Tag: cosplay

  • WonderCon 2014 – Part 2 (Costumes and Cosplay and Characters – oh my!)

    Hot Nerd Girl Geek Outlaw WonderCon 2014

    Geek Outlaw and Hot Nerd Girl on the loose

    If you missed Part 1 of my 2014 WonderCon wrap up (Panels, Floor, and Shenanigans), be sure to check it out HERE! I attended the Con with my NerdBFF Hayden aka Geek Outlaw and Mama Jedi.

    Mama Jedi and I dressed up as Sherlock and Dr. John Watson on Saturday!

    Hot Nerd Girl Mama Jedi WonderCon 2014

    Part 2 is all about the costumes so, without further ado…

    Let’s start off with Video Game Cosplay!

    We’ve got a couple of Portal fans.

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    Some Mario Kart fans.

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    And then some friends of friends who are also Super Mario Bros. fans.

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    It’s a Mario Bunny!

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    Speaking of games….hey! I found Waldo!

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    Monsters like to play games, let’s move on to Horror.

    Freddy Krueger was trying to be all intimidating.

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    Sherlock was not impressed with him or his friends.

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    They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky…

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    Hats don’t kill people, people in hats kill people.

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    You know what’s kind of scary? Decepticons.

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    Luckily Michelangelo and Rafael were just a few feet away.

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    Homers…

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    So many Homers…

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    Mo and HNG were not impressed by them.

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    But Woody was! I yelled out “Andy’s coming!” but he shook his head and kept walking :(

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    Ariel out of the sea.

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    Ariel in the sea…with her friends…wait a minute…

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    Hey, nice crab!

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    Let’s finish up Disney with some Maleficent.

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    From one bad ass woman to another…Xena!

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    Hey, that’s not Daenerys!

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    I was seriously tempted to stage a rescue for this poor little Hobbit.

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    There was some great Steampunk costumes.

    This is our recently acquired friend, Capt. Seekerman, who we met at ConDor in San Diego.

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    And here is the back of his costume showing off his steam-powered (yes, actually steam-powered) wings that fold up and down.

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    Just like I have a NerdBFF in Geek Outlaw, Capt. Seekerman‘s NerdBFF is Andrea.

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    This guy is part of Vocademy, a group that helps and teaches others how to make elaborate costume pieces like this hat that he keeps adding pieces to including an old school Mickey Mouse watch he’s had since he was a kid.

    I swear I know that guy with the goatee from somewhere but I cannot for the life of me remember where. He said it was his very first convention so it’s not that. It’s seriously going to bug me until I remember.

    Steampunk to Sci-Fi is a natural transition, let’s go there next!

    Steampunk Boba Fett recognized me and remembered that there was a price on my head.

    I snuck past him and then spotted this little Droid wandering the Floor…

    Obviously trying to escape from Darth Vader who had already taken an Ewok hostage.

    I managed to escape only because this guy warned me it was a trap.

    This Stormtrooper tried to take me to Darth Vader anyways.

    Luckily Darth Vader was distracted by Dark Helmet.

    I was (barely) aided in my escape by these guys.

    Only to discover General Grievous coming after me.

    Lando thinks he helped, but he didn’t.

    It was this lovely Ewok 

    Party time! Because Bith Happens.

    Wait, is that George Lucas?? Nope, it was just a random guy who happened to be walking by and we literally shoved him into our picture.

    This guy is 6’4″ and Mama Jedi is 5’0″. I love taking pictures of her next to tall people. It makes me happy. I don’t know why.

    Let’s crossover into Star Trek with this lovely crossover. Awww, free face hugs! That’s sweet.

    This guy made up his own alien species. Clever boy. (Ignore The Comedian in the background, she’ll get her turn later).

    His made up alien kind of reminds me of a Vinvocci so let’s segue into Doctor Who.

    This lovely 10th Doctor caught me just as I was entering the Con on Saturday morning.

    I ran into another 10th Doctor and 4th Doctor hanging out together, obviously John Mulhall’s nearby Geddy’s Moon booth provided the necessary paradox for a time crash.

    They must have resolved it because I ran into the 4th Doctor again later in the day. It’s always a good day when I get two Jelly Babies.

    The 11th Doctor was a little spacey that day.

    I think he missed his “Sexy.”  Don’t worry, I found her.

    This annoying lady kept asking me to moisturize her. It was super creepy.

    With Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart‘s help…

    …I found a treasure trove of Doctor Who characters.

    Hey! It’s the 11th Doctor again!

    Who ya gonna call?

    Ghostbusters!

    We run into these guys at so many Cons, they decided to give Hayden an honorary patch. I don’t know who was more excited, Geek Outlaw or Stay Puft.

    I asked where Vera was and he pointed at me. I think he’s had a bit too much Mudder’s Milk.

    Please excuse me while I scold Dr. Horrible.

    What’s Illyria doing hanging out with Harley Quinn?

    I don’t know but I’m going to use it to switch over to Comic cosplay!

    My 5-year-old nephew is a huge fan of this Riddler (and here’s another one). So much so that, when Zeke wouldn’t eat his vegetables, Riddler intervened and Zeke is still eating his vegetables to this day!

    As a result, I am not known as “Hot Nerd Girl” to this group, but instead as “Zeke’s Aunt” which suits me just fine  This talented group of Cosplayers go by the names Smile-X Villain Co. and Pieced Together Cosplay and they have several different versions of their Gotham Villain costumes. Here’s a more traditional…

    And a seriously kick ass punk rock take. I’ve also seen them in PJ’s.

    Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy.

    Hayden was scared of Harley Quinn.

    But I correctly deduced that her weapon could not harm me.

    It’s OK, Robin’s here to deal with all of these villains. But where’s Batman?

    You have a choice between Comfy Pajama Batman…

    …or Sparkly Disco Batman.

    OMG! It’s Tracy AND Dick Tracy!

    Iron Man and Doctor Doom had a crowd of people around them taking pictures so Mama Jedi decided to photobomb them.

    Here’s what everyone else’s pictures look like. Muah hahahahaha!

    Oh wait, except ours 

    Black Widow in the hizzouse!

    Don’t get any ideas Geek Outlaw!

    Uh oh.

    Thor will take care of that.

    Unless Loki gets in the way.

    Sue Storm and Silver Surfer will help.

    What up, Spidey?

    Nevermind, I can see you’re busy.

    The Rocketeer, one of my all-time faves.

    Sexy Comedian finally gets her turn.

    Colonel Stars and Stripes!

    Rick Grimes pre-Walker Apocalypse.

    And don’t forget, kids….

    Amen.

    Thanks for checking out the 2014 WonderCon coverage, hope you enjoyed all of the fabulous costumes! Huge thanks to the Cosplayers who let us take their pictures!

    *****

    Side note: the first run of HNG calendars sold out (yay!) and I need to order some more for an upcoming event. If anyone would like to get one, now’s the time to order! The calendar features all of the nerdy holidays (and the regular ones too) and a convention calendar. Order one today!

     

  • WonderCon 2013

    Mama Jedi, HNG, Geek Outlaw

    Mama Jedi, HNG, Geek Outlaw

    Hope y’all had a very happy and nerderific Easter! I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Between working full-time (yes, I have a “real” job!), out of town guests, and just plain old life, I just haven’t much time to blog. But I’ll try to be better.

    So, a lot of cool crap happened this past weekend. There was new Doctor Who, the season premier of Game of Thrones, and the season finale of The Walking Dead. And, of course, WonderCon.

    I mentioned in my wrap-up of last year’s WonderCon that WC was the first comic book convention I ever went to (back when it was in Oakland) and it holds a very special place in my hearts. It’s a nice combination of comic books and TV/movies. San Diego Comic Con is great, but it focuses so much on the Hollywood stuff that the comic books tend to get a little lost. A comic book vendor and I were joking on Saturday about the audacity of the people who actually buy comic books at a comic book convention! Inconceivable!

    After cosplaying as Thor for a day at SDCC last year, I honestly didn’t think I would cosplay in public again for a very long time. I’m quite shy, especially around large groups of strangers, and my instinct is to blend in. Cosplaying is the opposite of blending in. Because of the timing of the day, I didn’t spend much time at SDCC walking around as Thor. But in the brief times that I did, it garnered a lot of attention. Attention that I’m not used to and that made me a bit panicky. I was very uncomfortable and not just because of the corset. I’ve been putting together a Tenth Doctor costume for quite a while now. He’s my favorite of the Doctor incarnations (followed by Eleven, Four, Nine, and Five) and, if I’m being completely honest with myself, I was looking for an excuse to buy a sonic screwdriver. Because of last year’s experience, I almost didn’t wear it, but I’m glad that I did. It was comfortable and fun and was a great ice breaker (that and the flask of liquor I kept in my backpack *ahem*)

    Enough rambling, on to the panels I attended. Sadly, the TV show panel I was most excited about was the Vikings one and I missed it thanks to the traffic around the convention center. I was very, very sad because, as many of you know, I’m very proud of my Viking heritage. But I sat in on a bunch of really cool ones that made up for it.

    Allons-y!

    Geeking Out with the League of Extraordinary Ladies

    Panelists: Autumn Massey, Dina Kampmeyer, Emily Heyer, Geek Girl Diva, Jenn Fujikawa (Just Jenn), Sarah Kuhn, Stephanie Thorpe, Theresa Wollenstein

    These geektacular ladies are very much in line with my favorite motto: “nerd girls of the world unite.” They are a positive group of strong, independent, intelligent women who love to geek out together and support each other. As someone who can’t stand cattiness, these ladies are right up my alley. The first thing I did when I got home was to join their facebook group. I encourage everyone (men are also welcome) to join as well.  Unfortunately, we had to leave their panel early to make it to the next one. What I wouldn’t give for a time-turner so that I could go to multiple panels that are scheduled for the same time.

    Falling Skies

    Panelists: Drew Roy (Hal), Sarah Carter (Maggie), Seychelle Gabriel (Lourdes), Remi Aubuchon (Executive Producer)

    I’ve been a fan of Falling Skies from the get go. As my NerdBFF Geek Outlaw says, “if it’s got aliens in it, I’ll watch it!” And it keeps getting better. We got to see some clips from the first episode premiering June 9th on TNT, including a new baby girl, some more Karen, a badass new punk rock haircut for Matt, promotions for Tom and Lourdes, new alien technology, conflict for Maggie, and some pretty epic looking battle scenes. It definitely got me excited.

    Oddball Comics Live: Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll

    Panelist: Scott Shaw

    I’ve never laughed harder at a panel than I did at this one. Scott Shaw has collected some of the most bizarre comic books imaginable over the course of the last 50 years. It’s filled with crotches, boobs, phallic symbols, crazy concepts, and hidden-in-plain-sight imagery (kind of like the dirty stuff found in every Disney movie made from 1989 to 1992). It’s hard to tell if they were done intentionally or unintentionally.  He’s compiled them into a power point presentation that he complements with witty commentary. It’s hysterical and I highly recommend checking it out if you ever see him on a convention schedule.

    Roddenberry Presents

    Panelists: Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Tory Mell

    As a life-long Trekker, I always enjoy checking out the Roddenberry Presents panel. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Rod and Trevor a few times now and even interviewed Rod at SDCC last year (I’m still perfecting my interviewing skills, mmmkay?) They are super nice and working on some seriously awesome stuff.

    Rod Roddenberry, HNG, Trevor Roth. I have no idea why I look bored in this picture, I SWEAR I wasn’t. I was probably wondering if Mama Jedi knew how to operate my camera.

    Things worth checking out right now: Days Missing, Mission Log podcast, and White Room: 02B3. Things worth checking out in the near future: Worth. We were teased about exciting new things TBA at SDCC this year. One of the highlights of the panel? Winning this awesome “Cool as Kirk” t-shirt for answering one of the trivia questions correctly.

    Geeks Get Published

    Panelists: SG Browne, Katrina Hill, Alan Kistler, Alex Langley, Dr. Travis Langley. Moderated by Jenna Busch.

    This panel was extremely informative. It was a panel full of geek-centric authors offering up free advice on how to get published. The main thing I took away from it was that I’d like to get a literary agent and that I’m doing the right thing by writing what I love. Afterwards, Alan Kistler found me downstairs and wanted a picture (he’s a big Doctor Who fan and is coming out with a Doctor Who book later this year.

    Alan Kistler and HNG

    He graciously stayed and chatted with Geek Outlaw and I for a good 10-15 minutes about writing while his friends wandered off to the bar without him. Thanks again, Alan!

    Here’s some of what happened down on the Floor…

    One of the first booths we noticed was that of Lion Forge Comics. It was a mighty impressive booth.

    Geek Outlaw oohing and ahhing

    They had a healthy line for the slot machine which we were talked into joining. It was manned by this lovely lady armed with a sonic screwdriver.

    Mama Jedi went first and won a giant bag.

    Then it was my turn.

    The machine didn’t seem to be working properly so I fixed it when no one was paying attention and won a bracelet.

    Then Geek Outlaw went and won a bracelet. I totally took a picture of him doing it but he didn’t send it to me so blame him for the empty space here.

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    Based out of St. Louis, MO, Lion Forge has a lot of projects in the works and were some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. We chatted with a number of the people involved, including the Creative Director, the YouTube channel host, one of the primary writers, and even the guy who’s in charge of Licensing who was kind enough to help me get Mama Jedi into the giant bag she’d won.

    It seemed like a good idea at the time

    There was a large “celebrity row” including Boomer aka Herbert Jefferson Jr. from the Classic Battlestar Galactica.

    Star Wars staple Chewbacca aka Peter Mayhew.

    The ghost of Richard Hatch aka OG Apollo and reboot Zarek.

    The Soup Nazi aka Larry Thomas, who’s decision to sign soup ladles convinced Geek Outlaw to buy an autographed one for his parents who LOVE the Soup Nazi.

    And then there was this guy who Mama Jedi made a beeline for. I still have absolutely no idea who he is or what he does besides sitting there shirtless.

    We ran into SDCC buddy Daniel who was holding down the fort at the booth of a friend.

    We also visited a buddy from this past Long Beach Comic Con. Artist Matt Stevens creates metal fan art. Last time I bought Tenth Doctor and Wash. This time I got an Eleventh Doctor and River Song bookmark. They sit right by my desk and I LOVE them. Not only is Matt a fantastic artist but he’s a super cool dude so you should definitely check him out HERE.

    That’s a mighty fine t-shirt you got there, Matt

    One of the ships from Oblivion.

    There was a parade of R2 units lead by a small child.

    Where were those brakes again?

    They got into a fight with a couple of WALL-E‘s.

    There was some spitting and at one point the Black R2 unit totally flipped off one of the WALL-E’s as you can see in this video I took:

    [youtube:http://youtu.be/gfu_uFi_W6E]

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    It wouldn’t be an HNG convention wrap up without the costume pictures!

    One of the very first cosplayers we ran into was Toni Darling, better known to the interwebz as Lady Thor. She’s a friend of Daniel’s and the artist who’s booth he was manning (see the posters and artwork behind him?)

    I have no idea why I’m making that stupid face

    On our way to the Falling Skies panel I time crashed into my future self in the form of a delightful guy with a very convincing British accent named Jack.

    Something’s up with the universe because we ran into each other again at the end of the night while Geek Outlaw and I were chatting with Alan Kistler and took some more pics.

    This is Alan’s friend who took off for the bar while we were deep in conversation about writing and stuff

    Jack even helped us out by taking the picture of our little group in front of the WonderCon sign.

    Time crash number two occurred down on the Floor. This time I ran into my Fourth incarnation.

    Four is my favorite of the Classic Doctors so he gave me a jelly baby which I totally ate, because, heck, it’s a jelly baby from the Doctor! It was delicious.

    It was a little freakier when I saw myself. I’m just going to assume that he’s the Meta-Crisis Doctor 😉

    Mini me. Seriously, this kid was adorable. He was a bit upset with his Mom because she ruined his jacket. It’s not easy being the mother of a Time Lord, mmmkay kiddo?

    There were many, many, many ladies dressed up as the TARDIS. Apparently a Time Lord dropped some TARDIS coral on Earth at some point in the past.  This one was one of my favorites because it was so unique.

    Let’s move away from Gallifrey and check out some of the other costumes, shall we?

    This Lady Thor sat next to us during the Roddenberry panel.

    I ran into this walker at least three times. It freaked me out just as much each time. *shudder* He obviously ran into Haley from Woodbury because there’s no way Daryl would have missed that badly. Twice.

    There are always a few Ghostbusters wandering around conventions. This time they were everywhere. We chatted with a group from Sacramento for quite a while. I like the Ghostbusters groups, they do great things in their communities.

    The Ecto-truck (behind Ecto-1) belongs to one of the guys from the Sacramento group.

    The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was the Dad of the Mini Tenth Doctor (see him down in the right hand corner? He’s totally thinking he has the coolest Dad ever).

    Stay Puft helped me out by posing with Flat Stanley. I was put in charge of Flat Stanley by a friend who’s kid read the book. I honestly have no idea what the heck Flat Stanley is all about but I returned him to his owner yesterday. Apparently I’m getting him back when I go to Wisconsin for my family reunion next month,

    Rad.

    Steam Punk Snow White can kick your ass.

    Disney Princesses + Rainbow Brite = every little girl’s fantasy come true.

    Jon Snow admiring Daenerys’ …uh…eggs. Riiiight…..

    THIS.

    COBRA Command from GI Joe. I’m pulling this entirely from memory here but the group seems to include Serpentor, Destro, The Baroness, and I think Zarana, a BAT and a Night Creeper. Please correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been more than a few years.

    Marvel goodies vs. DC baddies.

    LEGO Darth Maul!

    This fellow HNG was mighty hot for a scruffy looking nerf herder.

    That’s a nice multipass you got there, Leeloo (and a view from the rear for anyone who’s interested).Finally, there’s CMDR William T. Riker as portrayed by a guy who’s name really is William (no joke). He was very nice and we chatted for a few minutes about how much we love Star Trek. It was only after I got home that I realize we’d already met and taken a picture together at Long Beach Comic Con back in November. Kismet!

    And that concludes my wrap up of WonderCon 2013. It was loads of fun and I’m looking forward to next year!

  • Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up 2011

    On Saturday I went to Long Beach Comic Con, a fairly young comic book convention that is small enough that comic books *GASP!* are still the primary focus.

    Imagine that.

    Anyhooters, it was pretty epic for me because I attended as a “professional” aka a member of the press.  My list of press passes has been steadily growing but this was my first for a comic con so it was very exciting for me.

    😀  <–  See?  That’s me being excited.

    Here are some of the highlights:

    If you don’t know what Team Unicorn is then you need to crawl out from whatever rock you’ve been living under. The second I walked up to them one of them put her arms out and said “you’re a unicorn!”  It was a proud moment for me, let me tell you!  Yes, they are hottie mctotties, but what really struck me was how nice they were.  They stood there and talked t-shirts with me (we all agree that Cafe Press sucks major monkey balls) for way longer than they needed to. Friendly hot girls? Yup, they exist.

    Michelle Boyd, Rileah Vanderbilt, HNG, Clare Grant, Milynn Sarley

    I turned around and there was Clare Grant’s hubby Seth Green so naturally, I had to get a picture with him too.  I’ve been a fan of this guy since My Stepmother is an Alien so when he and Alyson Hannigan teamed up again on Buffy it was like nerdvana.  Random fun fact: Seth was also an uncredited vampire in the orginal film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  When I met him I blurted out that I was a big fan of his wife, which is very very true, but Seth, if you ever read this, my love of you came first 🙂

    That Robot Chicken show is pretty cool too

    After that we headed off to a light saber demonstration by Saber Guild, a not-for-profit costumed performance group.  Apparently they do a lot of performances for charity which I’m all for.  Some of the Jedi and Sith were better fighters than others but they were all very enthusiastic and the kids in the audience were super into it.

    Big Daddy in the house

    Here’s a video I took of the climax of the battle and the young Padawan who helped defeat Darth Vader:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BekCv3LAH8]

    Renowned horror master John Carpenter was in attendance.  Not gonna lie, he didn’t look thrilled to be there, but he’s one of the most prolific sci-fi/horror directors of all time so I was glad that he was.

    Big Trouble in Little Long Beach

    Apparently Thomas Jane was there (representing Raw Studios with Tim Bradstreet) because at one point he came over the intercom and, speaking verrrry slooooowwwly, asked all of the men to stop what they were doing, take out their “pieces” and wave them around.  I’m just going to assume that my dirty sense of humor correctly deduced what “pieces” meant.  Alas, I didn’t see him which was a bummer.

    On to costumed characters!

    Wonder Woman was actually there with Wolverine but Wolvie kept getting pushed aside so that WW could take pictures with Asian Superman.  Never thought I’d say this but Wolvie was kind of a bitch.

    Gotta love those stunna shades

    I’m pretty sure that this pop can tab creation is supposed to be Iron Man.  Old school Iron Man circa 1963 before he hired Maaco to paint his suit red and gold.

    The magnetic chest plate gave it away

    Believe it or not, these two crazy kids had never heard of Night of the Living Trekkies, they just randomly decided that dressing up as Starfleet Zombies would be awesome.  I’m still not sure how I feel about my favorite franchise being combined with my biggest fear…kind of seems like a conspiracy against me.

    So wrong. So very, very wrong.

    This guys claims he’s dressed up as a video game character and NOT a Doctor Who character but I choose not to believe him and I straight up told him so.  I’m pretty sure I made him laugh under that rubbery exterior.

    No dude, I am not your mummy

    Speaking of Doctor Who…I was pretty stoked to find this hot female Dalek.

    Exfoliate! Exfoliate!

    On to the next franchise – Star Wars!  Jango Fett was hanging out by the light saber demonstration.  Obviously doing recon.

    That’s my “badass” look. Intense, I know.

    Big Daddy Darth Vader was hanging out by the Occupy the Death Star booth.

    What can I say? I’ve always had a thing for bad boys.

    He thought I was adorable.

    I don’t let just any masked man pinch my cheeks

    This robotic R2D2 was controlled incognito by a guy who kept his hand in the bag over his shoulder.  People would walk up to it and it would move, confusing the heck out of them.  It was pretty funny.

    See the confusion?

    Y’all know I heart me some Harry.  There were no Gryffindors in sight but there was a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin.  Although, to be honest, she looked way too nice to be a true Slytherin.

    With hair like that she’s gotta be a Malfoy…right?

    “Occupy” paradies were all over the place but this was probably my favorite.

    It’s funny cause it’s true

    And last but not least, I leave you with two awesome t-shirts.  This first one I found at a t-shirt vendor.  I didn’t have the balls to buy it but I thought it was fucking hi-larious.

    Tempting…

    And me wearing my brand-spanking new Team Unicorn t-shirt the morning after.

    So I was just kidding, I have one more thing for you.  A video shot as I was leaving LBCC.  You can see me in motion for once!

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA9kpRtBKCw]