Geek Central

Crowds. Claustrophobia. Geek-speak assaulting your eardrums from all directions. And- was that a Dalek, over there in the corner behind Thor and the Phantom?

As the geeks in the Winnipeg region know, this past weekend was Comic-Con. For the non-geek-inclined of my readers, that is where nerds and geeks of all sorts gather at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, discuss geeky things, play geeky games and acquire geek merchandise. Some people even dress normally- others bring out their treasured (if rarely worn) nerdy costumes and happily mill about with fellow geeks.

If you've been following me on Twitter or Facebook this weekend, you've probably heard of some of the characters I've seen. These include, but are not limited to: two Han Solos*, two Princess Leias* (Okay, one was about five years old. Same with the mini-Vader with her. But STILL...), four Jedi Knights*, an entire clan of Mandalorians*, a couple of Stormtroopers*, one Sith Lord who WASN'T Darth Vader*, at least three incarnations of the Doctor*, two walking Tardises*, three or four versions of Batman/Superman/Spiderman/Superwoman/..., two versions of Two-Face*, many versions of Poison Ivy, Jace*, V*, Dr. Horrible*, a couple of Vulcans* (including one Spock), a Klingon*, plenty of redshirts, four Jack Sparrows*, more manga/anime characters than I care to count, LOTS of ninjas and samurai, several Hogwarts students* and Waldo. Virtual cookies to those who can guess what fandoms the starred characters came from.

For the curious, one of the Two-Face incarnations was taking great joy in telling everyone that he'd been cornered by a Dark Lady of the Sith (who happened to have a makeup sponge with her lightsabre) and her cohort, who proceeded to attack him with the makeup and even put glitter in his hair. For the record, the glitter was the cohort's idea- the Sith only did the makeup, and was quite pleased with her work.

The Trekkies rejoiced when they heard William Shatner was coming to Comic-Con at some point on the weekend. A few less rejoiced when they heard he was only coming on the Sunday. And very few cheered when they heard it was $20 just to get a picture with Mr. Shatner, and about $70 for an autograph. That was the deciding factor that determined I wouldn't be seeing the original Captain James T. Kirk, much to my inner geek's dismay (Worse was that we missed seeing the lightsabre duels.).

Regardless of the disappointment in being unable to meet Mr. Shatner, the Comic-Con weekend was very enjoyable.

And on that note, I'm taking off the cumbersome modified-bedsheet Sith Lord costume and not putting it back on for another year. Maybe next year I'll change it up and go as a Nazgul instead of a Sith- who knows?

*Oh yes. Han Solo, Leia, the Jedi, the Mandalorians, the Stormtroopers and the Sith are all from Star Wars (Really, how could you not get that?), the Doctor, the Tardis and the Dalek are from Doctor Who, Two-Face is from Batman, Jace is from the card game Magic: The Gathering, V is from V for Vendetta, and Dr. Horrible is from Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog. If you did not get that the Vulcans, Klingons and redshirts are from Star Trek, you lost all geek status. Jack Sparrow is from Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Hogwarts students are from Harry Potter.