Club Cosplay made it’s debut this weekend at M15 in Corona, CA and it left quite the impression. The event boasted a bevy a professional cosplayers banding together to help put on an event where nerds could dress up and cut loose. On top of cosplay being heavily encouraged for those in attendance the evening also featured performances from Jedi Elvis and Song Hammer. The former being something I never I knew I wanted until that night. The fact that I had lived this long not knowing of Jedi Elvis’ existence makes me question what I have been doing with my life. With all this, not one but TWO cosplay contests, DJs, and the turtles van what else could you really ask for?
The whole event was very well put together and I was rather impressed with not just the turn out(600 strong!) but the amount of people dressed up. I ended up being in the minority by not being dressed up which seemed like a bit of a 360 from what one might normally see at a convention. I suppose it is called club cosplay so I shouldn’t be that surprised. However, it does makes me realize I need to get my ass in gear and start working on getting a costume together so I won’t be such a square next time. Seeing the IE come out strong for an event like this truly warms my heart. We don’t get such awesome happenings in our area as often as I would like but to see so many people go all out when we do is pretty fucking rad to say the least. Also worth noting was that some of the hosts were able to organize a party bus to come out from LA to hang out and party. So not even distance could stop the most dedicated of nerds from coming out and celebrating .
Look at this loser in the glasses without a costume! Talk about a weenie!
Throughout the night our hosts Bernie Bregman (of Nerds Like Us) and LeeAnna Vamp handled their MC duties very well, always able to keep the crowd roaring. Bernie was able to get me to laugh consistently throughout the night either through his commentary or that ridiculous hair piece of his. The two also headed the costume contests, both of which were fantastic. I honestly lament not bringing a photographer because there were so many amazing contestants. I even saw a chewbaca coming out of an ultimate town car, that would have been a picture! I am sure if you search #clubcosplay on instagram you’ll find plenty of snapshots and I promise that for the next installment we will have a photographer on hand. A big shout out to everyone who graced the stage that night but an even bigger shout to the winner. Spend your $500 wisely. Or rack up a tab. I’m not your dad.
Then of course there was the musical portion of the evening. Jedi Elvis, performing Star Wars themed parodies of Elvis songs, was literally the best thing ever. As to how this act managed to slip underneath my radar is beyond me but after his performance I am sold. After swaying his hips and getting the crowd to do their best Chewbacca impressions he exited stage left and brought on Song Hammer to kick out the jams. The winners of the 2013 Blizzcon talent competition illustrated why they won this prestigious award. The guys melted faces like no other and every song was a critical hit. Not to mention those outfits are killer! Plus they started some kind of conga line circle pit hybrid and who doesn’t love conga lines and/or circle pits!? A bit after these two fine artists wrapped up their individual sets the DJs took things over and the dance party really got underway. Not that folks weren’t dancing beforehand but at this point things really got underway and people went bonkers. I suppose the crowd finally had enough booze in the to really cut loose and shake their caboose. As I had to be up early I left a bit before last call, a bit later than I should have but the fun was worth the lack of sleep. I regret nothing.
While I feel the event was a great success I did have 1 qualm. Now perhaps this is due in part to the fact that I grew up in the punk scene and was raised on $5 shows but I felt the event was a bit pricey. If you waited until the day of the event you had to pay $25 to attend the event. Now that to me sounds a bit much. If you bought tickets early then you only had to $10 which isn’t bad at all but they only sold a limited number of tickets at this price. I personally feel that a $10 pre-sale and $15 day of ticket price seems a bit more reasonable. Also, better drink prices? $9.50 for a shock top in the IE just doesn’t feel right. I still sucked it up and bought some drinks anyway because it’s a party(Note: I spoke with one of the promoters about this after the article was posted and this situation will be taken care of.)
Now I will say that in spite of my qualm with pricing the event is definitely worth attending. I went nuts, danced my ass off, and even made some new friends. For those of you kicking yourself over missing this event have no fear, Club Cosplay will be returning August 16th to M15. More details will be coming as the event draws near so definitely pay attention to their website for that as the event is only going to get bigger and better.