My whole con outfit: cat dress, Han Solo boots, Tauntaun purse.

My whole con outfit: cat dress, Han Solo boots, Tauntaun purse.

I know this is late in coming, but I’ve been SLAMMED lately. So, a month, later: here’s my write up about Wondercon. For those of you who don’t know about it (which is probably most of my readers: hi family), Wondercon is like a mini Comic Con — ALL about comics. I was worried I wouldn’t have as much fun as I would at a more broader-focused geek convention since I know NADA about comics. You know, besides whatever Hollywood turns into blockbuster movies. But, since I was tagging along with a group of people whom I adore (the Schmoes Know gang) I wasn’t too worried too much.

Turns out, there was NO need to worry at all. I had a fucking BLAST. There’s just something about the energy of geek conventions that’s like a drug for me. I’m never more excitable and happy then I am when I’m with a HUGE grouping of people who are feeling comfortable being excitable and happy about dorky-ass-shit.

Things overheard at Wondercon:

Said, passionately, by one guy to his friend: “I just CAN’T spend my rent money on another light saber.”

Said by one dude to another as they rushed past: “…and his junk was going straight up into his unitard…”

Said by a cosplayer leaving the convention: “I felt like a rock star and then I realized… This is fake.”

That last one makes SO MUCH SENSE if you’re into cosplay. People stopping you to take pics, people getting excited and pointing at you as if you WERE the actual character. I have never cosplayed (yet) but I imagine that would feel awesome. Hell, I got enough attention for wearing my rad “cats in the mews” dress that it made me feel like a bad-ass all day.

So you can imagine my surprise when one of the dudes we were wondering around the con with got stopped by a group of giggling girls. “Oh my god! Can we take a picture with you!?” They squealed. I turned to Tiffany (who had also been stopped a few times, as she used to be a host on the G4 network) and asked, “What’s with that? He’s not even dressed up.” And he laughed and told me, it’s because Keahu is on MTV’s Teen Wolf. He’s actually a celebrity IRL, unlike all the cosplay folks everyone treats like a celebrity for the day.

Speaking of celebrities… there’s this thing at big conventions that I had no idea about until I found myself there by accident after stalking a Power Ranger. I call it “the hall of sadness” where the washed up, the briefly celebrated, and the still-celebrated-but-too-old-to-be-aware-of-their-surroundings actors hang out and sometimes give autographs. Like I said, we followed the Blue Power Ranger to this area in order to finish an interview. As I walked further down the hall of sandess, I was shouted at my a voice actor who said “Hey!” while he waved his arms frantically. I waved back, thinking that would be the end of that. To which he responded, “I’m a voice actor!” To which I responded, “that must be a really fun job!” I didn’t really hear what else he said after he begged me to come talk to him and I kept walked getting further into the sadness.

I thought the worst of it was seeing the Soup Nazi with spoons for sale that he would then sign. But then I saw some older woman who I didn’t recognize from some tv sitcom from the late ’70s that I’d vaguely heard of. She was all by herself, no manager, no friends, and certainly no “fans” to talk to. But it wasn’t until I saw Peter Mayhew being wheeled into place behind a booth table that my soul was sufficiently crushed by the hall of sadness. Peter Mayhew does NOT look long for this world people. Too big to support the weight of himself, he now has to be wheeled around and needs help giving autographs. Oh Chewbacca, it’s sad to see you like this.

But I also had more uplifting run-ins! I saw my favorite ladies from The Defective Geeks — Giselle and Dianne. (Dianne had sadly already changed out of her epic Batgirl costume.) I even ran into a very old friend I hadn’t seen for a long time.

Anyway, if you’d like to see video from the day check out the Schmoes Know recap. I’m in for seconds at a time: