As opposed to last year, where Disney fairies were well represented, this year, Disney princesses were all the rage. I saw no less than four sets of girls dressed like Anna and Elsa from Frozen. But almost everyone from Merida to Belle to Snow White were walking around--don't recall seeing any Tiana, Pocahontas, or Mulan cosplayers though as all the girls doing the Disney cosplays seemed to be all about who could make the most accurate (and most elaborate) dress. And unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of all eight of the Disney princesses when they posed for a group shot, but I did bump into Ariel later that weekend.
Though, however many princesses there were that weekend, timed with the release of Disney's "Pirate Fairy" DVD, the Disney Fairies still had adequate representation at the con.
Also, Squirrels Creations was back. Last year he showed up with a giant Starscream outfit from the original Transformers cartoon series and this year Optimus Prime was in attendance. Definitely check out his Facebook page for on it, you'll find the Mach 5 from Speed Racer! Going to have to head out to the Grand Rapids Comic Con this year to get my picture taken with the Mach 5.
This year was a bit of a departure from my regular routines. As I had been encouraged to speak at previous cons by the owner, this year I decided to toss my hat into the ring with a topic that I've been researching for several years: the history of women working in the field of animation.
I'm very fortunate that the con organizers are flexible regarding what seminar topics they allow people to speak on. They don't stick to a strict 'Japan only' philosophy as the resulting variety helps distinguish them from the other anime cons--both large and small--that are here in Michigan.
In order to liven up what could have been a very dry lecture, I decided to go with a game show format. The audience was asked three questions about a woman animator (both historical and contemporary), her career, and/or elements of work she was involved in that made it into popular culture. At the end of each animator's section, I'd recite two or three quick sentences about the animator that expounded upon the information presented in the questions
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| The awesome people who attended my WiA lecture |
Afterwards, I presented a screening of animated short films either produced by women animators (like Lynn Dana Wilton's (Re)Cycle) or that had notable women animators working on the overall production (like Kazuko Nakamura, one of the first women animators in Japan).
"(Re)Cycle" (2011) from Lynn Dana Wilton on Vimeo.
Both events went over far better than I had hoped. Only expecting around ten to fifteen people (including friends who would be there to support me), I was pleasantly surprised when twenty-four guys and girls were there for my lecture and eighteen people showed up for the screening. As I have lots of material to draw from, you can be sure that I'll be shuffling the line-up of women animators in my presentation and proposing it to the convention next year. If you'd like to learn more about my lecture, head on over to my sister site: Animated Women for some additional information.
Given how well this presentation went over, I think it's time to dust off one of my original ideas and start working on a lecture covering the history of Japanese animation... or maybe just the history of Giant Robots in Anime... :)
