I figure if Warren Ellis can call Comicon “Nerd Prom” then it’s only fair to call the annual Otakon in Baltimore Nerd Prom East. It’s not 125,000+ in attendance but the announced 26,000+ for this year is nothing to sneeze at either.
As I wrote last year, no matter how little interest you might have in animation or sf/fantasy, the pictures from Otakon and the costumes people put together are simply amazing. If you search for everything on Flickr with the word otakon with a date after Aug 1, 2008 (so you get this year’s shots) you end up with just shy of 6,000 shots. Fire up PicLens – thanks for turning me onto this program, Max! – and rather than spending that hour working like you should have, you can think “wow!” and “I bet that’s heavy,” “why is Jesus there?” and “are you old enough to be walking around in public in your underwear?”
Some of my favorite pics from this year after the jump.
Tifa, courtesy of Clow Wizard Eriol
Rikku in Cloud Outfit (?), courtesy of Clow Wizard Eriol
Agent 47, courtesy of Clow Wizard Eriol
Hey there Wes-I mean, Dread Pirate Roberts
Sue, courtesy of Clow Wizard Eriol
Naaaaah na na na na nah nah na nah nah na na na….
When I first saw this picture I thought the Master Chief was collecting a check…
Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.
check out the comment from the “are you old enough… underwear” girl! :-)
Yeah, isn’t that a hoot Tom? I went and looked at the group linked to and that is the only saucy photo I found in it. All the rest are sweet little pictures of kids. The group description says something about G-rated photos, and I’d qualify that one as giving me PG-kinds of feelings….
Why does it always seem to be hot chicks and weird fat boys that always attend these things? Oh yeah, the chicks like the story line and the boys have sat on the couch all of their lives and played these games/watched these videos.
The funny thing is that neither can nor will talk to each other.
To respond to Tom Aloisi… That is fantastically classic. “I’m looking for a verb…,” “Let’s spin the wheel of adjectives…,” “That’s Phenominal!!!” – Old Cell Phone Commercial.