Doctors and Batmen and Jaynes, Oh My!

(Yep. I used the reference for two posts in a row.  Score!)

Anybody who says geeks don't exercise has never been to a con.

Seriously.  For every scrawny, enthusiastic Spiderman, there's a toned, muscular Master Commander.  For every plump, awesome steampunk lady, there's a flat-bellied Sailor Moon.  Takes all kinds!  Plus, at a con, you walk.  And walk.  And WALK.  Sometimes at high speeds so you can leap into line and then sit.  And then stand up as they scrunch the line together.  And then sit.  And then stand.  And then sit.  It's a WORKOUT.

My sister and I walked 5 miles yesterday at Comic Con.  Her favorite costume was a pretty spiffy Sora from Kingdom Hearts, complete with kick-butt keyblade.  My favorite was...oh, heck.  There were so many!  There was an absolutely GORGEOUS 1960s Penguin in dove grey with the cigarette holder and everything.  A Star Wars tie-fighter pilot in day-glo orange who looked authentic enough I believed he was in on leave.  A Stargate officer in simple but awesome jumpsuit.  There was a group of about 13 girls cosplaying some pseudo-anime I'd never heard of, but it was a huge group and they were downright adorable.  Saw a family of Dr. Whos, another of awesome steampunkers (minus the 8 year-old boy who apparently insisted on being Robin), and a Batman trio wherein the wife was a sexy Poison Ivy, the dad was a beefy Bane, and their four-month-old was in a Batman onesie (adorable but somehow just...wrong...in a funny way).  The best costume moment was probably when we walked into the game demo area and discovered a Master Commando from Halo hanging out on a bench playing a video game with his vizor still on - so essentially a game character playing a game...it was awesome.  The trio of Tetris blocks made me laugh.  We caught a glimpse of a pretty sexy Ash, complete with chainsaw arm and a perfect female Hellboy complete with rock arm.  Jayne hats were everywhere.  The only Firefly character I didn't see was Kaylee.  Because they had two of the Doctors in for the 50th Anniversary, there was one Doctor Who tweed jacket for every four costumes, and quite a few of the girls wore cute blue dresses that suggested Tardis call boxes.  There were even two Daleks (one a giant, engulfing costume and the other a cardboard-fronted baby stroller).  We passed a Batman in super-hero position staring at a wall and an Assassin's Creed assassin in "you don't see me" pose leaning unobtrusively against a column.  As we were leaving, we passed the LARP station where they were having a full-on, knock-down brawl - the general dark clothes of the combatants broken up by the flash of a perfect green Link darting in and out with his sword.

We went to a panel on the Whedonverse, saw a preview of a web show that's filmed here and starting in August (which sadly wasn't very good), then separated so I could see Raphael Sbarge (Jiminy Cricket on Once Upon a Time) and she could go to "History of Video Games."  Then we reconvened for Bruce Campbell.  I checked on the line at 3:15 'cause it was next door to Raphael's room, and though there were a lot of people, it was nowhere near what it was like at 4:05 when I came back.  The line filled up a ballroom, so they directed us upstairs and to the left.  From there, to the end of the hall and to the right...whereupon we discovered the overflow line that just went on and on and on and ON.  When we arrived at the back, we were told it was unlikely we'd get in.  Sad day.  We waited for an hour, during which we heard that speech about three times and a nicely-dressed steampunk lesbian couple casually maneuvered themselves from behind us to six places ahead of us in line like nobody was going to notice.  Or maybe that nobody would object...which we didn't.  'Cause that's not what cons are about.  But it marred an otherwise awesome day.  They weren't very nice, either.  Boo!

Anyway, we did end up getting to see Bruce, which...well, it ROCKED.  HARD.  He started out by saying he didn't have a moderator so three audience members would get to audition by reciting, as close as they could to Michael Westen's voice, the opening monologue of Burn Notice.  First guy did okay.  The girl did pretty darn well.  The third one...of course, the third one turned out to BE Jeffrey Donovan, the actor who played Michael Westen.  Epic.  The whole experience was just EPIC.  Campbell is a quick-witted comedian, and though it wasn't a very personal Q&A, it was fantastically funny.  (At one point, he turned the tables on the audience and said, "Okay, now I'm gonna come down there and ask YOU annoying and personal questions."  He even fake-kiss-dipped one of the middle aged women in the front row.)  I can't say what sort of person he actually is in real life 'cause it was all very theatrical.  I found him a little crass and rough-edged...but that might be his "public front Bruce Campbell character."  Jeffrey Donovan, on the other hand, was a lot more down-to-earth and boy-next-door than I expected.  And then at the very end, Denise Crosby (she played Yar on ST: TNG, the mini-reunion for which was coming up next and to which we sadly didn't have tickets, and guest-starred on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.) showed up and sort of panel-bombed by going all fan-girl on Bruce.  I was hoarse from laughing and going "Wooooo!" by the time it was over.  Yep.  Pretty darn EPIC!

I'm a little bummed we didn't get to see the TNG reunion - I've never seen Marina Sirtis or Jonathan Frakes, and I really wanted to snap a shot of Shatner (who was moderating) to send to my dad today for Father's Day.  But even though we could have bought tickets at the door (I think), we were wiped.  Plus, I would've felt guilty asking my sister to spend more money, since the day was on her.  'Cause she's the bestest sister ever!  She's back again today, manning her company's booth in the video game room.  I'd love to go back just to admire costumes.  We've been told, in no uncertain terms, that next year we are expected to dress up.  So I guess we have a year to make that happen. :)

It's also one of my first major career goals to sit on a panel at this con (and then eventually at the full-on San Diego Comic Con), so going was a fun step. :D

And now we can say we lost our (Comic)con virginity with Jeffrey Donovan (it was his first con, too)!