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| The NOW Award Winning WWII Batman & Robin photo by Bethany Brantley |
Over the last couple of years my daughter
and I have been regularly attending cons and during the course the attendance
we are usually approached by staff to enter in the costume contests.
Excited by the prospect we always agree and sign up…AND just like clockwork,
each time something unforeseen keeps us from participating in the
contest. It has actually become a long running joke in my house. We put a
great deal of work and love into our costumes and feel strongly that we can do
well in competition, but fate sometimes has other ideas. That being said,
it was nice to finally break the streak and show up for once. How it
happened is a story in itself.
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| Pirates photo by Timid Monster |
Recently my daughter and I had
the privilege to assist a local college photography student with a project.
She had found us through my Facebook fan page and had contacted me asking
if we might be willing to pose for her. Naturally we agreed. We were
asked to come in the World War II inspired Batman and Robin costumes we had
premiered at the Wizard World con in New Orleans back in February. For
the shoot I brought along a gothic dress I have been working on because I was
told Captain Robert Darksoul of the MidSouth Buccaneers would also be
photographed at the same time…well blow me down….I love pirates and what a
fabulous opportunity to test run my latest creation.
Over the course of the next
couple of hours we discovered that the MidSouth Buccaneers were not only a
group worthy of recognition but our participation! Hell Yeah we were
going to party with the pirates!! So we joined up. Along with our
introduction to the Buccaneers came an invitation to join them at MidsouthCon
32, in full pirate garb of course.
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| French Pirate D'elle photo by Toy Robot Photography |
Once again my daughter and I were
approached by staff members of the con to participate in the Masquerade
(MidSouthCon’s Cosplay Contest). When I alerted the Captain of the
Buccaneers he was quite adamant we participate, not in pirate regalia, but in
the Batman & Robin costumes he had seen at the photo shoot. So we
EXCITEDLY registered to do just that…when it hit us…neither of us were prepared
to don the Batman & Robin gear. Not only were we dressed as pirates
(not a pin curl or victory roll in sight), but we did not even have the
costumes with us! We had come completely unprepared to do any such thing!
Did I mention this was a local
con? Whew….with 2 hours before the kickoff of the masquerade, we drive
across town and change our costumes and completely overhaul hair & make
up! We made it back JUST in the nick of time to start the
pre-judging. For those people who have never participated in this type of
contest pre-judging gives the panel the opportunity to ask questions about the
design and view the workmanship of each costume. Picture the cast of
FaceOff only not as brutal as Glen Hetrick.
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| Captain Robert Darksoul & D'elle phot by Timid Monster |
We were then moved from
pre-judging to the stage. As we stood in line to go on stage…Scarlett and
I started discussing how we were finally breaking our No-Show Streak and
wondered if Wizard World has us on a special BANNED FROM CONTEST list…yes we
have no-showed that many times…
As we were waiting to go on stage
…we discussed how to do our “Action Pose” My idea was to tell her to “look
at the flowers” as I acted like I was going to shoot her, but she vowed
never to cosplay with me again if I insisted on mixing fandoms. We also
discussed the nearest escape route and debated whether we should we maintain
our No-Show Streak and flee the building!
After much laughter and acting
out, we decided to stay and actually go on stage. We strutted across the
stage, struck our pose to the cheers of the crowd, and walked away with pride.
The No-Show Streak is officially broken. And I'm glad we did.
All our efforts were justified and our anxieties about rejection were
squashed as we took Best In our Category Without a Skit. Win number
one is now in the can.
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| Better give up now! photo by Toy Robot Photography |
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| The original gothic dress from the photo shoot photo by Bethany Brantley |
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| Just two pirates...shopping for comics & collectibles... |
