Report of Comic Con 2002
Note: Since this report is a recollection of what happened back then, some things might have been forgotten, but alas if I remember anything or realize something is in error, I will update this!
After the “interesting” year I had at Comic Con 01, I knew that something this year was going to redefine Comic Con for me, and that was basically the theme of Lord of the Rings.
I started reading the books when I first heard about the movies coming out. I’m a BIG fan of the medieval/fantasy genre, and so Lord of the Rings was absolutely cool! The movies were just as cool! I knew this would be the con I’d get to wear my Frodo costume; originally I got it just because I liked his outfit, but then I realized wait, I CAN wear it at Comic Con. Just to give a run down of what I wore: Thursday-Seira, Friday-Mutsumi, Saturday-Frodo, and Sunday-Asuka (Evangelion).
Now’s your choice to continue reading, or select a day you’d like to read
about:
-Thursday- -Friday- -Saturday- -Sunday-
Our first day of the con was pretty interesting; got to meet the admin behind what I would later find out to be as cosplay.com. Got some cool merchandise, took pics of cosplayers, got freebies, and found out that Dominic Monaghan, actor of Merry in the Lord of the Rings movies; was going to be signing autographs on Friday. I thought no way! And was really psyched for the day to come!
On Friday, DJ AKA debuted our Love Hina group: what a blast that was! I was Mutsumi, Sana-chan was Naru, Himurakenshin23 was Keitaro, and SomethingLulu was Kitsune. Although Comic Con might not have been the best place to cosplay Love Hina, the reactions we got were hilarious! We were smart though to stay together, even though we were wearing something under those towels. XD
It just got to me when I left the group early to go wait in line for an autograph from Dom. Apparently they were starting TWO lines: one for the Decipher fanclub members and one for non-fanclub members. Basically fanclub members would get first priority and any left over time would then be devoted to the non-fanclub members. I immediately thought, “Great, here goes Watsuki-sensei all over again.” But at least with this the autographs were free and no ticket was required, just an ID if you were with the fanclub.
When Dom arrived, I was surprised at how DIFFERENT he looked. Ok, I know that sounds cliché to say, especially since he was under a lot of make up for the movies, but he was super hot! 0_0 I was soooooooooo hoping I’d get his autograph. In fact, I got three things just incase; my Lord of the Rings book (kill me now DAH), a picture of him as Merry that I bought at the con, and a lithograph of the fellowship. I got the lithograph of the fellowship by joining the fanclub. Yes, I joined the fanclub; but it wasn’t so that I would get in the line with the fanclub members, heheh, noooooo way! I was already in a good enough spot so I wasn’t leaving (Thank goodness Mockystar held my place in line when I went to get the lithograph)! I joined the fanclub because I heard of a special “Breakfast with Merry” taking place on Saturday. It was $30 for the breakfast, but you had to be a fanclub member to attend. So yes, I joined the fanclub just for that; but hey, I figured any club that allows you to see the stars is doing their job well. Plus, later on I got cool Lord of the Ring magazines and 10% discount off their store merchandise, wow!
What ended up happening was they did 15 minutes per line with the fanclub line going first. Thank goodness though I was like 4th in line for the non-club line at the time. I got in there and it was GOOD! But, it wasn’t good because I was dressed as Mutsumi, much less Mutsumi in a TOWEL! He must’ve thought I was some weird stalker creep that wanted to get into his pants because I was in a towel! I guarantee you that was way far from what I really thought of him. XD
He asked me about the antennae in my head, sensing my embarrassment; and I told him they were bangs and no that I wasn’t an alien. I then asked him whether or not he was on this soccer team in Britain (because one of the Decipher dudes asked me to ask him that) and he was. I then told him how I thought he did a marvelous job in the movies and he thanked me graciously.
The coolest thing though was taking a picture with him, and even in a towel of all things! 0_0 He even commented on it before the picture, “Wow, towel, its…gr…great!” He gave that look that made me wonder if he was being embarrassed or just happy to stand next to a girl in a towel. -_- Yes, pretty pathetic I know…but I had my happy fangirl moment.
After that whole excursion I met back up with my group, saw some people I met back at AX (Moo and ZiggyB), and then headed back home. (It’s a good thing I live near Comic-Con)
On Saturday we got there REALLY early not just for the breakfast, but because my friend Primrose needed to get her registration again since she wasn’t sure if she was going to go for a 2nd day of the convention.
I’m not sure what happened with Sana-chan and company during the time I was gone at the breakfast, but let me tell you it rocked the house!
I was able to sit at a table very close to where Dominic would be speaking about the upcoming Two Towers and Return of the King movie. It was very, VERY cool! His table where he ate breakfast at was right next to mine so I had a clear shot of him the whole time!
And for $30, the breakfast was GOOOOOOOOD! Good quality food, well prepared, and all served with Dominic being there! It was totally worth the money as well since we got insider scoop about the upcoming movies. Even better was the fact I was cosplaying Frodo that day! Unfortunately I didn’t have the correct sword (my sword jokingly said “Sting sword, duh!”), and I didn’t have the wig, so I had to keep my hood up the whole time so that my real hair wouldn’t show. Granted when it fell, I’m sure people just thought I was “girl version” Frodo.
There were soooooooooo many things Dominic got to talk about; I wanted to ask a question but I just felt like sitting back and listening in on it. One thing I do remember in particular was how he said his favorite scene to come is the one where Merry and Pippin meet again during the war. Since they had been separated, Dominic says it’s a great scene to watch how Merry somewhat forgets Pippin, but when he remembers, it’s the most gorgeous thing ever to behold! I’ll believe it when I see it, they’re loveable Hobbits and great supporting characters in the books as well as movies!
After the Q & A panel, he went tablehopping and our table was the first! XD He sat next to me which was sooooooooo exciting. Course I contained myself so I wouldn’t seem like a rabid fan girl. He answered some more personal questions and I got a picture with him. It’s too bad he wasn’t actually Merry, cuz then the picture would’ve been perfect. But his expression is priceless! (Check the gallery under Saturday)
After the breakfast, I felt refreshed, well fed, and very happy! I met up again with my group to do some cosplaying before heading off to the Lord of the Rings panel. Rumor had it that the other actors were gonna be there and I thought Elijah Wood would’ve been there too since at the breakfast, Dom mentioned how he and Elijah saw a movie down in the gaslamp area. 0_o
I was hoping to see the actors, but all I saw was Richard Taylor and a cool preview of the Two Towers. Unfortunately I left early because my group wanted to go to dinner at Oscars. I later found out that Elijah, Dom AND Billy Boyd all came up on stage. Ugh, if only I hadn’t gone to dinner. 0_0 Lesson well learned I guess…but I was still happy having met Dom. ^_^
After dinner we headed straight to the area where they’d be holding the masquerade. Since this would be our first attended Comic Con masquerade, we didn’t know what to expect, other than that the line for it starts early and they start handing tickets out in line. The ticket didn’t guarantee what SEAT you got, but just that you would get in. For those of us who wanted good seats, we waited in line.
We got ok seats. We were front row, right column so we were kind of at an angle seeing the stage. When the masquerade started, we noticed the difference right away: only a handful of people that showed up on stage had challenging or complicated costumes and even funny skits! The rest was dull, boring, hard to follow, and half the time I figured, “If this is the Comic-Con masquerade, perhaps I should enter!” ^_~
It didn’t help matters that I started getting sick and tired that night and started to fall asleep during the awards. It was fun, but it certainly wasn’t what I expected. In comparison to AX, I liked the AX masquerade better.
Of course this was only this year…I never knew what the previous years were like, so my statement above was only reflected on that year; please keep that into consideration. ^_^
Seeing as Sundays usually are the anti-climatic part of the con, I wondered if it would be the same way. Thank goodness it wasn’t. For some reason, we found a way to be generally goofy and take funny pics of us being goofy, and hanging out with cosplay/con buddies.
Sana-chan and Himurakenshin23 were Misty and Ash so it was quite hilarious
with some of the responses they got about their costumes, especially from the
little kids. XD
I was Asuka from Evangelion so when I ran into Ayanami Rei, plug suit version; I
figured perfect photo op time! ^_^
That and we ended up as a result running into a LOT of anime cosplayers to take photos with; we ended up staying in the same position for quite a while. ^_^
All in all, this con was sooooooooo much fun that I knew Comic Con would be my “Lord of the Ring con” as it were, as is AX my Anime Con. I kept dreaming about the chance hopefully to meet Elijah, Billy, perhaps even the whole Lord of the Ring cast! They turned a book that I love into something really great!
I already made plans for next year to fix up Frodo though. ^_^;;
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