My personal experience Wizard World Philly 2011

Imagine my surprise and delight when I recieved an email from Wizard personally inviting me to this years Wizard World Philly/ Philadelphia Comic Con convention!
Not only was I given access to the three day event but I was also granted my own personal guest list to get my cosplay friends inside to enjoy all the glorious festivities! As if that wasnt enough and didnt make me feel like the Belle of the Ball, I was also invited to the official launch party (which sadly I was unable to attend because I was with my family) and a private party hosted by my friend, pro wrestler The Smoke. Smallville and Dukes of Hazards star John Schneider joined us for dinner and he remembered me from earlier in the day as Wonder Woman. He was very impressed with my costume when I told him my friend Candy made it for me. We had a nice chat with him over dinner. I also met actress Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) who was an absolute doll and funny as hell (she loved my costume too). After meeting Margot I posed with a fan who turned out to be Beauty and the Geek reality star Bill Lambing. I also posed with superstar artist Greg Horn.

Okay so lets talk cosplay; Friday I debuted my brand new Wonder Woman costume made by my girl Candy who has her own boutique http://www.threemusesclothing.com/   The outfit is absolutely amazing (thanks to the fans who sponsered it)! and I lost count with how many compliments I got on the costume. Everyone from celebrities to vendors to fans. One girl stopped me to tell me I was the best Wonder Woman at the show. Ive been wanting to cosplay Diana since I was a little girl spinning in the living room watching the Lynda Carter series so thank you to Candy for making my dream come true. Saturday my girlfriends and I went to the show as the Gotham City Sirens. I lost count on how many people said how "Smokin Hot" we all were. People were saying I was the best Catwoman at the show, which was very flattering. One woman marveled at my face saying I looked "Exactly like Selina!" Aside from posing for pics, converesing with Facebook, Twitter and Comic fans, friends and shopping, us ladies did a shoot with the original Batmobile.  We also did the first Cosplay Photoshoot gathering organzied by The Smoke and his friend Brian. I was a chairman for the gathering as well and it was a HUGE success; loads of cosplayers turned out! After the costume contest (where us Sirens pleased the crowd by giving them a view of our bums) we all went to dinner.

For Sundays show I decided on Black Canary, which is one of my most comfortable costumes. Catwoman is also very, very comfy. I was surprised by the Sunday crowd; in the past it was usually the slowest day with a considerable less amount of people but it was just as busy as Saturday. I expected a day of granting a lot less photo requests but I was still approached every few feet which was very cool. I only kept my jacket on for a few minutes before deciding to take it off because I was hot. Sunday we also had a second cosplay shoot where my personal favorite moment was Superboy asking if he could lift me on his shoulder. And may I add that there were many hot cosplayer men at this years show. Our second cosplay shoot was also a success and we have some big plans next year. 

Also chatted with industry friends Ken Haeser, Raven Gregory and Eric Basaldua. I got a spanking from one of them (guess who?) In closing I want to once again thank Wizard for their amazing generosity! Ive been attending the show the last 10 years and it always gets better and better. I am so grateful that they took care of all of my friends and I had an absolute blast with them! I also made tons of new friends!  Im going to leave you now with a few more of my favorite shots and some of the best cosplayers at this years event and also add that I have been cast in the next DC Comics fan film! Who will I play? Stay tuned!

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Dear Mr Trate

Not surprisingly another Slave Leia bashing article has surfaced on the web. This one however is in a league of its own.
Not only did they specifically target the article Entertainment Weekly did on me preparing for this years San Diego Comic Con (as Leia) but they also featured a photo they took of me at  Comic Con and went on to admit that they have taken several other pictures of me at conventions as Catwoman and Zatanna. After confessing they have several pictures of me in multiple costumes, they go on to state that they have no clue as to who I am (even though my name and information is listed in the Entertainment Weekly article he referenced). Furthermore the individual claims they were "surprised" to see me "three years"  in San Diego. The humorous thing about that statement is I first wore Zatanna to a con at the 2010 Wizard World Philly show aka the Philadelphia Comic Con and wore Slave Leia to California a month later. Where do you get a three year gap when those cosplays were in fact one month apart? When several of my friends defended me in this article, Mr. Trate instantly knew they were referring to me and mentioned me by name (after confessing he didnt know who I was).  Upon registering on the site to leave my own personal response, I found that my email account had all ready been blocked. Curious.

The article isnt solely about me but uses me as an example on why "Slave Leia is Dead" and goes on to accuse Gentle Giant Studios  using Leia for "marketing" (I guess he knows better than a multimillion dollar company with a contract with Lucasfilm and feels they should take his marketing advice) and accuses the models of not being real Star Wars fans. He accuses Olivia Munn and Adrianne Curry of being posers and that they only wore the metal bikini to promote themselves. Heres a prime example of educating yourself before you stick your foot in your mouth; Olivia Munn wore it as part of her job for G4 TV and anyone who knows Adrianne Curry is well aware that she is a proud geek and a major Star Wars fan.

Apparently Slave Leia was hot up until 2009 according to Mr. Trate. He admits he is a big fan of it. So what happened? No explanation is given. Perhaps he was snubbed or got turned down for a date by a Slave Leia model. His call on Slave Leias to show their "creative side and do something different" leaves me asking:

 "Who the hell are you?"

Almost all of the Slave Leia models have other cosplays. I myself have over ten costumes and was named the Queen of Cosplay by the Modern Tokyo Times and Axiom Magazine. You know nothing about them, Mr. Trate. You are judgmental and prejudice. At San Diego Comic Con we are HIRED TO DO A JOB and you even admitted to stopping by the Gentle Giant booth to take a photo of me (and at several other
cons).

Mr. Trate encourages Leias to take creative liberties with the costume and praises others who have done so completely ignoring the fact that the models must mirror Carrie Fishers look. He lists other characters women should cosplay as if we want or require his opinion. Finally, Mr. Trate  attempted to reach out to me saying "his boss" had several "messages" for me stating the article was not meant to be personal. What made me howl with laughter is after getting into Lois Lane mode, I discovered that he was in fact the writer of the article and used unconvincing aliases that were easy to expose. Next time, dont pick something so obvious.

Now because I work in the real world and have a respectable full time job as a teacher, naturally I didnt discover this until after I got out of work. To find that someone once again is bashing my side job is unsurprising. How funny is it that someone on the outside is trying to tell professional models how to do their job. Youre not our employer thus we are not required to listen to you particularly when some of us are veteran cosplayers. Save the requests for the Gentlemans club and stop acting like youre an authority because youre not.

To quote one of my fans:

"Yawn to the haters." The Slave Leia bashing is the one thats tired. Im doing what I love, am successful in multiple fields and do not plan to stop.

EDUCATE YOURSELF MR. TRATE: http://victoriacosplay.blogspot.com/2011/08/slave-revolt.html

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