Gen Con 2013 in review: part 2

This is part 2: Saturday

Saturday I cosplayed as Lady Sybil from Downton Abbey. At least one person recognized my costume, calling out "Downton Abbey!" and asking for a picture with me. I got a lot of compliments and a few pictures taken, but I'm not sure how many people got the costume. Considering I don't recognize half the costumes I see, that's ok.

Cosplaying with Amanda

Amanda got compliments for her costume as Elizabeth from BioShock. She chose the early version of the costume rather than the corseted later version, and a lot of people seemed to appreciate that. I'm not familiar with the game, but I can concur that a day in corset is not fun.

My Little Ponies!

I saw several people throughout the weekend cosplaying as My Little Ponies. These are just the first. Yes, men and women alike were cosplaying ponies. I saw several Rainbow Dashes, a couple Pinkie Pies, Rarity, Fluttershy.... I love that so many people love the ponies. And I am kind of excited about the MLP collectible card game coming out in November. I think it's something they boys might enjoy.

Superheroes!

There were superheroes galore at Gen Con. Just after taking this picture, The Joker appeared and joined the group. Even though they didn't know each other, Batman and the Joker did a little role playing for the cameras. I saw a lot of Wonder Woman cosplayers this year.

Balloon-thulhu

There was a balloon artist at the con this year. Balloon-thulhu was in the corridor outside the main exhibit hall.

Lady Sybil

There was a Gen Con backdrop next to Balloon-thulhu to take pictures, so of course I had to get my picture taken there. I'm really glad I had comfortable shoes for my costume, because my feet were still sore by the end of the day just from all the walking. Chris's mom lent me the gloves that really pulled the outfit together. She also lent me a necklace and the pin in my hair (not shown), and she made matching earrings Friday evening while we were walking the halls! I think she enjoyed helping with the costuming.

Cosplayers in the halls

Transformers!

One of the things I love best about Gen Con is wandering the halls and floor admiring all the wonderful and creative costumes. Three of the wizards from Lord of the Rings (Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey and Radagast the Brown) posed next to Boba Fett and a Transformer. (I don't know who the woman in blue is.) Just down the hall were Storm Troopers and Clone Troopers, including one in a kilt. There's always one in a kilt, because kilts are awesome.

 

Storm Troopers and Clone Troopers

Another group posing together

 And just past the Transformer was this group posing for pictures together. Saturday is the big costume day, with the costume parade and costume contest. It's the best day for seeing cosplayers if you can only go one day.

A harpy?

 The wings on this costume were fantastic. She spread them out for the picture, but they folded in to walk around.

I love turning around to find some of my favorite characters. Who wants to take a ride on the Serenity?

 

Wash, Kaylee, Simon and Captain Mal

Harley Quinn Vader

We finally hit the exhibit hall Saturday. I got there late in the morning for a bit, then had lunch and wandered the floor again with Chris. 

One of many TARDIS dresses.

Rhonda on the exhibit hall floor

Spaceballs!

Thor and a watcher

Steampunk Iron Man

She made this costume!

With Michelle Hartz, zombie belly dancer

Street performer

Some costumes I saw but didn't get pictures of: Prince Leia, Katniss Everdeen, Merida from Brave, many versions of Doctor Who, a knight is real armor, pirates galore....

We spent a delightful hour Saturday afternoon enjoying the music of the Doubleclicks. I highly recommend checking them out.

ZOE/DG crew

Gamers 3: Hands of Fate cast and director

Saturday evening was dedicated to film. Actually, to Dead Gentlemen/Zombie Orpheus Entertainment films. We screened the rough cut, test screenings of The Gamers: Humans & Households and The Gamers: Natural One. Both were quite fun and should be released as webseries once editing and effects are done.


After the test screenings came the big event: the extended edition premier of The Gamers 3: Hands of Fate. We missed the world premier of the festival cut Thursday. I loved one of the themes the crossed several story lines in the film: that women are not a prize to be won.

Supporting independent film

Chris and I have backed a few projects on Kickstarter. We like helping independent artists reach their goals.

Most of the projects we have backed offer the product as one of the backer incentives: pledge a certain amount and get the dvd or book or trebuchet. It's kind of like preordering the nifty new thing, and that's usually the level we pledge at.

We are currently backing our 13th project. It's a movie we really believe in, by some good independent filmmakers in Seattle.

We first met the Dead Gentlemen/Zombie Orpheus Entertainment at Gen Con, through friends. Yeah, I know, but they really are friends of friends. They have worked really hard to get their company to the point it is at. They make films about gamers for gamers. They are fan-supported.

If you've never heard of their work, take a moment to check out their filmography. You can watch their webseries JourneyQuest, currently in its second season, online. (Yep, we backed the 2nd season on Kickstarter.)

They also have a series of movies called The Gamers. The first two movies were made with tiny budgets. The second is the breakout hit. The Gamers: Dorkness Rising is a fantastic film. It will play at the IU Cinema this October.

They are currently fundraising for the third film in the series, The Gamers: Hands of Fate.

And that's the reason for this post. The project is 60% funded with 18 days to go. The way Kickstarter works, if they raise at least their goal ($320K), they will have the money to complete this film. If it doesn't reach that goal, they can't finish it.

This past weekend at Gen Con, they filmed a number of scenes - 1/4 of the movie, by rough estimate. But all that footage will be wasted if they can't afford to film the rest.

And that would be a shame. If you've been paying attention lately, you've probably read or heard about the terrible misogynistic attitudes of certain gamers. One of the great things about Dorkness Rising is that one of the main characters is a female gamer who shows the guys another way to play. And the new film, Hands of Fate, will feature another strong female lead (in addition).

 At a Q&A session after viewing JourneyQuest at Gen Con, the filmmakers talked about why they feature female gamers in their films. And it is a deliberate choice. While filming, some male gamers walked up to one of their (female) actors and made disparaging comments about how she couldn't possibly be interested in games. This still happens in 2012! At Gen Con. Where you can see grandmothers walking the hall cosplaying.

Chris and I believe in this project enough that we raised our pledge amount this weekend. We're not settling for just a dvd or BluRay of the final project. We want to see this made, so we looked at our finances and decided we could give a little more.

But there is still a ways to go to fund this film. If you want to support small independent filmmakers, if you want to be a parton of the arts, if you are a gamer, if you love movies, if if if.... if you can consider backing this project. Every dollar counts. You can pledge as little as $1.