C4 Comic Con Adventures Day Two and Three

Day One

For the last three days, I have been spending my days at C4 - Central Canada Comic Con 2012. It was - as usual - an amazing experience with beautiful people, intricate costumes, and great displays and exhibitions.

Day Two

I got up early in the morning to get my costume ready - Robes, ears, a headdress, six inch heels, my dress, tights, makeup... I decided to do my makeup and ears before I left the house, and to bring the rest of my costume with me on the bus. Luckily I had my amazing mother to accompany me, and she helped me carry my stuff when I was in costume later in the day.

After going through the same process as Friday in order to get my mother into the convention (with the additional steps of getting into costume and posing with people for pictures), we got in line for Nichelle Nichols' Q&A. The Q&A was absolutely amazing, and she ended up singing for us at the end. I got her singing on video and took pictures, which I will be posting later.

After that I got professional photos taken with Marina Sirtis and Sir Patrick Stewart (separately) and walked around the convention, having my photo taken and talking to people. One person came up to me and asked what Legend Of Zelda character I was.

A friend of mine dresses as a Klingon every year, and volunteers at the Con. We happened to both be dressed up at the same time for once, and I got a photo:

I also came across this wonderful young lady who came as the Borg Queen, and she agreed to have her picture taken with me. I neglected to ask her for her name, but she was wonderful:

Finally it was time for the Q&A session with Sir Patrick Stewart which I had gotten passes for the day before. He was absolutely amazing - intelligent, down to earth, and hilarious. I also got my photo taken with him professionally. I will be posting photos from the photo-op and Q&A in a later post.

Here is a photo of me waiting patiently in the conference room for Patrick Stewart to come on stage. Whenever I sat down, the layers of my costume separated and had to be reset:

On the way back upstairs, I saw the most amazingly adorable family. The father was the Eleventh Doctor, the mother was Amy Pond, and their three children were dressed as Daleks. One of the little girls was in a stroller, and instead of a Dalek skirt and hat they actually dressed the stroller.

Here is a closer look at the skirts:

Finally, it was time for the costume contest. After being in six inch heels for ten hours already, my feet were so sore that I never wanted to stand or walk again. Unfortunately, I had to stand in line for another few hours.

I had never entered any kind of costume contest before - I had worn a Vulcan Priestess costume before, but after fixing it up and adding embellishments (Ozhika in traditional vulcan script, red lined with black instead of plain holes in the chest, ribboned edges, etc.) I decided that this would be the year - I even brought along my hand-sculpted Vulcan meditation lamp. I entered Miss C4, which was a great experience, and the Sci-fi/Movies/Fantasy category  which I won. I honestly did not expect to win at all - when they called second place, I though I knew for sure that I would not win because her costume was so much better than mine, and so were others! As my prize, I received a trophy and 75 dollars in gift certificates for comic and costume stores.

I met a husband and wife who were dressed as a Klingon and Borg. Her husband had made her bat'leth with materials like aluminum foil and either duct or electrical tape (I can't remember which). He also had a mouth piece which made everything he said sound like it was actually being said by a borg drone. Their costumes were both amazing, and they were really nice people:

Oh, and remember I said there was a second place winner who I thought had a better costume than me?   Here we are after the contest (she is dressed as the Diva Plavalaguna from The Fifth Element, one of my favorite movies):

I also had my picture taken with the Best of Show Costume winner - by far the most impressive costume I had seen all day. I forget what character she was, if it was a character, but I do know that it was from World of Warcraft.

Finally, after more photos and waiting, I got to take off my hot costume and painful heels. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring anther pair of footwear so I had to put my heels back on to go home. I was so exhausted by that time that I kept falling asleep on the bus. It took an hour to get home on the bus, and so my mother and I were playing games on our phones and taking pictures.

I spent the rest of the night watching Canada's Worst Driver and taking photos of myself in my costume (because this was probably the last time I will ever wear it... probably) before collapsing into bed.

In this photo you can see the bulletin board in my room, and I am holding the trophy I received for my costume:

Day Three

I woke up today (Sunday), ready for the last day of Comic Con. I had to do a couple of things today - first the Marina Sirtis Q&A session (which was amazing and, once again, will be posted about with photos in a later post), and then a photo-op with Nichelle Nichols. I was supposed to have had my photo taken with her yesterday, but I was (along with hundreds of other people) kept downstairs because the main exhibition room was filled to capacity. Because of this, I missed her completely and they asked her to come in today. She is absolutely adorable, and I am so glad the photo-op ended up working out.

I didn't wear a costume today, just a sweater, jeans, and chucks (along with my new Tom Baker scarf). I also re-bleached my eyebrows this morning because the marker I used for my Vulcan brows dyed parts of them brown. I spent most of the day in the conference hall:

I had some extra time after the photos and Q&A, so I decided to walk around one last time to look over the merchandise. I'm glad I did, because I just so happened to find an Ambassador Sarek action figure:

I also ended up purchasing an Andorian action figure (wearing a fuzzy pink jacket for some reason), a small Spock in the environmental suit from The Tholian Web, the Star Trek Chronology, Star Trek TNG SkyBox Episode Collection Cards Seasons three and seven (the full sets), and the 200th issue of Starlog.

All in all, this year's Central Canada Comic Con was absolutely amazing. It was not organized very well, but that is a difficult job - I don't blame anybody for that. Everything worked out (for most people), I met some amazing people (and some of my heros), I entered my first costume contest, and I have added some amazing items to my collection.

If you have never attended a convention, I would highly recommend that you consider involving yourself in and upcoming con in your area. They can be a lot of work and running around, but I feel that it is all worth it in the end.

Klingon Foreheads - A Short Explanation From "Blood Will Tell"

K is for Klingon!

A lot of people wonder why the TOS Klingons look so different from the others we have come to know. Truthfully, it is because of budget differences. Rumor has it that Gene Roddenberry had always wanted the Klingons to appear as they did from TMP on, but there were a lot of restrictions when it came to the original series.

But the world of the creators should have nothing to do with the story - the fans needed another explanation. In Trials and Tribble-ations, Worf is placed along side the Klingons from "The Trouble with Tribbles". In order to explain the difference,  this was added to the script:

Bashir: "Those are Klingons?"
Waitress: "All right. You boys have had enough."
Odo: "Mister Worf?"
Worf: "They are Klingons, and it is a long story."
O'Brien: "What happened? Some kind genetic engineering?"
Bashir: "A viral mutation?"
Worf: "We do not discuss it with outsiders."

More information is gained while reading the comic IDW comic "Blood Will Tell".

"Blood Will Tell" is actually an amazing comic - the reader experiences the stories of conflict between the Klingons and the Federation from a Klingon point of view. Not only that, but in the collection of Volumes 1-5 the story is repeated in the Klingon Language variant edition. I have scanned a portion of the page dealing with the facial differences in Klingon, below which is the English translation (taken from the English portion of the comic):

"QuchHa', the cowards called us. 'The unhappy ones.' How far from the truth. Generations ago, we were conceived for the glory of the Empire, to take the humans' own plot for genetic superiority and create a new race of augmented Klingon warriors!

Unfortunately, the Humans' science failed, and its genetic mutation spread like wildfire, leaving the Empire with twin Klingon races, one bearing the mark of the humans' treachery. 

Although we may not have had the superior strength that was intended, we retained superior ambition, and soon we had gained control of the High Council itself! 

It was our kind who led the Empire's glorious expansion into deep space and conquered countless worlds."

Much is still unclear, and the comic is not considered canon, but I am glad to take any piece of information I can find in my quest to fill in the gaps.

The Worlds of the Federation and Don Ivan Punchatz - 1989

"The Worlds of the Federation", written and illustrated by Shane Johnson, is one of my favorite resources. Inside this 155 page book one finds a historical overview of the United Federation of Planets, the Planetary Classification System (UFP Standard), and overview of all member worlds as well as their planet's primaries and ambassadors - as well as an overview of Neutral, Independent, and Hostile Worlds. One may also find each planet's system profile, planetary emblem, and continental profile.

While Shane Johnson illustrated the pages with drawings of continental systems, ambassadors, emblems, etc. - it was Don Ivan Punchatz who created the stunning color art we see on the cover, as well as inside on the glossed pages (which I will cover at a later date). I will focus now on the image on the front cover:

We also find the same image spread across two pages inside, allowing us to experience this masterpiece in great detail. For those who are unaware of the races depicted, I will go over them and state the episode they first appeared in: (Referring the the images below, Starting in top left, moving clockwise)

• Melkot - Melkatians were seen in TOS: Spectre of the Gun
• Klingon - The Klingons are well known, but first appeared in TOS: Errand of Mercy
• Gorn - First seen in TOS: Arena
• Tellarite - First seen in TOS: Journey to Babel (one of my favorite episodes, as we see Sarek and Amanda for the first time)
• Tribbles - First seen in TOS: The Trouble with Tribbles
• Bynars - First seen in TNG: 11001001
• Benzite - First seen in TNG: Coming of Age

To enlarge the image, right click and open in a new tab or window.

Moving on to the second page, we see the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D over top of the five remaining races:

• Romulan - First seen in TOS: Balance of Terror (played by Mark Lenard, the same man who played Sarek)
• Andorian - First seen in TOS: Journey to babel (What is interesting about this image - is that the Andorian shown below, Thelev, was actually an Orian Assassin in disguise, and not an Andorian at all)
• Phylosian - First seen in TAS: The Infinite Vulcan (another great episode)
• Ferengi - First seen in TNG: The Last Outpost
• Saurian (juvenile) -  First Seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (although Saurian Brandy has been enjoyed in TOS episodes beforehand)

I am absolutely in awe of this piece of art. I have been a fan of Don Ivan Punchatz for a while now, and a lot of his work can be found online - do a quick search on google images and you will understand. Everything he does is absolutely amazing.

45 Years of Star Trek Celebrated with Cupcakes

Today marks the 45th year since the "first" episode of Star Trek - The Man Trap - was aired. It is truly a momentous occasion.

I worked for nine hours today, and while I had the time I was (as usual) doodling on scrap paper. To keep track of the time, I make circles for each hour and elaborate on them as each hour passes. I thought today's circles looked cool and space-y, so I incorporated it into my special Star Trek Anniversary card:

Because doodles count as cards, right?

I also made cupcakes with some of the characters on them - I wanted to do Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov, but I didn't have enough time. I did, however, manage to make a huge mess and eat a lot of mix and icing.

This is my first attempt at drawing with icing, and it turned out better than I thought it would, despite not having the icing colors I wanted. Below are some of my cupcakes - an Orian girl, a Klingon (I couldn't get the colors to work, but I was going for the TOS Klingons) and Yeoman Rand with her waffle hair.

My family and I ended up eating most of the cupcakes before I could "fancy them up". I made another batch and decorated them with Spock, McCoy (lego?) and Kirk. They are honestly the worst things I have ever drawn, but they are also the most delicious.

I will be 74, going on 75 years old on the glorious hundredth anniversary. I will be waiting, with my rats and my baking and my crazy hair.

How did you celebrate the 45th anniversary? Let me know in the comments!

Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual - History

I have posted scans from the Star Fleet Medical Reference manual before, focusing mainly on Vulcan physiology. Lately, however, I have noticed an expanding interest in the manual around the internet. So here I am, revisiting the reference manual - studying the history of medicine.

I had posted the cover of the reference manual here, but it also came with a loose cover within the protective case:

Inside, we find that the Medical Advisor for this manual is none other than Leonard McCoy, M.D.  That automatically makes this the best book in the entire world. It makes me glad that I found it before my friend did, who was right beside me looking on the same dusty shelf.

Below are some pages with the history of medicine, not limited to Earth. It is very interesting to see the different planets' timelines - how advanced Vulcan was, for instance, when Earth was still in the middle ages. Some of the highlights (in Earth years - click images to enlarge):

4200 BC - Great Plague on Vulcan, thousands die of the skag maug.

2750 BC - Kohl, Klingon god - patron of medicine.

1900 BC - Sikar, founder of the Vulcan School of Medicine.

Around 480 AD - Kassaba fever destroys entire populations of Rigel IV

Around 1000 AD - Zora experiments with body chemistry of tribes on Tiburon

1348-1350 AD - "Black Death", bubonic plague kills one-third of Europe.

Around 1530 AD - T'Laan of Vulcan discovers an artificial blood plasma. (It wasn't even until 1628 that William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood on Earth)

According to this timeline, Louis Pasteur developed "pasteurizer and rabies vaccine" in around 1820. He was only born in 1822, and the first pasteurization tests took place in 1962.  He started working on a rabies vaccination in the 1880s...

Around 1960 AD - Birth of Stavos Keniculus, first cloned human. (Also spelled Stavos Keniclius. Dr McCoy had mentioned in TAS that the scientist would be around 250 years old, which means he would have been born in around 2019, as the episode took place in 2268.)

1992 AD - Eugenic "supermen" revealed to public. (Eugenics wars begin)

Around 2000 AD - "Green Death", Vegan choriomeningitis ravages Vega IX.

2002 AD - Nomad Probe launched to search for extraterrestrial life.

2005 AD - Cygnian Plague Vaccine developed by Zilzu of Tellar.

Around 2020 AD - Cancer-inhibiting plant compound discovered on Ganymede.

Around 2015 AD - Life on Lavinius V is destroyed by the flying parasites. (Other sources say 2060 and 2067)

2042 AD - Ka'hat plague spreads throughout the Klingonii worlds.

2046 AD - Sessek of Vulcan studies alien physiologies.

Around 2175 AD - Radioactive pollutants on scalos cause drastic mutation.

Around 2190 AD - Life on Theta Cygni is destroyed by the flying parasites. (Theta Cygni XII)

Around 2550 AD - Life on Ingraham B is destroyed by the flying parasites.

2267 AD - Silicon-base life discovered on Janus VI. (Horta!)

They should teach these things in school - if a Canadian can get a Master's degree in the Beatles, then I should be able to get one in Star Trek.

Star Trek Color and Activity Book 1979 - Futuristic Fun!

When compared the color and activity books I had posted from 1978 a few days ago, this one has less of a story line, a simpler cover, and more "interesting" inter-activities. The front of the book has a picture of Kirk and Spock from the motion Picture, and gives us something to look forward to: "Futuristic Fun." Because coloring and connecting dots is very futuristic.

First we have the mandatory shots of the crew - pretty straight forward stuff. Feel free to print these out and color them with whatever you want. Click on the images to enlarge.

 

Now things start to get a little odd and/or obvious. On this page we have a "Klingon Letter to Number," as identified by Spock.

 

Next we have to connect the dots to figure out who is being beamed up. In case you can't tell who it is by their faces, I won't ruin it for you. Print it off, give it a go, and draw some tribbles falling from the sky.

 

Lastly, I scanned this page for it's pure absurdity. Can you figure out what is wrong with this picture? (Damnit Jim - I'm a doctor, not a sailor-grave digger!) Mr. Sulu looks like Luanne from King of the Hill, Uhura looks like she should be out with her droogs, Spock is in his most illogical state yet, and Captain Kirk thinks he is the king of radio transmissions.

Just a reminder - the deadline for the contest I am holding is September 1. For anyone who is interested, you can read the guidelines and take a gander at some examples over HERE.

Cranial, Brain, and Heart Development: Human, Andorian, Klingon, Gorn, Tellarite, Vulcan

Did I ever mention I am the (very) proud owner of the fully illustrated Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual? It is epic - I mean, the medical advisor is listed as Leonard McCoy, MD.

One of the super-cool sections in this book shows the differences in cranial, heart, and brain development between Humans, Andorians, Klingons, Gorn, Tellarites, and Vulcans.

Now anyone who knows me also knows that I somewhat obsessive about Vulcan biology and culture - other species, not as much. Because of this, I will quickly go over what these illustrations tell us about Vulcan physiology, while completely ignoring every other species (except for human).

The Vulcan skull is considerably larger than that of humans, with harder bone that is about 0.2cm thicker around the brain. It is also said that Vulcan males do not possess the "supraorbital taurus" (bony ridges above the eye socket).

Now let's check out them brains!

The Vulcan brain and the Human brain have the same overall structure and size, however the midbrain is significantly different in Vulcans. This midbrain is where telepathic and telekinetic powers originate - the Vulcan midbrain is larger and far more intricate, explaining to a certain extent their psionic powers.

Last one - the heart.

The Vulcan heart beats at 242 minutes, and the average blood pressure is 80 systolic, and 40 diastolic (the blood vessels are extremely dilated). Blood vessels with a large diameter help cool the body. The heart is contained where a the liver would be in a human, thus leaving room for their larger lungs. The cartilage that would normally protect a human heart extends an extra 3.5 cm down to protect the Vulcan heart. The Vulcan heart is somewhat larger in size, extremely muscular, and has thinner walls (to allow for a greater pulse range and a greater volume of blood.

Bonus Fun fact:
Vulcan time is based on the beating of the heart and units of ten. Let's say, for this, that the Vulcan heart beats 240 times per earth minute. 100 Vulcan heart beats is equal to one Vulcan minute. A Vulcan minute is equal to 25 standard seconds, and 24 standard minutes is equal to ten Vulcan minutes. (Strangers from the Sky - Margaret Wander Bonanno)

I met a Klingon, and then I slept with Spock.

At the Comic and Toy expo a while ago, dressed as a Vulcan Priestess, I met a Klingon. After going through comics and posing with people babies for photos, I sat down with some fellow nerds and there he was.

We have gotten together and spoken since then, mostly about Star Trek, Cosplay and Doctor Who. Then he found out that I have never watched Harry Potter (and never will) and stripped me of one of my metaphorical nerd stripes. Then I threatened to take all of his away because he didn't speak Vulcan or Klingon.

Anyways, a couple weeks ago I met him at a coffee shop and was handed a box that looked like a crappy cardboard coffin. What was inside?

I find this skin color highly illogical.

A moderately large plush-Spock, with the correct insignia and a quizzical expression. Needless to say, I was overjoyed and can now tell people that I slept with Spock. Which is true - he is a now permanent resident of my bed.

I do find one thing strange, however. Why is his skin so pink? My skin has a stronger green tint that his here, and I am less than half Vulcan. Crazy plush-company.