The Five(ish) Fangirls Podcast - Episode 4: Badges? Badges? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges!

This week we're all about Convention Shenanigans! What conventions have we attended? What amazing (and not-so-amazing) things have we seen? Who have we met at these events? (and have we ever embarrassed ourselves in front of celebrities? …guilty…) What advice do we have for con newbies? We're not experts by any means, but we still have plenty to discuss and squee about!

Also, a bumper crop of Doctor Who news, plus your feedback! Enjoy!

For full show notes and MP3 Download, click here: http://thefiveishfangirlspodcast.blogspot.com/2014/06/fiveish-fangirls-episode-4-badges.html

The World's Cutest Whovian!

I just found this today and since I couldn't make it to Gallifrey One this year, I thought I'd post it. I adore Lindalee and her Doctor Who videos! If you can contain your SQUEE long enough to click "Play," enjoy!



(I would love to meet this little lady - she's going to go far in life!)

2013 In Review - The Year of the Fangirl

2013 - The year for some really great memories. And here's hoping 2014 will only add to the pile of good things.

I guess it’s that magical time of year when we look back on the calendar year and (as long as nothing massive happens in the next three days) consider all the huge events that occurred.  I usually don’t do this because, well, it’s just a cheap way to make content.  The news media does it all the time as long as there’s (hopefully) no great natural disaster in a third-world country to do their fake hand-wringing about (come on - is there anything more insincere than a TV news anchor?)  Besides, there’s usually not much that I really want to discuss or even dig up from my past because it’s just too rage-inducing.  Plus, I never feel very connected to national or world events because I have such a low opinion of humanity in general and I know they’re all going to be idiots no matter what I do or say, so better to let them get on with the business of being idiots and maybe they’ll make enough rope to hang themselves with and I won’t have to do a damn thing about it (just because you may see feral dogs ripping each other’s throats out in public doesn’t mean you have to get in the middle of it to try and stop them. Words of wisdom, right there).

But you know, 2013 was one of my better years in recent memory - mostly because I decreed it to be the Year of the Fangirl and here’s the tweet to prove it:

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!! #YearOfTheFangirl #HappyNewYear
— Chrissy (@wildcat_media) January 1, 2013

Meaning that I was going to indulge in fannish delights and let the world sort itself out (or blow itself up - whatever it decided it wanted to do).  I guess since 2012 was such a colossal disappointment, I was tired of having high expectations for the year and I was envious of the people who didn’t seem to care that things were going to hell - so I decided to be one of those people.  The result: The Most Fun I’ve Had In a Good Long While.

(People talk about how pessimism is so damaging and terrible, but I think it was the best thing I ever did!  What’s the phrase? Now that I’ve given up hope, I feel much better).

Giving Reality the finger, one fanfic and Tumblr reblog at a time.

Anyway, I didn't start this to talk about how horrible the world is and how much faith I've lost in humanity.  I started this to talk about how ignoring all that shit helped me find the good things in life and enjoy them more fully.  So, here is the myriad of ways 2013 - The Year of the Fangirl - was the best year in recent memory -

- I started out as part of the Yule Ball committee, in which the library system I work for hosted a Harry Potter Yule Ball for teens.  It was basically a Prom for the literary minded and I found myself wishing there had been such things for me when I was a teenager (and I have no idea how this happened, but I have no pictures of it, sorry about that). In fact, that kind of dovetails into something else cool that happened this year - ToshoCON. Admittedly, I was more involved in ToshoCON than Yule Ball, but it all served the same purpose to show me how my hobbies and my day job combine to be something really spectacular and just a lot of fun.  I’m in my element with fellow geeks (even if they are younger than me - hey, they help me keep my priorities straight) and we’re just having a fun old time. So, yay library life!

- Speaking of conventions - this year I went to not one, but TWO conventions! The first I’d had planned for nearly a year previous and that was Gallifrey One in Los Angeles.  Meeting best friends I didn’t even know I had along with meeting stars of my favorite TV show - what could be more fun? (maybe going two years in a row would do it - fingers crossed!)

Oh, I know! Having the announcement a month later that Salt Lake City would be getting its very own Comic Con!  And after all the success and fun of that initial con - it turned into two! Recently, they announced that Salt Lake Comic Con would be expanding into two annual events, FanXperience in April and the regular Comic Con in the fall.  After being kind of an anomaly in this little niche culture we have in Utah, it’s nice to be recognized and appreciated for the growing demographic we are (and telling the scrapbooker, the outdoor retailer, and bridal conventions to suck it doesn't feel too bad either).

- Movies and books are always a hot topic in my life and 2013 was no exception.  A Memory of Light closed out “The Wheel of Time” in spectacular fashion. I took on the Goodreads Challenge to read (and review on Goodreads) 100 books by the end of the year (which I accomplished in October - clearly, I need to set a higher mark for myself) and I found some lovely little reads (and some not-so-lovely, but that’s part of the fun).  But another book I discovered this year was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (quite appropriate, don’t you think?)  And it’s all about fandom and being in a fandom and finding your way through real life while hanging onto fandom.  It’s perfect!

On the movie front - Marvel had some stellar entries with Iron Man 3 (shut up, it was good) and Thor: The Dark World. And count me as someone who actually enjoyed Star Trek Into Darkness (I guess I don’t have all the fanboy history to get all up-in-arms about whatever the problems were) and I did enjoy Man of Steel as well. Ender’s Game and Catching Fire were great too.

- Okay, so the BIG event of 2013 (and one that I spent extensive time talking about - not just here, but on Tumblr, Twitter, and on Traveling the Vortex through feedback) was the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who.  Between episode reviews/recaps and Librarian in the TARDIS and general geeking out over all things Who - I think that was a huge part of why 2013 was so great.  And the future of Doctor Who seems to be secure for the foreseeable future, so there will be plenty of wonderful delights to take part in soon - but the look back to the past this year was more fun than I can express.  Honestly, The Year of the Fangirl would not have been such a personal success without Doctor Who and for that I am extremely grateful.

So now, 2014.  I haven’t had a great track record with even-numbered years lately, but I’m ready.  The fangirling won’t stop and neither will the snark. So if you're expecting any of this to taper off... sorry - not happening!

The Gallifrey One Postgame Show - Part 4: The End of the Line

I wanted to embed this video, but embedding's been disabled. So, go to this link here and enjoy Ed Stradling's tribute to Gallifrey One "The End of the Line" (and see if you can't spot a certain somebody at the far right of the screen at 2:23 wearing her Fifth Doctor hat and taking pictures at Freema Agyeman's interview Sunday morning)

All good things must come to an end, sadly.  But before I get all verklempt and sobbing (in my defense - I am an emotional person by nature) - I have a few more things to talk about in my Gally Postgame, so bear with me.

I haven't talked much about the panels yet.  Before I went to Gally, I made a promise to myself that I would sample everything (or as much as I could).  Cosplay, panels, dealer's room, interviews - if it was at Gally, I wanted to experience it.  But when I got there, I realized that there was so much going on that I needed to be cloned or steal borrow a time machine to get it all done.  The panels are a great example of this.  Looking at the panel schedule, I saw that so many great topics would be covered and I wanted to go to all of them!

This is but a mere portion of the things I wanted to accomplish. Not shown: Autograph lines, Cosplay Hall, Pictures with the TARDIS shell and TARDIS console, Browsing the Art Show, Lunch

Well... that didn't happen.  Some were scheduled at the same time, others were during other things I wanted to do.  And there was that little matter of finding food and restroom breaks at regular intervals (Sadly, the "no eating, no peeing" thing only works for Jack Bauer).  But the panels that I did get to go to (with the possible exception of one, but it was still okay) were some very enjoyable discussions and I cam away with some new perspectives on Doctor Who that I hadn't thought of before, but are now my personal headcanon (making the Peter Cushing films part of Handy!Doctor's future continuity actually works very well in my head. That might give someone else heartburn, but I like it!)



Sunday was the day I decided to camp out in the Main Programming Hall (the Ballroom, the Interview Room, Program A - whatever you want to call it) because I hadn't really seen any of the guest interviews - not since the Radio Free Skaro show on Friday.  Those interviews - holy cow - so much fun!  My favorite had to be the one with Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling where they just reminisced about their time on Doctor Who and told stories and joked with each other (of which the Crowning Moment of Awesome/Crowing Moment of Funny I was fortunate enough to be videoing and had the good sense to keep going even after the set-up story was over and was treated with Deborah's very well-thought-out punchline).  It was brilliant watching two people who were still very good friends talk about something they still loved so very much and sharing those experiences with a few hundred of their fans and friends.

Speaking of Radio Free Skaro - this was my favorite picture that I managed to get. Sylvester McCoy realizing just how tall Chris is (yeah, he is that tall. And a super-nice guy to boot).  It was great.

The Dealer's Room: Oh. My. Giddy. Aunt. SO MANY PRETTIES!  They didn't allow pictures in the Dealer's Room, otherwise I could have shown you the complete and total joy of all that Doctor Who merchandise! (someone commented that this year's Dealer's Room didn't have as much as last year's, to which I have to say that I don't know if I could have handled last year's!)  Luckily, I had resolved to look around first before deciding on buying anything.  I didn't want to blow all my money on the first thing I saw and then find something else I wanted more and have no money for it.  I'm not really big on buying action figures, but there was a really cool '60s Dalek figure (the silver and blue ones that are my absolute favorite - for no real reason, actually) that I wanted to buy, but I thought I could find it online for cheaper (turns out I can't - not just the Dalek by itself).  I did get a couple of t-shirts, though.  And I hit up the Big Finish booth, which I would have easily given Big Finish my entire bank account if I hadn't been careful (as it was, I bought three CDs - I would have bought the Big Finish Companion book if they'd had Volume 1 there, but they sold out).  Oh! And I found this really sweet postcard from the 1980s of the Fifth Doctor! It was only a buck, but I was super-excited to find it! (I like old school, throwback stuff)  Pictures:

And a special nod to the Art Show - while not part of the Dealer's Room, there were some very nice things for purchase there as well.  That's where those fez-and-bowtie Eleven Doctors buttons came from (coming home, I realized I'd seen this particular fan art on Tumblr as part of a countdown for Series 6 - damned if I can find it again :/)  But they were cute and I needed something bright and happy after I made Shaun depressed over the buttons I got at LobbyCon that paid tribute to the Who actors we've lost in the recent past (and these were very nice too)

Tributes to Nick, Lis, Carrie and Mary *sniffle*

Speaking of Big Finish - This is somewhat unrelated, but Nicholas Briggs brought the trailer for Big Finish's 50th Anniversary Extravaganza! (they didn't use those words, I did!)  Which I share with you now - the trailer for "The Light at the End" -



Bringing It All Home -

In years past, I've heard lots of people talk about Gallifrey One.  They say it's like a big family reunion - there's so much love between the fans and the guests - it's like coming home - it's just the best little convention a Whovian could ask for.  Everyone says the same things about it.  And there were moments where I wondered if people were getting paid to say this.  From what I saw online from people who went, it looked like it was a blast and I certainly wanted to go, but I was the teensiest bit skeptical that it really was as good as everyone made it out to be.  Trust, but verify.

Well, I can verify that Gallifrey One is everything they say and more (and no money changed hands. Except in the Dealer's Room, but that's for entirely different reasons).  Even after four blog posts gushing about how great it was, I'm still not entirely sure how to describe it fully.  Before I got there, I felt a little bit like an outsider - much the way I felt when I first started watching Doctor Who.  There was an established fanbase and to intrude on that sense of family felt wrong somehow.  But even before I got to the Marriott - when I got on the shuttle from the airport - I met Gally people and I was welcomed like a long-lost friend.  Much the same as I felt soon after I really got into Doctor Who.  It was like The Greater Cosmos was saying "Here you go kid. This is what you've been looking for. This is your tribe. Go have fun."  It was a gorgeous feeling - and still is.  But it's difficult to put into words.  The entire time I was running around the Marriott, I had this voice in the back of my head going "How are you going to tell people about this?  How are you going to explain why this means so much to you?"

And the Sunday afternoon at Gally, I had my answer.  From the most unlikely of places (for me, anyway).

Sunday afternoon, I sat in on the Mark Sheppard panel.  I'm not particularly a huge fan of Mark Sheppard, though I do like his characters in Doctor Who and Firefly (the man isn't lacking for fangirls, I'll say that much).  Toward the end of his panel, he said something to the effect of being a geek and coming to conventions takes bravery.  To come and wear your fandom on your sleeve and to dress up and talk to the actors and do the things fans do takes courage.  While I appreciate the sentiment, I'm afraid I must diverge from Mr. Sheppard on one point - it does not take bravery to be a geek at a convention.  It takes bravery to be a geek in reality.

Here's what I mean about that: Coming to a Doctor Who convention, I finally feel like I can let loose and be the insane, crazy, free-spirited, Whovian - just letting myself love this show with reckless abandon because I have such an intense love for it ... and because there are 3000+ other people doing the exact same thing.  It is not hard to be a geek at a geek convention - no matter what that convention is (though San Diego ComiCon is it's own animal, which I may discuss in another post).  I can walk around in a Femme!Five cosplay and people appreciate the work and love I put into it.  They ask to take my picture - they ask me to be in their group cosplay photo - they ask how I made it and where I found the pieces.  And I ask about their costumes and they proudly share their work.  If I were to wear that costume to a work Halloween party, people would just think I was supposed to be a crazy old gardener lady (while a bunch of other girls would come in their underwear and bunny ears).  But at Gally, I can talk Who with random strangers and they get it! Standing in autograph lines or out in the hall - we can talk about our favorite Doctors and companions and stories.  We can debate canon and things we'd like to see and how we came to Who in the first place.  We all speak a common language.  With real people - face to face.  These Twitter handles and podcast voices and LiveJournal userpics and bloggers have real names and real faces and they're real friends. And it's glorious.

So, leaving Gallifrey One and leaving my new friends - yeah, I shed a few tears (okay more than a few tears, - hell, I broadcasted that to the entire internet on Gally Update 4 -_-')  But I left feeling like this was all worth it.  The weird looks I get and the dopey questions and the teasing at home - it doesn't matter.  Because there is a place where I am the most normal person in the room (where the standards of "normal" have been thrown out on their ears).  I still can't describe what that means to me, but maybe you already get it.

I still think the Two-Minute Time Lord segment from the Radio Free Skaro show at Gallifrey 2012 sums it up the best - Gallifrey is our childhood and our home:



Yup - Gallifrey is home. And I'm going back next year.

The Gallifrey One Postgame Show - Part 3: You're...A Fan

Do you know how long I searched for a gif or a video clip of just the Fifth Doctor saying to the Tenth Doctor "You're... a fan!" from "Time Crash?" Apparently, people like the Master's Beard joke more (nothing wrong with that - but when I'm trying to find something else... *sigh* Oh well).

One of the big draws about Gallifrey One is meeting the stars of "Doctor Who."  Before I even got on the plane for Los Angeles, I was a bit nervous about how I was going to comport myself in front of these famous people, who I admire so much.  I certainly wanted to meet them, but I didn't want to get tongue-tied and make a complete ass of myself.  I'd heard plenty of stories from fans at Gally who just struck up semi-normal conversations with these actors and even kept in contact with them afterward.  Then there's me thinking "Pfft - right! I could never do that!"

I made it to LobbyCon and was definitely feeling starstruck when I spied Frazer Hines and Nicholas Briggs across the way that first night.  But I had the good fortune to fall in with some new Gally friends - Sara and Sarah from Texas (I need to find them on Facebook or Twitter or something) - and they coaxed me into asking Nicholas Briggs for a photograph, which he was only too happy to do!

I posted this on my first Gally recap - but I'm posting it again. It's that cool!

Oh, and of course, my infamous antics (at least, I felt like they were antics. Anyone watching probably wouldn't have noticed) trying to corner Frazer Hines for a photograph.  Getting Frazer's autograph was easy, even though was babbled like a nutty fangirl the entire time (Glenn can attest to this - that's why he got pictures of it. Actually, I'm glad he did).  There were so many times I'd see Frazer in the hall and try to talk to him, but he always had somebody else cornering him (I got to talk to Deborah Watling after the interview she did with Frazer on Sunday because of this, though. And I regret not getting her autograph too. She is like the sweetest, sweetest version of your grandmother, but with a hint of mischief in her eye.  So wonderful). Finally - FINALLY - on the last night, Mel pretty much dared me to go out there and ask Frazer for a picture.  And I'm damn glad she did because I would never have had the guts to do it without someone playing wingman - and Mel was a fantastic wingman (wing-lady).

Look how insanely giddy I am! I had to run back into the hotel before
I squee'd so much that I embarrassed myself. I mean, more than I already had

Here's a roundup of the autographs and pictures I got with the various guests -

The Dalek's a celebrity, right?

with Dan Starkey (Strax) before he even got his coffee.

Mel, Shaun and I found Neve McIntosh (Madame Vastra) - Love her!

Ian McNiece (Winston Churchill)

Also - Autographs!

Mark Strickson (Turlough) - This was a special treat for me because, well, Turlough's awesome!

I was so excited to get Frazer Hines' autograph that I had to run up to the lobby and tweet about it.

I had not initially planned to get Peter Purves' autograph, but as the con went on, I realized that I really needed to meet Steven - he was one of my favorites from the First Doctor's era.

Freema Agyeman - she was such a treat to talk to.

Sylvester McCoy - love this guy.

(These are all going up on my wall as soon as I can find decent picture frames)

It's funny, but every time I met Doctor Who actors at Gally, the only thing I could think of to say is that I loved their work on the show.  Which was very much true!  Jamie is one of my very favorite companions of the Classic series, as is Turlough (I maintain that if Tegan had left earlier on in the Fifth Doctor's run, the Doctor and Turlough would have made an awesome team on their own).  Steven Taylor is another gem of Classic Who and I love Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones (as well as in some of the other things she's been in).  The point is that I wish I could have thought of something much more profound to say than simply "I love your work!"  But I quickly found out that often, that was the best thing you could say to these actors. 

This really hit me on Saturday night during the Classic Companion Panel (plus the Valeyard, but he's loveable anyway).  The first of two Freema Agyeman interviews was scheduled for that night in the main ballroom and they were encouraging people to pick one or the other so everyone had a chance to see Freema.  I had decided to go see Freema on Sunday morning so I could see the Classic Companion Panel (actually, it was called Legends and Lore in the program guide).  Mel kept talking about wanting to see Turlough (Mark Strickson) and Glenn and Shaun couldn't figure that out until Mel and I spelled it out for them.  So, we all went to that on Saturday.  We talked about it on one of our Gally Updates (I think it was Gally Update 3), but I can talk about it here.

The "Legends and Lore" panel - I can't get over how awesome this panel was.

All of the panelists were fantastic.  There were so many great stories from all of them about being on Doctor Who and their work since then - can I remember them all? Of course not! (note to self - bring a notebook next year!)  But the feeling in the room was one of genuine love and admiration, both from the fans and from the actors to the fans.  I think it was Mark Strickson who talked about how amazed he was that so many people would come see a panel of people talking about a show that they did thirty, forty, fifty years ago when they could have gone to see Freema Agyeman (i.e. - someone more modern) downstairs.  The rest of them more or less agreed that they didn't think there would be so many people in the room - and it filled up fairly well.  A running theme throughout the entire panel was that, it might have been an embarrassment at one point to admit you'd been in "Doctor Who," but the fans made it all worth it.

Michael Jayston (who played the Valeyard in "Trial of a Time Lord") said that something that impressed him about "Doctor Who" fans was that we are in love with the stories.

Deborah Watling (who played Victoria Waterfield in the Troughton era) was absolutely lovely.  She told a story about writing her autobiography and how that was one of the hardest things she's done.  She spoke her time on "Doctor Who" with such fondness and love - even when Frazer Hines was teasing her a little bit (you could tell that those two are the best of best friends - more on that in a bit).  Speaking of Frazer - he and Mark Strickson both talked about coming back to do Big Finish and they both gave a little performance as Jamie and Turlough, which made the crowd go nuts.  It was great - at first, they both were acting like they were dragging in the morning and tired and whatever and once it was time to be the character - they both became their characters.  I mean, it's one thing to meet these actors and know who they played back-in-the-day, but to actually hear the characters' voices coming out of their mouths and realizing - "Holy crap, that's Jamie!" or "Holy crap, that's Turlough!" - it was so cool!

But the best part of the entire panel (and I could have listened to all of them go on and on for hours) was at the end when they were wrapping up.  And I talked about this on the podcast, but it still stuns me that this happened and that I was even there to see it - all of us fans stood up as one entity and gave these actors a standing ovation.  It wasn't just one person here, one person there - ALL of us stood and applauded.  And if that wasn't enough, the panelists stood up together as well and gave us, the fans, a standing ovation right back.  Shaun later said that he saw Deborah Watling tear up a bit at the reaction.  Make no mistake - it was a powerful moment.

Something I love about British actors - and I didn't quite realize this until the end of Gally - is how genuinely humble they are.  I don't think this happens with "mainstream" American actors because of this disgustingly ridiculous celebrity culture we have.  The actors I got to talk to at Gally were so gracious and so easy to speak with (once I got over my "ZOMG - IT'S YOU!" fangirl nuttiness).  Even Freema Agyeman, who's been in "Doctor Who" more recently and has other shows she's been in that are running now, was so sweet and gracious and genuinely touched that I loved the things she's done (I saw her in Law and Order: UK and thoroughly enjoyed it. Which, I don't even watch the Law and Order series in America).  None of them seemed like, say, Mark Sheppard (who had a panel Sunday afternoon) who had this air about him of "Yeah, I know I'm amazing and I know you all worship me. Bow down before me, peasants!" (and then all the slobbering fangirls did exactly that, which earned a massive eye roll from me).  Even when they were onstage - they were just there to entertain their fans and share in the love and joy of this little show that didn't seem like much at the time, but has expanded to include everyone who falls in love with it.

You know, people give me grief over my interest - nay, obsession - with science fiction and fantasy, particularly "Doctor Who" (let's face it - how many people choose to spend a weekend a convention - any kind of fan convention?  With the possible exception of San Diego ComicCon, which has been taken over by the industry as a glorified advertising campaign and the media pretending to respect geekdom for a week and makes my bullshit detector goes haywire). But these moments are what make it all worth it.  It's the best kept secret in the world - whether you're a Whovian or whatever makes you SQUEE! - you know what it's like to love and love deeply.  The Not-We (for lack of a better term) may have their socially accepted interests and know how to be calm and cool for the in-laws and the boss and the rest of the world, but very few of them will ever get to experience a love for something that only they get.

(Did I just piss some people off with that line? Good. After all the crap I've taken from some of you, I feel justified).

And that seems like a good place to leave this recap for now.  I think all I have left to talk about is the Dealer's Room and my sentimental-type reaction to the convention as a whole.  Bring tissues.

The Gallifrey One Postgame Show, Part 2: Playing Dress Up

Our "Deck of Cards" Cosplay Photo - Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five (me!),
Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Romana as the Queen, Master as the King

One thing that has eternally impressed me in all my "from afar" observations of Gallifrey One is the cosplayers.  Actually, any cosplay from any fandom has my undying respect because it takes talent to put together a costume.  Most of my cosplay was purchased with some add-ons, the exception of which is the skirt, which I made from scratch from some awesome fabric I found from Mom's Craft in Delta, Utah (Mom's a small Mom-and-Pop craft store in my hometown that nevertheless has a fantastic variety of stuff there you're not going to find in chain stores, so I wanted to give them a plug).  Ever since I discovered that Femme!Doctor cosplay was A Thing, I wanted to try my hand at it.  And I wound up with a really great Femme!Five outfit that I'm quite pleased with.  I bought the tan coat from an online clearance sale (which was a tremendous case of serendipity that I found out about that at all) and added red trim (partly by machine and partly by hand and I had the sore fingers to prove it).  As I said in my previous Gally recap, I bought the hat from Wal-Mart and replaced the hatband.  The sweater was from a group purchase on LiveJournal (there was no way I was going to find or make anything comparable). The celery was from FreckledCrafts on Etsy and I wore red socks and white Not-Converse low-tops that I bought at Payless.

What I loved about cosplaying was that people recognized how much effort I put into my costume.  I'm not a particularly crafty person (though I enjoy cross-stitching from time to time), so this was a big deal for me.  Some people go all out and have four or five costumes they wear over the course of a weekend.  And, of course, there's this -

A Dalek cosplay made of cardboard and Styrofoam.
There's a twelve-year-old kid walking around in that thing.

And this -

Clockwork Droid cosplay - also had a kid inside it. And it moved  just like a clockwork droid
that I actually though it was a robot.

And these -

Not a Femme!Four - but a Fourth Doctor's Scarf Dress. Completely knitted.  I have nothing more to say.

Cat Nun with a Gun. Very realistic makeup.

Snowman cosplay. It was cool to see costumes of characters from  a Doctor Who
episode that only came out two months ago

Impossible Astronaut with River inside. I wish I got a better picture of this, though.

These were on display with the Eighth Doctor's console, but they were costumes in the Masquerade - I'd actually seen the Adipose roaming around during the con.

While I was in my cosplay, I wanted to find some of the Fifth Doctor's companions.  Sadly, I didn't find many (I found more on Sunday when I wasn't in costume), but I did run into a Peri and a Tegan in the Cosplay Hall (and Tegan was actually from Australia, which I thought was fabulous!)

Sadly, my regeneration showed up and took Peri away :(

But really, anyone who can make a Sixth Doctor coat has my eternal respect.  I was surprised to find so many people with that coat, really.

And, really, if you're going to be photographed as Six, what other pose are you going to do?

Also - my friend Lizz cosplayed as Femme!Ten (and she did a fantastic job!). So, of course, a Time Crash picture must be taken (I love our faces in this) -

"You mostly went hands-free, didn't you?"

No Fifth Doctor tribute would be complete without an appearance from the Master.  There were quite a few  different incarnations of the Master wandering around the Marriott, but I found a particularly good Ainley!Master.

I'm smiling like a dope and the Master looks ready to cause trouble.
The Fifth Doctor's era summed up in one cosplay photo.

Just to round out my gallery of cosplayers -

As well as being a fantastic Eight, John was a top-notch panelist on the "Trial of a Time Lord" discussion panel.

These two were behind me in line for Sylvester McCoy's autograph. This was not an opportunity to pass up!

Anyone who can pull off a Leela costume deserves heaps of praise.

The plushie was a nice touch and I told her as much.

I loved finding fellow Fives!

There were so many kids dressed up at Gally, but I was a little hesitant to take pictures of them because I know parents are iffy about pictures displayed of their kids on the internet. But I figure this one was okay since you can't see their faces.  There was an absolute adorable nurse!Rory and a little Amelia in her nightgown and red Wellies that I didn't get.

This was a nice behind-the-scenes snapshot of the Cosplay Hall. It was organized chaos back there, but so worth it.

There weren't many Threes. I suspect there will be more next year since Katy Manning has been confirmed.

This one made my inner twelve-year-old go nuts! I was a huge Sailor Moon fan back in the day and I'm super-excited that there will be a new reboot this summer. There was a time I would not admit to this, but I've since grown up.
So there.

I'm always amazed at the amount of detail that goes into these things.  But no more surprised at the amount of hooped skirts and corsets that made an appearance. Holy cow. (I liked my sweater, thank you very much).

I think that was the extent of my cosplay pictures, but it is by no means a complete sampling (that's a strange phrase, but there you go).  Keep an eye out for other pictures on Twitter and Facebook and blogs because there were so, so, SO many great cosplays.  I don't know if I'll make another one, but it was so much fun to be stopped in the hallway for pictures and to get compliments for my handiwork - and to compliment other people on their creativity as well.  If you can manage a cosplay, do it!