Comic-Con 2012

Well, have you?

So I went to comic-con this weekend, and it was absolutely amazing. I got to see two great panels, one on transmedia which featured the producers/actors from this webseries called Dirty Work (I've seen/experienced the first episode, and it was a lot of fun, you should check out rides.tv if you want to see some weird but entertaining and interactive things) and another one on Buffy. Jane Espenson and a few other writers of the Buffy comics talked about the upcoming seasons (in comic form, naturally) the creative process and continuation/timelessness of the series.

Did I mention that Alan Tudyk is doing the voice of one of the characters on FourthWall Studios' (the studios behind this transmedia wonderfulness) animated series called "Airship Dracula." That's right folks, Alan Tudyk voices the captain in an interactive series that reimagines Dracula's journey to London as being traveled on an airship. Steampunk Draclua, is there really more that needs to be said?

NICHOLAS BRENDON! #dies #myemotions

And then...Nicholas Brendon showed up, and I immediately started crying. For some reason, that's the reaction I have to people who were an integral part of my childhood (see: Backstreet Boys concert when they played 'I'll be the One"). His presence exceeded my expectations. He is the embodiment of Xander, minus the excessive awkwardness, and he was funny and smart and charming, though much older than my mind's image of him.

A Vest of Epic Proportions

I also cosplayed on the second day as Claire Redfield! With a ton of last minute shopping, and the amazing artistic capabilities of my soul sister, the outfit just fell into place. It was a ton of fun, especially when walking to get coffee from the food court I passed by a girl dressed as possessed Jill (blue suit, red plagas thing) and she, without hesitation, exclaimed "CLAIRE!" just as I yelled "Jill!" I recommend that everyone try cosplaying sometime in their life.

Is she a perfect Kaylee, or wot?

I realized a few things about myself on those two days, the most important being that I tend to be less socially awkward when surrounded by fellow geeks/nerds. In any other situation, I would have never encouraged conversations with strangers. But in an environment like comic-con, it's hard not to start sharing and gushing over similar fandom loves when the person waiting for the panel to start next to you is just exuding excitement  Especially when they recognize the effort put into your outfit, and you just fall into a natural conversation surrounding similar preferences.

Despite being extremely exhausted after only a few hours each day, it was more than worth the time, effort, and money spent. I met some amazingly interesting people, learned a lot about emerging media, games, comics, and nerdy equipment (steampunk is getting bigger folks!), as well as getting some of my childhood dreams come true.