Chicago TARDIS - Sunday The Day Of The Daleks

Following the excitement of last night and winning the Masquerade award for Best In Show: Workmanship, I kick my day off by going to the Sunday Brunch with the guests. This was a ticket only affair and I luckily picked up entry to it earlier in the weekend.

It was an interesting exercise in the different approaches the UK and US take to breakfast. I would never have fruit and fried food on the same plate; the bacon is sliced real thin, making it very brittle; the presentation of the pastries are very sickly-sweet – but hey – when in Roman!

The guests entered the room, and dispersed to tables to sit with everyone.

I have to say I didn’t enjoy the brunch at all. The company on my table, although nice, insisted on taking American politics throughout; we didn’t get a guest; and it cost $50 for a self-service, when I had been paying $20 for table-service previously. I didn’t stick around – I’d rather be off costume spotting.

In the lobby I found some UNIT guys, both old and new keeping everyone in check.

I had a particular interest in these military SWAT uniforms – but more on that soon . . .

I do love the diversity of costumes that are worn at this event. They are not limited to the New-Who, with a lot of Classic-Who on show.

I found a group straight out of The Hand Of Fear, as well as a great Seven and Ace.

The attendance of Peter Davison naturally encouraged the Five cosplayers, and I found a number of Adrics, Tegans, Nissas and Fives, both male and femme!

My hat (if I had been wearing one) also goes to a girl who cosplayed as a rarely done Peri from The Mark Of The Rani.

Being from a less popular era, it’s not something you see that often, so great that it had been done – and done well I add!

I thought it was a good time to premiere my last new costume of the weekend – an Area 52 soldier!

Now I don’t usually do military uniforms, they are just not my style. In fact I rarely cosplay as anything other than The Doctor! But this costume was handed to me on a plate due to the hard work of a member of the dw_cosplay community who had correctly identified the entire costume from off-the-shelf items.

I had done some hunting around and rapidly found everything was still obtainable, so I set about buying what I needed. it all came in for around £150, with the jump-suit the most expensive, at £50. Not bad really for a 100% authentic costume!

Still in full SWAT team combats, I went to see the Big Finish Q&A panel, with the Fifth Doctor TARDIS crew in tow.

Nicholas Briggs was taking the lead, and getting frustrated when the questioning didn’t steer towards the Big Finish part of the Panel, instead asking about the time on the classic series.

One amusingly worded question went, “I was listening to a Big Finish CD before watching a classic episode on tv, and wondered what your favourite scene to film was?” This had pleased Nicholas, until it swerved back to a classic series question!

Throughout the weekend the Daleks had invaded the convention, with a number of versions on show.

In the queue holding room, flanking the TARDIS, were a static bronze and freaky acid-green Daleks. I never quite got that one. Maybe someone will explain some day . . .

Elsewhere a Dalek Sec was terrorising the cosplayers. From what I have seen, most of these Daleks are enormous radio-controlled toys, but I had behind the scenes peek to see that the Dalek Sec was actually manned!

The Sunday of the convention starts to wind down rapidly after lunch, so following the final time the Fifth Doctor Crew appeared on stage, the halls and lobby were soon looking less populated than before.

Looking back, it’s been a more low-key affair compared to Gallifrey One, but this has made it more intimate and personal.
There may not have been the bombardment of guests that LA offer, but that meant you almost got to know those that were here a bit more, as they recognised people from photocalls to autograph sessions.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the weekend meeting old and new friends – but it’s back to the grind of my sewing machines on Tuesday and do some serious catching up with my commissions . . .