-up to get inside who I swear could have been Chris Evan's younger brother. The second here was just a chance passing when Tuxedo Mask and the White Knight encountered the Sailor Scouts. Best timing ever.

All in all, a very different Saturday from what I've been used to dressing up over the past two years. I missed it a little bit, but it was also fun to spend the Saturday "incognito."