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Canberra Times
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Canberra Times
Aussie cosplay champion suits up with global crown
The self-described nerd took out the title at one of the biggest pop culture conventions in the US, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, in April, dressed as hunky 300-year-old elf Halsin from the video game Baldur's Gate 3.
Perth Now
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Aussie cosplay champion suits up with global crown
Becoming the global champion of cosplay is still sinking in for Clare Beaton, otherwise known as Henchwench. The self-described nerd took out the title at one of the biggest pop culture conventions in the US, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, in April, dressed as hunky 300-year-old elf Halsin from the video game Baldur's Gate 3. "It's kind of the world's best cosplay crafters all in one space," explained Beaton, from the costume and prop-making studio Hench & Scrap. "Then we won ... I think I was just honestly stunned." Cosplay involves dressing up as characters from films, books and video games - often in costumes that feature obsessive levels of detail. It's a relatively small movement in Australia when compared to the US and Japan, but local cosplayers have been making an impact internationally. Beaton's winning Halsin outfit included silicon prosthetic elf ears and facial scars, a glowing lantern with flexible resin spikes and shoulder pieces constructed from more than 100 individually embossed leather leaves. She said she felt a connection to the seven-foot tall polyamorous game character, who has the power to transform into a bear, due to Halsin's kindness and affinity with nature. She completed the project in her spare time over about two years, using skills that ranged from metalwork to resin moulding, 3D printing, leatherwork and sewing. In October, the Halsin costume helped her to take out the Australian Cosplay Central Crown Championships title for a second time at the nation's biggest gaming convention, PAX Aus. That win came with a ticket to represent the nation at the US event. Beaton is well aware that from the outside, cosplayers can seem obsessive and eccentric. But for her, it's the antidote to a more widespread pop-culture fandom that is based in consumerism. "You can be creative and contribute back to fandom, and express something you love through doing something constructive," she said. Her cosplay artistry has taken years to develop after getting her start at 14 working alongside her father at renowned special effects and animation studio Weta FX. Her first job was working on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, but she soon found the film industry too specialised for her unique combination of skills. In 2016, she met her business and life partner Oarin Tremont - otherwise known as Scrap - at a gaming convention, where they bonded over their cosplay outfits from the same video game, Overwatch. Having realised they could make a living creating costumes and props, the couple moved from Sydney to Adelaide so they could afford a large fabrication workshop with space for their equipment. Most of the clients at Hench & Scrap are video game companies. "It's an unusual niche but it's definitely a growing industry," Beaton said. "We'll build a project and show off on social media how we make things, as part of the marketing." Beaton will join the cosplay judging panel at the upcoming PAX Aus convention, to be held in Melbourne in October.
Forbes
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Mercer, Ray And Willingham Talk 10 Years Of Critical Role At C2E2
Critical Role is celebrating its 10th anniversay by playing live shows in Chicago, Sydney, ... More Melbourne, Indianapolis and New York City. Ten years ago, a new form of media was born. Critical Role birthed the modern day actual play by gathering a group of friends at a table to play Dungeons and Dragons. It helped that many of these friends were very talented voice actors and that the public was hungry for a show that demystified D&D. I caught up with Critical Role Co-Founders Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray and Travis Willingham at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, also known as C2E2. C2E2 was the site of one of the first Critical Role live shows outside of Los Angeles and it was a stop on their tour this year celebrating the show's 10th Anniversary. We talked about their D&D origin stories and the unlikely success of bringing the game to people that have never played it before. 'My grandmother introduced me to fantasy at a young age,' said Matthew Mercer, Chief Creative Officer of Critical Role. 'It was in the mountains of Georgia, in a cabin. You would never know she was obsessed with Tolkien, obsessed with Piers Anthony. She got me reading deep fantasy very young. My parents facilitated that and I am very grateful. My mom was a very involved garage sale purchaser, every weekend, two or three hours which I hated. But she found some very cool books. She got me a Monster Manual because it had all this awesome creature art. It was the only book I had at the time. I loved looking at the art of all these creatures, reading their lore with all these stats which I didn't understand but I thought it was really cool. When I was in high school, I was part of the 'Popular Arts Club' which was the public facing term for a nerdy comic book/video game club. The guys who were the heads of the club were track kids; fit, secret nerds. I helped do some design work for the club and they asked if I wanted to play in their Dungeons and Dragons game. What? I ran home, made a character and joined their game. I came in with this backstory to my character, showed up and they were just these slapstick players. Which is fine, but I had built this idea in my head of a collaborative story and an imaginative world. But no, we're maying dick jokes and talking about barbarians. I ended up leaving that game after a few sessions, asked two of my friends if they wanted to play and then learned to DM on the fly because nobody else would.' 'Growing up in Kentucky, I knew of Dungeons & Dragons,' said Marisha Ray, Creative Director of Critical Role. 'But no one to play with, never even crossed my mind. I was into Magic The Gathering a little bit into high school. That was when I knew what Wizards of the Coast was. I came to Los Angeles, met [Matt] FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder 'The first time I saw a D&D book was in Dallas, Texas at my local hobby shop,' said Travis Willingham, CEO of Critical Role. 'I was looking at comic books, trying to sneak into the adult section to read some Heavy Metal. I got stuck at a beautiful looking book that had a knight and an axe and there was a dragon, It said Dungeons and Dragons. I thought it looked amazing, I opened it up, saw a bunch of words and I said 'Not for me!'' While Willingham might have bounced off the game in his local bookshop, he came back to play at Matt Mercer's table. Critters, the hardcore fanbase of the show, know that the crew originally used the Pathfinder rules set. It started out, as many massive games do, as a one shot put together to show why these games connect with so many people. 'I actually didn't play that first day,' said Ray. 'because it was supposed to be a one shot they were running for Liam and Laura and what not. I'll just be there to assist. Talesin [Jaffe] and I were supposed to be the ringers, the helpers. I was there to go over people's shoulders to point at the character sheet to show people what number he was talking about. When it became clear it was going to be an ongoing game, I ended up jumping in after that.' 'It wasn't until…2012? 2013?...where we got together for our very first game,' said Billingham. 'a Pathfinder at Matt and Marisha's apartment. I showed up a little bit late after shooting something that day. Liam [O'Brien] was very serious because Laura [Bailey] was very serious, both doing heavy RP with British accents. Sam just looked panicked. I looked over at Marisha and she was like 'here are your dice…' I didn't know what was happening and Matt was in full [performance]. He had disappeared. There was this arch lich wizard, underlit. I think there was wind? There were candles at the table? Maybe it was just my imagination. I knew I was in for a show. The thing that sunk it for me was as we kept playing, everyone was getting more comfortable joining Liam and Laura where they were at. I made a choice and Matt said 'come with me'. We got up from the table and went into a side room. He said 'you see a guy in a red cloak over at the table. You can tell he's keeping something from you. What do you want to do? I was like 'can I do anything?' and he said 'you can certainly try.' I said 'I want to run over, grab him by the neck and pick him up' and Matt started acting scared like I was choking him out. He's responding to what I say? The rest was done. The hook was in.' The last time Critical Role had a live show in Chicago it was just before the massive shutdown of the pandemic in March of 2019. The Co-Founders took a litte time to reflect on what their expectations were at the beginning. It started as a way to show the joys of tabletop games and is now a new media sensation embarking on a world tour over the summer. 'When we got the opportunity from Felicia Day and Geek & Sundry,' said Ray, 'it was more along the lines of showing a dozen people, just one person, how cool tabletop RPGs can be then we can consider that a success. It was very much the lowest stakes, the lowest bar possible, because we didn't expect anything from it in those initial days.' 'There are a lot of people out there that are dice curious I guess you could say,' said Mercer. 'It's hard to describe in a social space of non-gamers. Having something to send somebody, like a link, and tell them to watch five minutes of this. That was the impetus to provide that sort of content, to be a shorthand of what this experience could be. We never anticipated anything like the impact that it has. It's still, ten years later, perpetually surreal.' 'I had a conversation with my wife at our house,' said Willingham, 'I don't know if I want to do this. I don't want people to think this is what I do. All these misconceptions and everything. Once we got into it and we found the people that it touches, the things that opened up for us as players and, it sounds so cheesy, but the way that Critical Role enriched our lives. We could have never predicted it. That's the beauty.'
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'The Breakfast Club' Cast Reunites for 40th Anniversary—See What They Look Like Now
The Breakfast Club is back together again. The entire main cast of the beloved 1980s coming-of-age movie reunited for the first time in 40 years at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo on Saturday, April 12. , who played Claire, explained she felt 'really emotional and moved' to have all five leading actors in the room together, noting during the panel that it was 'the first time that Emilio (Estèvez) has joined us.' 'We don't have to use the cardboard cut-out anymore,' she joked. Estèvez, who starred as Andrew, explained the reunion was 'something that finally I felt I needed to do, just for myself.' It was even more special that the reunion was in Chicago, as the movie was filmed in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines at the former Maine North High School. While answering fan questions, the cast members were asked to reveal what they think happened to their characters, with everyone having different takes. Judd Nelson suggested that his rebellious character John Bender probably became 'principal of the school,' while Ally Sheedy said she could see her character Allison becoming a writer or professor. Related: Ringwald thinks 'Claire probably got married a few times,' even suggesting 'Maybe decided she liked women. You know, her kids are grown up, she's like, 'Okay I'll try that.' It didn't work out so well with the guys.' Anthony Michael Hall, who played Brian Johnson, revealed that a revival or sequel film was 'thought about' in the past, the cast confirmed they would not be doing one out of respect for the film's late director John Hughes, known for other iconic teen films like Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ringwald also reflected on the experience of re-watching the movie, which she filmed when she was just 16, with her now-grown kids, stating it would have changed "the way that I parent' but admitting that it 'opened up' conversations. 'And then I watched the movie recently with my 15-year-olds, little more age appropriate, and I have to say that they didn't pick up their phones once, which to me… that was a win,' Ringwald added. The film, released Feb. 15, 1985, finds five high school students stuck together in Saturday detention realizing that they have a lot more in common than they ever could've imagined. Next: 'Coyote Ugly' Cast Reunites for 25th Anniversary Celebration—See What They Look Like Now
CNN
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
‘The Breakfast Club' stars reunite for the first time in 40 years
It was an 'emotional' reunion for the cast of 'The Breakfast Club at the weekend,' who reunited for the first time in 40 years. Stars of the 1980s coming-of-age movie took to the stage at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo on Saturday. 'I feel really, very emotional and moved to have us all together,' said Molly Ringwald, who played Claire in the movie. 'This is the first time that Emilio (Estèvez) has joined us. We don't have to use the cardboard cut-out anymore.' Estèvez, who played Andrew, said joining the reunion was 'something that finally I felt I needed to do, just for myself,' adding that it was special to return to Chicago where they shot the film. The actors remembered the film's late director, John Hughes, who was also known for iconic teen movies like 'Sixteen Candles' and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' 'Hughes explained to us the differences between the young and old, so now is the time for him to show us where we meet in the end, cause we're all older now,' said Judd Nelson, who played John Bender. 'But we're not gonna get that, which is sad.' Estèvez also revealed that he 'passed out' when the cast first met, having had his wisdom teeth taken out the day before. According to Estèvez, after their first readthrough of the script, Hughes proposed viewing the first cut of 'Sixteen Candles,' which Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall both starred in. 'I don't think I made it through the opening credits, and I passed out,' said Estèvez. 'I woke up at the end credits and I looked at Judd and Judd says, 'I think you're getting fired.'' Ringwald, who was 16 when they shot 'The Breakfast Club,' said re-watching it years later with her children was a 'wild experience' that changed her parenting. 'If you would've told me when I was 16 years old (that) one day I would be watching that movie with my 10-year-old and (it'd) change the way that I parent. I mean it's just mind-blowing,' she said. The actress admitted that, at the time, her daughter may have been too young to watch the movie. However, speaking about the characters her daughter identified with 'opened up this incredible conversation.' 'And then I watched the movie recently with my 15-year-olds, little more age appropriate, and I have to say that they didn't pick up their phones once, which to me… that was a win,' Ringwald added.
