I don't mind the rat race but I could do with a little more cheese.

After our stint with Mr. Campbell, PG and I wandered vendor floor and artist alleys. I accosted and was accosted by lots of fellow Adventure Time cosplayers. It was GREAT being the only Flame Princess in attendance, rather than one of several Fionnas, if I may say so. Here are some of my favorite shots:

( What time is it?? )

PG and I continued wandering the floor until it was time to queue up for a photo with Ron Perlman. The photo below is actually our second photo with Mr. Perlman, who was concerned that I'd been eating too many carrots. I saw the photographer push the button aaaaaand I blinked. I knew that I had blinked as the shutter ...shuttered... and figured that oh, well, I'll have a photo with Ron Perlman where my eyes are closed. But nope. Those kind photography folks grabbed us before we rounded the area to nab our picture and hauled us back into line for a redo. I felt so bad about wasting everybody's time because of my goof, but they were all so sweet about it, and Mr Perlman grabbed Charlene and me tightly and told us "Come on in closer, ladies." Check out the size of his mitts. His hand is as big as my rib cage! And he's a total sweetheart. Absolute doll. That is my DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BLINK smile, by the way.

( Don't blink. Don't even blink. )

It was way past time for lunch and as we set off in search for sustenance, I crossed paths with the female half of the cosplay panel from Friday night. She gushed over my costume and said, "You've signed up for the costume contest, yes?" I hemmed and hawed. She repeated, "You've signed up for the costume contest, YES??" Um, not yet, but I will! Pleased with that answer, she let us continue our quest for food.

PG and I retired to our room for a rest after lunch and I fretted and fumbled a bit and finally decided that YES, I would sign up for the costume contest. With that decision made, I reworked my wig a bit so it wouldn't pull so hard on my hair while PG changed out of Elle and into "Generic Princess".

( Generic Princess gets friendly with Peppermint Butler )

We shopped, took lots more pictures and had lots of photos taken of us, and crossed paths with the female half of the cosplay panel who again asked if I'd signed up for the contest. D'oh! I hadn't, and time was running out. Thankfully, the cap hadn't been met and I was added to the list. Now the stage fright kicked in, heh.

The wait for the contest to start burned off most of that fright, though. It took forEVER for things to get underway, and I was #107 in the queue. Oof. There were some cool (and pretty) people in line around me, though, and we made our own fun.

( So pretty. )

Walking onto the stage wasn't nearly as frightening as I'd thought it might be. In fact, when the MC announced, "From 'Adventure Time', it's FLAME PRINCESS!" the crowd went WILD. I wasn't sure what I'd do when I hit the marks on the stage, but I couldn't help but beam when I hit the mark at the center of the stage and held up my little fiery purse for everyone to see. The panelist who pressed me so hard to enter was one of the judges and stopped me to ask questions about my cosplay history and the costume. That was pretty cool of her to do, I thought.

( I love this photo. )

I didn't win -- the superheroes/villains and Space Marine took the honors -- but it was a total blast being in the contest. I'm definitely doing that again! PG told me afterwards that she had heard lots of chatter from people being excited about the Flame Princess wandering around. Hee! We then snagged a VERY late dinner and I called dibs on the shower as soon as we got back to our room because if I had to spend one more minute in that make-up (it was going on twelve hours at that point), I was going to go mad.

Sunday was pretty quiet and we both wore civvies, nerdy civvies to be sure, but not costumes. I did my hardcore shopping and enabling PG to spend more money than she was comfortable with (heh heh). The ride home was pretty quick and uneventful, mostly because I passed out from sheer exhaustion and left the driving to PG. We both can't wait for the next con!