Cosplay!!

We have four weeks until Dragon*Con 2012. 27 days to the largest gathering of nerds in the Southeast, and if they're cosplaying, they are busy getting their costumes together. Cosplaying is basically roleplaying; you wear the costume of a known character (to varying degrees of success) and pretend to be that character as long as you are in the clothing. For more details, you can watch the Nerdist Channel show Just Cos. I am not cosplaying this year, since it is actually my first Con, but I already have five costumes planned for D*C 2013 and D*C 2014. One things I really like about cosplay is that you can often find a fellow nerd who wants to get in on the fun with you, creating a Group Cosplay. This is what is going on with all five of my costumes - I have two other girls (Jenna and my protégé Missi) who are coordinating costumes with me.
It started with me and Jenna. We started planning costumes for this year back in the winter, but things just didn't come together in time, so we are pushing them back to next year and the year after and adding Missi.

The first costume we decided on is "Our Celebrity Doppelgängers". Jenna bears a striking resemblance to Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) from Battlestar Galactica, while she insists I look like Codex (Felicia Day) from The Guild. We have not yet found Missi's doppelgänger, but we still have 13 months so I'm not worried.

The second costume is "Batman Villainesses". Jenna and I are using Arkham City inspired costumes for Harley Quinn (me) and Poison Ivy (her). Missi is still deciding between White Rabbit and Matilda. You can comment below and cast your vote for which one of the two is your favorite!

The Villainess costumes got us inspired for our next costume, "Gendershifted Batman Villains". Missi wanted to do a "corseted Joker" which got Jenna thinking about doing a female Bane. And to round out the cast is my female Riddler. This might be one of my favorite costumes we came up with; I'm really excited to figure this one out.

The next costume is something I have not often seen in Dragon*Con pictures; "Disney Princesses" (all three of us are Disney people). I am going to be Pocahontas (which means I pretty much have to start tanning now), Jen is Snow White, and Missi is going to live out her dream and be Belle. We might do something more than your typical princess, but you'll just have to stay tuned for that.

Finally, the stereotypical D*C costume category, "Firefly". For this one, we are hoping to get a larger group, but since we have only been talking about these for a couple days, we have not built one yet. Jenna will be Kaylee Frye, Missi will be River Tam, and I will be Inara Serra. Like I said, we are still looking for a Zoe, Wash, Mal, Jayne, Simon and Shepherd Book (as well as any tangential characters - Badger, anyone?) that you may be interested in. Please let one of us know if you would like to join!

So as you can see, cosplay can be a fun, interactive part of Dragon*Con...or any Con, really. It gets the nerds engaged and gives the celebrities something fun to watch (and take part in). So if you ever the fortune to go to a Con, start planning in advance and make it count. See you there!