When Fans Attack!

It had been years since I'd been to a sci-fi convention, so I jumped at the chance this weekend to indulge my inner geek at the Toronto Fan Expo. Man, a Lord of the Rings musical and a sci-fi convention in the same week? I suppose my geek isn't all that inner these days. Anyway, things have changed, with Star Trek and Star Wars taking a back seat to all thing anime.




Star Wars wasn't shut out entirely - we found Ham Solo here carrying the torch for Lucas and Co., but he was more of an exception than a rule. As for Trek, I saw but one Federation uniform and but a single Kilingon. What is wrong with kids these days?













The rest of Star Wars fanboys had their dreams crushed when, after lining up for hours for an overpriced autograph, they discoved that Carrie Fisher looks more like their mother than the Princess-Leia-on-the-barge fantasies they had been nursing for years.







Of course there were some other changes. It seems that quite a few women actually attend. I don't mean to engage in gender sterotypes, but well, ya know...










But it wasn't just about babes with swords and wings. The Pillow Fight League uses, you guessed it, pillows. The rules are as such:
1. Women Fighters Only. No Exceptions.
2. Fights have a five minute time limit and are won via pinfall, surrender, or referee stoppage. If a fight ends at the time limit with no winner, a winner is declared by a three-judge committee.
3. Punching, leg drops, clotheslines, submission holds, and other moves are allowed as long as a pillow is used to execute the attack.
4. No eye-gouging, biting, scratching, hair pulling, or low blows.
5. No rude, lewd, or suggestive behavior.
6. Loading a pillow with a foreign object such as a brick is strictly forbidden.




So how much do you think Vernon 'Mini-Me' Troyer is hating his life at that moment?

Check out the rest of my pics over at Flickr.