North Florida Ghostbusters is an “Ghostbusters” costuming group/non-profit organization that is officially recognized member of the Ghost Corps. The group was founded 17 years ago with the goal of doing their part in their community and making a difference in people’s lives.
Today, the group is split into two different branches, the original North Florida Ghostbusters in Gainesville and the North Florida Ghostbusters – Jacksonville. Their goal is still to make a difference in their communities and bringing smiles to people’s faces. We’re ready to believe you.
Justin “Fred” Reed, artist and propmaker, is a featured contestant on the series premier of Syfy’s new transformation competition COSPLAY MELEE – an epic showdown of creativity, eye popping costumes and one of a kind characters. Premiering on Tuesday, March 21 at 10/9C, the hour-long battle is hosted by actress and self-described “super fan girl” Yvette Nicole Brown (“The New Edition Story”, “Community”) and executive produced by Jay Peterson and Todd Lubin of Matador Content (“Lip Sync Battle”).
Each week, four world class cosplayers compete to create not only intricate full-body costumes – but fully-formed characters that they must bring to life through their own realistic performance. Guiding and critiquing them are a panel of judges including world class cosplayer LeeAnne Vamp, and A-list costume creator, Christian Beckman (“The Hunger Games”, “TRON: Legacy”). At the end of every episode, the winner will walk away with $10,000… and the right to claim cosplay supremacy.
When not starring on cool TV shows, Fred is a professional wargame miniature painter with over twenty years of experience. Before becoming a painter, Fred was a member of the British Army’s Royal Logistics Corp. After being medically discharged in 1992, he joined the team at Games Workshop (GW) in Bristol, UK, as a sales assistant. He worked his way through to a regional manager where he oversaw more than thirty stores throughout Europe. During his time with GW, he perfected his figure painting skills and won the Golden Demon staff award for painting and began to produce life-size props. After eight years with GW, he branched out and started his own figure painting company and built his worldwide business with clients on every continent.
In 2004, Fred met his wife, Elle, through a mutual love of figure painting and all things nerdy. After proposing to her in a drunken online chat at 2pm Eastern Standard Time, she accepted his proposal (the following morning after a blood alcohol test) and he moved to the United States in 2006. They married and resided in St. Mary’s, Georgia, for two years before relocating to Jacksonville, Florida. During that time, they discovered their love of cosplay and costuming and Fred took his talent for painting to the cosplay world, creating a portfolio of award-winning costumes. When not sewing ornate and elaborate gowns for cosplay, Elle is saving the planet as the Executive Director of an environmental nonprofit in Ponte Vedra Beach, hosts her own weekly radio show on WSOS 103.9 in St. Augustine, and watches Sci-Fi with their dogs, Dotsie and Creamy.
Their resume of cosplay achievements include:
• InfinityCon 2017, Lake City, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• Fan Lexicon 2016, Jacksonville, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• InfinityCon 2016, Lake City, FL: First Place/Masters Category
• ConjureCon 2016, Orlando, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• Mandarin Minicon 2016, Jacksonville, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• Hourglass Con 2016: First Place
• AmeliaCon 2015, Fernandina Beach, FL: First Place for Costuming
• Retrorama 2015, Jacksonville, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• WasabiCon 2015, Jacksonville, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• Hourglass Con 2015, Jacksonville, FL: First Place
• Mandarin Minicon 2015, Jacksonville, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• Retrorama 2014, Jacksonville, FL: First Place/Best in Show
• Hourglass Con 2014, Jcksonville, FL: First Place
• Megacon 2015, Orlando, FL: First Place in Children’s Category
• CollectiveCon 2016, Jacksonville, FL: First Place in Children’s Category
• HurricaneWho 2014, Orlando, FL: First Place in Kid’s Category
• Timelord Fest, 2016, Jacksonville, FL: First Place in under 15 category
• InfinityCon 2017, Lake City, FL: Best in Show
Candy Keane is a cosplayer and costume designer that got her start making and wearing the infamous Slave Leia costume, which put her on the cover of Jedi Junkies, featured on the E! channel’s Top 25 Most Memorable Swimsuit Moments and in the Morgan Spurlock ComicCon documentary and book, where she also appears as Wonder Woman. She also made the costume worn by Kristen Bell in the movie Fanboys.
Candy won her first costume contest at the age of 5, and has been dressing up ever since. Her love of creating costumes led to a boutique and costume business that she ran for 11 years before closing in 2016 to concentrate on personal projects and raising her son. She plans on recapturing more of the fun aspects of costuming that got her started in the first place and is excited to embark on a new family focused cosplay venture while writing for her blog GeekMamas.com.
UPDATE: Sometimes things don’t always work as planned… Due to an unforeseen professional commitment, AJ Michalka will not be able to attend WasabiCon 2017. We wish her the best, and hope she can join us at a future date.
AJ Michalka, 25, has demonstrated her talent and versatility as a successful actress, musician, and songwriter. At her young age, Ms. Michalka carries a reputation as a tremendous actress, developing strong relationships with directors such as J.J. Abrams and Peter Jackson. In 2010 she starred opposite Diane Lane and John Malkovich in the Walt Disney Pictures feature film SECRETARIAT, based on the life story of Penny Chenery, owner of the racehorse Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973. She then went on to shoot the much anticipated J.J. Abrams film SUPER 8, released in 2011.
Ms. Michalka also co-starred in the Paramount Pictures feature film THE LOVELY BONES alongside Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Saoirse Ronan. The film, directed by Academy Award winner Peter Jackson, is an adaptation of the bestselling novel about a young girl who has been murdered and is watching over her family and friends from heaven.
Ms. Michalka began her acting career with several roles in television. She starred in the CBS series THE GUARDIAN for two seasons as well as the Fox series OLIVER BEENE. She also starred in the Disney Channel film COW BELLES, the Disney pilot HAVERSHAM HALL, and the MTV original movie, SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN: THE MOVIE. AJ recently guest starred on HBO’s SILICON VALLEY and can be seen as a series regular on THE GOLDBERGS for ABC.
She starred in the independent feature film ANGELS IN STARDUST and served as a co-producer on the film, which was taken to the Cannes Film Festival. She then starred in Lionsgateʼs GRACE UNPLUGGED, playing the eponymous Grace Trey opposite Kevin Pollak and James Denton.
In addition to singing and songwriting, Ms. Michalka is an accomplished musician, playing guitar, piano and percussion. As a member of Aly & AJ, she released two hit albums with Hollywood Records, helping Ms. Michalka and her sister Aly become platinum-selling recording artists at a very young age. In 2006, Aly & AJ were nominated for their first American Music Award. They have written all of the songs on their two hit records, and their holiday release ACOUSTIC HEARTS OF WINTER was one of the best-selling Christmas albums of 2006. Their hit single, POTENTIAL BREAKUP SONG, was noted in Time Magazine as one of the Top 10 Songs of the Year for 2007 and has been RIAA certified with sales of more than one million downloads. The music video for the single has scored over 62 million views on Youtube.
The duo contributed to the soundtracks for the films THE GAME PLAN, HERBIE FULLY LOADED, ICE PRINCESS, BANDSLAM, as well as writing the theme song for the CW television drama HELLCATS. Separately, Ms. Michalka recorded ITʼS WHO YOU ARE, the theme song for her film SECRETARIAT, also filming the accompanying music video. She recorded four songs for the GRACE UNPLUGGED soundtrack.
She recently starred in EXPECTING AMISH for Lifetime and recurs as the voice of “Stevonnie” in STEVEN UNIVERSE. One of her most incredible endeavors to date is the film she produced and stars in alongside her sister Aly, called WEEPAH WAY FOR NOW, which follows two 20-something sisters as they spend their last week before their next music tour wandering through the heart of Laurel Canyon. The film was released on June 17th on iTunes.
AJ can currently be seen as ‘Lainey Lewis’ on ABC’s hit comedy, THE GOLDBERGS, opposite Jeff Garlin and Wendi McLendon-Covey.
WasabiCon has run for five (amazing) years in Jacksonville, Florida – and we’re putting together something special to celebrate that fact. To make it happen, we want a photo of you AT WasabiCon. You can be in costume or dressed normal… it doesn’t matter. What matters is YOU at the convention celebrating fandom in Jacksonville, Florida.
Email the photo to Contact@WasabiCon.com and we’ll fill you in on how we plan to use it. The larger the resolution, the better!
– A Weekend (2-Day) Pass (at the door) is $40
– A Saturday Only Pass (at the door) is $30
– A Sunday Only Pass (at the door) is $20
Children ages three and under get in for free. Otherwise, ticket prices include all ages.
PARENTS: If you are purchasing a ticket for your child under the age of 18, you must be present with him/her at the event to pick up and/or purchase a ticket. You signature is required on the on-site registration form.
You may now make hotel reservations for the event! Rooms at the Lexington are discounted for WasabiCon attendees to only $99 a night! You can make your reservation online by clicking this link:
OR – you can call the hotel’s reservation line at (800) 536-7070 and ask for the special rate by telling them you are a WasabiCon 2017 attendee.
PARKING
Event parking is $5 per day. Valet parking (with a hotel reservation) is $12 per day, and overnight self parking (with a hotel reservation) is $5 per day.
The Vendor Room at our convention is an important part of the holistic fan experience for our attendees, so THANK YOU for your interest in being a part of that. Your involvement grants eager fans access to merchandise themed appropriately for our event, and that is an invaluable part of the overall value of the convention experience.
HOURS
Saturday, 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Sunday, 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
As a part of this year’s event, each Vendor Room space includes:
A nine foot by nine foot area (9 x 9) in the Vendor Room One (1) six foot table Two (2) chairs Two (2) weekend passes to the convention labeled “Vendor”
Need additional “Vendor” badges for your staff? No problem! You can purchase one (1) additional “Vendor” badge for each space you order for an additional $25 when you process your payment online.
Power and Internet access are available. Please see Section V of the Vendors Agreement.
All Green Mustard Entertainment events offer pricing based on advance purchases. The sooner you purchase your space, the less expensive it is!
BEFORE APRIL 30, 2017 – $250 per space BEFORE OCTOBER 15, 2017 – $300 per space
There is a limit of three (3) spaces per vendor. This is due to floor plan logistics and to be fair to other vendors.
Please read and fill out this entire document and please (PLEASE!) print clearly. You should note that your application is not considered complete until after your space(s) is/are paid in full. No exceptions!
If you have questions about anything on this form, please call us at (407) 536-9272 or email Vendors@WasabiCon.com.
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North Florida Ghostbusters is an “Ghostbusters” costuming group/non-profit organization that is officially recognized member of the Ghost Corps. The group was founded 17 years ago with the goal of doing their part in their community and making a difference in people’s lives.
Justin “Fred” Reed, artist and propmaker, is a featured contestant on the series premier of Syfy’s new transformation competition COSPLAY MELEE – an epic showdown of creativity, eye popping costumes and one of a kind characters. Premiering on Tuesday, March 21 at 10/9C, the hour-long battle is hosted by actress and self-described “super fan girl” Yvette Nicole Brown (“The New Edition Story”, “Community”) and executive produced by Jay Peterson and Todd Lubin of Matador Content (“Lip Sync Battle”).
UPDATE: Sometimes things don’t always work as planned… Due to an unforeseen professional commitment, AJ Michalka will not be able to attend WasabiCon 2017. We wish her the best, and hope she can join us at a future date.
