Baby's First Monster-Mania
Monster-Mania was interesting to say the least. I've always wanted to go, but the con is so far away from me. Conveniently, Miguel lives 20 minutes or so from Cherry Hill. This was the first time the line-up really stood out to me. I got stupidly excited when they announced a few actors who have played Jason Voorhees were doing in-costume photo-ops. I screenshotted it, and immediately sent it to Miguel. I told him we were going, and so he obliged lmao. As time went on, they literally were able to get every actor who played Jason (except Richard Brooker who sadly passed away) to agree to come and do an in-costume photo-op. You literally could have taken a photo with all six of them. I had to be conservative, and only pick one. In the end, I decided on Kane Hodder because he has been in the most Friday the 13th films, and is probably the most well-known Jason. But holy fuck... $117 just for him alone. Granted, Kane’s solo photo was the most expensive out of all of them, but $17 in taxes and service fees? It reminded me of ACE trying to fuck me over by using Ticketmaster.
We got to the hotel that hosts the con by 11:30. Parking was another story though... it was a fucking nightmare. Literally the scariest thing about this horror con. The hotel doesn’t have a big lot so cars were parked on the streets adjacent to the hotel. There were literally NO spots. I think Miguel was floored because he had never seen it like this. After a good 20-30 minutes and the resilience of my boyfriend, we got lucky and took the spot of someone leaving. We then had to walk 5 minutes in the cold. Once we got to the hotel, we had to wait on the long line to get into the con... in the cold. It was windy as fuck too. When we almost got to the door, they announced they would have to cap the door soon. I almost starting panicking because I paid for the photo-op but I had no ticket to get inside because I had forgotten to buy them online and missed the deadline. Lucky enough, we made it to the table and got our wristbands.
Once we were on the floor, it was literally NYCC crowds. It was pretty ironic because these are the crowds I'm trying to avoid. lmao. The con was so crowded that not only did they have to stop selling tickets, but they had to even stop letting people who left the building momentarily with wristbands from coming in because the con was overcapacity. If you wanted to get some air, smoke a cigarette or drop stuff off at your car... you ran the risk of not being let back into the con. People literally had to wait outside in the cold, until people left the con so that others could be let back in. I'm not even sure buying our tickets ahead of time would have even guaranteed us entry into the con. I was also concerned with the lack of security at the con given so many people were there. No one ever checked my backpack. I doubt anybody did weapons check for people in cosplay.
Miguel and I walked around the con floor about 2-3 times. My photo-op wasn't until 4:40pm, and we literally could not leave the building since I didn't want to risk not being let back in for my photo. While on the floor, Miguel pointed out a puppet of Stripe as a mogwai. It went downhill from there. You cannot show me anything Gremlins related without me wanting it. We had to go find the ATM because the vendor agreed to $50 cash. The ATM was a line in itself. This was basically line con. Miguel made fun of me, but he literally feeds this obsession. He has bought most of my Gremlin collection as gifts for me.
Once 4:30 rolled around, we went upstairs for the Jason Voorhees photo-ops. Of course, photo-ops were running late but it gave us time to sit down and rest. I put on my YRU ballet baes right before the photo so I didn't look like a midget next to Kane Hodder. When I was on line for the photo, an elder woman waiting for Kane too, complemented me on my ballet baes. She was cute and fashionable for an older woman. Most women at the con looked boring or ugly. They made no effort to put on cute horror outfits. Everyone loved my blood splatter dress from Blackmilk. Some people thought I was cosplaying as Tiffany from Bride of Chunky. Miguel even said that people were going to call me this when I decided to wear my leather jacket with my white blonde wig. Everyone thinks I'm in cosplay when I'm literally just being my real self. lmao.
Despite the overcrowding and line con, I still enjoyed my day. I think the major lineup contributed to the massive crowds that showed up. Miguel said he's never seen the con stop selling tickets the day of on Saturday. You can't have people like Tim fucking Curry, and not expect a crazy turnout though. Tim Curry is a legend. John Carpenter is a legend. They had six actors who played Jason Voorhees. They had the cast from Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Almost all the kids from the theatrical release of IT. Like c'mon... you might need a bigger venue. I was really impressed with their ability to secure these kind of guests at a smaller convention like Monster-Mania.
I want to go back in August because Robert Englund will be there. I feel like this experience should have scarred me, but I need a picture with Freddy Krueger. Now I know that I need to get up stupid early so that we can get a parking spot and actually get into the con. Also, I need to have cash on me already in case I see more Gremlins memorabilia that I need to buy....
Once we were on the floor, it was literally NYCC crowds. It was pretty ironic because these are the crowds I'm trying to avoid. lmao. The con was so crowded that not only did they have to stop selling tickets, but they had to even stop letting people who left the building momentarily with wristbands from coming in because the con was overcapacity. If you wanted to get some air, smoke a cigarette or drop stuff off at your car... you ran the risk of not being let back into the con. People literally had to wait outside in the cold, until people left the con so that others could be let back in. I'm not even sure buying our tickets ahead of time would have even guaranteed us entry into the con. I was also concerned with the lack of security at the con given so many people were there. No one ever checked my backpack. I doubt anybody did weapons check for people in cosplay.
Miguel and I walked around the con floor about 2-3 times. My photo-op wasn't until 4:40pm, and we literally could not leave the building since I didn't want to risk not being let back in for my photo. While on the floor, Miguel pointed out a puppet of Stripe as a mogwai. It went downhill from there. You cannot show me anything Gremlins related without me wanting it. We had to go find the ATM because the vendor agreed to $50 cash. The ATM was a line in itself. This was basically line con. Miguel made fun of me, but he literally feeds this obsession. He has bought most of my Gremlin collection as gifts for me.
Once 4:30 rolled around, we went upstairs for the Jason Voorhees photo-ops. Of course, photo-ops were running late but it gave us time to sit down and rest. I put on my YRU ballet baes right before the photo so I didn't look like a midget next to Kane Hodder. When I was on line for the photo, an elder woman waiting for Kane too, complemented me on my ballet baes. She was cute and fashionable for an older woman. Most women at the con looked boring or ugly. They made no effort to put on cute horror outfits. Everyone loved my blood splatter dress from Blackmilk. Some people thought I was cosplaying as Tiffany from Bride of Chunky. Miguel even said that people were going to call me this when I decided to wear my leather jacket with my white blonde wig. Everyone thinks I'm in cosplay when I'm literally just being my real self. lmao.
Despite the overcrowding and line con, I still enjoyed my day. I think the major lineup contributed to the massive crowds that showed up. Miguel said he's never seen the con stop selling tickets the day of on Saturday. You can't have people like Tim fucking Curry, and not expect a crazy turnout though. Tim Curry is a legend. John Carpenter is a legend. They had six actors who played Jason Voorhees. They had the cast from Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Almost all the kids from the theatrical release of IT. Like c'mon... you might need a bigger venue. I was really impressed with their ability to secure these kind of guests at a smaller convention like Monster-Mania.
I want to go back in August because Robert Englund will be there. I feel like this experience should have scarred me, but I need a picture with Freddy Krueger. Now I know that I need to get up stupid early so that we can get a parking spot and actually get into the con. Also, I need to have cash on me already in case I see more Gremlins memorabilia that I need to buy....
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| I told Miguel I was going to become his apprentice. When he said we would become rivals, I told him I was going to be Future Photography by K3 and wear a cowboy hat with a Batman logo. New goals in life. |
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