Shortly before Kitchener Comic Con this winter, the munchkin got really into Undertale.  Since making her a Frisk costume was as easy as sewing some stripes onto a shirt, it was an easy decision to put that together for her (and toss on my Temmie Twitch costume again too). I also added a face to one of the flowers from my Warm Bodies costumes and Mr Stark miraculously found a perfect-colour striped shirt for me. I'm not super happy with my makeup but since I drove in from Toronto in the early morning before the con, it could have been a lot worse hahaha

Very Frank Pictures was awesome and grabbed a few cute photos, which I have added to my Casual Cosplay gallery.

I'm also adding in the very few photos I took at Kitchener Comic Con here... every year KCC presents a different sent of challenges and this year was no different between schedule conflicts and having a table to hold down. Regardless I got to spend some time with Olivia's Atelier and a few other locals, which was nice.

Kitchener Comic Con was an unusual experience - I was going as handler and assistant to Stark Reality, who was a guest again this year. Instead, Because of course this is how things go, I ended up supervising the kids LEGO activity table for most of saturday and hanging out at the Cosplay dance party corner with Iron Girl on Sunday (which was great until my feet remembered that they hate my ghostbusting boots). But I did get to see some friends, both KW locals and others who drove in, and even got to see one of Mr Stark’s panels (because that never happens)! ​

As usual, here’s photos from the event ^_^

... and also as usual, I'll wrap things up with a few nice shots that friends nabbed at the con.

Just like in Toronto, Kitchener’s geek community has its fair share of drama, personality conflicts, and people who are simply poor representatives of fandom. However, the positive energy at Kitchener Comic Con this year totally dominated the atmosphere and made for a great event. Granted, my experience was coloured by spending most of the day working the Cosplay for a Cure booth which is always a positive experience, but still.

Because I was at the booth most of the day there’s not a lot that I can say about the event itself aside from the general commentary above. I debuted version 1 of my latest Alice in Wonderland costume, and although the other Cure girls were also in their rock princess costumes, the booth was busy enough that we didn’t get photos together. I was able to sneak away for a little bit for solo shots with Dream Land Photography. Ragz Cosplay was there in his latest Spiderman costume and standing next to him, I was mistaken for Gwen Stacey several times hahaha. Iron Girl wore her Elsa costume and was “borrowed” by the Marvelous Girls of KW throughout the day to join their (canon) princess group.

“Ain’t No Pretty Princess” Alice gallery page is now up featuring photos from my shoot at KCC.

So much (and yet also so little) to say about the inaugural Kitchener Conic Con. 

Part 1: The Con Itself
I had a good time. I hung out with friends, got to know the KW geek community a little better, and saw a lot of people (especially families) being excited about comics. 

I went with KW Iron Man, doing our Pepperony thing. Since he was a guest of honour and was doing most (or all?) of the cosplay programming, I spent almost all of the con sitting behind his table in the market place (an experience that all partners of "professional cosplayers" know all too well LOL). We weren't selling anything, but it was a convenient place to have all the extra armour pieces that we brought for the "props and armour" panel out on display promoting his work (especially since he was doing so many events that he was barely at the table). I was thrilled that Ragz Cosplay showed up since he kept me company at the table all day while Mr Stark was off doing his thing. I did have the opportunity to leave a couple of times for lunch and a little walk around the building, and was fortunate to be able to squeeze in some photos/video with Trillance, Everage, and Yo Napper while doing that. And when the con wrapped up, Mr Stark and I had a fun dinner out with a bunch of our cosplay friends ^_^

Part 2: The Con's Online Presence
Unfortunately, as much fun as I had at the convention, I feel I should at least acknowledge the issues surrounding KCC's disastrous PR. If you're part of the Southern Ontario con-goer community, especially if you know staffers from any of the other cons in the area, you probably saw at least a little of the drama being played out in the days immediately following the event. 
I watch the event's Facebook page, and in the lead-up to KCC I was a little surprised at some of the comments that were being posted by the Con Com*. While the posts weren't outright rude, they were often written in a way which was casual, joking, or not actually answering the question which could easily be read as being rude, condescending, or elitist due to the loss of meaning in text communication. But I gave them the benefit of the doubt. That is until, the day after KCC, I saw the abusive post by the Con Chair directed towards an attendee who was unhappy about the con's parking situation... and the next couple of days of fallout and escalation and bullying and other people's experiences with the Chair which came through my facebook feed. The behavior went so far beyond unprofessional that they no longer have my benefit of the doubt.

The bottom line being that even though I had a great time at KCC itself and I would like to support the awesome artists, craftspeople, vendors, and friends I have made in the region, the aftermath left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. Since the con chair seems to be unable to treat all their attendees and prospective future attendees with respect, I would have a difficult time choosing to attend another one of their events.

If you read my blog regularly, you'll know I rarely get into the gossipy stuff that goes on at conventions. Most of the time it's not worth mentioning, especially since it rarely or never affects me directly, nor does it affect the experience of the average attendee. But the KCC statements have created a LOT of ill-will in the community, and when put together with the very poor treatment that Mr Stark and a few other friends received earlier this year from KW Tri-Con organizers, I'm pretty disappointed in Kitchener-Waterloo's  ability to host events which are welcoming places for everyone to feel comfortable sharing our geeky interests.

*for those not involved in convention staffing "con com" refers to the convention committee, and the " con chair" is the convention chairperson aka the boss.

I'm going to be there with KW Iron Man as Pepper Potts - keeping an eye on that always troublesome Tony ~_^  He is going to be doing a "Props and Armour" panel with Shelle-Chii and London Batman, but I'm just going to be hanging around the con all day ^_^

If you're in the Kitchener-Waterloo area and want to check out KCC, come to Kitchener City Hall from 11 to 6-ish (Feb 28). Admission is free, but paid VIP passes are available which give priority entrance to events and discounts from some vendors.

Hope to see some of you there!
Kitchener Comic Con on Facebook
Photo: Elemental Photography at Tri-Con 2014.