The Masquerade of the 1999 Con, Part One

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The Masquerade is the must see event of the Con. It always happens on Saturday, and is always packed, so get there early.

This year, I made a hard decision. As much as I wanted to see The Masquerade, with all the skits, in the main room, with all the energy and exuberance that the audience puts in it, I decided to try the taking pictures backstage. I in no way regretted my decision.

To take pictures there, you have to sign up before hand at the Masquerade Desk, where they'll give you a photo pass. The person at the desk said that usually only twenty or so people sign up, but this year they had over thirty, and were not going to let very many more people into it. So I signed up, even though I still wasn't sure at that point.

This is the photo area for The Masquerade. More

As you can see, there's a fair amount of people in here. There were a variety of cameras here, ranging from simple cheap pocket type, to the real fancy stuff, including several digitals besides mine. One guy had his computer with him and was swapping flash cards constantly. That's why I like my Mavica. I took 40 disks worth of pictures back here (on one battery, with power to spare). The gentleman hiding behind the guy in the center (the one with the baseball hat) is Tom DeLeon, the official photographer for the Con, and probably took most of the photos you see in the programs. More

Dexter and Dee Dee, from the cartoon Dexter's Laboratory. While Dexter wasn't quite sure what to do, the girl playing Dee Dee was totally into the part. More	How elves truly feel about Pokémon. More

Poison Ivy More	Most of the young girls really like flirting with the camera. They would say "Wait, wait, how about this?" and then there would be another round of photos. More

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The New Red Riding Hood (surprisingly wearing pink), emboldened by the Feminist Movement has captured and chained the wolf. More	"No, no, no. Bad wolf!" More	One of the really fun things about being back here was that you can suggest various poses. This one was suggested just as they were about to leave the stage, and set off another round of camera action. More

Final Fantasy character, I believe. More	More

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Batman is always a popular character to dress as, but it's really hard to do it as no one else has. More	More

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This was actually a pretty impressive costume. But unfortunately, one of his shoulder's fell off while he was on the main stage (not this one). More	More	The poor guy has a fussy mother, though. Appearently, the mask wasn't tucked in properly at the back of the neck here and she got up there and fixed it, much to the annoyance of the photographers. More
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Big surprise, Star Wars was quite a popular subject, especially Darth Maul. More	More	This guy was pretty good, though not the best. More

More	I asked for this pose, with the creature looking at it's bird. There wasn't enough input from the photographers, I thought, but some of what was asked for was great. More

More	This guy came in loud and boisterous, insulting anyone and everyone, just like it was really Beetlejuice. More	More

A Klingon Goddess. More	The photographers where mostly all men, so this Klingon Goddess played it up. More

Waitress? More	More

Who knows... More

More	With Rebels like these, who wants to be part of the Empire. More	More
More	An Imperial Guard. A lot of the Star Wars costumes were really well done. More	More
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More	More	The guy in the corner is using a Mavica camera similar to my old one. Now if he would just stay out of my pictures. More

If the props get any bigger, next year will see someone come in with a Batmobile More

Kikko-Man and Soy Apprentice. I heard that their skit was great. That's the one problem with this room. While there is a TV showing what's happening on the main stage, you get so caught up in the photography, you forget to look at it. More	Meryl Silverburgh and Solid Snake... More	from the video game, "Metal Gear Solid". More

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This was a remarkable costume, with extreme attention to detail. More	For an example, look carefully at his helmet, then look at pictures taken later. More