[Neither Brandon nor James attended this year’s Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo this year, but that doesn’t mean that C!TB wasn’t covering it. We sent our team of unpaid, unrewarded and unappreciated staff to the Expo to soak up the sights, take some pictures and get some interviews. In the first part of his rundown, Ryan Tomko and Cece Wower talked to some great cosplayers. This is what happened next (basically the same thing).]

Are you getting a feel for how crazy these conventions are? Are you gaining any practical knowledge about how to make your own dream costume for an upcoming convention, or Halloween? Are you peering into the psyche of cosplayers a little bit, and seeing what makes them tick? Are you at least enjoying the photos?? (This is really all I care about) I for one have learned that transcribing recorded interviews to print is NOT FUN AT ALL. [Ed. Note: I offered to let them run as audio on the podcast and Ryan declined. Do not have a single bit of sympathy for something who literally created all this work for themselves!]

Anyways, please enjoy Part 2!

A couple of girls are taking in the sights and sounds of the Convention Hall when we approach and ask them a few questions:

RT: “So first off, what are you guys dressed as today?”

Lady Loki: “I am Lady Loki…”

Female Thor: “…and I am Female Thor.”

RT: “Now are you guys like, naturally enemies or are you friends in real life?”

LL: “Ummm….it goes back and forth. I love her cause, you know, she’s related to me, but at the same time I want to kill her and take over the world.”

RT: “That’s the same with all siblings, right? Did you make your own costumes?”

LL: “Yes, this is all 100% made by us.”

RT: “How long did it take?”

FT: “Uhh, we started….in January?”

LL: “January, yah.”

RT: “So when did you think of this; what inspired you to do these costumes?”

FT: “We were taking a trip, we found out about it, and we were like, ‘okay, well that seems like a fun trip, let’s do it.’”

LL: “Absolutely. I’ve always loved Avengers; I’ve always loved Loki. The thing I love the MOST about Loki is that in the comics he actually does a gender-bender…”

RT: “I didn’t know that…”

LL: “Yah, he gets transformed by Doctor Doom into Lady Loki, so this is comic book version.”

RT: “Okay, okay, I like that…very cool. So do you have a plan for next year? Are you going to dress up again, or are you not from here…did I catch that…?”

FT: “We’re not from here, we’re from Kelowna.”

RT: “So literally just came out for the Comicon?”

LL: “Absolutely.”

RT: “Wow…so how’s your first experience of it then?”

LL: “Amazing…”

FT: “So far, so good.”

LL: “…very crazy, very intense.”

RT: “Did you guys get into the costume contest?”

LL & FT: “We are…”

RT: “Well congratulations, and hopefully you do well…”

CW: “Materials! Materials! What are your costumes made of?”

LL: “Both of us used the sculpting polymer clay, and I used Ultralite. Her entire armour is polymer clay. My scales are vinyl, that I spray-painted and hand glued on each scale.

RT: “Well they look excellent. Thank you very much!”

A very professional-looking costumed con attendee is making her way from the Space Channel’s booth when we ask her a couple of questions:

RT: “So what are you dressed as today?”

Queen of Hearts: “The Queen of Hearts.”

RT: “Excellent. What made you decide to dress up like this?”

QH: “I’ve always really liked Alice in Wonderland, and the Disney Store released this line of the Disney villains, kinda re-imagined as kinda more chic, so I really just liked this design. It’s like, it’s Alice in Wonderland themed, and I was like, DONE.”

RT: “Gotta do it. So you did not make this, you bought this costume?”

QH: “No, I bought the doll to reference, and I made…this took me like six months to do.”

RT: “Six months to make, wow…what is it made of?”

QH: “Well there’s lots of netting; there’s the underskirt, there’s velvet…”

(Suddenly a troop of about 30 men and women dressed as Vikings marches into the Hall, playing instruments and banging on drums)

RT: “…we’ve got…Vikings… We interrupt this interview for Vikings.”

(Loud shouts and bellows from the Vikings echo through the rest of the building)

RT: “Okay… annnnnnddd….the Vikings are done.”

CW: “We’re good, we’re good.”

QH: (Not skipping a beat) “…And this is a thermoplast plastic you heat up and it just kinda molds.”

RT: “Have you used it before?”

QH: “No, this was the first time.”

RT: “And was it good…bad?”

QH: “I was kinda, like, when I first got it I was like, ‘Do I sand it, and stuff?’ So you have to sand it.”

RT: “Well it looks excellent. “

(Later on I approached the Vikings for an interview. They tried to march on past me, but I gathered up my courage and yelled, “I demand to speak with the King of the Vikings!” Surprisingly, this actually worked, but I was too scared to post the results.)

Walking through the autograph Hall we spotted someone who looked kinda…mishmashed:

RT: “So what are you dressed as today?”

Doom Trooper: “Doctor Doom-Stormtrooper actually.”

RT: “What gave you the inspiration to dress like this?”

DT: “Well, I’m a Doctor Doom fan, and I had an extra helmet…”

RT: “Haha! I was gonna ask, did you just not know how to make the Doctor Doom helmet, or did you lose it maybe?”

DT: “I actually made a Doctor Doom mask last year. I had it signed by Stan Lee here, and I wore it to the Saskatoon Comicon. But I wanted to change things up a little bit.”

RT: “Well we like it, a lot. Did you make this yourself, obviously? How long did it take you?”

DT: “Ohhh…if I sat down and worked on it, about two months but, overall it’s been a work in progress for about a year and a half, maybe.”

RT: “Unbelievable, well it looks great. What is it made out of?”

DT: “Well felt, and the plastic parts are actually Wonderflex. It’s a thermo-plastic.”

RT & CW: “Wonderflex is very popular today.”

RT: “Did you make it into the costume contest at all?”

DT: “No, I didn’t think about entering it; I didn’t think it was up to that par…”

RT: “No, it’s very good, we like it a lot. I always like the mixes. It’s always very cool, very imaginative.”

DT: “There’s also a friend of mine around who is a Hellboy-Mandalorian. You’ll probably find him closer to Nathan Fillion’s autograph point.”

RT: “That line is crazy right now; we all want to see Nathan… Do you have a plan for next year then? Are you going to dress up again?”

DT: “Oh I’ll be dressing up, but I have no idea yet.”

RT: “Is there anything inspiring you maybe? Have you seen any other costumes and you’re like, ‘I gotta do that!’”

DT: “Not yet. I try to find my own inspiration…First off, yesterday I came as classic Thor. Jack Kirby style. You may have seen me, I dunno…”

CW: “We haven’t seen any…I haven’t seen any…”

RT: “I’ve only seen one Thor so far.”

DT: “…and then tomorrow I’m doing classic Green Arrow.”

RT: “Ok, that would be very good, we’ll have to look for you! We’ve never seen a Green Arrow here.”

(At this point, a guy dressed in head to toe green camouflage snuck up behind Cecilia and waited for her to turn around before scaring her. This is the second time today he has done this, and she burst out laughing. Most of the rest of this recording is just her laughing in the background.)

Turning a corner of the Expo, we ran smack dab into a group of about 30 dudes snapping photos of one woman standing in front of a booth. I asked if we could steal a minute of her time:

RT: “First off, what are you dressed as today?”

Jessica Rabbit: “I’m dressed as Jessica Rabbit, from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”

RT: “Cool, did you make your costume yourself?”

JR: “That I did! It took me about a week to do, once I had all the pieces. The hardest part was trying to get the boning to hold up two pounds of weight.”

RT: “Have you dressed up before?”

JR: “Yup! My normal costume that I wear to conventions is a bunny girl suit, cause it’s really easy to work in; I work over at Canada Cosplay. I have to be able to move around. I tried this one, my husband’s like, ‘You can start selling prints, you can support your cosplay habit’ and now I can make more costumes!”

RT: “So you’re kind of addicted then?”

JR: “Yes.”

RT: “How long have you been cosplaying?”

JR: “Umm…jeez…like proper cosplaying, and not just dressing up?”

RT: “Well no, I mean maybe as a kid maybe you had some favourite costumes or something?”

JR: “It’s like, I was making newspaper costumes since I can remember. The first time I ever cosplayed it was GWAR when I was 19. I won the costume contest and I’m like ADDICTED!”

RT: “No way, cool! So do you come every year then? Do you have a plan for next year?”

JR: “Vending again…”

RT: “So basically whatever they want, or do you kinda have some say in what you’re gonna dress up as?”

JR: “I can dress up as whatever I want, it’s my company!”

RT: “Oh! It’s your company, ok very cool, congratulations…I’ll have to come and take a look at it.”

JR: “You should!”

RT: “Thank you very much!”

Later in the day I spotted a costume I remember from last year that I desperately wanted to take a photo of, but always kept missing. Today would be my day!

RT: “First off, what are you dressed as today?”

Basically Sean Connery: “Doctor Henry Jones, Senior.”

RT: “Very cool. Have you dressed like this before?”

HJ: “Oh yes, this is probably my tenth convention dressed like this, all across Canada. I was in the costume contest here a couple years ago here in Calgary; last year I had a broken leg and I still came dressed like this. I steampunked my crutches so it made it a little bit better that way.”

RT: “What was the inspiration to like…?”

HJ: “Well you know, I’ve always loved Raiders of the Lost Ark, I have over 700 pieces in my own personal collection of Indiana Jones movies. I (saw) the movie like 50 times in the theatre, you know, kinda like all that Star Wars stuff too, but my pivotal movie was always Raiders of the Lost Ark. When I was young I dressed up as Indiana Jones, and as I got older it naturally changed into Henry Jones Senior.”

RT: “Well it must have been good casting then if you can pull off both!”

HJ: “I have pictures of both. My son is a dead ringer, and on Friday (yesterday) he was walking around with my coat and hat, and we were stopped all the time for pictures.”

RT: “I kinda heard a little bit of your conversation earlier, and you said you had a kinda celebrity-encounter this weekend?”

HJ: “Yah, I was waiting first in line, umm, actually I was there at the very end actually before John Rhys-Davies went to take lunch, and he said I could get my autograph then, and I said, ‘No, I’m waiting for my son’ cause he’s a big Lord of the Rings fan so he wanted Gimley, so I said, ‘No, I’ll wait.’ So I waited over an hour and a half, being first in line. And so then, CBC was there interviewing him, so they interviewed me a little bit about being a fan of his, and then I’m just standing in the background not wanting to be in his interview, and he comes over, wraps his arm around my shoulders and says, ‘it is such a great gift to have my life-long friend’s dad here while I’m in Calgary…’ So that’s how I got pulled in to John Rhys-Davies’ interview.”

RT: “That is very cool – great story! Well hopefully we will see you here again next year.”

HJ: “Oh yes, I’ll be back.”

I have no idea what this costume is from, but I spot a lull in the photo requests directed her way and make my way over:

RT: “Alright, so what are you dressed as today?”

Felicia: “I’m dressed as Felicia, from Darkstalkers.”

RT: “Did you make your costume yourself?”

FL: “I did!”

RT: “How long did it take?”

FL: “About a month.”

RT: “That’s not too bad. Have you dressed up before in the past, or is this the first time?”

FL: “This is my third year coming to Calgary. What have we done previously?” (Much like Ironman, Felicia has a non-costumed friend helping her out. I assume it’s because her costume has no pockets.)

FL: “Zatanna, from DC Comics. I’ve done Miss Marvel. I’ve done Black Widow. I have a thing for bombshells.” (Stay professional, Ryan…)

RT: “Yah, well obviously, that’s great! Do you have next year’s already lined up?”

FL: “No, gosh no. I wanna do a group cosplay with a bunch of friends.”

RT: “That would be excellent!”

I love father and son costume teams, and this one is pretty cool. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else dressed like this all weekend:

RT: “Alright, so what are you guys dressed as today?”

THE BORG: “Borg. Borg. Borg.”

RT: “And what is your designation?”

Child Borg: “Uhh, you’re One of Three (pointing to Adult Borg), I’m Two of Three…wait, I might be Three of Three…”

(These Borg do not seem very organized; I feel like resisting them wouldn’t be all that futile…)

Adult Borg: “You’re Three of Three; I’m Two of Three, of Unimatrix Millrise, Subjunction Calgary. Two of Three is occupied; she is making biomechanical fluids at home.”

RT: “Very cool. Did you guys make these yourselves?”

AB: “Indeed!”

RT: “Wow, how long did it take?”

AB: “Well, give and take, about four months.”

RT: “Unbelievable. Have you dressed up like this before or is this your first time?”

AB: “This is the field test.”

RT: “Well I think it’s going pretty well…”

AB: “Next year is going to be…”

CB: “…BETTER.”

AB: “…a pumping system, pumping green fluid; capitating (?) green fluid. And most likely I’ll strap-on a UPS on my back and play a movie in the front. It’ll be heavy, but it’ll play about an hour of… (Silence. I think this Borg has shut down) …Best of both worlds! I got a mess-up with my helmet cause it’s hot.”

RT: “Oh no, I don’t blame ya it’s okay. So what inspired you to go Borg?”

AB: “You gotta manufacture this costume, and you can’t buy them.”

RT: “You can’t buy them, exactly, so you’re very unique, right? Very cool, well thank you very much for your time.”

We spot the first original Star Wars-themed costume of the weekend, and move in for the interview:

RT: “So what are you dressed up like today? What are you?”

R2-TuTu: “…..”

Her Mom: “R2-TuTu!”

RT: “It’s very cute! Did you make it yourself?”

R2: (Baby gurgles that totally sound like “Uh-huh”)

RT: “Oh wow, you’re very very talented.”

CW: “…for such a young age.”

RT: “Is this your first time dressing up?”

R2: (Baby gurgles again that sounds like “Yah”)

RT: “Yah? Oh, wow… are you gonna maybe dress up again next year too?”

R2: (The smartest baby ever gurgles again that sounds like “Okay”)

RT: “Okay, okay! What is this made of, it looks like…”

R2: (Again, I think this baby might be brilliant, because she gurgles a sound like “Wool”)

RT: “…wool…oh, it is… You are a very good interview, I was expecting much worse!”

Mom: “Good job!”

RT: “Thank you, and what is your name?”

Mom: “Olivia.”

RT: “Olivia…thank you Olivia!”

I see two friends arguing with each other in a dark corner of the Hall, and as I make my way closer to them I can easily spot why:

RT: “First off, what are you guys dressed as today?”

Cyclopses: (In unison) “Cyclops.”

RT: “Now did you guys talk before you came together, or was this like a planned thing…?”

Cyclops 1: “So there was a plan on an X-Men day, and everybody months and months ago had really elaborate costume ideas, just, ‘plan whatever you’re gonna plan.’ Stuff was gonna fall through…whatever. So yah, I haven’t spoken with a lot of these guys in the last couple of months, so I messaged with him last week, I said, ‘I’m gonna be Cyclops!’ and they’re like, “Uhhhhh oohhhkkaayyyy…” It was a little, little awkward.

RT: “So have you guys been here all weekend?”

CY1: “I was here yesterday.”

RT: “So this morning, you guys met each other for the first time; you saw each other…do you like your costume better? Is there something on his that you like more, maybe? Who did it best?”

CY1: “I am SO jealous of your visor!”

Cyclops 2: “If I didn’t have the connections for this, I wouldn’t have it!”

CY1: “And I like that they’re the same, yet they’re so different.”

CY2: “Exactly; I like them both.”

RT: “I’m very impressed, this is very cool. (Gesturing to Cyclops 2) So obviously you had some help, you purchased some maybe?”

CY2: “No, I have a friend who is really into cosplay, and I was like, ‘can you help me?’ and she did it ALL for me. I couldn’t do any of this myself.”

RT: “Wow, (To Cyclops 1) and you made it all yourself?”

CY1: “This was a lot of…..ingested paint fumes.”

CY2: “Hahahah!”

RT: “Well hopefully there’s no health effects or anything…”

CY1: “Uhh, yah I should be okay.”

RT: “Okay, well thank you guys very much!”

Cyclopses: (In unison) “Thank you!”

_____

Well, we’ve come to the end of my [Ed. Note: And Cece’s?!] top 18 cosplayers at the 2013 Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. Do you have a favourite? If I get the chance to do this again next year, what other types of questions would you like me to ask the cosplayers? Would you prefer I actually rank them in some semblance of an order, other than chronological? Please feel free to leave some comments in the space below so I know what readers of websites actually want [Ed. Note: We frown on this.]

And if you’d like to see more photos from our adventures at the Expo, please feel free to head over to my website, www.codenamephoto.ca, where I will be posting up even more pictures from the Expo…eventually.