“Vote for me and I vow there shall be a grand inquisition regarding the contents of Mon Mothma’s email inbox!”
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:
It’s that time of year again! Anne and I spent this weekend at Wizard World Chicago in scenic Rosemont, IL, where we generally had a blast surrounded by fellow fans of comics and genre TV/movies even though parts of it resemble hard work and our feet feel battle-damaged after three days of endless walking, standing, lining up, shuffling forward in cattle-call formation, and scurrying toward exciting people and things.
In this episode: Star Wars cosplay! Always a popular choice, especially now that The Force Awakens gave fans several dozen more characters to choose from, though they’re really only basing costumes on three or four of them at best. Also, we welcome envoys from other science fiction universes who insist there’s more to life than lightsabers and cutesy, merchandisable aliens.
Rey and Artoo recoil at the sight of Palpatine and his entourage, including a Maultrooper and plain white Stormtrooper.
This Ewok, Tusken Raider, and two Mandalorians will be among the first exiles when Palpatine is elected and has an infinite wall built around the entire galaxy.
Friday gave us the largest cosplay battle of the weekend: Jedi vs. Sith and bounty hunters.
A Jedi with double-bladed lightsaber and a Sith with dual evil lightsabers remind Wolverine and Phoenix of the days when they used to traipse around outer space and meet interstellar teams like the Starjammers and the Imperial Guard. So the X-Men are basically sci-fi heroes.
The Star Wars family that cosplays together: Chewbacca, old Han Solo, li’l Rey, and a nearly actual-size Maz Kanata.
An even tinier Rey resents attending the con with the world’s smallest sentient BB-8.
…and that was just the Star Wars side of things. Sci-fi lives on in other universes, but to lesser degrees on the Wizard World Chicago show floor.
The only Star Trek person, place, or thing we caught on camera was this section of the Next Generation bridge. Seated at the helm is…a Bird of Prey? (If you recognize it, Viewers at Home, mind giving us a hint?)
With three legendary actors from Back to the Future on the guest list, it goes without saying we saw a 10,000% increase in Doc Brown and Marty McFly costumes over last year. For our money, this father/son duo won the category.
Mulder and Scully represent on behalf of thousands of fans who turned out for the very special X-Files cast reunion.
Deckard and Pris from Blade Runner, wishing like the rest of us that Harrison Ford would come within 1000 yards of one of these shows someday before the end of the world.
Doctor, Shmoctor — the TARDIS is the show’s one true star!
We end this section with a trilogy of sci-fi comedy hand signals, two of them circling back around to the Star Wars universe:
Pizza the Hutt and a Dink from Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs.
“Matt the Radar Technician”, whose true identity was blown in one of the better SNL skits from last season.
Most excellent time travelers Bill S. Preston, Esq., and Ted “Theodore” Logan are totally WYLD STALLYNZ!
To be continued! Other chapters in this MCC miniseries:
Part 1: Our Jazz Hands Gallery
Part 2: DC Comics Cosplay!
Part 3: Marvel Comics Cosplay!
Part 5: Last Call for Cosplay!
Part 6: Objects of Affection
Part 7: Who We Met and What We Did
