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| The Comic-Con Masquerade |
You know how for years you keep hearing Comic-Con described (not without a hint of derision or perhaps self-loathing) as "nerd prom"or "geek vegas", so you finally move from the other side of the world just to see what it's really like? No? Anyway, I come into my first Masquerade late. The hall is packed, and the audience is cheering wildly. I look up at the huge stage and see a lone cosplayer, dwarfed by the two massive television monitors that flank him. He's lip-synching to the cheerful Mighty Mouse theme song booming from speakers scattered throughout the room. The cosplayer looks hilarious dressed in mock Mickey Mouse ears, nose, and whiskers, bright red and yellow spandex, with a puffed-up chest. And he exudes a clumsy, geeky charm, as he acts as if he barely remembers the lyrics. The crowd can't get enough of him. Some are even singing along. The energy is truly amazing. Far more intense than any costly event I've ever attended. As the performance ends, they spontaneously erupt into "MOUSE! MOUSE! MOUSE! MOUSE!" That's probably when it really hit me that I had finally made it to Comic-Con.
Pt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
