Sunday, January 27, 2019

Celebration of Oliver and James Phelps

I went to Celebration last year and it was amazing.

It was cancelled this year and I didn’t feel like going to any of the unofficial meet-ups this weekend. As it was, I heard that Universal was being kind of shitty to the cosplayers. Part of JK’s decision to go with Universal over Disney was that she didn’t want characters running around the park. With it being an unsanctioned event - and therefore no warning to tourists - there were lots of people who didn’t know that Mark, the guy who fucking lives as Dumbledore, wasn’t really a Universal employee. His costume is THAT good. He often posts in several groups as Dumbledore and it’s honestly hard to tell the difference between his cosplay and the real thing.

There’s also a guy that cosplays as Jacob, a girl that cosplays as Newt, and another girl that cosplays as Tina. Honestly, If I didn’t know they were cosplayers, I’d assume that they were employees, too. All that to say, I can understand why Universal was pretty strict this year.

Last year, they were strict-ish. There were issues with both Viktor Krum and Mad-Eye Moody’s staffs. Krum’s was allowed in, but Moody’s was not. OMG - the uproar amongst the fans!! Let’s be honest, though, Moody’s staff is an important part of pulling off the look. Krum’s is just a prop. So yeah. Sometimes, the inconsistencies with the TMs is a major pain in the ass, but it wasn’t as bad as it was this year. Again, unsanctioned. Which was part of why I wanted to stay home. Not that my cosplay is anything to write home about, but still.

Instead, I consoled myself by finally going through my photos from last year - all 727. No lie, 700 of them were the Phelps twins.

Yeah, 700.

They were the whole reason I went, but I didn’t realise that I was that obsessed with them…

S’OK, though. They’re pretty easy on the eyes.