I’m happy to say (I think) that I am officially too old to go dog-piling into a hotel room with five or six of my closest friends. My back can’t handle floors the way it used to, and I need space to spread out.

I’d love to hear some of your favorite “crammed in a hotel room at a con” stories that anyone might care to share!

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This was mentioned in the comments a couple of strips ago, so I think it’s funny–but a lot of the good costumes always seem to lose to someone with a skimpy outfit and plenty o’ cleavage. Poor Miyoko is a victim of it this time! She was robbed, right?

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Let us shift to Skip for but a moment, to see what he’s up to.

If you’ve ever been to San Diego before, you know that some of the vendors have huge displays–giant statues, robots, big television screens, giant Lego constructions, and so forth. If you happen to be one of those people who like taking pictures of said item, you are going to have to fight a sea of humanity to get close enough to get a shot without 500 bozos in the frame. And some of them won’t ever get out of the way, lingering in front of the piece for seemingly ever. The Ecto-1 and Odin’s Throne at the Marvel booth are great examples of this.

So here, friends, I give you Skip’s answer to those people.

Nice strategic placement of Skip’s badge in panel 4 btw, Stan!

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Not being a cosplayer myself, I always wonder what kinds of reactions people in costume have when they see other people in similar costumes. Is it kind of like getting caught wearing the same dress as someone else at a party? Or is it just assumed that there are going to be a bunch of Harley Quinns, Lara Crofts, and Boba Fetts at the con? And, do they silently compare their costumes to others dressed as the same character? Kind of like “my costume is WAY better than his?” Or “shit, I need to step it up–she looks much better than I do in this getup!”

Inquiring minds want to know. Heck, I’m going to ask my favorite cosplayer, Amber of amberunmasked.com, these exact questions. Here’s what she had to say:

“Unfortunately, costuming does feel very competitive. I think most people want to be unique unless it makes sense to be in a group like the Stormtroopers. But when I’m Wonder Woman, sure, I want to be the only one. Luckily, it’s rare for two costumes to look exactly alike unless they’re store bought; mine are my own original versions so unless someone really goes out of their way to copy my design, no one will have the same version I do. There are popular characters that you can’t expect to be the only one. With Firestar, I was really glad to be the only one and still be recognizable.

Sometimes I’m not silent at all. I want to know how someone made their suit so I ask. Then I’m annoyed if I find out they didn’t and had it custom created and paid hundreds for it; I find it annoying because I feel like I’ll never be able to afford anything like that or have the skills to make it.”

Thanks, Amber! You RoXXor!

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At last we get to see Miyoko’s costume–Lara Croft. Not the most original costume, I realize, but Croft is still one that garners a lot of stares from the unwashed convention masses, particularly if the costume-ee wears it well. And Miyoko certainly does.

And just in case you were wondering, the dude in Panel 3 isn’t copping a real feel–his hand is further away than it looks. He’s mocking it, as many fanboys are wont to do.

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Isn’t there a comedian out there whose material includes that “what man can watch a woman eating a banana and NOT think about a blowjob?”

At least until that whole biting the banana bit.

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Fortunately I had a lot of free cash left over from San Diego, as well as quite a bit in my PayPal account from previous eBay sales, so the purchases were, for all practical purposes, using “house money.”

And there’s a decent 40k club about 40 minutes or so from here, so driving up once or twice a month to get a game in and mingle hasn’t been too much of a problem so far.

I am enjoying painting the models though. I’ve painted about 35 models and a couple of tanks in about 4 weeks. That ain’t too bad, although this productivity is definitely going to slow down now that school has started again. But I will chug on when I can.

I’ll post some pics if anyone is interested. Are there any other GW-heads out there in SubCulture land?

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Stan had a lot of fun with the Con concession stand–nothing like cheese-filled fried Twinkies, chocolate pork rinds, and aged dried hot dogs to get my tummy tingling. I try hard when I am set up a con to try to avoid the concession stands at most costs, particularly if there are ample restaurants in the area–at San Diego this year I’d take the quick walk to Subway for a Turkey sandwich rather than dropping ten bucks on something I will regret eating later.

A free SubCulture: the TPB for the first person who can tell me where Arthur’s and Jason’s quotes are from.

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