I probably shouldn't have started off with the Cary Elwes panel. (Then again, I can blame the scheduling people for that as his panel was Thursday at 3, so of course it would be the first thing I would go to.) Because after that, nothing compared in fantasticality. (Wow, I didn't think fantasticality was actually a word. Points for me!) Do I need to pause and tell you all who Cary Elwes is? As you wish... :D Recognize the name now? Westley in The Princess Bride, Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Men In Tights, and quite a few others, but those are the main ones in my mind.
Thanks to The Princess Bride, he was probably one of my first celebrity crushes. And it was pretty obvious I'm not alone in that. But anyway, what made his panel so glorious was the fact that it was so easy to tell he loves what he does. I love seeing that in people. He was funny, charismatic, and so genuinely kind to all the fans who asked questions. I wasn't planning on getting any autographs or photo ops, but after that, I absolutely would have at least gone to tell Cary he won a thousand awesome points in my book. But I didn't. I was still taking it all in on Thursday, I didn't want to go see him the day I was in cosplay (Friday), and we ended up not going on Saturday due to our move. Lesson learned.
I was kind of disappointed there were only about five people who recognized my cosplay, but then again, if you don't watch the show it was from, you probably wouldn't think I was wearing anything unique. I realize that, but still. It was kind of depressing. And to save anyone from asking, I went as Moriarty from the BBC's Sherlock. I even picked the outfit he wears when he's stealing the crown jewels as I thought it would be more identifiable than just a suit, which is what you see him in 95% of the time. Side note: yes, I've watched Sherlock and it wasn't half bad. No I am not, nor will I ever be, a Cumberbitch. That is all. I was surprised at the lack of Sherlock cosplays as all I ever heard about that show before I finally gave it a shot was how amazing it was and how much I'd love it. I liked it. It was good, but definitely not as wonderful as everyone told me it would be. But, my friends told me I'd make a good Moriarty and the cosplay came together in about five minutes. End discussion of my cosplay.
It was a lot of fun to see all the different cosplays and the different levels of skill associated with them. They definitely got better from Thursday to Friday and I bet there were a lot of excellent ones on Saturday as well. And it was kind of cool to be in a crowd of that many people who share the same affinities, it's not weird to tell a total stranger you like their costume or their t-shirt, and it's not weird to ask that same stranger for a picture. We had only been in the Con for two minutes or so when a guy who was cosplaying as Thor with a Loki kitten on his head walked past me. My friends and I were all wearing these shirts
so naturally he bent down and had me pet the Loki kitten. Not strange at all. Just being at Comic Con, there was this unspoken sense of camaraderie with the other attendees that I didn't expect. You didn't need to feel self conscious because the people there love the same things you do, no matter how strange they may be. So thank you to all who made the event possible, and I can't wait to do it all again in the spring.
