Last weekend was the annual Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. A weekend for nerds, geeks, dweebs and the like to come together for a weekend of entertainment, enlightenment, frivolous spending, amazing costuming and above all else, a chance to be ourselves and not have to worry about the ridicule from the "cool kids".
I know plenty of people who would laugh, mock or otherwise scoff at the idea of such a convention being fun or popular.
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| Alice from the game Alice: Madness Returns |
To you I say, take my hand and follow me down the rabbit hole, into the wonderful world of cons,
cosplay and creativity....
On the train, Saturday morning, already seeing signs that it will be a great weekend. The family that cosplays together, stays together.
At the con, we decide to walk around a bit while we wait for our friend still in line.
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| The Delorean for Back to the Future |
There were quite a few steampunk cosplayers this year, if you are interested in the steampunk genre check out the
Calgary Steampunk Assemblage.
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| Cosplayers being interviewed |
I never remember the characters name, but this costume always gets into my top 5.
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| Found him! |
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| Simon from Gurren Lagann, ???, Edward Scissorhands |
This Edward was great, he had the nervous finger twitch and the shuffled walk, really great.
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| Red Skull and Darren |
The Red Skull's make up was amazing, 10/10!
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| The Sheik and Link from The Legend of Zelda |
Wandering through the halls looking for our buddy still in line we
came across a Nazgul and a hobbit battling it out along with the TARDIS from Dr Who.
This was teh scene outside the doors, a mere 45 minutes before we would all get the bad news...
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| ALPHANUMERIC!! |
Hexadecimal gets my top pick for favourite costume for the whole weekend. It was fantastic!
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| One of many Star Trek: TNG panels |
This is a panel we dipped into while waiting for our buddy. That's Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton and Levar Burton, also known as Data, Wesley Crusher and Geordi LaForge.
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| Maria and Luigina |
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| Cloud and Sephiroth from the FF series |
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| Meow! |
The powerful women of DC strutting their stuff.
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| Catwoman(?) and Emma Frost |
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| Sub-Zero and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat |
These guys ranked pretty high on the list.
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| Poison Ivy, Catwoman and Harley Quinn; Gotham City's finest |
At this point it was getting rather crowded, so we decide to head outside for some air...
Only to find we are not allowed re-entry! We wander the grounds looking for a way in or answers at least.
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| Ezio |
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| Chell, she made it out!! |
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| Part of the main hall |
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| Black Cat and Emma Frost |
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| Impressive wing span |
At this point we had found out that the Fire Marshall Had shut the con down for being over capacity. We were all told to go home as they were done for the day. Needless to say we didn't leave. There were cosplayers to photograph! So we continued to wander the Stampede grounds
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| Spartan, sniper class |
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| Mini Spiderman |
This guy was cool, he let me touch his armour and guns and grill him with questions. Very nice and willing to talk.
The Rangers were out in full force.
We make our way back to the main doors and find this line, apparently the Fire Marshall had re-assessed the situation and was allowing people in slowly. This is us midway through the line.
The next batch of pictures are all during our time waiting in line. I'm pretty sure we spent more time in line than actually in the con that day. However, that is the plus side to the CCEE, waiting in line definitely is not boring.
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This little padawan was running up to every Star Wars character
he could find asking for pictures, he was pretty rad. |
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| Including this pilot and Boba Fett |
Outside I ran into a Marvel cast of heroes and villains
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| Mini Bane with the Punisher |
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| Silver Sable and Elektra |
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| Captain American and Dr. Doom |
Were there's cosplay, there's furries!
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| Cap America, unmasked |
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| Red Skull |
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| Winter is coming. |
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| Spartan |
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| Casual Wolverine |
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| On his days off Vader likes to stroll the con grounds |
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| Pilot and Boba Fett |
We finally make it back inside the con!!
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| Darren, Yoshi and Nate |
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| Skeletor and He Man |
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| Captain Gavin Capacitor |
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| Guy from Trigun(?) |
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| Emma Frost and Rogue |
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| plus the Blackcat |
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| Hank McCoy aka the Beast. This guy gets into my top 5 too. |
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| Steampunk Batman |
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| Warhammer dude |
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| A very good classic Catwoman |
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| Classic Batmobile |
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| Thor |
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| John 117 |
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| Shepard, there was also a Femshep right in front of him |
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| One of the lesser Deadpools, Ghost, and Hellboy |
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| This guy moved and had the very creepy laugh |
This guy was there at the end. Nothing like ending the day on a creepy note.
Sunday we decided to get there earlier to avoid any issues...however so did everyone else.
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| Looking towards the front of the line |
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| Looking at the back of the line |
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| A very detailed Zelda |
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| Someone should tell those Jedi that they are being robbed |
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| Epic line calls for an epic battle |
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| In the middle we have Billy West and John Di Maggio, the voices of Fry and Bender from Futurama |
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| Bounty Hunters |
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| Cap America, Deadpool, Loki, The Hulk |
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| ??? |
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| Spiderman on over watch |
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| Babydoll from SuckerPunch, ??? |
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Lara Croft. I think she filled out
her costume quite well |
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| ??? |
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| Catwoman |
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| Lil Batman |
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| THWOMP! |
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| Ajay Fry, the host from InnerSPACE and Michael Rooker at the Walking Dead panel |
Right after the Walking Dead panel was what I had been waiting for....the godfather of the Marvel Universe and many of your favorite super heroes. Mr. Stan Lee!
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This card was presented to Stan as a
thank you for coming to Calgary |
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| It was filled with comments from con goers |
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Standing ovation for Stan. It was awesome!!
I may or may not have gotten a little emotional at this point. |
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| Some cosplayers getting interviewed |
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| Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon |
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| He got a lot of attention. |
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| She also was getting a bit of attention |
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| I found her in Calgary!! Of all places |
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| Add caption |
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| Lego Darth Maul |
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I read about this family in the paper later, Apparently when ever they became separated the Hulk (mom)
would yell out "Avengers, assemble!" and the family would come running. |
And so ends another Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. Until next year Calgary. Hopefully you can sort out a bigger venue next time.
