Christina does Niagara Falls Comic Con!

I've got something different today that I hope will be fun! I'm thinking about expanding the scope of the blog a little bit to talk about more things that I love besides just dolls. Maybe I'll talk about books, movies or TV shows, who knows, but today, I'm going to talk about one of my favourite past times: Conventions! I have been going to conventions for about 10 years now, both comic conventions and other kinds, like the Rocky Horror Picture Show convention I talked about before.

Every year, my friends and I go to a big multi-fandom convention in Toronto called FanExpo, but recently, a smaller convention has started up closer to home, the Niagara Falls Comic Con. That took place this weekend, and my husband and I put on our best costumes and headed out to soak up the nerdiness! We're into a little bit of everything from comics to sci-fi to horror, and conventions, big or small, are always a fun way to connect with lots of people who love the same things you do.

I mostly took pictures of the cosplay I saw, since that is one of my favourite things about going to conventions, but I did take a few of some celebrities, and of some of the many stores selling their wares.

So click through for a glimpse into Niagara Falls Comic Con!

We got there around 10 just as the doors opened, and it took us quite awhile to actually make it into the convention. Nearly an hour! It's nice to see a local convention growing and getting busier, but I will say I had some issues with the way some things were handled. Not enough that I wouldn't go back, but enough to get the day off to a somewhat rocky start.

 Some of the crowds inside taking advantage of the shopping, and the celebrity autograph area. Lots of people, and sometimes things get a bit congested, but if you're patient, you'll get where you're going!

One of the shops, featuring some of my favourite things: blind bags/boxes. I just love these little surprises!

T-shirts as far as the eye can see!

Of course, I have to give my favourite comic shop a shout-out! Mostly Comics in St Catharines is where I've been getting my weekly comics for the better part of a decade, and as always, they brought lots of great stuff to the con!

Including their 8-foot tall Incredible Hulk! He normally has a place of honour right inside the doors of their shop, but he makes the trip to NFCC every year, where they collect donations for Operation Smile for the chance to get a picture taken with him.

 Mostly Comics' hard-working staff!

At a different booth, some of my favourite things ever, Funko POP! figures. It was so hard to decide who to bring home, they're all so cute! You'll see in a bit why I decided to snap a photo of Kermit and Miss Piggy :P

Had to grab a photo of this "Ravishing Reporter" April O'Neil...Ravishing, indeed!

Later in the afternoon we went upstairs for a panel, and were able to look down on the entire convention from above. It's fun to see it like this!

I didn't even notice this banner when we were on the show floor!

I snapped a few photos of some celebrities, even though we didn't meet them. Here we have Dean Cain (Superman!) and Tyler Mane (Sabretooh in X-Men).

And here's an example of the variety of stars that you can find at a convention. Professional wrestler Ric Flair, and Sylvester McCoy, or Doctor Who and The Hobbit fame!

Finally, the one celebrity we did meet, Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation! We've actually met her before, but she's always really delightful so we decided to meet her again. She told me I was adorable, and called my husband "dear", so, we think we made a pretty solid decision :)

The one panel we went to was a Q&A with Sylvester McCoy, and as you can see, the room was packed!

I'm glad we decided to do this panel, even if it was hot in the room and standing room only. Mr. McCoy was a delight, funny and engaging, and he moved around the room quite a bit!

 He told lots of great stories about working on Doctor Who and The Hobbit, and left me wanting to go home and watch more of his episodes of Who! He seemed to be having a good time, which is always nice to see, and also not always the case at these things.

And of course, he was escorted in and out of the room by Daleks!

 And now, let's have a look at some of the wonderful costumes we saw! First, here are myself and my husband, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Pigs in Space version! We had a great time in these costumes, and people really seemed to enjoy them. More pictures later on in this post, of course!

First, I saw a lovely Cecil, from Welcome to Night Vale! I love Night Vale, and I really enjoy seeing people's different takes on the characters, since there are no visuals, and no real hints about what most of the characters look like. It really lets fans be creative!

A wonderful Commander Riker and Deanna Troi, wearing a version of my favourite outfit that Deanna wears on TNG.

Tink!

 The first Elsa!

Elsa and Anna.

Daryl Dixon, from The Walking Dead.

The Seventh Doctor!

I was super excited to see Beetlejuice and Lydia! Love these two.

Harley Quinn and Zatanna.

Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. This is a cosplayer I chased down to grab her photo, she looked great! I'm not very far into this game, but I was still excited to see her!

Steampunk Batgirl, complete with Ace the Batdog!

Catwoman, the Riddle and the Joker. Love the classic 60's Joker!

Starfire from Teen Titans. This is actually one of my husbands students!

A very cute Castiel.

A very creative family! Jack Nicholson's Joker, Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, and a great little Spock!

I loved the creativity on this, combining Sailor Moon and My Little Pony! Very cute!

Macho Man Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels! This was something that made me super excited! I grew up watching wrestling, and these two were some of mine and my brother's favourites, so it was totally an attack of nostalgia when I found them. And they had the characters down too!

This is another couple I chased down! I shouted "Jareth and Sarah!" and took off so fast my husband didn't even know where I went. These two really looked awesome!

Another lovely Elsa! I like seeing the coronation outfit in addition to the fancy gown she wear later.

Hiccup and the Fourth Doctor!

Another Anna and Elsa. I love the bodice on this Elsa's gown, so sparkly!

And finally, another costume we were really excited to see, John Hurt as the War Doctor! Ben saw him first from behind and whispered to me excitedly about it, hoping he was the War Doctor, and then he turned around and he was! So well done, and the first we've seen, but I hope not the last!

Overall, there wasn't as much cosplay as I was hoping to see, but NFCC is new, so that will come. It just makes me look forward to FanExpo that much more, where there is always a ton of amazing cosplay! And if you'll excuse me a bit of vanity, I want to share some more pictures of Ben and myself, since I'm really happy with how our costumes turned out!

Pigs....In...Spaaaaaaaace! I found a space ship!

There was a group doing photos for a donation to breast cancer awareness, and we took advantage of it!

I made everything I'm wearing except my wig, gloves and leggings, and Ben made his hood, gloves and shoe covers.

Aren't we cute?

Maybe not that cute...

 Nope, definitely cute!

And at the end of the day, after 8+ hours in costume, we paused before going home to grab a few more photos. Everything held up really well, and I was particularly impressed with the nose staying on my face that long. I've never made a prosthetic quite like this before so it was a learning experience, and I'll probably need to perfect it eventually, but it did the job and looked pretty good!

Hiiiiiiii-ya!

And that's it for my coverage of Niagara Falls Comic Con! I hope to do more posts like this in the future, so I hope you liked it!