Oh, summer. I hardly knew, thee.
Actually yeah, I knew you. You were unbearably hot, and you made my kids think because there’s no school that they can do anything they want like stay up till 11 every night and not do any chores. You were a jerk, summer, I’m not going to lie. Still, you are undoubtedly good at making memories, I’ll give you that. Ever since I was a kid you liked to butt in between spring and fall and cause all sorts of ruckus with your seemingly endless days of playing and family vacations. I guess you’re that jerk that everyone expects to be a jerk but you’re still there for everyone when they need you.
Even though I curse the summer thanks to my kids who don’t seem to quite grasp the concept of authority and behaving, that doesn’t stop us from trying to enjoy it and have a good time. We like to try our best to make things memorable. We know they’re not kids forever and even though they can be ungrateful little turds sometimes, we try to savor the moments when they’re young. My last post was talking about last year’s cruise. It was a warm up to get back in the swing of things here. So now, I want to talk about this summer. That’s right, we’re getting closer to present day, isn’t that exciting?!
The first big thing we did this summer was something out of the ordinary for us. I remember it well. It was spur of the moment, which is usual for these sorts of things with us. We had gone a few weekends being stuck in the house and whatnot, and the one day we had free It was supposed to rain. Trying to find something to do indoors, I suggested something I never thought the wife would go for – Orlando MegaCon!
This was the first convention for all of us, so we didn’t know what to expect. I have been wanting to go to one for years, of course. I mean, c’mon, this is the gathering of my people, how can I not?! It seemed like something the kids would really dig too so the wife gave in and the rest is history.
After explaining the custom of cosplaying to the kids, they quickly thought of who they wanted to go as. So, we rolled up as two boring parents with a Slytherin Hogwarts student, and Boba Fett. I know, I wanted to dress up too, but my Ghostbusters jumpsuit was at the cleaners.
It was overwhelming at first, but we just picked an aisle and started walking. Sooooooooooo many awesome things to see, I couldn’t stop turning my head left and right. I was like a kid in a candy store with all the various things to buy, all the amazing cosplayers, it was sensory overload.
Walking down the hall to get to the actual convention floor the kids ran into Bendy from Bendy and the Ink Machine. Yeah, I dunno, some horror kids game that they used to love watching on YouTube. Thanks, YouTube. I’m so happy you’re mostly banned from this house now. (But that’s a different post!) It was a little girl dressed up as Bendy and the oldest couldn’t believe a girl dressed up as a character he was so into at the time. Having that be the first encounter with a cosplayer was so great. It really set the mood for the rest of the day for all the amazing stuff we were going to see.
Like the CAT5 Ghostbusters! They were the first stop and it was like living my childhood dream. Seeing and hearing the proton pack turn on was so awesome. I’ve always had the fantasy of one day looking up the plans and building my own pack, but that’s a dream that’ll most likely never come true. These guys and gals though, they’re livin’ it. Even broke out a fresh sample of ectoplasm for the kids to play with.
The Ecto 1M wasn’t the only cool car there. The Batmobile was being shown off in all its glory. And it just so happened to be my favorite Batmobile – the one from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Seriously, I’m ready to throw down if you disagree.
Also found was a Jurassic Park jeep and Explorer. With the kids into dinosaurs, they can’t seem to get enough Jurassic Park. And rightfully so, I’m right behind them geeking out just as bad.
Dalek Builders was another stand out thing we saw. We used to be big on Doctor Who in this house, and still love it. But it isn’t something that has been watched or brought up in a while. But that didn’t stop us from loving some custom-built Daleks and a TARDIS!
The 501st had a presence, as well as Southern R2 Builders, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t give the Hufflepuff Jedi his rightful time in the spotlight!
Seriously, he is tied with the Stormtrooper on vacation for best cosplay I saw! And no, it has nothing to do with being a Hufflepuff myself… Sorry, that was a lie. Geeze, lying like a Slytherin, what is wrong with me?!
You know what? I’m just going to throw all the other pics into a gallery, so you can scroll through and see everything I captured. Enjoy!
Oh, and my Instagram posts! I have a few videos on there of some pretty cool stuff. Like here where we were playing with the ectoplasm and admiring the inflatable Baymax.
And here, where we saw R2-D2 rolling about, an AWESOME Work Loader cosplay from Alien walking around, proof of my wife stalking Elijah Wood signing autographs (totes not me), and of course, the Hufflepuff Jedi.
It was an amazing experience that I was happy to share with the family. I know the kids had a lot of fun just walking around and seeing everyone dressed up. And that’s what it’s all about, just enjoying yourself and having a good time. I mean, while the wife was “cosplaying” the paparazzi with Elijah Wood, me and Lucas walked 20 feet, saw the walking Work Loader from Alien, then we turned around and were greeted by a giant inflatable Pikachu dancing in the middle of the floor, and then we heard R2 beeping around and we followed him for a bit, but we couldn’t go too far because there were Daleks just ahead. It’s total geek overload and there’s awesomeness in every direction. And we only got to see a fraction of it! Can’t wait for next year to hopefully see more.
