C2E2

[dorchadas]

I'm not really a comics fan. I have a comics tag, but the Japanese it's translated from says manga, and the only convention tag I have is explicitly anime conventions. So when schoolpsychnerd suggested I go to the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo with her this weekend, I was hesitant. Would I know anything that was going on? Would I find anything that interested me? Well, I do like cosplay, so I suggested characters that we both know:

Morgoth Bauglir and Sauron the Great.


You can really tell in this photo that my hair is getting lighter
Much to my surprise, quite a few people took our picture! I'm not sure how many of them actually knew who we were, though. Morgoth and Sauron aren't given any description anywhere in canon, so we made up our own interpretation of the costumes. We got some questions about our costumes, and one person who asked if schoolpsychnerd was cosplaying the dark fairy from Once Upon a Time. Once we left, she realized that people might have thought she was cosplaying Morrigan from The Wicked and the Divine. I suppose either is possible--I don't know what either of those characters look like.

There was one woman who stopped us and asked, half in disbelief, if we were really cosplaying Morgoth and Sauron, and when schoolpsychnerd smiled and said yes she asked if she could take our picture. She said she would put it on Instagram, but she was working the artist's alley so it's not up yet. I'll edit in a link when it's available.

Edit: Photo here, thanks to _katiedidnt

Other than that, we didn't stay that long. We left early to get there right as it opened and split a taxi with stephen_poon, but went our separate ways when we got to the convention center. We wandered around the dealer's hall and artist's alley looking at all the shops and I resisted the temptation to buy a little replica gossip stone from Ocarina of Time or a print of Suchlaph, Angel of Verdency from Angelarium (and anyway, we already have Keter and Chesed framed and on our wall). schoolpsychnerd bought a signed Chinatown collection and a copy of Nutmeg, which we happened to walk by and notice it was about youths and cooking, two subjects dear to schoolpsychnerd's heart. I might even read Nutmeg.

After we did a full circuit, we waited around a bit for theome to show up, said hello, and then went home. There weren't any panels I was interested in seeing and schoolpsychnerd's costume was getting kind of uncomfortable, so we thought we would call it a day, even if it did mean we missed a lot of our friends by only half an hour or so.

It was fun! I was very anxious before we went because I wasn't sure what to expect, but I suppose nerd conventions are broadly similar because how else are they going to be run? schoolpsychnerd has a 3-day pass and is heading down tomorrow (where she'll be dressed as Saffron from Firefly), but I'm going to stay home and play Majora's Mask. I think one day was enough for me.

Comments

[princessofburundi]

I'm familiar with Sauron (we are talking LOTR here, aren't we?), but not with Morgoth Bauglir, although it's a great name, really guttural to say out loud. The black lipstick looks great, makes me want to go out and buy some for myself.

Glad you had a good time!

[dorchadas]

Thank you!

It's the same Sauron, though the version from The Silmarillion (hence the lack of spiky armor). That's where Morgoth is from as well--he's Sauron's old boss.

[princessofburundi]

Ah, I have not read The Silmarillion, although I've had a lovely hardback copy of it on my shelf since I was a teenager. It's very pretty, but I've never opened it!

[dorchadas]

It's almost more like a history textbook in some ways. schoolpsychnerd bounced off it a while ago, so I offered to read it to her on weekends. And that way, we've almost finished it!

(We did the same with The Lord of the Rings, which she had read before, but it was fun to do the voices. )

[princessofburundi]

Maybe when I've finished with my current non-fiction reading I'll pick up The Silmarilion and see if I can read that in short bursts, which is the way I read non-fiction, a little bit every day or two.

I was introduced to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman by my ex-husband reading them to me. He started with 'Witches Abroad' and then 'Good Omens'. What a wonderful way to be introduced to any author, and he had an amazing, resonant voice.

[schoolpsychnerd]

The lipstick is NYX's Black Berry Pie Butter Gloss and I loved it! It held up so well with not a lot of re-application over the day!

[princessofburundi]

It's really cool! I'm both too old and too shy to try out black lipstick, and there's all that lovely purple lipstick on the market which I think I'm too old for as well. I'll leave that to you younger folk!