WonderCon came to Anaheim again, this has to have been bigger than last year. Even Sunday was packed to the brim on a day for most cons known to be notoriously empty by comparison. This place had to have over 50,000 people through out the weekend. One thing though? This felt cozy, I felt like I was with some really happy and passionate people. I know that happens at other cons, but when you get tired you can get cranky, this just felt more like everyone just got sleepy when they were tired. I asked others and they felt it too, seemed like a nice con. Anyways, there’s a lot to talk about so let’s get to it.
This was one of the quiet moments of the con in the popular photo shoot area of the fountain outside the convention center. This was where people got photos of dozens of Marvel, DC, and Game of Throne cosplayers on Saturday. I was busy doing interviews so I never really got a shot at most cosplay but I did get one of Marvel.
It was rough getting a shot during the Marvel meet up, if you weren’t in the front row when it started you were mostly out of luck. Huge group meet ups are always hard to coordinate photos for. I do think that hearing a giant horn blow as you look to see a Khal Drogo standing atop the fountain blowing said horn to alert all the cosplayers and photographers it was their time to shoot was pretty great.
Inside the convention I was lucky enough to get to meet Kelly Sue DeConnick in person. I’ve gotten to interview her about co-writing Ghost but meeting in person was great. She had with her the scents that Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab were making for Pretty Deadly and allowed you to smell them when you came to visit. Always a line but it was worth it to get to say hi and have her sign my copy of Ghost trade from before it was the current series. You could even donate to charity and get a chance to win a Carol Corps shirt.
It’s tradition that when I see Madeline and/or Boston Metaphysical Society at a convention that I have to snap a picture. They were here and I was so busy that I didn’t see them til nearly halfway through the con when I was done with interviews. You should be reading this comic if you like stories involving monsters, weird science, paranormal things, and/or steampunk.
I spent most of my time at the DC booth for they were celebrating 75 years of Batman so I talked a lot of Batman with writers and artists there. Look to see that article soon. They were playing a bunch of DC Nation shorts so I got to see some great animation while I waited for interviews to start.
This Winter Soldier hoodie was one of the first things I saw at the convention before it even started and I wanted to get a picture of it for some friends. I love when people make their own street clothes variants of characters’ costumes. There was a lot of Winter Soldier cosplay and it made me happy to see so many people enjoying the new movie and comics.
Speaking of Winter Soldier cosplay, the amount of couple cosplays and the variety I saw in who they cosplayed was brilliant. This year had some superb cosplay, I think people were prepping months in advance from stuff I’d seen at other cons having a really polished look this year.
I showed up too late to get a picture of this Cubone triumphantly standing atop a knocked out Snorlax cosplayer. I was able to get a picture of them with their trainer though. I love seeing how people cosplay as Pokémon and trainers. Puppetry, remote controlled cars, all sorts of clever and brilliant ideas come out of the work out.
Again, ingenuity in dealing with a characters tougher elements. Aquaman’s scale shirt is tough to do, lots of characters have scale. I saw a friend who had made a full blue metal scale suit of armor for her Big Barda cosplay. I saw several people wearing Captain America’s current hexagonal armor.
These two have been a favorite of mine for several conventions now. They are cosplaying as characters I enjoy and I love the shield and spear Panther is wielding. The level of detail in this costumes is killer. These look like they could be movie quality props.
Love when kids are into comics and Ms. Marvel is a fun book to get anyone into. Seeing several people cosplay as this character was great, seeing the next generation of readers dressing up was even better.
I love Kid Loki, I’ve written here about the character before. I have even been given Karen Gillen’s blessing in torturing a friend with how Kid Loki will never be happy. This was a great cosplay I saw on the last day.
I’m a big fan of Team Fortress 2, especially the Medic. This was a picture I had to take as much for me as I did for the article. Love the addition of Archimedes the Dove.
Well this wraps up the general look at WonderCon Anaheim 2014. Tune in next time for interviews with Noelle Stevenson of Lumberjanes courtesy of Boom! Studios. I also have a bunch of writers and artists from DC talking Batman and friends coming up. I wanna thank Comic Attack for helping me get in to WonderCon, you for reading, Ryan Beauvais for providing some pictures for me, WonderCon and all the people who make it great. Have some more pics by Ryan Beauvais from the Marvel shoot.
Dr. Alexander Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
