San Diego ComicCon 2015

Let’s plunge into the world of imagination.  Everything in ComicCon comes from people sitting and dreaming about what could be:  spaceships, talking kittens, killer robots, zombies, ten-story gorillas, warlocks, battle pigs, fairies.  Entering this world as Ellie and Joel, my two favorite video game characters from The Last of Us, allowed me to role play as a hard survivor in a dangerous world.  And once we got to ComicCon this year there was plenty of danger.  But first, the trolley ride.  It’s fun to blend in with the other filthy and scruffy people on public transit!

 

 

At this station I really wanted us to pose walking down the tunnel but nobody was around to take our picture.  And, you know, getting HIT BY A TRAIN and all that.  So CH played with her flashlight instead.

 

She also did what I think Ellie would have done with spare time and a functioning electronic device:  played a video game.

 

Once we got to ComicCon we were met with larger-than-life characters.

 

Some were threatening, others not as much.  Everyone showed an incredible amount of commitment to their costumes.

 

 

On the main floor it was like Vegas.  Lots of neon, bacon, and half-naked women or…half-women.  And we found Waldo!

 

 

 

There’s a long blurry section of photos by CH where she had control of the camera, which was interesting to see what she chose as subjects, and it accurately portrays the camera angle and constant movement of a little kid.

But let’s skip to our encounter with a clicker.  We were sitting on the floor eating a hot dog, like a pair of rats, when I saw a familiar character stumble past.  A clicker, a blind fungus-headed baddie from the Last of Us!  I jumped up so we could get some pictures of us attacking him with bottles and bricks.  I know the first is a little blurry but if that guy was coming at you fast, you might fumble with your camera too.

 

 

But it wasn’t all zombie-bashing and surviving.  We managed to find the Vamplets stand, a four-year tradition for CH.  Of course she got herself another for her collection.  I think Ellie would like this little monster too.

 

I found Rapunzel, who agreed to not bash my skull in with her frying pan.

We were stopped many times for pictures, including by this artist who showed us how big a fan he was.

I got lots of high fives, lots of calls of “Hey Joel!”, and CH was the star as Ellie.  Ultimately it was time to go home, though I didn’t know exactly what time it was.

 

CH thought about what we might dress up as next year.  I can’t wait–this is a father/daughter tradition I’d like to keep going.  On the trolley home I was told by the mother of a family of teens who recognized our costumes that I should get “father of the year” award.  I’ll settle for getting to do this again with my daughter.