The Lizy Reviews on Witherwood: Lost and Found

Obviously, the title is a signal to pay attention. Perhaps announcing what was lost would be venturing into spoiler territory, minus Charlotte being separated from Tobias at the very beginning while both of them are still brainwashed. But a few things that were found bear mentioning. Tobias found a note that he wrote to himself to wake himself up, and he woke himself up (so just FYI, notes you write to yourself work). More importantly, he found out shortly thereafter that he wasn’t the only one fighting against the regime at Witherwood. It is kind of hard to keep our new characters Megan, Keith and Patrick straight, but they are resourceful allies for Charlotte and Tobias. They call themselves “the Resistance,” which as they point out isn’t terribly original. But these are some pretty determined kids (cue 'March of the Resistance' from The Force Awakens soundtrack ;) ).

Tobias also finds more evidence of what is really going on at Witherwood. We don’t know everything about what the bad guys are doing or what their motivations are, so a lot of it I can still only guess at this point. But we are finally starting to peel back some of the layers.

Amazon

Tobias and Charlotte’s dad, Ralph Eggers, is getting closer to finding his memories, but he has more hindrance than help at this point. His main companion right now is the generous taxi cab driver, Sam. While he is trying to be realistic about Ralph’s prospects, I wouldn’t put him in the same category as Sam Wilson or Samwise Gamgee--Sam the Cab Driver is not really the ideal wingman. We also find some character development for Fiddle hinted at towards the end--and maybe a way to find some answers when book three comes out (hope that wasn't spoiling it too much).

The opening commentaries for each of the chapters are a bit annoying but I’m just going along with it at this point. I haven’t read A Series of Unfortunate Events so I couldn’t tell you how original Skye is being with his tone or how much he’s borrowing. A lot of it is typical Obert Skye.  The villains are as grotesque and terrifying as they are in book 1. Witherwood head honcho Marvin Withers doesn’t make as many appearances in Lost and Found, but if you ask me the less anyone sees Marvin Withers the better because he is bad news. The ending isn’t as satisfying as you’d like it to be, but if it had been then that would defeat the point of a cliffhanger. The genre for Witherwood is kind of hard to place. It does have fantasy elements but it’s more of a psych thriller or horror series. As the series continues, of course, and the missing pieces come together, Witherwood may turn out to be something altogether unexpected.

The Lizy Reviews: Rise of the Wolf by Jennifer A. Nielsen

So, small spoiler alert, the titular wolf wasn’t that big of a player. Also, I super, super LOVED the Mistress--but a dragon, seriously? Kind of ruined it for me. Scary, yes, but ruined it.

Sequel to The Mark of the Thief and second part of the Mark of the Thief Trilogy, Rise of the Wolf is a spectacular book. I couldn’t tell you how unreliable a narrator Nic is, but he’s certainly an unpredictable protagonist as he struggles to stay ahead of his enemies. The Praetors are determined to recover both Caesar’s bulla and the Malice of Mars to aid the goddess Diana in waging a rebellion against the other Roman gods, a conflict that could destroy Rome and perhaps the world, although we have to take everyone’s word for it on that.

jennielsen.com

Nic only wants to escape his enemies and protect his loved ones, but in order to survive he has to turn unwillingly to his (spoiler) grandfather General Radulf for help. Radulf has trained Nic to be a chariot racer, and Nic makes a (really stupid) bet with the Praetors that will hopefully save his life and keep the Praetors away from him and the Malice. But of course, everything backfires. I saw that coming a mile away.

We return to some familiar places, but the Circus Maximus racing stadium in Rome is the new haunt for Nic and his showdowns with Radulf and the Praetors. The descriptions of the chariot races can be kind of hard to follow, but the climactic race was actually a lot of fun, all things considered. There isn’t a lot of backstory for what’s going on aside from what gets roughly summarized, which while it makes for a smoother read it’s harder to keep track of what’s going on and why.

Nic’s sister Livia has a much bigger presence in this book, and it’s easy to see why Nic is so determined to protect her: she is the literal sunshine of his life. Aurelia is amazing right from the start, but I’m not sure how well of a finish she had. The romantic tension is building appropriately, I will say that much, but the love triangle seems like too much additional stress for Nic on top of everything else. Just...WHY? But, shipping conflicts aside, Crispus is the real MVP. He gets some awesome character development in this book. Calling it now: I ship Crispus with Livia and they will be together next book.

Fanart I made

The Praetors are appropriately creepy villains, led by the snivelling Decimus Brutus. But the Mistress...dang, I love her. She is so evil and awesome. General Radulf is still a bad guy, but as Nic works with him more we learn more about his motives. He’s actually a lot more complicated, and his relationship to Nic adds to the tension of the plot. We do get Caela back for one scene (d’aaaaw!) but most of the animal element of Rise of the Wolf is supplied by a unicorn, Callistus. Callistus is actually pretty cool. The author makes it pretty clear that he’s a serious unicorn, not a cute pet but a wild and dangerous but still magical animal. The Vestalis from Caesar’s temple in the first book is back, and she supplies the needed element of absolute good that this series has been needing: and a contrast, in fact, to the absolute evil of the Mistress. And the Roman gods? They are very, very real in this world. Of course Nic assumes that they cursed him with all of his bad luck, but I reckon he hasn’t seen anything yet.

The conclusion of the trilogy, Wrath of the Storm, comes out next January. Not soon enough.

Cosplay for the Rest of Us

I spent a lot of time this summer putting together cosplays, sewing a little but mostly shopping for costume pieces for more casual outfits. That has given me a lot of experience in creating cosplay and also given me time to think about cosplay. I’d like to share some things that I’ve learned. I’ve tried to organize these thoughts into some sort of order, and while I don’t think I’ve quite reached the synthesis of ideas that I would like I think it makes some sense.  

Cosplay is a visual art form, but like all forms of art it requires acquiring and practicing skills to create and perform each piece. Like some forms of art, it requires knowledge of how to work raw materials, but can also include knowing how to repurpose everyday items.

If you’re not under obligation to create a picture-perfect costume, then there is no need to waste hundreds of hours shopping for the exact clothing article or sewing the garment correctly, particularly if your sewing skills, like mine, leave much to be desired. Work at the level you're comfortable at. Yes, you should put forth your best effort, but don’t exhaust yourself. Don’t don’t feel like you have to spend a million dollars on perfect props and costume pieces if you don’t have to. Go to dollar stores and thrift stores. Use discount fabric and linens-- bedsheets work great! Heck, Padme Amidala’s wedding dress in Attack of the Clones was made from a bedspread that Triscia Biggar found in Italy.

Pinterest

Keep an eye out for sales and deals, of course.  If you don’t mind poorer quality, Halloween season is a great time to get cheaper costume items like wigs and makeup, after and even before the big day. You can easily repurpose clothing items, jewelry, and toys for use in cosplay. Use spray paints and acrylic paints for props. The color is everything. Get lots of reference photos for the costume you want to make and study them carefully. If you don’t have a smartphone or a printed reference, be able to keep in mind the type of costume pieces you’re looking for while shopping. Write down lists of what you need to find and what you can use.

If you’re shopping at a thrift store, you can look through all the clothing racks one shirt at a time for the right article, but I find that sometimes when I do that I don’t find what I’m looking for.  Depending on the day, something will stick out to me and it will turn out to be exactly what I need.

It is nice to get everything you need for your costume in one place at one time. However, it doesn’t work out that way. One shopping trip every once in a while, when you have money, you can eventually find everything you need. Be patient! If you can’t buy it now, then wait. It won’t kill you, I promise. If you're window-shopping or just looking, then look up prices and figure out where to get the items you need for cheap.

Don’t feel like you need to change your body or your hairstyle for the cosplay if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.You need to be able to wear your costume the way it fits your taste and style and your image of the character. You can’t just look good in it--you need to FEEL good in it!  If you don’t want to wear a certain style of outfit, then don’t wear it. Find something else that looks similar. At the very least, the piece should invoke the character’s style and attitude as well as the world they exist in.  

In Age of Ultron Scarlet Witch’s outfit is not really that covering. The little black dress I use for my Scarlet Witch actually has a higher collar and lower skirt hem, but while it fits my standards of dress it also still works for the intended costume, and everybody likes my costume regardless. I’m not saying modest is hottest, but I am saying modesty can work in cosplay. Modesty is about the respect you have for yourself.

You do not have to look a hundred percent like the character to be the character. You are creating the cosplay because you relate to the character and the outfit. Cosplay is an expression of your ideas and not someone else’s.

A little known fact: dressing as a contemporary character who wears normal clothes is a good way to build up your wardrobe.You can mix and match pieces from different ensembles to find a good look for yourself and subtly invoke your fandom in your everyday dress. Or you can dress out part of the way as your favorite character to work or school and no one will tell the difference.

There is a give and take relationship between online fandom and cosplay in person. You come with your own ideas and act those out and share them with friends. But as you interact with other people, your ideas come together and you write new stories that those other people can be a part of. When you’re out at a convention or another event with friends, yes, go ahead and share your ideas about the character, re-create the moments you’ve daydreamed about. But if you’re doing it with friends, do it on their terms. Stick with what they’re comfortable with. Don’t make people act out every single one of your headcanons. They have their own ideas about their characters and you should respect that. Don’t be afraid to do something that you wouldn’t see your character doing IRL. Goof off! Get people to laugh! Make yourself laugh.

The first time you go out in a cosplay, it’s normal to not know a hundred percent how to be in character. Even if you love the character and know them pretty well, it still takes time to get the hang of it. It can be 2-3 times wearing that cosplay before you know what you’re doing. Do your homework and learn about the character if you're not familiar with them, but you won't get into character by doing exactly what you researched. Like I said, you get into character by getting with other people.

Me as Livewire, Salt Lake Comic Con 2016, Chiseled Light Photography

The most important thing about anything you do in life is to have fun and to create those moments

that will bring you real joy. And the best moments are the ones you make with other people. It is about you, but it’s also about sharing yourself to make other people happy.

Salt Lake Comic Con: On and Off the Camera

So for those of you who’ve been wondering, I moved into a new apartment and didn’t have wifi. Naturally that was a headache right before Comic Con but I’m home now and we have internet. So I’M BAAAAACK!

I went to Salt Lake Comic Con last weekend. Overall it was a great con. But I had a sudden flare-up of my depression symptoms right before con and that made all the tough stuff about con--being alone, walking around in circles around the convention hall, being tired and cranky on Saturday--ten times worse. I am extremely grateful for numerous friends who came out and supported me during Comic Con and for people I was able to run into once or twice or more or even all three days. And you know what, not all of those friends are picture-perfect Mormons, we don’t all have the same values, but my friends respect me as a person, and I respect them, and the more important thing is that through fandom we find common ground. Also, a huge thank-you goes out to Grandma Bair for letting me crash at her house during con, and also for noticing how tired I really was all three days.

Don’t get me wrong, the Salt Palace is BIG. But at Comic Con, when you’re walking the floor, after a while you know where all of the most prominent vendors and features are, and you see the same cosplayers once or twice or three times as you go around. But on the plus side, you get to see something different every time. It’s not hard to find something new. But there are always those people you don’t get to run into even though you REALLY wanted to or the features and vendors you forget until it’s too late, or you pass by this person in a really awesome costume and you want to take their picture so badly but you’re in a hurry to get somewhere else because you don’t know when the heck your panel is or you’re trying to get into ZipQ, or characters you’re looking for and can never find when you need them--that is Comic Con. These are a few of the stories I’ve come back with from Comic Con, some I had help in telling, others I found on my own. (All photos are mine unless otherwise noted)

10 Moments At Comic Con Not Caught on Camera

There were things I didn’t get pictures of, either because I didn’t have access to my phone camera or because I thought that pulling out a camera would ruin the moment. We spend so much of our lives focused on what we can store on our second brains on the internet and our devices, to the mantra “pics or it didn’t happen.” Fandom--life period--is not just about what’s in front of the camera but the things that happen when we’re not worried about other people seeing it later. And though a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, a few words can be just as valuable. It would probably make more sense if I shared these in order, but the postmodern thing to do is to keep it disorderly so consider the disorder an aesthetic choice.

1. Vivint Arena security getting me to customer service (Thursday) Small commentary here, it was kind of nice to have the headline star come first thing to the con rather than last, because it saved having to worry about getting into so-and-so’s panel on Saturday and let us enjoy the con. Bright and early Thursday morning, there were a handful of people waiting outside of the Vivint Arena (formerly the Energy Solutions Arena or the Delta Center, aka that place where the Jazz play) for Mark Hamill’s panel, but it wasn’t jam-packed with people because, hey, it’s the Jazz stadium, there was room for all of us. In fact when we finally got in there were still seats to spare in the lower section. So anyway, I got to door seven of the Vivint Arena shortly after eight in the morning, dressed in my Jedi outfit and ready to go. As I have for the last three conventions, I brought my fold-up camp stool to save my feet some aching. But while I was waiting, two people from Arena security showed up and asked me about my camp stool. They told me I would have to put it leave it outside because I wouldn’t be allowed to take it with me. And they were a little bit rude about it. Well, I wasn’t terribly stressed about it right then. I talked to the Comic Con volunteers. They said I could leave it at their table but they wouldn’t watch it. The people standing with me in line were nice and offered to see if my stool would fit into their bags--and it didn’t. My camp stool is small but not that small. Someone let me borrow her phone so I could get onto the internet and check and see if any of my friends were there. Finally, it was nine o’clock and we were moments away from being let into the building--but I wasn’t going to abandon my camp stool that easily. I talked to the Con volunteers again and asked them if there was someplace safer on site where I could keep my camp stool. There was a Vivint arena staff member standing just inside the doorway. He saw me and came out, and he offered to walk me over to the arena customer service and have my stool checked there. That was exactly what I needed. We talked politely while walking and he mentioned that yes, the Spurs will be playing the Jazz in Salt Lake this season, and after this positive experience with the Arena staff of course I have no reservations about coming back for one of those events. I was able to check my stool at customer service and enjoy waiting for the Mark Hamill panel without having to worry about one of my most important con accessories being misplaced or stolen. We were off to a great start.

   

   Haning out with the Rebel Legion before the Mark Hamill Panel

2. Running into Alicia and Larissa (Friday) Some of you may know this, but not all of you. When I was at BYU I was part of the Quill and Sword Medieval Reenactment Club. The friends I made there are near and dear to my heart. Most of us have graduated and gone our separate ways now, and we don’t see each other that much. But chances are, Salt Lake Comic Con is a good place to run into old clubbies. It was Friday while I was walking the floor with some of my friends that I saw Larissa passing by and I called out to her. We stopped and talked for a moment. Later, I was visiting a friend’s booth when I saw Alicia. I found out she was back in Utah and working for LTUE, the sci-fi/fantasy writing convention that happens every year in Provo. It was a real treat to see both of them, especially since it had been SO LONG since I’d seen either of them.
3. Pulling Deadpool’s finger (Friday) I was with Kaesi Bird on Friday, walking the floor with her aunt and uncle and cousins. I got sidetracked by the Goblin King Jareth from Labyrinth.  And then Kaesi was approached by a Deadpool and he started to tease her. Being Black Widow, I felt obliged to intervene. I don’t recall all the details, but I somehow got a hold of his finger and started pulling it back. He gave a groan of pain and then commented on how flexible he was.
4. Beating Darth Vader and Kylo Ren (Thursday) After the Mark Hamill panel I started to make my way over to the Salt Palace from the Vivint Arena. I decided to stop at the picnic tables in front of Abravanel Hall to eat some of my snacks and shared a table with a mom and her kid. While we were eating, there were people passing us by, and of course many were in cosplay. There was a Darth Vader in a Sunday suit who came walking by with his fancy lightsaber in hand. I decided to challenge him to an impromptu duel with my cheap plastic saber. I swung at him a few times and then somehow I got lucky and stuck him in the shoulder. A few minutes later, I saw a Kylo Ren passing by with a girl in a BB-8 outfit. I challenged Kylo as well. Kylo had a cheaper lightsaber, but I quickly overpowered him and he fell to the ground. Kylo pulled the mask off--turned out to be an acquaintance I’ve been following on Tumblr for a little over a year. I saw her again later and on Friday we kept bumping into each other.

   

   Some other adorable cosplayers I saw on the concourse outside Abravanel Hall

5. Protecting Bucky from the Borg (Friday) So I “kidnapped” my friend Benji on Friday afternoon and we went around the Salt Palace as Bucky and Natasha. We hadn’t gotten very far when we ran into a crowd of people headed the other direction. One of the cosplayers was none other than Eric Allen Hall in his Borg getup. He saw us and stretched a moving claw in Benji’s direction. I do get a little protective when we’re in character, but this time I had a plastic gun on me. I pulled Benji away and pointed the gun at Eric. He left us alone. Nobody assimilates Bucky while I’m around!

6. 

   The Jedi in Jeans with the Concubines

   Doctor Strange with a lightsaber (Thursday) Thursday I was heading back into the vendor hall when I ran into a guy dressed as Doctor Strange. And this was a pretty legit Doctor Strange cosplay--he had gray in his hair and a costume that was based on the upcoming movie. But what was most peculiar was that he was holding a lightsaber, one of the nice ultrasaber variety. It looked awesome and I needed a picture for lots of reasons. But I pulled out my phone to get a picture and came to find out that I had a low battery. Which leads me to the next story.
7. Brian saving my phone (Thursday) So my phone was dying on Thursday evening, right when I least needed it to. I needed to get it charged, and fast. I asked information if there was a tech booth with phone charging stations. They said to go out into the hall--they meant to use one of the plugs in the wall for charging. I didn’t have my charger cord. I wanted to go back to the Kids’ Heroes Booth and see if anyone there had a charger I could use, but I had to be at the grand staircase at five-thirty for a Star Wars photo meetup and it was nearly time. But while I was at the meetup I ran into the legendary Concubines of Utah. Brady (Ling) is one of my friends and he took a picture of me with Captain America and a double-selfie with me so that was great. And my friend Brian Gates was there as well: he spent the whole con helping with the photo meetups. I don’t recall how I revealed this to him but I told him about my phone being almost-dead and he offered to take my phone to a booth that rented out lockers for charging devices. He took my phone with him while I went to the Billy Boyd panel. When I got out, I headed back to the Kids Heroes Booth to get the note that Brian had said he would leave there for me with information on how to get into the locker. I found the note without much problem and went to the bathroom, but when I got back Brian was there waiting with my phone. I brought my charger cord with me for the next two days, just in case.

   

   Me and Brian on Friday
   

8. Losing my phone and finding it promptly (Saturday) That wasn’t the only headache I got from my small cellular device. I was hanging out in the Grand Staircase area on Saturday afternoon at the end of con, feeling tired and frustrated while I was watching stuff for some friends of mine. I must’ve had my phone in my back pocket since the skinny jeans I use for my cosplays don’t have functional front pockets. I decided to go sit against the wall and I moved my stuff and the stuff I was watching over with me. Several minutes passed and I wanted to get out my phone, but then I looked in my bag and realized it wasn’t there. I dumped out my bag and looked through my stuff and I couldn’t find it anywhere. Perfect. This was the last thing I needed. I went back to the staircase where I’d been sitting. Nothing. I approached one of the con volunteers standing close by and asked if they’d seen a cell phone. They told me that they had handed it off and it would probably be at an information booth by now. Then someone standing close to them got my attention and pulled my phone out of their pocket. That was officially the least hassle I have ever had with losing something at comic con.
9. Getting ready for Livewire to “Naturally” (Saturday) Saturday morning I had some time to myself at Grandma’s to get ready and decided to turn on some music. I wasn’t sure what music would be appropriate for Livewire from CBS’s Supergirl and decided to turn on my party mix. The second song to come up was “Naturally” by Selena Gomez. “You are the thunder and I am the lightning” was the PERFECT line for my character.
10. Black Panther Chase (Friday) (Photo--Glen as Panther) It was a little before closing on Friday, I was with Benji, Melanie, and Aaron on the con floor. Then we were approached by the Black Panther, and he was ready to pounce. We stared at him for a moment. And then Benji took off running. The Black Panther went after him, cutting through the throngs of people across the vendor floor. Dang it I should have dropped my bags first, but I went after them part of the way with my gun out and then stopped because I lost them. I went back to Mel and Aaron, and then Benji came back, thankfully in one piece, and the Black Panther with him--it was our friend Glen, who had finished his Black Panther outfit in time for the con. It was too bad we hadn’t had a Captain America to join in the chase, we said, and we should probably do that sometime, but no one complained that Black Widow had joined the chase.

    

    Glen modeling his Black Panther

10 Moments Caught on Camera

1. Stabbing the diary (Friday) After the Evanna Lynch panel on Friday, I met up with my friend McKenzie, and she and her friend and I wandered over to the grand staircase area, since I wanted a picture of my Black Widow outfit. We happened to arrive just when a Harry Potter photo meetup was happening. McKenzie was in her Moaning Myrtle costume and I urged her to join the group being photographed. I was standing by the stairs when I spotted my friend Robbie. I know him a little better for his Star Wars cosplays, but this time he was dressed in black and green Slytherin robes: in fact, he was Tom Riddle. That wasn’t the only reason he was familiar, since I remembered him crashing Anthony Daniels’ panel last September at comic con. Also at the photo meetup were an adorable pint-sized Harry, Ron, and Hermione. After the photos were taken, Robbie gave his Tom Riddle diary to the little Harry to stab, and Robbie did a dramatic dying pose. The little Harry was enjoying it way too much.
   
   And then I pointed out my friend McKenzie, and Tom Riddle took the pleasure of killing Moaning Myrtle all over again.
   
2. Electrocuting the chicken (Saturday) I ran into the Swedish Chef from The Muppets on Saturday while I was doing Livewire. I started to electrocute his rubber chicken, and ended up shocking him, too! I saw him again later and asked for a photo, but what ended up happening for the photo was me using the rubber chicken as a bludgeon to beat him with--still very entertaining!
   
3. My best friend Harley’s Wedding (Saturday) First thing I did when I got to the Salt Palace was go to the grand staircase to get a photo of Livewire. I had done some reading up the night before on Livewire and found out that Livewire did have a one-time alliance with DC villains Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, so I was already planning on taking as many photos with these characters as possible (and believe me there were plenty to choose from). But while I was in the photo line, a Harley and Joker couple got in line behind me dressed for a prospective wedding.
   
   I ran up to my chicka friend Harley and hugged her and congratulated her on getting married. There was a Batman waiting close by who offered to “perform” their marriage and I even got to be a witness!
   
4. Taffetta (Saturday) In that same photo line, there were a group of characters I didn’t recognize standing in front of me. But then somebody said “Taffetta” and I recognized who one of them was. Vanellope, Wreck-it-Ralph, and Fix-it Felix are occasional  staples at con, but this girl takes the cake for cosplaying Vanellope’s antagonist. (see what I did there?)
   
5. Very Tender Steve and Bucky reunion (Friday) When Benji does his Bucky cosplay, he gets really into the character and he’s a huge dork about it. It was so fun to be with him on Friday evening. Every time we ran into a Captain America, he would run up and say, “Steve, is that you?” and hug the guy. There was one Cap, however, who gave an overwhelmingly warm response. It happened later Friday evening when Melanie was with us. This Cap was dressed in the stealth suit and he had a Peggy Carter with him. Benji walked up to him and said the line, and this Steve was just, “Oh, Bucky! I can’t believe it!” and they hugged very tenderly. Melanie and I got emotional just watching.
   
6. Every time I run into Kaesi (All Three Days) I met Kaesi with her friends Sierra and Kelsey at a photo meet up at FanX 2015. We met up again last September and have since kept in touch. Kaesi was the only one of the group to make it to comic con this time. Thursday I ran into Spider-Gwen by the staircase sometime around the Star Wars photo meetup.

   

   When you're a Jedi but a friend stops to say hi to you (Kaesi Bird)

   Friday I first saw a photobombing Ginny Weasley at the Harry Potter photo meetup. Later when I was on my own and feeling down I texted her to see if we could meet up, and by some miracle she and the relatives she was with came walking by a few minutes later. I ended up walking the floor with them until Kaesi and her cousin had to go to a photo op.

   

   Redhead Squad Goals (Kaesi Bird)

   I was by myself for a little while afterward but our time together cheered me significantly. And then on Saturday I was with the Arkham Group when I bumped into a Blue Butterfly on the con floor.
   
7. Jyn Erso (Thursday) I have massive respect for anyone who cosplays a character just based on a trailer. I mean, not to brag or anything, but I’ve been doing Scarlet Witch since the set photos for Age of Ultron came out. Anyway, Thursday while I was leaving the Vivint arena after the Mark Hamill panel, I saw a girl dressed as Jyn Erso, the protagonist in the upcoming Star Wars spinoff Rogue One. Of course I grabbed a picture of her. And I got one with her, too! I saw at least one or two other Jyns at con but this girl I saw in passing on Friday and Saturday as well, and I’d say she came closest to the onscreen version.
   
   
   
   
8. Awkward Date at the Cantina (Friday) Pretty much the first thing I did when I saw Benji on Friday was take him over to the Mos Eisley Cantina set set up by the Star Wars groups--no better place for Black Widow and Winter Soldier’s first date, am I right?

   

   (Benji Seekins)

9. Obi-wan and the Duchess (Thursday) I’ve only seen the first two seasons of Clone Wars, but it’s enough to know who Duchess Satine of Mandalore is. I was at the very awesome Star Wars animation panel when someone asked James Arnold Taylor (voice of Obi-wan in TCW) about the “Rey Kenobi” theory. He mentioned Satine in his response, and then someone shouted out that we had an Obi-wan and Satine in the room. They stood up, and there was an enormous cheer. After the panel, I grabbed them for a picture. Seriously, that Satine cosplay is nothing to sneeze at, she looked amazing. Such detail and hard work, wow. I don’t think I could ever do that!
   
10. Being a hardcore Jedi (Thursday) I hadn’t been planning on doing any Star Wars costumes for con this year until it was announced that Mark Hamill was coming. After that, I realized that it just felt weird to be going to con without a Star Wars costume lined up. I had already put together a new Jedi tunic so I wore that with a pair of jeans and boots. My friend Glen let me borrow his ultrasaber. Most people, their fallback fandom is Harry Potter. Mine is Star Wars. And it felt good to be the Jedi in Jeans again.

    

    (Jason Hsu)