Montreal Comiccon: Day 2

There was a consensus in the apartment: the Saturday schedule was a little full.

Unfortunately, due to conflicting start/end times for the Saturday panels and events, it meant missing out on a lot of things I had wanted to see, including:

Mythes et prejuges sur le cosplay, Q and A with Kate Mulgrew, International cosplay with Yaya and Kamui, Anime You Might Have Missed, Illuminez votre costume, Q and A with John Barrowman (which was delayed/cancelled in the end), the Cosplay RPG Battle and Internet Native Horror: Creepypasta.

I still got to see some good panels, though.

The first panel of the day was Diversity and Sexuality in Media, which was hosted by a representative of Minority Media in Montreal, Lateef Martin from Miscellaneum Studios, Osama Darias, Rachel Zellers and Rebecca C-Palacios from Pixelles.

Together they answered questions such as why diversity is important in media, how toxic masculinity and male power fantasies affect games and views outside the game, how to guide childen in what kinda of media they consume and good representations of women protagonists and nuances in games and media.

My favourite point was made by Darias, who said stereotypes prevail in games and the media because content creators often confuse archetypes with stereotypes.

For the second panel of the day, I had the great honour and opportunity to attend a Q and A with voice actor Vic Mignogna.

Now, they say “never meet your heroes,” and I feel sorry for them because they must have had some bad experiences.

Mignogna is an absolute treasure. Engaging and sweet to his fans, he pushed the time of his conference in order to take more questions and invited fans down to his table for more questions, selfies and hugs.
During the conference he shared a bit of his childhood, some of his current projects and his admiration for William Shatner- since the two play/played Captain Kirk; Shatner in Star Trek: The Original Series and Mignogna in Star Trek Continues.

Afterwards, there were a few hours before the annual Masquerade, so I decided to wander the exhibition hall again. It was a poor decision.

Montreal Comiccon expected 60 000 guests at this year's convention, and I will be damned if not all 60 000 people were inside that exhibition hall. It was packed. To the hilt. Near-impossible to move freely or make it to any of the vendors table. Outside was barely any better, either. The hallways were congested and the floor in front of the escalators was packed with camera scrums and photoshoots.

Even the auditorium for the Masquerade was filled to capacity.

Off to a different start this year, the Masquerade began with a dance number from a female cosplayer and the infamous Ace Ventura cosplayer- now donned in green mask and yellow suit. It was definitely a crowd favourite, very memorizing to watch.

The show was also hosted solo this year, as opposed to the two regular MCs.

It began as per usual all the same, with the junior category. A mini Raven from Teen Titans took home the prize for Most Intimidating, a mini Legolas from Lord of the Rings won Cutest Elf in the Forest and a mini Darth Vader and Yoda combo won Best Worksmanship.

The prizes for the Novice, Journeyman, Artisan and Master categories are to be announced tomorrow, but there were a few in the 57 participants – minus the four no-shows who were sequentially shamed Game of Thrones style when their numbers were called – that stood out as contenders:

#5- The first dog I've ever seen on stage dressed up as Firefax from JRR Tolkiens Unfinished Tales.

#9- Sauron and the Witch King from Lord of the Rings (one of my top three and betting to win)

#10 – Monster Hunter cosplay

#15- Gender-bent Penguin from the Gotham TV series

#18 – Customized Air Nomad cosplay from Avatar: The Last Airbender

#21- Customized Leona skin from League of Legends

#24- Custom designed cosplay of a Lunar moth (one of my top three and betting to win)

#25- A custom Sailor Cosmos from Sailor Moon

At this point the hostess was shamed off the stage, the lights lowered and the stage ninjas took over for a brief moment before she was re-instated.

#30- Pyramid Head from Silent Hill

#31- Elseworld Flash

#39- Alice from Through the Looking Glass

#40- Kahlan Amnell from Legend of the Seeker

#42- Goddess from the Spawn Manga

At this point the stage ninjas broke one of the participants props and were shamed off the stage.

#45- Borg from Star Trek

#46- Two Goddess cosplays from SMITE

There is going to be massive fanfiction written about the two ninjas who made-out on stage.

#51- Ozora from Diablo 3

#57- Iron Man Mark 39 from Iron Man (one of my top three and betting to win)

The day ended at 10 pm with Lotto Quebec's International Fireworks display which could be seen from the 7^th floor balcony at the Palais.

But I wasn't there.

I was at home, resting, because I have one day left.