Fruits of PAX

This isn't a full thing, but I thought I should feature some of the better photos from the convention. Might have some kind of synopsis at some point, above and beyond what I blagged during the event; might not. A summary:

1) Tons of people.
2) Loads of fun, by and large.
3) So many TF2 cosplayers.

Gallery: start!

A photo I took with my iPhone, walking towards the convention center. Bit of a crowd, isn't it? There was a scalper, too, trying to buy passes for the sold-out show. He didn't seem to be having much luck.

This woman startled my father to no end. She is in a rather elaborate costume - quite impressive, even if none of us (truthfully) knew exactly what it was - and she is also on a cell phone.

Something about the combination, I suppose.

Two things to note here:

1) On the far left, there is a fellow with glowing red eyes. He's dressed as a headcrab zombie, though you can't really see very well in this photo. Nonetheless, this is wonderful.

(A theme in our photos: Looking around, in the background of photos taken to capture one particular cosplayer, and seeing others lurking to the sides. Most excellent.)

2) See that bag, barely visible on the bottom of the photo?

It is a ubiquibag, and it, too, will be common in this gallery.


Where's Waldo?

That's the question on everyone's lips, but it's safely answered, for the moment. Hooray!

In a better world, this would be composited into a crowd shot for optimum Where's Waldo action; perhaps one of our readers will do this for us? We can only hope.

Master Chief, or one of his fellow Spartans, stands nonchanalantly in queue. (PAX is a place of endless queues.) He is so very nonchalant. Observe his casual pose!

His neighbor, not so.

(Also, note his height. He seriously was that tall. It was impressive. And... realistic? If that's the word.)

Tanuki Suit Mario (if I'm identifying him correctly) makes his appearance, along with his companion, That One Girl* from Super Mario Galaxy. They wandered the show; we ran into them a number of times. Mario frequently sported a detachable moustache. At the time of this photo, it seems to be in its detached state, though it's hard to tell from this angle.

(Also: Ubiquibags! I told you they'd be showing up again. There's two of them here; one with the Nexon side facing us, and the other with the Dungeon Fighter Online side towards the camera. I'd never heard of the aformentioned game before the convention, but within its halls, it was inescapable. Not least because of the Ubiquibags, but not exclusively, either. Strangely, I still have no desire to play it.)

*May not be her actual name. She may not have had one. I'd have to go to Wiki to find out, and that's far too much effort for me to bother.

It's the Prince, demonstrating his new game! Well. His port of several old games,
with updated graphics and remixed music. But that's practically as good!

Also he seems to have acquired a Tekken 6 shirt (very peculiar, that), as well as the company of some random schmuck. Who is that guy standing next to him? Who knows? Probably best to ignore him and move on.

GLADOS makes her proud appearance in this photo, complete with Weighted Companion Cube handbag. You might think it would be difficult to cosplay as someone that looks like this. You'd be right! But with diligence, hard work, and just a little creativity, it can be done.

Other notes: bonus cosplayer on the right (I would assume - no idea what she's supposed to be), and the area in the background, "Bandland", where one could purchase merchandise and/or obtain autographs from various semi-celebrities present. Jonathan Coulton was there, and I saw him briefly; sadly, the line for him was (approximately) six miles long, so I entered into no interaction with him. Shame.

iPhone shot of a group of TF2 cosplayers. (Left to right: Spy, Medic, Sniper, and Scout.) There were, as mentioned, loads of these guys about; we saw at least three of both Scout and Medic. (Ethan claims larger numbers.) I saw examples at least eight different classes - every class except the Demoman - and people cosplaying as both red and blue members of some classes, though blue seemed significantly less common. What I am saying here is: for a $20, 2-year old game with no plot, TF2 gets a heck of a lot of love for its characters.

It's Valve, man. They're magic.

Bonus: See that in the center? Can you identify it? It is... the ubiquibag! Hooray! Taking center stage, as it was always meant to.

Ubiquibag story time: While immediately outside the convention center, waiting for our crepes to cook, we saw a man going past carrying a large package. We have no idea what it was, because it was shielded from the low-grade ambient dampness (this was Seattle, after all) by a pair of Ubiquibags, one on each end, covering it completely. As I observed to Ethan at the time: An item posessing extremely low scarcity will naturally have uses evolved to exhaust the supply. Loads of bandwidth? Stream video! Loads of bags? Use them as shielding!

My phrasing could be better, but I maintain that the principle is sound. High supply impels consumption.

We have no idea what the Butterfly dude was. Saw him a number of times, never figured him out. But two things to note here:

1) The numbers on the fellow's back, labeled "NV-[something]." One might reasonably ask, "What are those?" The answer is that they are numbers for buttons handed out by Nvidia for a sort of competition; the idea being that you should find the person with the number matching yours to win a prize.

This rapidly became an obsession for many people. People went around wandering the halls, calling out their number(s); putting their numbers on signs (like Butterfly-Man); even setting up websites for the purpose. I am informed that there was more than one of these, listing numbers and associated contact information, set up during the three-day run of the event.

Man.

2) Hooray, Blue Engineer! Another cosplayer bonus.

Red Scout says hello! Good costume. We saw, as noted, quite a few of these, including one with an arm in a splint. The splint was captioned "Critical Hit". It seemed appropriate.

Also note, in the background; not a ubiquibag, but a sign for "Dungeon Fighter Online". They really were everywhere.


To round this post off: Draenei woman, seen sitting by the wall for no particular reason, is so very happy. Don't know why! Perhaps no-one else liked her costume.

It is a very nice costume.



Some photos got lost in the warp during upload, and there's still plenty of event stories to tell, so this post may have a sequel. Or it may not. We'll see!

In the meantime: hooray for cosplayers, hooray for ubiquibags.