221B Con 2016: Deep into Saturday night.

You can look at an event like 221B Con and see costumes. All day and all night costumes.

Within the hotel terrarium environment that is a con, fashion goes into R&D mode, even outside of the costume exhibition. It's beyond just Sherlock and John outfits. It's even beyond costumes. Within the bubble of an accepting populace, people just get to wear fun stuff for a change. I wore a deerstalker most of the day Saturday, and I never do that. (The complete headcanon behind my Saturday clothes were sort of "over-sized Victorian street urchin who stole a deerstalker from Sherlock Holmes and got some glasses from the next century from the Doctor.")

But when the proper costume exhibition comes on Saturday night, you get to see the really fun stuff. Sailor John and mermaid Sherlock. Severed head in the refrigerator. Watson's Victorian moustache walking around with a human host. (Said moustache being so big it actually bumped me in the elevator. That thing had presence!) All sorts of things, from all sorts of periods, from all sorts of universes. Were I more adept at getting photos from photo to Chromebook, I might put a few of them here, but, sadly, I can only apologize for leaving it to your imagination.

One of the things 221B Con does wonderfully is involve its guests in the proceedings, and David Nellist made an terrific host for the costume portion of the evening, a job which takes a good sense of humor and a ready-for-anything acceptance. His hosting really made the event all the more special for all involved, and we were all very grateful for it. The costume event was all-to-short, however, which left us time for more panels.

Panels go into the night on Saturday, though my sitting parts were about numb when nine o'clock rolled around, so I had to give it up. "Continuity Doyle" offered some discussion on familiar turf, and "Role-Playing 101" had insights into an area of fandom that has always intrigued me, yet never took off very well in Sherlockian generations prior to BBC Sherlock's.

As with Friday night, 221B Con revels continued into the night, in the karaoke pavilion, in the hotel bar, in the Three Patch suite, and the 24-hour con suite where the Tardis, the president, and the famous door to 221B hung out, but like I said earlier, my sitting-parts had reached their limit, so after a quick walking tour of the sites, I headed upstairs to continue contemplating the "Watson's wives" panel coming up on Sunday.

One more day . . .