LBGT Disney Fandom by Vicky
Wonder Con took place next door to the happiest place on earth. Panelists were comprised of big names to the Disneyland theme parks fandom. The panel discussed what is it about Disneyland that appeals to the LBGT community. Disneyland is very theatrical. Gays enjoy the details and enjoying in a safe space where they can be who they are without judgment. Additionally, the panelists talked about Gay Days Anaheim and what controversies it caused for the past several years. However, Gay Days Anaheim is still going strong, despite the local racists who oppose queers. In addition to discussing the parks, the panelists also talked about gender issues in Disney animated features. The panelists talked about characters that they had crushes on and characters they aspired to be. The best part about the panel was discussing who was the biggest queen in the Disney cannon and what was the gayest attraction in Disneyland.

Batman vs. Iron Man: Can Biology Best Technology? by Andrea

So my first panel of Saturday was the 11:30AM CAC panel Batman vs. Iron Man: Can Biology Best Technology? This was a pretty self-explanatory panel hosted by Professor E. Paul Zehr that talked about the age-old comics question of who would win in a match-up between Iron Man and Batman. I really could tell that Dr. Zehr had put a lot of research into the subject; he spoke of how Batman essentially could train himself to be able to push the limits of a normal human being, while Tony Stark had invented the most advanced technology the world knew up to that point. Much like the prior panel I'd seen him on with Daniel H. Wilson, I didn't get the feeling he was simply doing the panel in order to peddle his books, he really seemed to expound upon what he wrote in his books in order to help illustrate his theories. After the panel, I had the chance to talk with Dr. Zehr about things related to the brain-machine interface, including the idea that JARVIS from the Iron Man films could potentially prove a problematic entity for Tony Stark if it were to have the potential to take over the suit. So once again, the CAC provided an excellent, engaging panel, which led me right to the next one I attended.

Lessons Learned From Batgirl and Female Superheroes and Trauma: Resilience Recovery and Relaunch by Andrea

My next panel that day was CAC's 12:30 panel Lessons Learned From Batgirl and Female Superheroes and Trauma: Resilience Recovery and Relaunch. This panel talked about the trauma that was faced by female characters in the comicsverse and how they moved past those traumas in their respective storylines. The focus in this panel was on Barbara Gordon and on Stephanie Brown, who were Batgirl and Spoiler/Robin, respectively. It covered a bit of their origins, their traumas, and how they came back to feature in new stories of theirs. This panel, while an interesting view of female characters and how they survive trauma, could have been better presented as part of the next panel, but was still a solid panel on its own.

Females and Feminism by Andrea

It led me right into the 1:30 CAC panel: Females and Feminism. This was an awesome panel, which covered topics from why Y the Last Man is a feminist work to the argument that female superheroes' costumes are a contradiction between strength and objectification to an analysis of Wonder Woman's costumes and body design over the years. This is the panel that will likely get me to pick up Y the Last Man and start reading it, things were presented in a clear manner that showed the panelists were passionate about their research. When I asked about it, they also touched on the phenomenon of 'Women in Refrigerators' and their thoughts on it as it's presented in comic books. This was a nice follow-up to the prior panel about female superheroes and trauma, and I'd love to see more panels of this type in future conventions.

DC Nation by Vicky
Saturday morning cartoons are back! The DC National panel highlighted upcoming animated series. Previews included Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Young Justice, and DC Nation. Bronys overtook the live programming room. Lauren Faust was a guest speaker on the panel. She is best known for creating the new My Little Pony series. She is currently writing a series of shorts for DC Nation, Super Best Friends Forever. Much like Powerpuff Girls and My Little Pony, Super Best Friends Forever is all about girl power. The audience was shown a trailer from Young Justice: Invasion. Everyone was in awe of the upcoming season. Following the presentation, there was utter silence as everyone was trying to take the sensory overload in. The presenters also showed us clips of upcoming episodes of Green Lantern. The audience was cheering on for Star Sapphire, Saint Walker, and Senestro. Overall, this panel was a crowd pleaser. Everyone is excited to wake up early in the morning to catch the latest episodes of Young Justice and varioud DC Nation shorts. Unfortunately, for the Lauren Faust fans, the DC Nation block airs at the same time as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Con Suite by Vicky
Not quite known by many of the attendees, the con suite provides refreshments and snacks to the Wonder Con patrons. Jeff lead us to the con suite that was located on the fourth floor of the Hilton. For veteran Anime Expo attendees, this was where registration was held for Anime Expo 1999. The booth was used as a bar to serve soda pop and light snacks. Couches and tables were set up so that guests can relax and chit chat among themselves. It was also nice of the staff and the volunteers to check in with the attendees for refills on drinks and snacks. Though this was a far walk from the convention center, it was well worth it to relax with friends and to recuperate before the next main event.

Masquerade by Vicky
It is a tradition that popular culture conventions have a costume contest showcase in the evening hours. Wonder Con has a reputation as one of the most competitive masquerades in California. The masquerade welcomes costumers from all genres, mediums, and designs to compete among each other. Half the audience was full of people curious to see the costumes. The first string of contestants were little kids. One act that made the audience smile was the Gonk droid from Star Wars. As the night went on, we were entertained with individual walk ons and the occasional comedy sketch. The act that totally stopped the show was an Oprtimus Prime costumer that literally lit up the stage. As techno music played, the audience kept cheering on. Optimus Prime pointed laser sights into the audience. I told Andrea, "This is the better than both Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon!" The people in front of us really wanted to see Optimus Prime take home the grand prize of Best in Show. However, Optimus Prime won Audience Favorite. The Best of Show title went to Wonder Con veterans, Maximum Pwnnage with their Disneyfied Mortal Kombat sketch.

Halftime comprised of Star Wars fan films. Andrea enjoyed "IG-88: The Dancing Robot," which was IG-88 at an Imperial Club grooving to a dub step version of the Cantina song. Halftime went on for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, we could not stay for too long. However, we did hear about the audience being impatient to hear who took home top honors that they started booing the Star Wars fan films. The other downside of the masquerade was that there were many technical errors in the show. Several contestants had their audio messed up during performance and they were not allowed a second chance to redo their act.

However, watching the masquerade a good way to end the evening. Clearly, there is an immense amount of talent in the costuming community. It was nice to see these costumes get recognized. If you want to see more of masquerade, you can watch Anime Cosplay Paradise's videos here and Convention Life's videos here.

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