This past weekend in South Carolina (Greenville, to be precise) I attended my first ever convention!
My friend Deevius and I had been modifying her previously-gray mask into something a little more Silence-y, and I had intended on going as a 'victim' of the Silence so that people would have a better idea of what she was.
(I was also her handler, chief photographer, and Mouth of Silence (yes, it's a lame Mouth of Sauron reference)).
The con opened at 10:00 a.m., and we actually arrived around 11:00. Since Deevius was our driver, we suited her up in the parking lot and then joined the long queue outside the door (it went down the hill from the doors, and wrapped halfway along the building on the sidewalk).
Thankfully, a helpful staff member came along the line and told those of us that had pre-ordered our tickets (Midori had one of those) or had Will Call reservations (that would be Deevius and I) we could step out of line and go up to the right.
Thus, instead of waiting out in the hot sun with our black-suited Silence in what I'm sure was a very warm mask, we were able to jump ahead and spend only ten minutes or so waiting to pick up our wristbands.
Disclaimer: yes, it was a "comic" con. No, I don't know anything about comics. I was there primarily to see how things work at one of these events.
No sooner had we gotten inside and plotted our route through the many aisles, then Deevius had her first request for a photo. (And then I saw what Mike the Coworker meant about people stopping for photos.)
I was very glad that I hadn't worn a more obvious outfit for my first con. Since I'm an introvert, that kind of attention from strangers would have severely unnerved me. Deevius (although she had her mask on) played it all off as natural, and just rocked every photo request she had. (Even though a fair few asked if she was a Slenderman.)
Here are the ones I managed to catch:
Amy Pond cosplay; every time she saw Deevius after
that, she drew another tally mark on her arms.
The Riddler
The 11th Doctor and Sherlock
Miss Captain America
And then, every so often in her Silent, lurky way, Deevius would tap us on the shoulders, or gesture madly with her three fingers per hand and indicate that she wanted photos with some of the other cosplayers:
Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Random stranger with the name "Pond" on the back
of her sweatshirt; she wasn't cosplaying, but she
said her friends would refer to her as Amy Pond.
Wonder Woman
Stormtrooper
(We had to hunt for him.)
Grumpy R2-D2
(He kept chasing people.)
I think we spent more time messing around with photographs than actually stopping at all of the booths/stalls, but none of us knew that much about comics, so the majority of the stalls didn't have that much appeal to us.
However, the vendors with artsy stuff, toys, and other goods for sale warranted a lengthier look. Tomorrow I'll share the lootz I got away with (and all for less than $20!) as well as the pictures from the 1960s Batmobile.
At about 1:00 we headed back to the car, where we had left our cooler with our packed lunches, and Deevius took off her mask and was able to see the con in it's beautiful entirety. ^_^
Part 2 tomorrow!
