Not Pictures – Heels.

So yesterday I ventured out to Denver Comic Con in downtownDenver.  I’d never actually been to the convention center so parking was… delightful.  You’d think since I work downtown I would have had an easier time, but no $20 for parking as I was in heels and a corset (see picture).  However my own personal discomfort aside I was there to help out the Crusade of Legends crew, as well as go to my first (gasp) comic con.  I wasn’t terribly sure what to expect, and was concerned I was perhaps a little overdressed.  Thankfully I was far from it!  The costumes were fantastic! I was really impressed to see Denver’s geek community out in force and in full regalia!

This was Denver’s first year with the convention and it looked like it was incredibly successful!  Guessing from the initial numbers I heard, the con will probably have seen 30k in attendance, however as I was attending as a volunteer my perspective may have been admittedly skewed.  I was hanging out watching the immensely long lines to get into the convention; however this did give me a front row seat to some amazing costumes (pictured).

I think these are My Little Ponies?

I’ve found that as media, volunteer, or presenter as opposed to an attendee it seriously skews your vision, experience, and understanding of these events.  Honestly I can’t remember the last convention I just… went to as opposed to running something or helping organize.  As an attendee it’s like a deranged holiday – you run around you see the shiny things and it’s like recess for a day for gamers.  However I’ve been on the other side of the fence so long that I think I tend to see things differently.

That said I did meet some awesome folks, and hopefully helped recruit a few people to my favorite local boffer larp group.  While I was walking around between the Mind’s Eye Society table and the aforementioned boffer group I happened upon a few folks worth mentioning :

Reel Nerds

So I love podcasts to begin with, and this group was recording while I was wandering around and their PR gal was very chatty and sweet to talk to.  They’re actually a local group here to Denverand are worth checking out. They have a fun team, and it looks like they do a lot of nice reviews on their blog as well as in iTunes.  http://www.reelnerds.com/

The Dark Empire

This picture inspires me to go back to the gym… and learn to make scale mail.

So I’m a big fan of the 501^st however it’s really pricy to get involved with them. I bumped into a local gal who works with The Dark Empire a group that does custom Sith costuming and are approved by LucasArts.  I’d check this out but I think I have enough hobbies.  If I stop being a LARPer soon I may have to try this group out. http://www.thedarkempire.org/

The other thing about DCC that’s worth mentioning was that the entire VIP Celebrity area seemed really well – open.  At other conventions I’ve been to the Celebrities were usually recessed back behind a lot of fencing or stanchion or the like. At DCC they were pretty close to the rest of the convention which I was sort of surprised by.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to talk to any of them (I really want to get into voice acting more professionally so a chance to talk to some of the folks there was very enticing but commitments come first), but perhaps next year.  DCC did a really nice job of getting some amazing Celebrities, Exhibitors and Artists this year and I was really surprised by the size and scope of the entire event.

Overall – an awesome time!  And next year, maybe I’ll just go as a visitor.  Maybe.

Additional pics below :