BotCon ’09: The Cosplayers

As with most pop culture conventions, you will have your fair share of cosplayers and I’m happy to say that BotCon did not disappoint. I personally dig cosplayer if they do it right and I absolutely love when they do it wrong. Surprisingly, I was quite impressed with most of the cosplayers because a lot of time and effort was put into their costume to not look stupid. I tip my hat to thee, bravo. So let’s begin into the seedy world of Transformer related costume play.

Arcee & Hotrod/Rodimus: Upon entry we were greeted with two lovely ladies with their nifty costumes. The girl on the right went for the more literal approach with Arcee. What you don’t see is that the face for the helmet can flip up revealing her face. It’s a cool design and I give two thumbs up for authenticity. Now the girl on the right is going for the more abstract approach. I say she’s Hotrod while Decepticreep believes she’s obviously Rodimus Prime, whoever she really is, the flame dress with the matching curls makes the costume and the Matrix hair clip makes this ensemble complete. Two thumbs up, one for each girl.

Warpath: Now this Warpath cosplayer needed a little more time to flesh out his or her costume. We were waiting line as Warpath and his Autobot brethren Sideswipe walked past out line while we waited for Peter Cullen’s autograph. I have to give this person points for picking one of my childhood favorites, but I have to be critical and take away points with the duct tape holding the turret. Warpath only gets a 1/2 thumb up.

Sideswipe: Now Warpath’s buddy Sideswipe fails for a few reasons. First of all, I was never a Sideswipe fan so some that’s points off for this cosplayer and second, the costume is incomplete because I unfortunately can tell this person is all male and that’s gross. Rule #1 to all you male Transformer cosplayers out there, robots do not have a fleshy bulge in front of their hips. Make a cardboard crotch for God sakes. Now for the ladies, please feel free to wear skin tight underwear over your tights, if you need an example please refer to the Arcee cosplayer in the first picture. Thanks. Sideswipe gets a kick in the junk.

Bumblebee: I’ll come right out and say that I loathe the robot design for both live action Transformers movies but I have to say, this cosplayer did a fantastic job recreating movie Bumblebee. This cosplayer actually freaked me out because of the way he or she moved. What’s most impressive is that the costume almost looks like metal; kudos on the sweet paint job. This was defiantly one of the fan favorites at Botcon ’09. This person gets two thumbs and a big toe up.

Grimlock: Now this Grimlock was a hit with the kiddies because let’s face it, a robotic T-Rex is freaking amazing. What I most dug about this costume is the user’s ability to control Grimlock’s jaw which the kids loved. Grimlock gets crown because Grimlock is KING! Awesomesauce.

Update the hook girl is Lockdown from Transfromers Animated & I still have no clue about the other one: I’m not sure who in the hell these two are. The problem with interpretive cosplayers is sometime you just can’t figure out who they are supposed to be. The one on the right is probably a fem-Megatron, but maybe I’m wrong about that. Megatron had a bad ass cannon on his arm not as an arm. Now the green chick with the claw arm I can’t figure out. It’s probably one of the newer current Transformers because I can’t seem to unravel this puzzle. The only redeeming factor about the green customer is the nice cleavage. I’ll have to rate the Green cosplayer with a one handed groping while the wanna be Megatron gets a punch in the baby maker.

Spike: Here is a person who barley had to do anything for her “costume”. Let see.
Yellow boots (Check)
Yellow Hardhat (Check)
Jeans (Check)
Almost see through White Shirt (Check)
Cute Smile (Check)
who cares if it was easy, it’s awesome.  One thumb up!

Optimus Prime & Soundwave: Nothing describes Transformers like a nice pretty dress with frills. It’s Optimus Prime and Soundwave but a lot more feminine. I have to say the Soundwave is the better costume due to the mini Laserbeak. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the Optimus face plate though. The Hotrod chick got here 30 seconds so just ignore her. The fem Optimus Prime gets a hand shake. It a shame she is covering up that pretty face. Now the Soundwave gets a big thumbs up, and with permission, a friendly glomping.

Shockwave: Now Shockwave has always been my favorite Decepticon. We were about to leave BotCon when we ran into the lovely lady who happen to be wearing a kick ass Shockwave costume. I have to give this person my personal favorite reward. She’s not wearing just tights, but tights with pseudo circuitry and robotic looking gloves. It’s the level of detail that makes me proud to give her two thumbs up and both my big toes up for an fantastic job.

Now someone give me a hand because I’m now stuck on my back.  These are the cosplayers that Decepticreep and I found on our short one day trip @ BotCon. There’s also a really neat looking Frenzy puppet but the guy wasn’t in a costume so that can’t be rated by yours truly and also I’m convinced he uses that puppet to get unsuspecting people to take pictures of his crotch.  So enjoy the rest of the photos below, especially the Cobra Commander, Baroness, Tomax & Xamot.  I can’t rate these guys either because they are not Transformers and this isn’t Cobra Convention.

–Jangofatt