What you need to know about
Conventions
By Sara Croft & Carla Lemley |
A convention means a large gathering of people with the same interests or
agenda, e.g. The San Diego Comic Convention, The Star Trek Convention.
Conventions are extremely fun, you have all these like-minded people who are
there for the same reason you are!
If you are attending in a costume, be prepared to pose for pictures, be kind to
strangers who want a photo with you, don't ignore them, also be
prepared to be touched by them, to an acceptable extent, like an arm around your
shoulders. If you are touched in an inappropriate way, do not be silent about
it. Let the person who did it know it is not ok, and inform the convention
authorities.
Cosplay does NOT equal consent.
You've got your costume, you're looking amazing! don't judge others with
lesser costumes than yours, compliment them, take pictures with them, and be
nice.
If someone has a great costume, try not to feel competitive
with them, it can be hard when someone gets all the attention for the same
costume/character you are wearing, but that doesn't mean
you have to be mean to them.
Create a nickname you would like to be called by, keeping privacy in mind is a
good practice when going to an event with a large audience.
One thing that is really overlooked when going to a con is comfort! be sure
that your costume provides a degree of reasonable comfort, or that you can
readily piece it apart if you need to take breaks in between, surprisingly cons
can take much energy to go through with consistent walking and
posing
Don't forget to snack, have lunch or dinner, if caught by a passerby for photos
as you are attempting to have lunch kindly let them know you will be there to
take photos when you're done eating.
Most importantly don't forget to hydrate! Most of us forget that hydration is
important for our bodies and forgot drinking water for hours, causing exhaustion
and dehydration with a faster onset than normal, don't be the one who gets
picked up by an ambulance at the con!
Finally make sure you are well groomed and your costume doesn't show anything
you don't want it to, if you bend over or pose a certain way, so make sure the
costume fits well and covers the important bits.
You will need (essentials):
- Backpack
- A phone that can take pics, and is web capable and if you
can manage it, has GPS so you can find your way around
- A camera and batteries
- Food and keep hydrated with water
- Cards with your facebook or email on them so you can keep
in touch with all the cool people there
- Maps, hotel number and local taxi numbers
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My First Convention - PAX East 2015
Sara Croft |
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Everyone thinks it's absolutely ludicrous that someone who runs a website like
mine has never been to a convention. Before PAX east 2015, I'd never
known the joy of being in a place where everyone was like minded, was there to
express love for games, costuming, and general nerding out. I won't bore you with the details, but there
has always been some kind of obstacle in my way, so after a few times of trying,
I gave up.
So you can only imagine my excitement when I was able to make it to PAX. I had
the opportunity to meet up with Senior Communications and Community Manager
Meagan Marie and Cosplay Veteran Jenn Croft, and i was not about to let it pass me by.
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During the convention, every day from 10am to 2pm,
Xbox hosted an event in honor of the brand new game
Rise of the Tomb Raider.
Altogether, they gave out around 600 Limited edition (PAX exclusive) posters, to
anyone who snapped a photo with Jenn Croft in her costume.
The outfit looked like it was extracted directly
from the
concept art Game Informer published last month.
Saturday afternoon, we had a Tomb Raider Cosplay meet-up, it was so
lovely to see so many Laras from all different incarnations. We even had two cosplayers dressed as Alex
Weiss. |
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The Tomb Raider Cosplay Meetup |
The turn out was so impressive, we even had a few more Laras show up at the end that are not
pictured here. |
Group Selfie!
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An awesome Alex Weiss Cosplayer
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Me as Lara from Tomb Raider Legend in my Tokyo dress |
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Annie Roig was able to make it to the cosplay meet
up too! She is the one in the Classic Tomb Raider costume. It was such an awesome thing to have the first and latest Lara there.
She was very well received during and after the meet-up and had dozens of people take her photo. It is truly awesome to have her come back to us after such a long break! |
Tomb Raider Vs Star Wars! There was a group of Star Wars cosplayers in the
same area, so we posed for a showdown. |
Two Tokyo Laras!
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Meeting Meagan Marie |
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Meagan, as you may know, is our community manager at
Crystal Dynamics and a darn fine one at that. I had the pleasure of hanging out
with her and I have to say, as lovely as she is online, you won't truly know how
phenomenal she is, until you are in her presence.
She exuded beauty, intellect, elegance and
grace. She was so kind to everyone at the convention and I can honestly
say that my life is now complete for meeting her. |
Josh, Monique, Jenn, Meagan and myself |
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Meeting Jenn Croft |
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Jenn has been a Lara Croft cosplayer for 15 years.
She's a pillar in the Tomb Raider community and the Cosplay Community.
We first met about 7 years ago, and have been close friends ever since. I really would not be where I am without her
constant support.
I was so thrilled to finally meet her in person.
She embodies Lara in looks and essence.
So for me, there wouldn't have been anybody better for the ROTTR Event. She
maintained unfaltering professionalism that can only be admired , because of
this, in many ways Jenn Croft is far more than your average cosplayer. |
Jenn's completed Rise of the Tomb Raider Costume! |
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Walking with Giants... |
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In addition to Meagan Marie and Jenn Croft, I also
met some of the most well known cosplayers in the hobby and Malik Forte! |
I was fortunate enough to meet the lovely and talented
Monika
Lee.
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My Unbiological sister,
Annie Roig aka The Cosplay Mom!
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I was extremely lucky to have also snapped a photo with
Malik Forte from The
Nerdist |
The lovely
NadyaSonika was there too! she was such a delight ! |
I also had the privilege of meeting the incredible
Amie Lynn |
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Other Awesome Cosplayers |
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Everyone from the booth owners to the cosplayers to
attendees were beyond courteous , I couldn't resist asking a few people for
photos and they happily obliged. |
Tyrese from the Walking dead |
Jon Snow from Game of Thrones |
Samus Aran Zero Suit |
Master Chief |
Infamous: Fetch and Delsin |
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt General Eredin |
Although I did walk around with the girls and
saw lots of booths, I didn't really check out any other
games in the event, I wanted to spend as much time as humanly possible with
Meagan and Jenn, since this was the first time I met them. I also did not vlog
because I
wanted to enjoy myself and not worry about documenting everything and miss out
on a lot in the process.
I still am digesting everything that happened
that weekend, I had a lot of fun and I feel very lucky to have seen and done the
things I mentioned. I am also very grateful that my first experience was very
positive and I am forever thankful for the beautiful memories. |
More PAX East Photos here
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Jenn Croft's Costume build available here |
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