Reflections on Dragoncon 2012

I'd like to begin by acknowledging that this post is long overdue. My apologies. That little thing called life got in the way of writing about my experience about my first Dragoncon convention. This year was the 26th show held in Atlanta, Georgia and had over 52,000 people attendance. The show took place Labor Day weekend August 31st-September 3rd. Known as the best costume show in the United States, I was thrilled to be going to the shangri la of the cosplay world.

In addition to being excited about Dragoncon I must admit, I was also a bit nervous. Not only are the best costumers in the world present but people are known for dieting and training for months to assure that they are at their very best. No pressure, right? Luckily my nerves quickly dissolved after remembering that I'm 100% satisfied with my costumes and I am a confident individual. I took part in many shoots including the Gotham City shoot, Young Justice, the DCU shoot, Celebrity Cosplay as well as two private shoots. I only stayed at the DC shoot long enough for the Young Justice themed group because I wasn't feeling well and chose to retire to my room. On Friday I was the modern day Catwoman for most of the day before changing into the 1950's Catwoman for the Gotham shoot. For the Young Justice and DC shoot on Saturday I was Zatanna then switched to Lois Lane for my session with Dustin Dorough. I then changed into Angelina Jolie for the Celebrity Cosplay. On Sunday I was Belle then made a wardrobe change for my fashion session with Grace Moss. Sunday night a friend and I ran into actor Lee Arenberg, who plays Grumpy on the television show Once Upon A Time. I also attended a panel for artist George Perez and the Once Upon A Time panel with actors Lee Arenberg, Raphael Sbarge and Tony Amendola.

The costumes that I saw were most impressive and surpass anything I've seen before at previous shows. Meeting with friends was the highlight of the event for me as well as making new ones. I have to say that this was my favorite shows I have ever attended. The atmosphere was laid back and the show is about the love of costuming. Hollywood has successfully invaded comic and costume shows which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm not suggesting that Hollywood actors and writers have no business being there. They are a welcome addition but Hollywood has seem to have taken over. Events like the San Diego Comic Con are more focused on television and movies rather than comics, collecting and costumes. Dragoncon was a breath of fresh air from all of the industry crap. I greatly enjoyed it and look forward to returning next year. Up next: the New York Comic Con taking place October 11th-14th.

For the full gallery, be sure to check out my Facebook Fanpage.

Fantastic Steampunk Predator Costume Helmet

This completely wearable Predator helmet is an original sculpt made from fiberglass—and despite looking like it would weigh a ton, weighs only 2lbs. You can order it unfinished and dremel out the eye holes and do finishing yourself or pay a bit more for a ready-to-wear version. A combination of waxes, metal rubs and airbrushing create the realistic metal suface and weathered details.

See more pictures after the break…

Product Page ( 95- 165 or $154-$267 via Obvious Winner)

A Message from the Admin: Philippine Cybercrime Prevention Act 10175

Hi guys! Mei again, your resident cosplay fanatic!

You've all probably heard of the new cybercrime prevention act in my country, the Philippines, and to be honest, I myself don't really understand everything about it as of yet. However, with the law being unclear with regards to what would be considered "libel", I don't think I'll be posting any new entries for a while.

You see, if I were to mistakenly write something or post something that's considered "malicious", whether it be towards the government or even a Filipino cosplayer/photographer, it could land me in jail for 12 years. Twelve Years. Just for blogging about cosplay.

Some of you have considered this blog to be very "malicious" for "stealing photos that aren't yours" and "adding a link to the photos that aren't yours", even though I've tried to explain why I do what I do, and that you can request to change anything through comments or a simple email. Well, in less that 10 minutes, you can start suing me thanks to the new law, for anything I post on October 3, 2012 and onwards.

A little extreme? Maybe so, but unfortunately(?), 12 years is a chance I'm not willing to take.

And so, until my beloved country becomes a little clearer with what falls under "libel"? I think it's time for Cosplay Holic to rest (until I manage to immigrate to another country that is!)

I hope to see you all again soon! (o* )

Lots of Love,
Mei~

Michael Bay? Time Travel? Found Footage? How Can We Lose?

Michael Bay, you’ve done it again.

Apparently eager to jump on the “found footage” subgenre bandwagon, Bay is developing a film called Almanac through his Platinum Dunes production company. The Hollywood Reporter broke the story saying that after a year of development at Dunes, the film has been picked by Paramount Pictures who are reportedly, "move aggressively and swiftly with it."

Not much is known about the story, but it’s supposed that it will be in the same vein as fellow “found footage” film Chronicle, except the focus is time travel, not superpowers. Screenwriters Andrew Stark and Jason Pagan wrote the screenplay on spec and Dean Israelite (cousin of Battle: LA director Jonathan Liebesman) has been tapped as director for the potential project.

In keeping with the popular perception of Bay, this is a no-brainer. Bay’s success as a film producer is evident with low cost remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th, and found footage films are notoriously low budget and buzz worthy, which makes them financially successful. And with Looper’s success at the box office, more time travel is on the menu from idea-less studios.

But who cares? More Bay-bashing! Coming soon to a theater near you. What say you, Bastards? Are you at least interested?

Source: /Film

Kiki Wolfkill talks about Halo's Pillars

Kiki Wolfkill talks about Halo's Pillars

Gameplanet has had a fairly long yarn with Kiki Wolfkill whom Halo fans will know as Frankie's right hand lady - i.e. one of the producers of Halo 4.
Gameplanet: You mentioned core pillars - what are these, and how do they influence the way 343 put together the game?

Kiki Wolfkill: You can look across any number of games and they'll have similar pillars, but for us, when we sat down and started thinking about what Halo 4 needed to be, we looked at the whole breadth of things coming out over the next three years, we looked at player behaviour over the next three years, we looked broadly at how entertainment is evolving, and tried to think about those. So I think where we landed was that we needed to understand what is the key strength of Halo, and what are the key things that differentiate us. So rather than chasing other things, let's make sure we're really doubling down on things that are strengths and differentiators of Halo. And I think epic Sci-Fi is one of those, and a lot of people on the team - including myself - can clearly articulate how they felt the first time they played Halo 1. The first time they landed on that Halo ring. That became something that really resonated with the team in terms of how do we get back to that feeling?
For people who have played Halo before, but also for people who haven't played it before, because there are people who were five years old when the first Halo came out. So how do we get that moment of wonder and awe and amazement that the player has been transported to this place that they want to explore. So that kind of gets back to that first pillar - we wanted to deliver this epic Sci-Fi adventure, and closely tied to that is the return of Master Chief. We wanted to make sure that felt meaningful.

The second pillar was really around delivering a very powerful and visceral campaign and gameplay experience. Our Halo sandbox is a really powerful and unique characteristic of Halo, so it's about how we build on that and add whole new experiences that can be gained by adding new tools to the sandbox. That's where the new enemy class came from, and all the things they bring with them. The other part of it is how do we ensure a good first-person experience?

A 900 pound Spartan named John

You're a 900-pound Spartan, you're heavy and powerful, but you're also very nimble and light - how do we make sure the player feels that a little bit more in the style of their movement, and the audio that they're hearing in their heads-up display? I think those became focal points around that pillar.

Then the third is that we have to deliver on innovation in multiplayer. For us that manifested itself in Spartan Ops, exploring this whole new delivery method and a whole new co-operative mode, and also the changes we made to the competitive multiplayer. Having this infinity multiplayer overlay, this idea that there is a narrative that connects you to the campaign experience, and this idea that the campaign and multiplayer aren't these completely disconnected game experiences. We want all of it to feel like it's part of a whole, and in multiplayer when you build your Spartan force, you have a sense of place and understanding as being part of that universe.
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I think this shows that Kiki should clone herself and she should work on every game!

Breaking Bat: $10 Tee Today Only! [Deals]

Batman’s newest enemy is a former chemistry teacher known as Heisenbane. Grab this tee for only $10 while you can—the deal ends tomorrow!

Product Page ($10/Today Only)

Jean Grey Phoenix And Dark Phoenix Baby Doll Costume Shirts

Just in time for Halloween come these baby doll style t-shirts that will let you casually cosplay in comfort. You can choose Jean Grey as either Phoenix or Dark Phoenix, or get both and swap them out depending on your mood. Both shirts are 100% cotton with a front image and a solid colored back.

See the Dark Phoenix shirt after the break…

Product Page: Phoenix/Dark Phoenix ($24.99-$25.99)