Big Bad Bunny: Emerald City Comic-Con 2012

I dunno know if you've noticed yet...but I really like costuming. I really enjoy putting on a show, and  I thing both Tobi and I love our own unique brand of humour. I think the place that this all comes together most clearly is at our resident annual nerdfest, Emerald City Comic-Con.
For those of you who don't read my other blog (And, really, how dare you sir and/or madam); I'm a costumer, and am now (very officially) going to school for costume and production design. I flex my costuming muscles by dressing up at local conventions celebrating nerd culture; and what sort of Rabbit Adventurers would we be if good ol' Harvey didn't get to experience ECCC in all it's glory along with us? And, really, what sort of a costumer would I be if Harvey didn't get a super spiffy costume all his own?

This is where your sense of irony ought to kick in

 Also, for those of you who don't read my other blog, several years ago Tobi and I fufilled our costuming hopes and dreams by cosplaying Two-Face and the Riddler from Batman Forever, perhaps one of the paragon films of the camp/cheese genre. It's an absolute standout in film history for scenes of unparalleled *ahem*...quality. I can't express the amount of love I have for this movie, and thus we honoured it's existance by playing it up for all it's worth at Kumori-con 2010.

Because we have class

 But as we adopted Harvey into our family, it became obvious that this little tradition would have to carry over to him; and the name Harvey was just too fitting. And at the very last minute, Tobi and I decided on a matching set.

Sugar, Spice, and Harvey Two-Ears

Harvey was ecstatic at his first Comicon experience. Although ECCC is three days long, Harvey only really had the energy for one day of that sort of sensory overload, so he came with us on Sunday, the final day of nerdfest. Tobi and I dressed up as Harvey's hench-women Sugar and Spice while Harvey strutted his stuff. And strut his stuff he did; Harvey was complimented many times over the course of the day, most excitingly of which, by Mr. Wil Wheaton, resident geek icon and blogger extraordinaire. Wil Wheaton is commonly thought of by many convention-ers as a geek patron and a generally awesome person. Not only is he hilarious (I never miss his panel) but he is also wonderfully gracious to his fans. His signature comes at the best price (completely free!) and when the convention staff accidentally overbooked his signing time, he stayed late to make sure that we got our swag signed, rather than making us wait several hours until the next open signing period. On top of everything, he takes the time to talk to every fan, if just for a few moments, which is shockingly rare, and extremely sweet considering the hundreds of people he deals with over the course of a weekend. Though he was tired and his handlers were pushing for him to leave, he took the time to compliment Harvey's spiffy outfit, admire the "amazing creativity" (cue an awkward Hannah reaction. Being the non-fangirl I am, I don't giggle or titter or get embarrassed. I just get awkward, as I would if any stranger complimented me, but even more awkward because talking to someone in person that you recognize from a series of shows and movies is sort of dissociative), and more importantly...

HE. SIGNED. HARVEY.

After waiting several hours in line, Tobi, Harvey and I took off for the single most engaging hobby at Conventions; costume hunting.

Harvey crashes with the Castle Crashers

Harvey is quite the He-Man but even he falls to the blade of Catra

Harvey ain't afraid of no ghost (busters)!

The most amazing Tony Stark with his entourage

And photobombing with the Borg

Perhaps most exciting was when we finally encountered a Batman costume. After a Batman-less day, we ended up running straight into a Two-Face. We both ran right up and asked for a picture. He didn't realize what we were at first, until we handed him Harvey. After a moment of obvious confusion, his whole face lit up and he ran over to his girl-friend waving Harvey at her and laughing. When she offered to take a picture of us we jumped at the chance. I wish I had thought to drop my bag, but Harvey was on his game, and with two Two-face's the picture couldn't have been less awesome. I don't know who this particular Two-Face was, but I hope we made his convention as much as he made ours.

After a full day of photobombing with the costumed masses, we stopped into a few panels, including catching the second half of the Jason Momoa  panel, which, though I have never seen any of his work, was hilarious. And though we didn't stay for the Christopher Judge (of Stargate SG-1 fame), our crew reports that it was amazing. I always recommend panels at ECCC. Unlike Anime conventions, Comic Conventions tend to be driven by the celebrity panels and the majority of celebrities are funny and generous to their fans (part of the perks of nerd culture, is that the celebrities tend to be nerds themselves, and thus excited to be among their own kind). Conventions are amazing experiences for the kind of people who are into that sort of thing. They have something for every kind of nerd, from Sci-fi actors to giant lego representations of the Seattle skyline during a zombie apocolypse and the crowd range from costumed fan-girls/boys to enterprising artists in search of work, and everything in between. It's a universe in of itself, really, where everyone is a geek/nerd/dork and having a fan-attack is perfectly reasonable and normal. I can't express how much I love conventions, but I really do love them. 

Harvey on the other hand is just there for the attention

Until next year!!!

There's no such thing as too nerdy at a convention (well, maybe there is, but I've yet to encounter it). And even those of us with stuffed Big Bad Bunnies fit right in. Sometimes the convention is a tad crowded, and the lines can sometimes be long, but there's never any shortage of entertainment, and the whole event is handled wonderfully by the "Minions" who run the show, and it couldn't be held in a prettier convention center. Surely we'll be back next year, just look for the stuffed rabbit photobombing all the guests. That's us.