Mon 30 Jul 2007
What a crazy group of 200,000 people that was.
The exhibitor hall was the geek equivalent of Valhalla, where you could find anything from vintage comics to upcoming movie sneak previews to World of Warcraft arena tournaments to fantasy art of exotic topless nymphs. There were t-shirt vendors selling 500 different designs. A pirate-centric online game. Anime and manga that made you stop and stand in the middle of a jam-packed crowd just to stare at the three-minute scene over and over.
And of course there were the costumes. Stormtroopers, Jedi, Spider-Man, Captain America, Captain Jack Sparrow, Silent Bob, Spongebob, Hello Kitty, Catwoman, Cylons, Optimus not-so-Prime, Some Chick With Blue Skin and Orange Hair, and lastly, Random Anime Character. The ratio was about 1:10 when it came to people who actually fit well in their costumes : people who were twice the size of the body intended for their costumes. I stood by a Captain America in very baggy cotton costume with a cardboard shield and watched him argue about dinner reservations on his cell phone.
Most surreal were the ones whose gender you couldn’t exactly determine. Ones who were dressed up so ridiculously you weren’t sure if they represented some fictional character or just mixed and matched from their psychodelic sock drawer and hit the streets.
Also, the lines. About ten thousand people stood in line to get into a ballroom that seated 1,000 for the “Heroes” TV sneak preview. The same went for the Iron Man presentation and a few other events. It was just. Too. Crowded. And the lines formed for everything — overpriced food, bathrooms, ATMs, autographs, free shirts, etc.
That said, it was a sight to behold and I’m glad we went. Maybe next year I’ll actually be working a booth instead of rubbernecking at one.
