A Sense of Security: Cosplay Props and Con Creepers

KatsuCon 18, 2012 held at the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel in Maryland came with a steady and long-awaited countdown as my remedy to “Con Withdrawal Syndrome.” With my last convention being Arisia back in January, the “winter blues” were kicking in, so the anticipation for KatsuCon was overwhelming with the unveiling of my Eidos Interactive Lara Croft of Tomb Raider II Cosplay! Equipped with not only one but three outfits recreated from the game, my group including Mr. T, Link from Legends of Zelda, a remodeled Marvel X-Force Deadpool and newly added Juliet Starling of Grasshopper Manufacture’s game Lollipop Chainsaw had the largest arsenal of props I’ve traveled with yet. Props including, but not limited to, a fabricated gold “bazooka”, a gutted chainsaw with replacement wooden blade, a wooden Master Sword, unsharpened kitanas and airsoft Desert Eagle handguns with removed pellet clips so we couldn’t help but wonder how KatsuCon Staff members would handle deeming the safety of these props around other attendees. We take the safety of our group very seriously and my quote of the weekend –inspired from Marvel’s The Avengers movie trailer- was, “You have an army? We have a Mr. T.” So along with wondering about our props, we also took into consideration dealing with the possibilities of “Con Creepers” who enjoy scoping out conventions in search of the promiscuously dressed and unassuming girl attendees.

While I like to think one should have the freedom to let their guard down at these wonderful conventions, the reality is that it never hurts to keep their wits about them and always travel in pairs or groups because let’s face it: the world isn’t perfect. Now the Gaylord Hotel staff kept a respectful and much appreciated distance when doing their rounds to ensure the atmosphere of the convention didn’t interfere with other guests exploring the two acre wide and three level high atrium of the hotel with adjoining convention center. Not even all this space could contain the awesomeness of being surrounded by so many anime, video game, movie and toy cosplays; so many in fact, that I found myself feeling lazy in comparison with the creation of my own character. But that feeling was ultimately remedied as the recognition of my Lara Cosplay far exceeded that of my previous cosplays.

This jubilation was only surpassed by seeing my group member Bethany, dressed as the zombie-slaying Juliet Starling, who received tremendous admiration and photo requests for her ensemble that was complete with the hanging head of Nick Carlyle (Juliet’s boyfriend) and a sweet as can be lollipop-dispensing chainsaw. Together we treated KatsuCon like our playground and real world videogame realm in search of zombies and game-inspired backdrops for amateur photo shoots that later “leveled-up” to a free professional photo shoot with the wonderful Droo Photography team on Saturday. Complete with signed model release form, this shoot was truly a highlight of our weekend starting with Link and a Zelda Cosplay and ending with Link paired with Deadpool pictures. Lara was kind enough to lend her airsoft Desert Eagles to Deadpool (of which Con Staff took no notice of) for his shoot as she feared his cap guns wouldn’t do his Cosplay justice for this wonderful opportunity.

My awareness was keen about the guns as we had a situation the day before with Con Staff regarding T’s golden bazooka that is purposely made to look fabricated and dubbed “Betty White” in reference to T’s favorite Golden Girl actress. But T stood his ground defending his prop because it is, after all, fake and the staff allowed him to keep it. Though later on, Deadpool was toting ole Betty White around (ok that just sounds funny) and staff claimed he could “hurt somebody” with the prop. Now, I’m not trying to ruffle feathers here but I have seen T bring this same bazooka to Super Megafest back in November and Arisia in January and he was never hassled about it. What deems a prop unsafe or “awkward” at one Con and not at others? Anyone who attended KatsuCon could probably agree that there were some larger and more unusual props that were Ok’d by staff than T’s bazooka. So perhaps this was just a case of misjudgment on whether the attendee made the prop unsafe as opposed to the prop itself. Kind of a “props don’t hurt people, cosplayers hurt people” situation.

But rules are rules and let me assure you, my group does support them as exemplified when one group member was asked to return a Nerf gun to our room and did so with no fuss. So why wasn’t Lara asked to return her airsoft Desert Eagles to the room? A rumor had surfaced that such weapons were ok so long as they stayed holstered, but if this was case I chose not to push my luck or dive any further into the matter by asking a Staff member for proof.

At some point on Friday night, though, the aid of a Con or hotel Staff member would’ve been greatly appreciated but was nowhere to be found as Bethany and I had our first encounter with the aforementioned Con Creepers. Fending off cat-calls and a harmless arm grab we were impervious to idiocy and simply walked away from a group of guys who were clearly not attendees of the convention. But a jolt of defense surged through my veins as I noticed the creepers confronting Deadpool and T so I ran to their side just as one creeper removed a kitana from Deadpool’s sheath when his back was turned. Mr. T, realizing the gravity of the situation could only get worse, adopted a commanding stance before the group of creepers and began his diffusing speech complete with “Grrs” and thankfully the group moved on. I can’t make this stuff up people!

It was touching to later see Mr. T so distressed by the incident because I personally view him as a gentle giant and not a raging Hulk whom I feel safe enough around to let my guard down. KatsuCon was, for me, one of the great conventions where I felt secure and will always remember with its majestic, royal-like hallways, superlative anime cosplays and hilarious memories. Attendees should be able to let their guard down and feel secure at conventions whether it regards questionable props or an encounter with the incidental “bad apples” who try to ruin it for everyone with selfish acts. To that end, I’d like to promote the creation of harmless and Weapons Policy-approved props as I venture on to create cardboard Uzi replicas for Lara and intend on leaving the airsofts at home. But to the Con Creepers of the world, well, don’t mess with superheroes; even the fabricated ones.

All Photos in this article belong to Anna Fischer. Check out the rest of her Katsucon 2012 photos here!