I started this post when I was  in the middle of my Thanksgiving break and unfortunately it’s a few weeks after that it was posted.

Going into the long break I was thinking, “Cool, plenty of time to work on my site.” But unfortunately there’s still so much to do, aside from writing content, going through and taking pictures I still have a lot of work to do on the back end with this site and I think I’m just really over extending myself when it comes to trying to work on my site and that’s what gets me to procrastinate. I can’t decide what I want to work on, I try to start on one thing but I get side tracked and then I end up giving up and playing videogames or binge watching shit on Netflix or Hulu.

When it comes to binge watching stuff on Netflix or Hulu I know there’s stuff I can watch that I can come up with essays on for my site but hell, I haven’t been doing that either. Shit, I haven’t even been watching stuff I have ideas to write about. Right now I’m watching Saw IV and all I can think about right now is how have I gotten through 3 of these movies without throwing up so far.

But on to the cosplays of the 2017 Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con. This is another post that is a bit late but I’m still making improvements in terms of how late I’m getting stuff in. Originally I was planning on getting this done before doing my write up on Shepard Fairey’s DAMAGED Exhibition, but after seeing how much stuff about the DAMAGED Exhibition was popping up on my social media feeds and seeing how little pictures there were to go through when compared to LA Comic Con I thought I should get that up first.

Looking through my photos I’m seeing massive improvements in the quality of the costumes cosplayers are bringing with them to LA Comic Con. I remember going my first time in 2013 and seeing so many flimsy costumes that were poorly painted or obviously made of cardboard or just falling apart due to rushed and shitty workmanship. I know for a lot of these people cosplaying isn’t a fulltime job. These people have other fulltime jobs and commitments and they can’t invest as much time or money as other people, but it’s nice to see that there isn’t as much halfassing as there was before.

Also looking through my photos I think I’ve made massive improvements in my photography skills. Gone are the days where I have the camera on automatic and I’m just shooting at whatever. Now I’m taking my time when taking pictures making everything is framed right and exposed properly. I like to thank my coworkers for giving me lessons with photography. Without them I never would have learned how to understand things like exposure, depth of field, F-stop settings and a bunch of other photography mumbo jumbo. I also noticed that I’ve become a bit selective with what I take pictures of. Before, I used to just snap pictures of whatever caught my eye but now and I don’t mean to sound like a snob but I think I’ve learned to be more selective with my subjects. Even with these improvements I still have quite a ways to go when it comes to photography.

Once again I think this rant went on longer that it should have but now that it’s out of the way here are my photos.

As I said in my previous post, rather than wait in the giant line to get in we decided to hang out on a bench next to the line for handicap people and people with small children. This little girl caught my eye because I thought she was dressed like Mad Moxxi from Borderlands. Her mom had to tell me that that was an unintentional coincidence and that she was supposed to be a circus ringmaster.

Here’s a girl I met dressed as one of the crazy Russian Purgers from the last Purge movie. She told me she had a gun for her costume but the costume checkers wouldn’t let her bring it in for some reason.

Here’s a (mother/daughter?) duo dressed as the Forest Spirit and Princess Mononoke from the Studio Ghibli film of the same name.

Doesn’t little Princess Mononoke look cute with her little stuffed wolf?

A Ghost Rider. His flamed hair is a bit small and hardly noticeable for my liking but I like how he made sure to include a chain instead of just showing up wearing biker leathers and a skull mask.

A Funko Pop! Flash. I really like it when people do meta costumes like this.

Rick D. Sanchez III, the Willy Wonka-esque Rick from the season 3 episode of Rick and Morty titled “The Ricklantis Mixup.” I was a bit surprised Rick and Morty-themed costumes weren’t as prevalent in LA as they were in New York.

Rey from Star Wars. I like how she also got shoes that matched what Daisy Ridley wore in Force Awakens. It’s a subtle detail but in my opinion it really makes the costume once you notice it.

Princess Kidagakash “Kida” Nedakh from the Disney animated film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire. This movie came out in 2001 well after the Disney Renaissance of the ’90s. When I saw this costume all I could think was, “Holy shit, somebody actually remembers this movie.”

Two knights from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I remember watching this in highschool after we were done with AP testing and the teachers stopped giving a shit. I feel really bad I can’t remember much about it but that was like 15 years ago for me.

Aeris, Barret, and Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. Like the Purger above they told me they had a cool Buster sword for Cloud but the costume inspectors confiscated it.

An alternative-colored Mercy from Overwatch. Looking at this photo I probably should have asked her to take one in a more wide-open space so you can see her full wingspan. Those wings proved to be a huge pain in the ass for her, forcing her to walk sideways through most of the crowds.

Pyramid Head from Silent Hill. I’m not sure why he got to keep his giant sword while Cloud’s got confiscated.

An Evil Queen from Snow White.

A really good Donatello Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. He’s not quite as buff as the movie versions and the coloring is a bit off but it’s still pretty legit.

Inflatable Reptar with an inflatable little Godzilla.

Bayek, the antagonist from the latest Assassin’s Creed game, Assassin’s Creed: Origins.

Two more Assassins. Unfortunately I can’t think of which game they’re from. Honestly, the only Assassin’s Creed game I played was Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and I haven’t even finished it. I tried but it just seemed so tedious and repetitive to me.

Ellen Ripley circa the original Alien movie from 1979. I remembering seeing a few Ripleys back at Long Beach Comic Con and I’m a bit curious where this resurgence in Sigourney Weaver’s character is coming from.

A family dressed as the main cast of Pokemon. Decorating the baby bjorn so it looks like Togepi was really original.

A family dressed as most of the members of Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Wolverine and the Hulk Gang from the Old Man Logan series.

A pair of Water Tribe members from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Pennywise from the 2017 remake of It. This is another costume I was surprised wasn’t as prevalent in LA as it was in New York.

Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas. The Zero prop was a good addition.

Like I said in my previous post about LA Comic Con I originally thought this General Greivious was a prop. It wasn’t until I saw this him in another booth that I realized it was a guy in a costume.

A unique twist on a Twi’lek from Star Wars. I’m guessing she’s supposed to be a mechanic or something.

Another familial Pokemon group cosplay. I like the Squirtle baby bjorn and I’m impressed that they remembered the tail too.

A twist on Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

It’s Mary Poppins. I’m impressed she got the parrot-headed umbrella handle just in the movie and the play. Until I saw this picture I thought Mary Poppins just carried a plain old umbrella.

Eleven from Stranger Things.This is a show I’ve really been meaning to watch but just haven’t found the time to do it. Hopefully I’ll find the time to just sit down and just binge my way through it soon.

A Clone Trooper. The tally marks on his boot and gauntlet was a good personalization touch and also a good nod to the series since it’s a canon fact that Clone Troopers would keep count with tally marks on their armor.

I really like it when people cosplay as Stan Lee himself.

Here’s professional cosplayer special guest Hendo dressed up in Samus Aran’s armor from Metroid. I really like the glowing green accents as well as the light in her arm cannon. All really good touches and it’s something you should expect from a professional cosplayer.

Here’s Miss Kit Quinn, another professional cosplayer special guest as Hades from 1997 Disney film Hercules. I really like how she chose to wear a prosthetic chin and had LED lights in her headpiece. These all really make the costume.

Here’s a really good and original costume, it’s Bob and Joe the Yip Yips from Sesame Street.

Here’s a first for me, it’s Max, the little boy from Where the Wild Things Are.

With Paul Reuben as one of the special guests at this year’s LA Comic Con it was expected to have a couple people show up as Pee Wee Herman.

A female version of Chucky. I like how she set herself apart from any other Chucky by adding the scarring from Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky.

Alina Masquerade as Jessica Rabbit. I’m a bit surprised she didn’t have something else since I originally met her at Wondercon and she was wearing the same exact costume.

Here are the Cosplaytwiins as Dee Dee, the Harley Quinn’s twin grandchildren from Batman Beyond.  I know you’re probably thinking that they look nothing like what was in Batman Beyond if you do some googling you’ll see that their costumes are based on the original character designs for Dee Dee.

Here’s an Inspector Gadget. The hand sticking out of his hat holding a camera was pretty clever.

Here’s Megan Golden another professional cosplayer special guest dressed in an Aristocat-themed costume.

I saw this group of MCU-themed cosplayers posing for some other people so I decided to get in on it.

A Night King from Game of Thrones. The mask looks store bought but it still looks pretty cool.

A Black Cat from Spider-Man’s rogues gallery.

I met this dude in a cardboard Porygon costume which was pretty cool. Funny story. When we left the con we drove passed a liquor store while looking for the freeway on ramp and we saw this guy squatting outside on the curb in his costume like a twisted real life version of Pokemon Go.

King Dedede from the Kirby franchise as well as Super Smash Brothers.

Speaking of Smash Brothers, King Dedede had her son dressed up as Ness, that kid from Earthbound.

Here’s another Black Cat this time with a Spider-Man. The yarn ball is an okay prop but I the best prop was Spider-Man’s web backpack just like in the comic books and cartoon.

Here’s a family dressed as the Incredibles. Really good idea but they’re short one member.

While walking around I saw that kid in the inflatable Godzilla costume again. This time he got his hands on a lightsaber and was having the time of his life with it.

Vivi Ornitier from Final Fantasy IX. Unfortunately I can’t figure out who his friend is supposed to be or even if he’s from the same game. Final Fantasy IX was another game I never got around to playing. Part of it is that it came out when I was 14 and at that age buying every new game I was interested in any time I wanted to was a luxury I did not have. Also, it came out just a few short months before the PS2 came out so it wasn’t really on my radar when it got cheaper just because at that point I had already shifted my focus to PS2 games.

This is a good place to stop. I still have more pictures from LA Comic Con so stay tuned for those. Hopefully I can get that up soon. I already have the write up done it’s just a matter of processing the photos.