Matt Refghi: Alright, were at Dragon*Con 2012, and Ive got four cats right here. So, is it your first time at Dragon*Con?
All: No.
Matt: Okay, so youve been here before. How many times?
Kitty 3: This is my third year.
Matt: Third year.
Kitty 2: This is my sixth, I think.
Matt: Sixth year.
Kitty4: Sixth.
Matt: Very nice.
Kitty 1: Third.
Matt: Third? Great. And is this what kind of costume is this you just went creative and had a whole bunch of cat costumes?
Kitty 3: Well do you watch Big Bang Theory?
Matt: Yes I do.
Kitty2, Kitty 3: Soft kitty?
Matt: Oh, soft kitty! Of course!
Kitty 3: Yes!
Matt: Of course, soft kitty.
All: (singing) Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur.
Matt: (laughs)
All (singing) Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr.
Matt: Thats great, thank you. Its a nice surprise, I thought it was just cats, but it was more than that, so thank you.
Kitty 4: We like the ones youve got to think about.
Matt: Yeah, no me too. I have this costume, I dont have all the pieces right now but its so its a Canadian show, cause were from Canada, we flew down. So its a Canadian show, and no one recognized it yet.
Kitty3: Aww.
Matt: Maybe, maybe eventually.
Kitty 4: Whats the show?
Matt: Trailer Park Boys. Were not really recording, but
Kitty 4: No havent heard about it.
Matt: Havent heard about it, its okay, its fine. His only gimmick, the character, his main gimmick, is that simply carries a glass around, with alcohol, never puts it down. So I just drink stuff that looks like alcohol.
Kitty 3: Ah okay.
Kitty 4: So you just drink all day long and call it your costume.
Matt: Right, but I use
Kitty 4: (laughs)
Matt: (laughs) Its a great costume, its a great costume.
Kitty4: Hey, it works, it works!
All: (singing) Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr.
Matt Refghi: Alright, were at Dragon*Con 2012, and Im here with two cosplayers that I do not recognize, and Im particularly intrigued because of the plunger. So if you could please tell me about your characters, tell me about yourselves.
John: Im playing the Phantom of the Paradise which is from a 1970s movie directed by Brian De Palma as a musical version of the Phantom of the Opera.
Matt: Okay, not familiar, but still very cool. Yes?
Clara: Im playing Major Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell manga, its an old school version of her outfit.
Matt: Okay, alright. And the plunger, where does that fit in?
John: He attacks somebody with a plunger in the middle of the movie, and the action figure actually comes with the plunger, so I figured it was
Matt: Is there a clog he needs to fix? Or whats the
John: No, he attacks him in the bathroom, so its kind of a comedy.
Matt: I see, alright. How long have you been coming to Dragon*Con?
Clara: This is my third year.
Matt: Third year? Me too! Great.
Clara: (laughs)
John: Ive been here for five or six years.
Matt: Five or six years, great. And are you from the area?
John: Whats that?
Matt: (repeating) Are you from the area?
John: Yes.
Matt: Yes?
John: Yeah, about a mile away.
Matt: A mile away, thats pretty close. Whats your favorite thing about Dragon*Con?
Clara: I love that its a gathering of my people. The nerds, the dorks, we were picked on in school, but now I feel like we rule here. Were cool now. (laughs)
Matt: Now we thrive, thats right. (to John) Same?
John: Yeah, nerds, and drinking its my life.
Matt: Excellent. Is there anything you would recommend someone who hasnt been to Dragon*Con?
Clara: Well, I think that they definitely should go. You gotta start raising your nerds, when you have kids, bring them here, you can be yourself here its amazing.
John: Yeah, if youre a nerd, and you live in the area and you want to come, you should come its fun.
Matt: Great. And if would ask you whats the best costume that youve seen today? is there anything that comes to mind, that pops out?
Clara: I love the multitude of Shepard from Mass Effect. The costumes have been amazing here, and theres so many of them now.
Matt: Yeah, me too.
John: Yeah, I liked seeing Rocket Racoon and Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Matt: Okay, Im not familiar, but good. Um, and youre names, I dont believe youve mentioned your names.
Clara: My name is Clara.
Matt: Alright, Clara. (to John) Yes?
John: Im John.
Matt: Nice meeting you both, and thanks for taking the time to interview with us. And may we use this interview on YouTube?
Clara: Yeah, no problem.
John: Yeah.
Matt: Thank you.
Clara: Thank you so much.
Matt: Thanks. (to John) Thank you, plunger man.
John: My hands are wet.
Matt: And youre holding a plunger.
John: Ive been this is brand new, but Ive been sweating so much, I was like
Matt: Its okay, I appreciate it. Alright, thank you.
And now the blooper.
Matt: And Im here with two characters that I do not recognize, and Im very curious about, particularly because youre carrying a sponger.
Matt: What am I saying? (to camera man) Let me restart.
Clara: (laughs)
Matt: (laughs) (to camera man) Let me restart, Im sorry.
Matt: It was, uh sponger, what the hell is a sponger?
Matt Refghi: Once again at Dragon*Con 2012, and I just had to stop to talk to Link right here because I was particularly impressed with his costume. I remember Ocarina of Time very well, and I know thats not the standard shield I remember this shield, it was very useful. I also recall that the tunic is normally green, so if you could tell us a little more about the costume, and your design, your decisions.
Aaron Granofsky: Alright. Technically, this is the Twilight Princess Zelda version, but I wanted to make the Ocarina of Time mirror shield, so I built the mirror shield and just added it to the Twilight Princess. But Twilight Princess typically has Zora armor, but I didnt know that before making the costume, so I made a blue version like Ocarina of Time, so I kinda just swapped all the different games into one.
Matt: I see. Do you remember, because its been a while since I played this, do you remember the effect of the blue tunic?
Aaron: Yes, the blue tunic allowed you to breathe underwater without a time limit.
Matt: Thats it, okay. And the mirror shield allowed you to reflect light and things like that.
Aaron: Yep.
Matt: Is this completely your creation?
Aaron: Pretty much, yep, everything.
Matt: I believe you had a site you wanted to mention?
Aaron: Yes, I have site called Fiberglass Blades, and it has all the tutorials on how I make this, and other ways of getting a copy of this as well. (Note from Matt: Aaron sells a very limited amount of his creations off his website, check it out if youre into high quality costumes.)
Matt: And are you from around here?
Aaron: Im from the Maryland area, just figured Id check out Dragon*Con, I heard its pretty big, just decided to see what its like.
Matt: Great, and your thoughts so far?
Aaron: Its quite massive, its quite different experience than the typical anime conventions Im used to. Its pretty fun.
Matt: Excellent. Im glad youre enjoying it, and I hope you enjoy the rest. Um, your name again?
Aaron: Aaron Granofsky.
Matt: And so far, have you seen other Legend of Zelda costumes?
Aaron: I have seen a few Links and other ones, Princess Zelda.
Matt: So I take it you got plenty of photos with them, good times?
Aaron: Yeah, yeah, weve been going around, weve been teaming up and getting photos together.
Matt: Alright, excellent. So have a good time, and thanks a lot for taking the time to interview with us.
Aaron: Alright, thanks.
Matt: Thank you. (reaches to shake hand) Let me see if I can shake your shield hand there. (laughs)
Matt Refghi: Alright, were at Dragon*Con 2012 and Im here with Justin who decided to dress as Walt Whitman. From Breaking Bad, and yet, he seems to be
Justin: I think that was good, that was good though.
Matt: Yeah, its fine, its just.
Justin: It was a nice gap, I liked it.
Matt: Oh, you mean, like a natural mistake? What do you mean?
Justin: Well, yeah, you were like, yeah, Walt Whitman, he made meth too!
Matt: (laughs)
Justin: Most people did not know that!
Matt: Alright, so were Dragon*Con 2012 and Im here as Justin who dressed up as Walter White from the Breaking Bad series, and he didnt really go with stealth for today, he decided to go all out and showcase that he is a meth cook, or something dangerous like that. So Walt, is this your first time at Dragon*Con?
Justin: No, Ive been coming for about, Id say, five years now.
Matt: Five years?
Justin: Five years.
Matt: Are you from around here?
Justin: Actually, yeah, I live in Douglasville, about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta.
Matt: Aright.
Justin: So not much of a drive.
Matt: So not much a a pardon?
Justin: Not much of a drive
Matt: Oh, okay.
Justin: Compared to a lot of people.
Matt: Yeah. We fly down from Montreal.
Justin: You know, I thought I heard a little something there.
Matt: Yeah?
Justin: Yep.
Matt: So whats your favorite part about Dragon*Con?
Justin: Well, honestly, for one thing the costumes, just walking around, seeing some of the amazing stuff people do. Another is just the sheer range of different kinds of panels you can go to, since theres no one specific thing going on at Dragon*Con. So you can go to a panel on Star Wars one minute, and then an hour later be listening to the actors of True Blood talk about what goes on the set, so
Matt: Right.
Justin: Theres always something interesting going on.
Matt: Yeah, thats true. Can I have an idea of the other costumes that youve worn in the past? Is this the first, here?
Justin: No, no, this is one of the costumes I wear. I went as the clown doctor from Childrens hospital, the year before the year before last, that was actually pretty good. I mean, the make-up ran a little bit, but it got a good response out of people. I think the big thing I try to do is try to get something that youre not gonna see a lot of, because it gets a little better response.
Matt: I agree, and also less people might recognize the reference that youre making, the value of the people that do recognize I think, is a lot more value you know, its a lot more valuable to actually see the few that actually recognize the reference. Would you agree?
Justin: Oh, yeah. Its Im gonna admit, its a little bit of an ego thing, when you have people coming up to you all day and going Can I please get a picture? Can I take a picture with you? Because that makes you feel like you put some work into it, and that you came up with a really good idea that people are responding to.
Matt: Right? Thats true. Im actually this is my first experiment, this is a Canadian TV show Im dressed up as, a character from a Canadian TV show. Not hits so far, but well see, you know. Always have to walk around with a glass, thats one of the quirks of this character.
Justin: Ahhhh.
Matt: It can be challenging, carrying everything.
Justin: This thing right here is not exactly comfortable, and the suit itself? Its pretty warm on the inside.
Matt Refghi: Alright, were here at Dragon*Con 2012, and Im here with Jason whos dressed as Thor. Hello Jason, so how many times have you come to Dragon*Con?
Jason: This is my seventh year.
Matt: Thats great what costumes have you worn before?
Jason: Ive been a Hellraiser from Cenobite, or Cenobite from the Hellraiser movie.
Matt: Very nice.
Jason: Scottish highlander wearing a kilt, and of course Thor, one of my favorites so this is my second year in a row being Thor.
Matt: Right. I noticed that that hammer is not just a regular hammer
Jason: Yes.
Matt: Ive seen many Thors, but thats one strong hammer. Can you just tell us about the hammer?
Jason: Yeah, Im a sheet metal worker, and I do sheet metal fabrication and everything, and this is a stainless steel channel and it weighs about thirty pounds, mirrored stainless steel. I completely welded it all together, polished it, wrapped the handle in leather, had it engraved, and Ive had it for about fifteen years now.
Matt: Very nice. Do you have a website youd like to mention?
Jason: Uh, no I do not.
Matt: Okay. Great. Alright, so theres that, and then what would you say is the best part of Dragon*Con to you?
Jason: Everything. Theres just so much phenomenal stuff about this, thats why I keep coming back every year, the people, the fun, and I think the best thing to me is: I have children, so having other peoples children run up to me, and want their picture with me, is just the coolest thing in the world to me.
Matt: Thats great.
Jason: Because I know my children have done it as they were growing up, so I can kind of give back to them now, being a character that the children kinda look up to, and I have five-year-old children running up to me, wanting their picture with me, so yeah, thats pretty neat.
Matt: Great. Are you from the area?
Jason: Yeah, Im from Dallas, Georgia, about 45 minutes away.
Matt: Great.
Jason: Yep.
Matt: Okay, sounds good, so very nice meeting you.
Matt Refghi: Hi, everyone, Im here with a cosplayer, and Im not entirely sure what his costume is, but it feels like Steampunk. If you could just explain a little more about the costume.
Baron Bon Bar: Yes, it is Steampunk. Im a Steampunk bartender by the name Baron Bon Bar. German, Baron Good Bar. If you can check this out, Ive got my shotgun.
Matt: (laughs)
Baron: I carry the bardolier (?) , and the Bar Back
Matt: Oh, wow. (laughs) This is
Baron: which caries two fluid gallons which is pneumatically displaced through this glove.
Matt: That is community service if Ive ever seen it. That is excellent.
Baron: Well, thats what Dragon*Cons all about: sharing, having a good time I just want to help everyone else have a really good time at the convention.
Matt: Excellent, thats great. Alright, so is it your first time at the Con?
Baron: No, Ive been coming here several years, now, and actually the first year we came we liked it so much that we bought a lifetime membership.
Matt: Excellent, yeah, Ive heard about those, itd be great to have one. And are you from the area?
Baron: No, actually, Im from St. Louis, Missouri.
Matt: Nice, I for some reason, growing up, I loved the Blues.
Baron: Well everybody loves the Blues.
Matt: I love in Montreal, its weird. Canadian, loving the Blues, Saint-Louis Blues.
Baron: Everybody loves them til the playoffs. (laughs)
Matt: Oh, that could be yeah. Alright, very good, what is the best thing for you about the Con, what do you enjoy the most? Apart from just, as you mentioned, you know, sharing and providing this great service.
Baron: Well, not only is it a collection of some of the best minds inside of fandom talking about their particular niche interest, exchanging ideals, its a place where we can come and see the creme of the crop of everything that is geek, nerd, that subculture. But also, for me personally, you get to see some of the top costumes in the nation. They say that Comic Con is the best Con in the world, but its not true, it really is Dragon*Con, because the costuming here at Dragon*Con takes it to another level. People that are the best inside of a whole state come here and dont even hold up a candle to some of the people that just come in for just this Con, this is the only one they do.
Matt: Right. Havent been to Comic Con, so I take it youve been?
Baron: No, actually I havent, but Ive had several friends and
Matt: Right.
Baron: as I said, I know a lot of the professional costumers here. They can attest that its a lot harder to costume here on a professional grade than it is to do it at Comic-Con.
Matt: Well, I certainly believe that because Ive been coming here for three years, and Im not stopping anytime soon. So I really enjoy it, and also I was wondering this is an elaborate costume, you likely had to make some of these parts by myself.
Baron: I made almost 100% of this costume myself.
Matt: Very nice.
Baron: There are parts on it that are scavenged from other things, but Im the one that assembled them all. Like these are test tubes from a centrifuge. This is a completely modified squirt gun that I changed over to accept glass bottles. There are standard flasks and things like that, but the leather work and all of the devices are completely hand-made.
Matt: Very nice. I also noticed a little Bat symbol there.
Baron: Well, this is my, uh, actually something I wear in my daily life.
Matt: And you have chopsticks.
Baron: Well, its my cellphone, my BlueTooth, charging cable, chopsticks, and a pen. Its all things that I use pretty much every day, and its a little of the Con that I carry home with me.
Matt: That is excellent, and its just like youre blowing my mind here because I thought that this was a Steam Punk costume, you have some great gadgets, but youve covered the whole practicality angle as well. (laughs) Look at this! He just pulls out his cellphone, just hank on the cord. Excellent. And youre ready for sushi, what else do you have here?
Baron: Thats a charging cable for the cellphone and data cable.
Matt: Perfect, perfect . so youre one equipped man. Excellent. So, yeah, it was a pleasure speaking to you sir.
Matt Refghi: Alright, so we just arrived at Dragon*Con 2012, and we encountered Moss from The IT Crowd. How are you doing, Moss?
Maurice Moss: (British accent) Doing well, thank you.
Matt: Alright, I see that you have a cup there.
Moss: (British accent) Absolutely, Ive searched the canteen completely and most thoroughly, and Ive actually found my cup.
Matt: Woah.
Moss: (British accent) Its very, very distinctive because theres a picture on the base.
Matt: Okay, alright. How do you differentiate between that cup and the other cups.
Moss: (British accent) Well, mainly the picture is what does it, although I do see Richmond drinking from it from time to time, which makes me a little bit vexed.
Matt: I thought he died from scurvy.
Moss: (British accent) He did. But then later he came back, as you know, from goth to boss?
Matt: I see, and I see youre also wearing a very interesting shirt right there.
Moss: (British accent) Oh, well, yes, see, unfortunately, it is the week-end, and since it is the week-end, Aunt Irma visits.
Matt: Oh, yeah.
Moss: (British accent) Sometimes, it gets a little bit wonky with our emotions and breast tenderness, its a little embarrassing to be quite certain.
Matt: I see. So I see youve embraced it, it seems that you like to show off this image, now. How is Jen doing, by the way?
Moss: (British accent) Well, Jen unfortunately couldnt make it because of Aunt Irma.
Matt: Because of Aunt Irma.
Moss: (British accent) It gets a little bit unwieldy having her out of sorts with her wild hair and her womanly ways, and all sorts of things that arent necessarily proper for small children or anyone.
Matt: Probably a wise decision, yes. Alright, so how long have you been coming to Dragon*Con?
At this point Lucien stops speaking in character, and drops the British accent.
Lucien: Im going to break character I guess, for that one since its a knocker, but I first started in 1996, so Ive been coming for 16 years. Yeah, 16 years, thats a long time.
Matt: Yeah, so youre from the area, I take it?
Lucien: Ive lived in Georgia for about half of my life, I was originally from California.
Matt: I see.
Lucien: So I moved out here, and go back and forth quite frequently to visit family, stuff like that, so. How long have you been being coming to the Con?
Matt: This is my third year, and his first year.
Lucien: Awesome, first year. Nice!
Matt: First year, yeah. And we just arrived, and just bumped into Lucien who also when I came here last year, I saw him, and thought he had the best costume.
Lucien: Thank you sir, I appreciate that. Thats awesome, dude.
Matt: Youre welcome. So I wrote a blog post, and he happened to find it randomly, so its just really funny that the first person I encounter here is Lucien. So, very good, and youre rocking that uniform again, I like.
Lucien: Absolutely.
Matt: Like the accent, you really have that down.
Lucien: I try, sometimes it gets hard, like his pronunciation is a little weird after certain vowel sounds, so its really hard to capture it. But, I do the best I can, you have to practice for like weeks in advance.
Matt: Thats some dedication.
Lucien: It is.
Matt: I see you also embody the body language.
Lucien: Yes, thats really important. That was killer for me, because if Im going to do the costume, I feel its important to be in costume, I think its important to be in character all the time. When I have my next one on which is, like I said his character from The Watch, I try to he doesnt have much speaking parts in that, but hes I dont want to spoil it on camera since you havent seen it, but I have a prop from it thats very distinctive.
Matt: I see.
Lucien: Hopefully, you know, itll be his character is similar, so it should be easy.
Matt: Okay, so its been a pleasure meeting up with you, and by the way, just so you know, we come from Montreal, Canada.
Lucien: Oh, seriously!
Matt: We fly down, yeah.
Lucien: Thats awesome. Yeah, everyone comes from all around, thats always nice. I have a guy who came, I met him yesterday, hes dressed as Rimmer from Red Dwarf
Matt: Okay. Im not familiar with it, but go ahead.
Lucien: Its an old 1980s British sci-fi comedy
Matt: Right.
Lucien: Hes here, and he came from Australia.
Matt: Nice.
Lucien: First Dragon*Con, awesome.
Matt: Very nice. Great, so yea, good seeing you and
Matt Refghi: Alright, so Im here at Dragon*Con 2012, and I just saw this gentleman. I have to ask: did you wake up this morning and think today, Id like the rabbit to carry me around?
Michael Mirth: (laughs) Thats ri well, he said so, actually.
Matt: Yeah.
Michael: I didnt have much to do with it, really.
Matt: Thats alright, thats pretty elaborate.
Michael: Ive been wanting to bring this costume to Dragon*Con for about seven years, since Ive made it. But I never had a trailer, because its so large it wouldnt fit in my jeep.
Matt: Yeah, its pretty elaborate.
Michael: Yes, theres a lot of parts to it.
Matt: Alright, so where did the idea come from? Where did this I need to know.
Michael: (laughs) Well I once saw someone that had a rabbit costume with an Easter egg, and inside the Easter egg he was carrying a person. And I thought, Im a magician, so I could do that with a magic hat. Then I could walk in parades, do grand openings, and that sort of thing. So I built the costume for those kinds of venues.
Matt: Very nice, and so youre a magician is there a domain or a site youd like to mention?
Michael: My name is Michael Mirth, and the site is michaelmirth.com.
Matt: Okay, excellent.
Michael: Thanks for the plug!
Matt: Yeah, no problem. Is this the first time you come to Dragon*Con?
Michael: No, Ive been coming to Dragon*Con for about seven years, and Im typically a vendor. But evenings, you know, the costume is the party, basically, so I like to be part of this as well.
Matt: Very good. You look comfortable, how are you feeling?
Michael: Its not too bad! This is fiberglass, so its not terribly weighty, and it weighs about the same in back as it does in front, so its balanced front to back.
Matt: Okay, and maneuvering in this?
Michael: Not too bad. Well, its all up to the rabbit, really, I dont have much say in it.
Matt: Thats right, hes doing a good job.
Michael: He is, he is. But its really all me, you know.
Matt: Is he expecting a carrot on the way home?
Michael: (laughs) Yeah, you guys didnt?
Matt: Oh, we didnt expect rabbits to carry people around.
Michael: Because thats in the contract, man. Magician animals union, he wants a limousine after this.
Matt: (laughs)
Michael: (laughs)
Matt: Alright, it was a pleasure talking to you excellent costume, excellent costume.
Matt Refghi: I never expected to encounter this at Dragon*Con, it seems that Batman has met his end. So what are you going to do, Harley, now that Batman is gone?
Harley Quinn: Well, now that the Bat is gone, Mr. J wants me to go after Robin, little nancy-boy.
Matt: Well, Robins the only left right now.
Harley: He is.
Matt: So he probably has new tricks up his sleeve.
Harley: Robin is a six-year-old loser, he cant do anything to me.
Matt: (laughs) Okay. So I was wondering, is this your first time at Dragon*Con?
Harley: No, this is fourth year, and its just as amazing as always.
Matt: Excellent. Is this the first costume you wear?
Harley: Yes, Ive worn Harley Quinn all four years, and I will continue to.
Matt: Alright. Is this a recent addition, the severed head.
Harley: I added the severed head last year because I wanted to do something different that wasnt just a weapon.
Matt: Does that have something to do with the amount of Batmans that you saw. And you wanted to perhaps have a different take on Batman, a dead Batman.
Harley: Oh yes, absolutely. I wanted him to have rotted teeth, and look as horrible as possible.
Matt: (laughs) Okay. And, whats your favorite part about Dragon*Con?
Harley: Everything.
Matt: (laughs) Everything. Okay, I can agree with that. Thats great, very good meeting you, and Im glad well, Im not glad about Batmans demise.
Harley: I am.
Matt: Well, okay, okay. Well, Im happy for you, but Im gonna miss Bats, Im gonna miss Bats. But then Robin isnt really the same thing.
Harley: No.
Matt: So you can kill him, thats okay.
Harley: Ill kill him tomorrow, itll be easy.
Matt: Alright, thats great. And your name, by the way?
Harley: Is Molly.
Matt: Alright, Molly. Its a very nice costume, and nice meeting you.
It’s no secret that I’ve been less active with this blog, as of late. I won’t go into the details, but I’ve been putting a lot of time and effort into a certain project, one that I can’t yet reveal. What I can say is that it’s something that I’ve been working on for a very long time, and I’m really looking forward to introducing it in the near future.
Today, however, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be releasing a series of interviews that I hosted from Dragon*Con 2012. I’ve always wanted to expand into video, and this turned out to be a great way to do so. You may recall that I’ve previously mentioned wanting to start a web series, and even posted a video about it. Though it was a good idea, the topic just didn’t feel as natural to me. The idea of interviewing random strangers came to me months ago, as I felt it would be a good way to improve my on-screen speaking abilities. It became a practical possibility when Joseph Pereira decided to join me at the convention, as he had the necessary knowledge and equipment to assist in such an effort. Not only that, but he and I shared interest in the whole world of pop culture references, and we both enjoyed taking pictures of great costumes.