San Diego Comic Con - Day Three

I was up at 7:30am, I got about three hours of good sleep. I found out that Ray had some extra ear plugs so I should be good for tonight.

Today I am cosplaying as Frodo Baggins, I started with the ears as those seem to take the longest to put on. After a half hour and with a little help from my brother I got the ears on and matched the color of my skin. Next was the Hobbit pants and shirt, then the necklace (with ring) and sword.

As I was getting ready Chris was getting ready in his cosplay (which was Ruby from Once Upon A Time). My brother and Ray were still working on their Transformer outfits and didn't plan to get into them until later in the evening.

As Chris finished up I slipped on my Hobbit feet and wig and was ready to go. Chris and I met up with Brett (who was cosplaying as Slenderman) and jumped on the shuttle bus that would take us to the con.

We got that just as the front doors were open so we walked on in. Today was all about cosplaying for me. Chris had a panel he wanted to go to later in the day but all I wanted to do was walk around take pictures and have pictures taken of me. Elea joined us for a bit cosplaying as Psylocke as well as Jes who was cosplaying as Hook from Once Upon A Time. We were a very eclectic group of cosplayers. Chris went to an Assassin Creed panel, while the rest of us just roamed the halls.

While at the Weta booth I got to meet Russell Alexander he is the Owner/Caretaker of Hobbiton, yes the real Shire out in New Zealand. He gave me the biggest compliment by saying that I was the most authentic looking Hobbit that he had seen at the con so far. How cool is that. We talked for about ten minutes before he moved on to other visitors to the Weta booth.

Also while I was at the Weta booth I ran into Jesse in his Thorin cosplay. Jesse is another cosplayer from the show Heroes of Cosplay on Syfy. And his Thorin cosplay won an award on the season finale of Heroes of Cosplay. I got a few pictures with him and we chatted about "reality" TV for about fifteen minutes. He was a very cool guy.

I got a picture with a "Gandalf" cosplayer, I have to say that there weren't many Lord of the Rings / Hobbit cosplay going on. In previous years I have always ran into two or three other people dressed as Hobbits but this year I did nothing.

Chris rejoined the group and we were off to grab some lunch and we were told about some food trucks over in the Petco center car lot. So we made the long trek (I was extremely worried that my feet would split at any moment). But when we got there, it was only a few trucks and there was no place to sit down and out of the hot sun. We opted to go to the Hilton and made our trek back to the con area and over a bridge.

When we walked into the Hilton we saw group of people surrounding someone, turns out it was John Barrowman from Torchwood/Arrow. I was so tempted to join in the group and get a picture with him but I was with my group and was trying to keep up with everyone.

After a few dead ends we finally found a place to have lunch or by this time an early dinner.

When lunch/dinner was over we headed back to the con, the group split up, Chris headed back to the hotel to change and everyone went off in their own directions. I continued to walk the floor in the Hobbit cosplay. I got a call from my brother around 6:30 letting me know that he and Ray were on their way to con. They had spent all day working on their Transformers cosplay. They arrived around 7pm just as the main hall was closing and there were people everywhere.

The hotel shuttle bus arrived and I helped them unload there many pieces to their costumes. Once everything was on the ground a crowd started to form. First just a few people interested in what was going on. But soon a crowd of a hundred people watched as my brother and Ray put on their 12 foot tall Transformers outfits.

The guys didn't really think things out and didn't have any handlers to make sure they didn't injure anyone. I did my best to be that person but it was difficult as Ray doesn't really listen and does his own thing. Frustration set in after an hour and I was so happy with my friends Chris, Aaron, Brett, Dallas and Rupert found us and I pawned them off to those guys. I felt bad asking these guys to give up part of their night to look out for Ray and my brother but I had enough and my nerves were shot.

So my brother and Ray along with my friends wondered off into the city while I got on a shuttle bus and headed back to the hotel. Once there I removed all my Hobbit attire, feet and ears. I was ready for a quiet night in my hotel room. I walked to Jack in the Box to grab some food and was back in my hotel room eating when my brother and Ray surprisingly showed up. It had only been a few hours and I was to happy to see them as I expected a quiet night in. They brought in all their stuff and informed me that they had had enough. I guess they could only do a few hours in costumes before becoming exhausted, it's a lot of work walking around on stilts.

Also at this time my buddy (and 5th roommate) Scott arrived at the hotel. He settled in before he and Ray headed out to party with Chris and the others. I stayed in with my brother who was extremely tired. We hung out and watched some TV before calling it a night.

I had a blast cosplaying, got to hang with some friends, got to see people go absolutely crazy over my brother and Ray's Transformers cosplay. I did a bit more walking in the Hobbit feet then I had planned but they survived and I plan to cosplay tomorrow as well. Ray drove me crazy but luckily my friends came to my rescue. So overall it was a pretty good day at comic con.