Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Wizard World Comic Con, Tulsa, OK; Nov. 7-9: Chandler's time to shine!

Hey everyone! 

I hope you all have enjoyed my last few blog posts. I know it's been a bit since I have updated, but I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity... And now I have it!

This past weekend Eyen and I took my mom and little brother Chandler to attend the Wizard World Comic Con in Tulsa, Oklahoma! 

My mom has been so excited for this event ever since I told her about it MONTHS ago. She even asked off of work months in advance. I had to be sure I made it happen for her! She doesn't get excited about much, so I knew she was really looking forward to attending. She decided on the James Marsters VIP package since she is a huge fan of Spike in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

We started brainstorming ideas for costumes we wanted to wear at the event. We decided one day would be a Buffy outfit and the other 2 would be Walking Dead inspired. They turned out great! 



Friday November 7

For Friday, we decided to dress Chandler up as Spike! We slicked his hair back, sprayed a little white and blonde washable hair color spray in his hair, and dressed him in a red shirt with a long, black trench coat. It turned out great!  Everyone loved his outfit, and he kept getting compliments. 




 My mom and I decided to make our own Spike shirts. It was fun!
 Mom waiting in line to meet Michael Rooker from The Walking Dead/Guardians of the Galaxy! (aka Merle)


 I was too excited! You can also see my homemade shirt in this photo. :)



 I was checking out all of our free VIP goodies. And my mom bought me this awesome Norman Reedus with his cat photo!


 Here comes Michael Rooker!

The awesome thing about this event was that it is isn't JUST handicap accessible, it is HANDICAP FRIENDLY! Actually, it's more like handicap VIP! They were so accommodating and friendly to everyone in general, but especially to those with special needs. It was fantastic! My mom actually never had to wait in crowded areas for long periods of time. She was allowed to go first at every booth!



The next bundle of photos are of my mom meeting Michael Rooker! He was a really funny guy. She had her own photo for him to autograph (pictured later). As soon as she handed it to him, he said "WHOA whatta picture!" You'll soon see why.























 As you can see, my mom chose the photo of Merle as a zombie! She chose this one because she said this is the only time the show has made her cry. She was really moved by Merle and his turn around to be good. Plus, Daryl's reaction really got to her. Well, now she has his autograph!

 Some cool merchandise we saw!

Us taking a break! There is a lot of walking and standing involved, so we were excited to finally sit down.



 I still think his costume is awesome! 




 We soon realized that we chose the best seat in the house! Next thing you know, Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter) decided to eat lunch RIGHT beside us!



He was so accessible throughout the whole convention. He was filming his every move, so I don't know if he was doing a documentary or something, but he wasn't allowing anyone to talk to him except at his booth.

 I sneaked a peek of Ernie Hudson from Ghost Busters!


 Us waiting in line to meet James Marsters! We were both so excited! Unfortunately, his flight was running late, so we had to wait longer than expected.



 A stroller turned into the batmobile!

 Dean Cain!


 Here he comes! Yes, he looks WAY different than he used to, but my mom (and grandma) still think he's handsome. :P


 He was such a nice guy! He LOVED Chandler's outfit. I think he was really flattered.

Eyen was awesome and took a TON of photos for us! Take your time and check them all out!























After we got his autograph, we headed over to do our photo op with him! I will be including that photo at the end of the post along with our autographed pictures from the convention. Friday was a short convention day, but I think this day actually made us the most tired. I think we were so excited throughout the whole thing that we forgot to sit down and rest except for once!





 Saturday November 8

For Saturday, we decided to dress Chandler up as Dale from the Walking Dead! This costume was a HIT! It caught everyone's attention including Norman Reedus! (more about this later)

 Dale sitting on top of his RV. The only thing missing is his rifle.


 My mom decided to dress as Carol with baby Judith. It was awesome!
 Some of the booths at the convention!


 I loved this little guy! I think he is so cute! 

 R2D2! We aren't sure if it is the actual R2D2 from the movie, but I would not be surprised if it was! He beeps and moves around just like the real one. It was great!






 One, two Freddy's coming for you... Robert Englund who plays the original Freddy Kruger!


 These little brothers are SO cute! They were dressed as Merle and Daryl! Their costumes were on point!

 Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy from Spongebob Squarepants!

 Eliza Dushku from Buffy.

 Chandler with his little Daryl doll I brought back from Senoia.

At 12:30 on Saturday we got to have a photo op with Norman Reedus! It was fantastic! He is so nice. I will be showing the photos at the end along with an exciting story about Chandler's costume!

After our photo op, we attended James Marsters' session. Basically, the audience members can go up to a mic and ask him questions. This was the best session we attended! He will literally answer any question. And thankfully he isn't boring! 

I may have went a little photo overboard, but I was excited!
 
The first question he was asked was what was one of his most embarrassing moments on set... and if he could answer it in his Spike British accent. :)   He laughed and said "I don't do that voice anymore" IN HIS SPIKE ACCENT! haha.

Check out his answer in this video!































 After the James Marsters' session, we waited around until Michael Rooker's session began. This session was also really fun to attend! This was the last thing we did on Saturday. We decided to head back to the hotel and work on our costume for the next day!

Sunday November 9

 On Sunday, we decided to dress Chandler up as the Governor, complete with his tank and all!





 We had a few malfunctions going into the doors of the convention. It caused part of the tank to actually rip apart. :(

But when we wanted to leave, the Wizard World workers actually tracked down a maintenance guy and took part of the door off for us to leave! This is how accommodating they were!


 Everyone's favorite character from the show, right? HAHA
 For today, mom and Chandler got to meet Scott Wilson! (Hershel). My mom really got a kick out of the fact that Chandler was dressed up as the Governor when he met Hershel. Ya know, since the Governor kind of CHOPPED HIS HEAD OFF!






 Scott Wilson is such a nice man. He was really friendly and really got down and talked to Chandler.

I was taking their photo and when I was done he said "Now don't you want to be in the photo, too?" How could I say no?!


 OF COURSE my mom chose the photo of Hershel with the katana to his neck. HAHA


Chandler was such a celebrity this weekend! We had so many people ask to take photos with him!






 More people wanting to take photos!







 I didn't really have an idea for a costume since I literally look like no one from the show. So, I decided to wear my Daryl claimed shirt with a leather vest, like Daryl. Then I decided that I am Daryl's long lost sister Cheryl. HAHA


 We were just waiting outside of the conference room because we wanted to enter the kid's costume contest. Eyen snapped some good photos of us!






 I'm telling you, Chandler was the talk of the weekend!

Like I said earlier, we wanted to enter the kid's costume contest, but unfortunately we couldn't get his wheelchair into the conference room. So, they brought the judges to us!












 Chandler won the award for Best Male Villain! They loved his tank! I also showed them photos of his previous Dale costume, and her only response was "NO... NO WAY! No one ever does Dale! That's so awesome!"


 The Governor just wanted to take a nap! We had to keep reminding him that the Governor doesn't nap! lol

 She took his picture for their facebook page!



We had a great time at the convention. We CANNOT wait to attend our next event. We even started planning our next costumes!

The following photos are some of the things we picked up at the convention!

 I started my Pop Vinyl collection. :)
 Buffy, Angel, and Spike.
 Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and Heisenberg.



 I brought all the Pop Vinyl dolls from a booth called Collectibles Cafe. (www.facebook.com/thecollectiblescafe) They are SUPER friendly! They gave my mom this Rick Grimes Pop Vinyl keychain for free!


This moment in life was fantastic. Daryl Dixon is my favorite character. (I think he might be EVERYONE'S favorite character!) Norman Reedus was such a nice guy. He saw us right before our photo op. There were about 3 people ahead of us, but as soon as he saw us he said "OMG that's awesome! I have to get a picture with you guys!" When it was finally our turn, he handed his personal cell phone to the photographer to take a pic with us! He loved Chandler's costume!


 When I went to his booth to get his autograph, we talked about cats. haha.



 Close ups of the autographs from Scott Wilson and Michael Rooker.
 Our photos with James Marsters!


 Our autographed James Marsters photos. My mom chose a Spike photo while I chose a Brainiac photo.

 Here is another awesome story. We were just waiting around the convention when these 2 men stop and tell us how awesome Chandler's costume is and how much they love it. He said "Stop by booth 216, and we will give you a free print." We stopped by later. Mom said she didn't have anything of Michonne yet, so she wanted to see a print of her. While he was looking for it, she saw the Rick photo. She really liked that one. He asked is she decided which one she wanted and she said "Yeah, I think I really like the Rick one." He said "Ok, here, have both." We just couldn't believe how nice he was!


 This is a photo we got signed by Neal Adams, the comic book artist.

 These were some of the goodies that came in our VIP bag! A limited edition Captain America and the Mighty Avengers comic book, a periodical on the Wizard World comic con, our photo op pass, and a lithograph of James Marsters!









As I said before, we had a phenomenal time. My mom is so happy that she was able to experience something like this. Next time, we want to bring the whole family! 

You know, Chandler can't play sports. He can't play music or have hobbies. But there is one thing he can do.. COSPLAY! And he can do it well. This was his time to shine and BOY DID HE!!

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