This was our second year performing at the San Diego Comic Con Masquerade. 2010 was as professionally run and beautifully executed as ever, and we were happy to take part in it as part of a twelve-piece Zodiac group. All twelve members designed and made their own Zodiac Animal costume, based on Chinese fashion. I was the Ox, and Caitlin was the dog. While I based my costume on the concept of a peasant (thus the rice sacks), Caitlin was a warrior of sorts, complete with a Chinese traditional sword.

I wrote our skit, although the idea came from another member, and our audio starred voice actor Matt Mercer as the seductive Emperor Rooster. We had some last minute group rehearsals that ended in such hilarity that we actually ended up making changes to our skit until the night before.

Unfortunately, the night of the masquerade, everything went smoothly until Caitlin felt sick. She came down with some kind of stomach bug and ended up in the bathroom lying on the tiled floor getting every kind of stomach medicine the backstage fairy-godmothers could get us. They were lovely, for the record – extremely helpful.

Caitlin finally felt well enough to get on stage, so our entire group was together and ready to perform. We nailed the performance and had a great time doing it. Shout out to all of our fellow performers.

Afterwards, we spent the rest of the masquerade in line for photos. The line took awhile, but it’s always fun to get interviewed by press and talk with other costumers about their amazing projects.

Comic Con has the best craftsmanship of any masquerade competition. Our experience is mostly with Anime Convention masquerades, and the level of competition is barely comparable. The real stand-outs this year? The Mass Effect group with a robotic moving creature head.

We didn’t win an award, but we had a fantastic time and loved the treatment we received back-stage. We’d love to participate in Masquerade next year.

The highlight of my Comic Con was definitely the Cartoon Network panel. I’m a huge fan of the network and I attend this panel on a yearly basis with great anticipation. Last year, I went as Ben from their hit franchise Ben 10, but this year, I shoved my Ben costume on Caitlin and dressed up as Ben’s evil twin, Albedo. I remade both the jackets and went to this year’s panel excited as any ten year old there.

At the panel, they announced the new season of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien with story-runner Dwayne McDuffie and animation legend Glen Murakami, as well as all four Man of Action members and a few voice actors including Yuri Lowenthal and Greg Cipes.

Up next was a preview of Generator Rex, Man of Action’s other hit show, followed by a Q and A with voice actors Daryl Sabara (Rex), Wally Kurth (Agent Six) and the four Man of Action members.

There was a huge call for a Ben 10 – Generator Rex cross-over. Personally, I would love to see that! Let’s hope the fan-support gets them thinking about it!

Afterwards was a fantastic preview of Cartoon Network’s newest series, Sym-Bionic Titan, done by legendary creator Gennedy Tartavosky (Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory). The show centers around a Princess, a Soldier, and a Robot fleeing their home planet to Earth and blending in as “normal” teenagers. The preview was beautifully animated – it’s the kind of work I’d expect from Gennedy.

I am SO excited for this series, and Caitlin and I are already planning cosplay for it next year.

Overall the panel was super exciting, everything I thought it would be. Let’s hope next year’s panel is just as phenomenal!

I’m a sucker for animation and for Marvel super-heroes, so I knew I had to be at the Marvel Animation panel.

At the panel, they pushed their current series which have upcoming seasons: Super Hero Squad, a playful self-parody Marvel-verse show starring super-deformed versions of the Marvel superheroes; and Iron Man: Armored Adventures, a reimagining of Iron Man starring teenaged versions of Tony, Pepper and Rhodey. I’ve never seen Super Hero Squad, but I’ve enjoyed the episodes of Iron Man: Armored Adventures I’ve seen.

They also previewed some of the Marvel anime series that they’ll be bringing over from Japan, most notably Wolverine and Iron Man . As both a Marvel and an anime fan I was pretty excited about these previews, despite some fan’s reticence about the idea of a Japanimation-Marvel cross-over.

Another super exciting development is Marvel’s newest series: Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The footage for this looked a bit questionable in my opinion, especially the presence of a token female and title-dropping in the trailer. But I have faith in the Marvel-verse, so I hope this show will turn out wonderful.

There was a fun quiz-show element to this panel, and interns were tossing prizes out the whole time. Caitlin and I snagged some free DVDs! Always fun! Can’t wait to watch ‘em when we get home.

Marvel Animation made a great showing and I can’t wait to see all the stuff they’re putting out this season!

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