Sunday, August 31, 2003

On Sunday, we got a lot of signatures from the Farscape folks, bringing us one step closer to having the AEG Farscape RPG book turned into a multi-million dollar value once we get the entire cast to sign it.

Then we went to "We're So Frelled!" by the local Save Farscape chapter a seminar that drove me nuts because it was poorly organized.  Mostly, it was about why Farscape was cancelled and how to get it back.  I learned a few things:

• The average fanboy/girl has no clue about the business world and sees it as "evil."  This is pathetic in much the same way the militia views the government as evil.  They benefit from it all the time but love to blame it for all of society's ills.  Puh-LEASE people.
• Farscape was cancelled largely because Vivendi-Universal was imploding.  A healthy company might not have sold it.
• Purchasing DVDs is the only way Farscape's going to come back, by proving the show makes money. 
• Letter writing doesn't help. Companies are now immune to it.  In fact, it can have a backlash.
• If the room was any indication, Farscape ain't coming back any time soon.

From there we went to Elvish 101, which had a HUGE line to get in.  Ill-deserved, unfortunately. The seminar was disorganized -- maybe something to do with the three sleep-deprived guys up front.  Their narration was very informative, but it wasn't very exciting.  It didn't help that Robot Battles was going on next door and the narrator had a huge sound system to back him up with nothing but an air wall between us.  It was interesting though - Amber won a LOTR book (with stickers!).

We had dinner and watched the costumed people go by.  I got pictures with Freddy, Jason, Ash, Colonial Marines -- Amber got pictures with Ringwraiths and Boromir.  This convention has the most costumed people ever -- one out of every 8 or so!  And the costumes are GREAT. And for the most part, the people in those costumes actually can pull it off without embarrassing themselves!  It's amazing what happens in the geek counterculture when you open it up beyond role-playing (like Gen Con).

Now that there are pictures on the Internet, here's just a sampling of the people we saw.

• Indiana Elvis: At first, I thought I had seen so many costumes that my vision was beginning to blend them together. This picture is proof I was not insane or drunk. Or I was REALLY insane and drunk and have ectoplasmically manifested this picture. Either way, here's the proof.
• The X-Men: Here's some of the X-men, including Beast, Nightcrawler, Psylocke...and okay, two not-X-men, Spiderman and Nick Fury. Some people can pull off these costumes and some can't. Beast is great, Nightcrawler (with that crazy bendy wire tail) is great. But Nick Fury? Dude. Not working. And why is Spidey wearing a blue shirt? Who cares -- Psylocke did pull it off (or kept it on in the right places).
• Boba Fett: This outfit kicks ass.
• Ash: That's right, THE MAN. Okay, THE MAN is now like 50 years old, so this kid will do. His outfit was great, he had the right look -- his rifle looked decidedly unrifle-like and law- abiding citizens were happier for it.
• Angel: As in, the X-Men, not that Buffy crap. His wings are fantastic.
• Condom Man: God help us all.
• The Fantastic Four: Almost. The Human Torch seems to have morphed into some random passerby. Who cares -- Mr. Fantastic if Fantastic, Invisible Woman even has a special effect balloon, and the Thing is wearing a full body suit. That's dedication!
• Mad Hatter: From some twisted version of Alice in Wonderland, I imagine.
• Predator: BEST. COSTUME. EVER. Okay, not quite (see below). But for sheer authenticity, this costume is unbelievable. I actually HEARD the Predator coming before I saw it. The head is kind of huge -- in person, the guy in the suit wasn't as big as the head really needed it to be (or the actor from the movie was). But still. It's a Predator!
• Stormtroopers: I saw them do this to more than one guy.
• Marvel Team Up: Or, everybody who could cram into the picture. Cyclops is excellent. But Colossus takes the cake. Wolverine's tough to pull off for anybody, but he comes close.
• The Ghostbusters: I've seen these guys at Gen Con too. Or at least, wearing the same outfits.
• The Fifth Element: Only three of said Fifth, but it's got Lilu and a stewardess. I'll try to forget the opera singer in the middle. I don't know why anyone would dress up as her -- but as I learned quickly at Dragon*Con, everyone and everything is fair game for a costume.
• Captain Jack: From the Pirates of the Caribbean. I think that's his name. More than one running around too.
• Emperor Xeexor: Or however you spell it.
• Batman(s): Really good Batman costumes. I'm not sure what's up with the one on the left -- maybe it's the underwater version that was in one of the awful movies I didn't see.
• Farscape Ladies: Sort of. Aeryn and uh, the other ones.
• Matrix: There were a lot of Matrix costumes. But in case it wasn't obvious, Matrix costumes are SKIN TIGHT. People shoudl wear body stockings underneath to try to keep the fat from bulging. These folks pulled it off (and somehow, I don't think they needed any help from figure-forming underwear).
• The Tick and Arthur: Ugh. Try not to look down...However, he does have a spoon. He gets points for SPOOOOOOON!
• Jessica Rabbit: Not quite.
• Mr. Freeze: From the movie. An EXCELLENT version -- anyone can buy a Batman costume, but you don't see a Mr. Freeze costume every day.
• The DC Universe: Green Lantern and the Flash look good. Batgirl is the new Batgirl (yes, this is how she looks in the comics).
• Buddy Christ: From Dogma. Or something else.
• Darth Helmet: You've gotta love a world where the PARODIES of shows have fans.
• Lara Croft: Lot of Lara Crofts there. This one was the best. And that's my own personal unbiased opinion...as a man.
• Starship Troopers: A much easier costume to wear in the heat of Atlanta than say, a Stormtrooper outfit.
• Harry Potter: The big fellow really is bigger than he appears, don't let the beard fool you.
• Poison Ivy: She had ridiculously high heels.
• No Face: From Spirited Away. Or was that No Personality? Or something like that.
• Jason: My buddy. If I had known he looked like this underneath I would have wet myself. And not in a good way.
• The Cartoon Network: I'm not sure why these three are together. But Harvey Birdman kicks ass, Aku is the best, and Samurai Jack looks a lot like Samurai Jane.
• Borg: Lot of borg, this is one of the better ones.
• Alien: An Alien! Dammit, I heard rumors of this thing stomping around but never saw it!
• Lily: Whoa. If you were a kid playing D&D in the 80s you'd understand. This dress has to be TAPED ON.
• Thundercats: Bleach. Cheetara I will concede. But I thought that was Wily Kit, not Lion-O. PUT ON SOME UNDERWEAR MAN!
• Bignugly: This thing stood from a balcony and (in an electronically modified voice) roared at passerbys. Scared the crap out of me.
• These are only the people I personally encountered, of course there's a billion more here.

But by far the best costume was the mind flayer pimp.  You heard me: Pimp. Mind. Flayer.  For those of you who don't know what a mind flayer is, it's a purple humanoid with a squid-head. Now put it in a purple suit. Now give it a big pimp hat.  And put a BUBBLE MACHINE in its mouth.  Watch the mind flayer spit bubbles!  Watch it pimp your brain!

Maybe only I found it funny at 12 a.m.

There was plenty of other stuff we didn't see, including the masquerade party.  To see what that must have been like, you can view the original slide show.