ConnectiCon 2010 Review
By Kiera Vallone
ConnectiCon truly lives up to its’ tagline of “Everything but the kitchen sink!” While a relatively small convention, the convention packs in a variety of programming for all types of nerd/geek/etc. Part of what draws me to the convention every year are the Main Events. The staff members are all friendly and enthusiastic, and I’ve made a bunch of friends through participating in cosplay events. Only at ConnectiCon would you see Angel from the Broadway play Rent, Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, Xellos from Slayers, Billy Mays (of infomercial fame), Euphie from Code Geass, Gambit from X-Men, Blood Dupre from Alice in the Country of Hearts, The Prince of All Cosmos from Katamari Damacy, and myself as Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop be quizzed on their pop culture knowledge in a game of Cosplay Weakest Link.
By sheer dumb luck (“banking” nearly every turn probably didn’t hurt), I made to the final two against Tinkerbell. Thanks to being a “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog” fan, having tons of friends into Dr. Who, and listening to Weird Al Yankovic since I was eleven – I walked away with the pot of prizes. Another event unique to ConnectiCon is the Cosplay Death Match. Modified from its inaugural event in 2009, sixteen combatants are sorted into brackets – with the victor of each battle being determined by the crowd’s cheers (which can reach a seemingly-deafening pitch sometimes). The champion of the Death Match then goes on to face the host, Mookie (author and artist of the webcomic “Dominic Deegan”). Combatants included a Na’vi from Avatar, the title character from “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac”, Chii from Chobits, and the ever-popular mob of zombies. As North Italy from Axis Powers Hetalia, I was happy to make it past the first round this year. In the end, Captain Jack Sparrow drunkenly made his way to the top of the ranks and became the 2010 champion. Though held late at night, ConnectiCon’s Dating Game is not 18+. It seemed to take a long time for the line of people to be seated. To the dismay of fans, the event was forced to end before the ever-popular yaoi round due to a scheduling error.
Cosplay Chess on Sunday (in which I was Jessie from Toy Story 2 & 3) was a bit odd this year as well, as the pace of the match was seemingly much faster than previous years/matches at other conventions. The Masquerade was entertaining – though in my opinion, no skit stood out and being amazing. The number of entries for the Cosplay Craftsmanship contest also seemed to be unusually low. I know the heat wave that had swept the East Coast had caused a few of my friends and I to be unable to complete props for our costumes, so that might have played a role. Another perk of ConnectiCon is that you see a lot of unique, interesting costumes. When I was cosplaying Jessie on Sunday, I as happy to run into a pair of guys who were dressed up as green army men figures. Being a fan of the comic “The Umbrella Academy,” I nerded out when I spotted someone cosplaying The Rumor. I also appreciated the Johnny the Homicidal Manaic that was in the Death Match. As a kid, I loved reading the Magic School Bus books – so seeing someone cosplaying Ms. Frizzle was pretty awesome. While other conventions may be larger and draw in bigger guests, ConnectiCon is a convention that is constantly growing. It has its own unique charm, and gets better year after year.
Photos by Sammy Pipeline aka Sam Carpenter
