DragonCon 2013 Recap (With ALL the pictures!)

Back from DragonCon. I made it: my voice may not have. But this is a blog, so no one will ever know.

Thursday was a crush — I met Vania of VLCPhoto early to start my massive author photo extravaganza. I’m getting several new author photos done: new photos for my middle-grade and YA novels (since my hair is so long now no one recognizes me from my old photo), and something romantic, flirty, and fun to go with my new Viv Daniels pen name. Only problem is, now I can’t decide which of the amazing pictures she took I like best. Here are a few (a few!) of the finalists:

The cool thing is I don’t have to pick just one (or two/three, as the case may be). I can have one on my website, one on my book cover, one for promo… Well, maybe not that many. I don’t want to be overwhelmed with choices. The only thing I’m definitely sure of is I want a very different look for “Viv” than for Diana, as that’s the whole purpose behind creating a different identity and brand for those books. I like to think of it as the difference between various companies one company owns. For instance, the same company owns Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works. But you’re not going to go shopping for a bra in Bath and Body Works, or for a cute snowman bath scrubby in Victoria’s Secret. Anyway, I digress. Photos!

Friday marked the start of DragonCon, and of my costuming craze. Sadly, I didn’t make it to many panels that I wasn’t on this year — the layout with our booth all the way across the street in the America’s Mart made traveling a long, arduous adventure. I never even got to see the artist’s galley, or a single celebrity (though apparently I was literally standing next to Natalia Tena–Tonks!– for like half an hour and didn’t know it). What I did get to see was tons and tons of cosplay. Here are some of my favorites:

The gorgeous and incomparable Michelle Hodkin and me after our Mortal Instruments panel. I’m copslaying as Persis from ACROSS A STAR-SWEPT SEA. She’s a witch from Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS. Lev is the one who took this picture. Michelle’s hair is real, mine is not. How nutty is that?

Robin Sparkles, y’all! I cannot WAIT for October.

Avatar Korra! I cannot WAIT for next week!

Avatar Korra was hanging out with Winterfell Lady Sansa. How much do I love this cloak? (I’ve decided that looking like your character already helps a lot with cosplay, and Korra and Sansa here had that going for them in a big way.) I could probably do a whole gallery just of Game of Thrones Cosplay. See below for more.

Liz from ROSWELL. There was also a Maria, but I only saw her a few days later. I sent this pic to Deidre Knight, who was jealous she’d never thought of cosplaying Roswell before.

Here you can see two mer-creatures: me as a siren wearing the spoils of her latest shipwreck, and Emma from The Children’s Bookstore of Baltimore as an ingenious half-naga. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Speaking of Avatar: Toph! I love Toph, and this one was particularly good. Note the bare feet, the perfect uncoiffed hair in her blind eyes, and the STANCE. This is an AMAZING Toph. Well-done.

Delirium, from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. This poor girl carried that shark EVERYWHERE. People were using her as a location mapper. “I’m about ten feet north of the one with the shark.” It was hilarious. But awesome.

Guinan from Star Trek: The Next Generation (Whoopie Goldberg’s character). How much did she rock this outfit? I love it!

Galaxy Cosplay. Not a character, per se, but still lovely. I would wear the heck out of this dress, for reals, And the shoes! (I think her friend was Hawkeye, but she was really such a standout!)

Me: What a gorgeous dress!
Her: Thank you.
Me: Are you… dressed up as anyone in particular?
Her: (whipping out her riding crop) I’m Irene Adler from Sherlock.
Me: OF COURSE YOU ARE.

And a beautiful one, too. Speaking of surpassing beauty:

Here are Mari Mancusi and her husband cosplaying Mina and Dracula from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. They were STOPPING TRAFFIC in the Hyatt. Bram here had those shades that sat on the bridge of his nose, Mina’s dress was something you just wanted to stare at for days. It was breathtaking.

Here’s Mari and hubs with Leanna Renee Hieber, wearing what she does on your average Tuesday. How well she fits in! And while we’re doing the Victorian thing:

How I wish this photo did justice to the Steampunk Rowenna Ravenclaw! The feathered bodice and trim on the skirt. The clockwork diadem! It’s fantastic.

And now, onto the Game of Thrones portion of our evening. I took a LOT of Game of Thrones pictures, y’all. Remember what I said about it helping to LOOK like your character? Well, check out Littlefinger here:

He’s got the smile down pat. All the costumes are amazing — can you see the detail on Cersei’s wig? And Varys’s robe ties just right.

How awesome is this idea? Decorating her wheelchair to be the iron throne? I heart it!

Me: Lord Renly! Can I take your picture?
Him: King Renly.

Love.

I’m not entirely sure what this kid is doing watching Game of Thrones, but I can’t argue with results. I asked if I could take his picture. I bet you can guess what he said. “Hodor.” And check out Hodor’s little Bran-doll on his shoulder. Hodor!

I followed this Lady Brienne of Tarth down an escalator, then asked to take her picture and started praising her wonderful costume. Little did i realize that standing right behind me was the Kingslayer (sorry for the blurry photo, the costumes were jawdroppingly good):

And he was TOTALLY in character, too. So unamused to have me not notice him at first. Poor Jamie! (I always have a soft spot for Jamies, even murdering, incestuous ones…)

But without a doubt, my favorite cosplay of the con was the Young Wolf, The King in the North, Robb Stark himself:

OMG, so cute. And I’m not just saying that because Robb is my mental image for the hero I’m writing for Viv’s new holiday romance. Just…. awww…

As we were taking this picture, some dude walked by and said, “Hey, Robb, how was the wedding?”

Robb cosplayer: NOT. GOOD.

Hence the hilarity in the photo.

Okay, y’all, one more. And this one is good, because it wasn’t on my phone taken by me under those awful con lights. Vania did some cosplay photos of Persis:

And oh, I went to a bunch of panels, too. Details to come. 🙂