GrantB.net

Topics may include programming, classic console games, comic books, kung fu flicks, spaghetti westerns, or giant cartoon robots.
Grant Birchmeier is from West Michigan but currently lives in Chicagoland.

My First Comic Convention

A couple weekends ago I went to Wizard World Chicago. I've never been to a comic convention before, but I figured why not? Though I am a comic book reader, I didn't really care about any of the guests (mostly comic creators, wrestlers, and B-list or has-been actors), but what else was I doing on a Saturday morning? So I made the trek out to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.

And I have to say, it was fun. Lots of dealers, lots of stuff, lots of people in good and not-so-good costume. I was happy to find that the mythical phenomenon of fanboy-BO was not true at all; in fact, I did not catch a single whiff of body funk the whole day. (I hear that it's in full effect at another con, however.) I walked out of there with a backpack full of books and comics bought all on the cheap, though I guess the discount is greatly lessened when I factor in the ticket and parking costs.

I don't have any cool stories, so I'll just move on to the most interesting part: pictures of people in costumes! Yes, if you want to see elves, Imperial Stormtroopers, and chubby Ghostbusters all under one roof, you need to go to a comic convention.

Pika!

You know you want to see more.

So Pikachu here probably is not a fan, but a paid promotional something or other. I don't know. But it was bizarre to turn around and whoa! There he was.

The rest of these are all thumbnail-ized. You know how it works. Not familiar with some of these characters? Try Wikipedia.

Oh, and I apologize for the blurriness of some of these photos. It wasn't until halfway through the day that I realized I didn't have the auto-stabilize thing turned on in my camera. Yeah, I suck.



Superheroes

In order,

  • quilted (?) Iron Man
  • Red Power Ranger, Michael Myers, and Nightwing
  • Power Girl
  • Superman has let himself go a little
  • black Thor and quilted Iron Man on the escalator
  • the Joker (I thought this was pretty well done and not unnecessarily elaborate)

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Don't forget the Justice League!
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Oh wait, now they're ready:
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Did I say that Superman let himself go? Here I think he just gave up....



Star Wars

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Who you gonna call?

Honestly, their proton packs looked pretty neat. I wish I'd gotten a close-up.

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Two Jack Sparrows

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Stars

Notable celebs that I didn't see but who were there that day: Kevin Smith, Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars"),Thomas Jane ("The Punisher"), Dirk Benedict (Face from "The A-Team"). Also some wrestlers that I don't care about.

Here's who I did get...

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Other photos

In order,

  • I think this guy's a Cylon from the new Battlestar Galactica
  • don't know
  • Indiana Jones
  • don't know but he sure looks goofy
  • Vega from one of my favorite video games, Street Fighter 2

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Sweet Bumblebee costume

This Bumblebee costume (from the Transformers) rocks. Unfortunately I did not see it in action. When I saw it, a guy was putting it on a rack. Regardless, I wanted to get a picture of it.

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Overhead pictures

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The End.

Next:

2006-09-21 7:06pm A Brain-Teaser For You

Previous:

2006-08-09 5:45pm Joe Lieberman, you arrogant jackass.
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