I dunno if I've mentioned often enough on this blog that I'm an X-Phile ever since Season One (and a 'Shipper to boot). I know I've shared various trips to the Orlando MegaCon events, although I mentioned in 2024 that I might stop going - too fatiguing, too much walking, going solo too often, etc. - unless they had a celebrity I needed to see.
I even spent the extra money - something I've never done before - to get a Photo Op with Gillian Anderson during the event.
So I purchased the tickets, saved the moneys, planned out a cosplay (not a Jedi this year), left early to avoid the I-4 traffic woes and avoid the parking hassles, and made it to Saturday's con. Below are the videos and photos I've taken during the visit.
This is at the end of the line... for the ticket pickup! Yes, that's how much queueing goes on at comicons! And yes, I shaved the beard for this one.
If you can tell by this photo, this year I went as an FBI agent with an X-Files theme. The X pin, the alien tie (got some compliments for that), freshly polished dress shoes (Dockers), and a sweat-inducing trench coat. /sigh
This is the line after the line of getting your hall pass and before the line of getting into the vendor floor where there will be more lines at each table getting tangled up in the foot traffic lines that crisscross the floor. This is why comicons need traffic lights at major intersections!
OMG It's my boy R2-D2, rolling at the MegaCon like a Boss as always! Chirping away at the cute cosplayers, no doubt...
Right before Gillian's Q&A they had one set for ST:TNG's Gates McFadden and Jonathan Frakes, and they brought a friend as a surprise guest!
I admit when I'm taking photos I seem to be leaning too far to the right. I blame trump.
Data!
Dr. Crusher!
This guy!
I left the TNG event to get in line for Gillian's Q&A - they will not let you remain in the room between events, alas - and when I got there the line was longer than the one for McFadden/Frakes/Spiner.
I couldn't wear that trench coat ALL the time...
SCULLY!!!
I sat over to the left of the room to see if my right-tilt photography evened out. I think it did.
This one is where she's enjoying a reveal from one of the fans doing the Q&A who turned out had worked on an official LEGO set for the X-Files that's due for release this year. OMFG. Now I know what I'm buying myself for my birthday...!
Just to give you an idea of the crowd by early afternoon. MegaCon gets big enough to be its own city on Saturdays, its busiest day.
If the lines for getting into the Q&As were bad, the lines for the Photo Ops were longer (and slightly more stressful)
This was the second queue getting in for the photo!
Part of me wonders if it's okay to share the Photo Op I had with Ms. Anderson. I'll leave it to the nine or ten people who follow this blog, add a comment here or skeet me at Bluesky!
There was one other moment of queueing up, this time in the Autograph line to see if I could drop off a gift (a printed copy of my X-Files fanfiction: I can't sell it but I ought to be able to gift it). But the line for that was still pretty long, and by that point in the day my legs were about to quit on me. I checked this step-tracking app on my phone and it told me by that time of the con I've already walked 4.2 miles (!). And I knew there were still more spots at the con I needed to visit. So I passed on the moment and stumbled off to a corner to sit and rest for an hour.
Once I got some strength back, I tried to circle about Artists Alley on the main floor, looking for some of the usual suspects that I follow for art, comics, science fiction writing, and so on, but I was so zoned out with my knees twitching a little too much to where I only recognized Amanda Conner's booth, where I bought a poster of her work on the DCU Starfire series a few years back.
After that, I staggered off to the commuter bus service back to the parking lots (this time I remembered the color), and then drove out around 5:00pm in search of a local Italian place my sister-in-law recommended (she grew up in Orlando, even worked at Sea World as a teen), which I got to by 6:00pm (yes, Florida traffic remains bad).
Oh, the step-tracker's final tally on the day: 5.6 miles of walking. Ow ow ow ow...
As far as con visits went this trip wasn't as overwhelming, although I wasn't forcing myself to try and see too much of it. Again, going solo isn't a lot of fun - it was nice to chat with other X-Philes and GA fans, although I regret not calling out to see if any OBSSE people were there - so if I go again I need to find a girlfriend dammit. Anyone out there in central Florida in her 40s-50s who's into DC Comics, most science fiction, some fantasy, and pro sports? Anyone...?
We really shouldn't be comic-conning any time soon, so a brief look back at all the comic-conning I did:
May R2D2 always be your wing man!
I wish I had gotten cleaner pictures of Carrie Fisher when I had the chance :(
One thing happening is the Disney-Plus streaming service is releasing Rise of Skywalker today, and promoting the hell out of #MayThe4thBeWithYou on social media, which is a reminder for me to someday go back and review both it and The Last Jedi, which is tricky because yes I do have problems with those movies and I have to come to terms with that.
In the meantime, don't let the Sith get you down.
FINISH HIM!!!
Stay safe. It's what Baby Yoda would want you to do.
Okay, I know there's a ton of spinoffs out there and there's no way the story will end here...
But this is the official Canon series, the one Lucas envisioned when he first drew up his outlines for a possible Flash Gordon reboot he wanted to film.
I started this when I was seven years old. I'm 49 now, but I don't want this part of my childhood to go away...
Who will be there with me when this happens, at long last...?
By 1999 I was in my fifth year working at Broward North Regional Library. One year away from turning thirty. In some respects I still hadn't grown up, my mentality was still feeling like I was in college, was still goofing off... but in terms of being into comic books - weekly trips to the comic book stores on University Avenue - and video gaming - getting into the Myst series - and geekery - totally dedicated to my X-Files fandom - and all that jazz.
By 1999 I was totally waiting for the return of a major piece of my childhood geekdom.
Star Wars was going to come out with a prequel film series. Episode One. The Phantom Menace.
See, back in 1983 we had known George Lucas wanted to tell a generation-spanning science fiction series, which started with Star Wars itself in 1977. When he planned it out, however, he realized he needed to tell the early history of how the Empire rose and the Old Republic fell, so he retconned the original into Episode IV and broke the series down into three parts of trilogies: the Original Series - IV then V then VI - then the prequels - I II and III - before completing the whole thing with Episodes VII VIII and IX.
Problem was, after all the hassles Lucas had getting Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi made, he got tired of it and held off making the rest of the series. As a result... the fanbase for Star Wars kind of withered on the vine, keeping up with the occasional book series and spinoffs like cartoon shows and video games (X-Wing series in particular was an industry-changing trendsetter).
Until advancements in visual effects in the early 1990s seemed to change Lucas' mind. The near-real quality of computer graphic effects (CGI) that made Terminators into liquid metal and dinosaurs look really alive seemed to convince him he could make the movies fit the vision he had for the series: a lush, David Lean-esque galaxy of marvelous vistas and epic scales.
After updating the Original series with revamped visual effects and adding deleted scenes - some successful, some not (HAN SHOT FIRST!) - in 1997, Lucas made the announcement that he was ready to make his prequels, the epic telling of the Fall of The Republic through the rise of Anakin Skywalker, the father of Luke and Leia and fated to become Darth Vader Lord of the Sith.
The Star Wars fanbase, geeked up by the Special Editions, went crazy.
A lot of us who were kids when the Original trilogy came out were now adults, some of us parents, all of us still nostalgic for the toys and gameplay and costuming of our youth. All of a sudden, a lot of twenty- and thirty-somethings were breaking out lightsabers and Jedi robes and building droid units to play with.
And we were all doing this now in the era of the Internet. Before, geeks had to keep up with fanzines and newsletters. By 1997, we had Usenet forums and AOL chats and emails and early stages of photo/video sharing (was MySpace up yet?). Everyone was plugged in.
It felt like the geek universe had quadrupled into itself. Science Fiction and fantasy fandom had been kept alive through Star Trek and the early stirrings of newer shows - X-Files already mentioned, also Babylon 5 and dozens more - but Star Wars was the Big One. The Blockbuster. EVERYONE knew what it meant.
The anticipation for the first episode was high when Lucas announced the title and previewed the first trailer:
Before YouTube, people had to see these trailers in the movie theaters. People bought tickets to see the newest movie release that weekend and then left the movie.
People were a little underwhelmed by the title - The Phantom Menace - but were jazzed by seeing the clips. Mass speculation abounded. The new villain - Darth Maul - was deemed impressively scary-looking and became a sought-after action figure. Toy stores stocked like mad.
Someone carved out a website called CountingDown dot com (the link has aged out) where all it was had a timer ticking down by minute, hour and day until the official release in theaters.
People camped out weeks ahead of the release, dressed up. They bought the books. They bought the music CDs - it was JohnWilliams doing Star Wars, shut up! - and "Duel of the Fates" was on heavy rotation on a lot of players.
And then the movie came out.
...
Well, it was pretty to look at...
Okay, I'll step back a little. NO movie, not even a Star Wars, could live up to the anticipation and hype that this one got. And when I left my first viewing of the movie - with my library co-workers - I had few complaints. I even went back several times to view it, having promised to see it with my high school friends back in Pinellas County. I can remember their youngest boys, about four or five years old, were entirely pumped during the Jedi duels and were out of their seats hopping up and down. I was spiritually with them on that: the lightsaber duels were the highlight of the film.
But it was a few months later that the dread settled in, the worrying realization that Menace was... off. It wasn't as much fun as the Original series as I remembered.
I found myself doing the worst thing a fan does: Nitpick.
I focused on the one thing most critics of the Prequel pick on: the character of Jar-Jar Binks. A clear attempt by Lucas to create a kid-friendly sidekick alien for the Jedi main leads, who nonetheless acted / behaved too clumsily and awkward to be believable as someone who could have survived on his own without tripping over his own shoelaces (if he had any). I read other people's criticisms of the character, where they pointed to how Jar-Jar was a callback to early film blackface, a caricature of minstrel shows, and I cringed at the realizations. I know the actor Amhed Best did what he could to make Jar-Jar likable, but it all boiled down to whatever the hell Lucas was thinking when he made Jar-Jar to be slapstick comic relief. In the Original trilogy, Lucas had comic characters like R2-D2 and C3PO, but he made them with a little more care and character, more than the flat, one-note character that Jar-Jar turned out to be.
Alongside the Jar-Jar problem, Lucas had made the other new alien races - the Trade Federation, and Watto, Anakin's slave owner - into painfully clear stereotypes as well. The up-front bad guys of the Prequels, the Trade Federation talked and dressed in Oriental, almost Japanese fashion. And Watto... ouch. An almost Elizabethan caricature of the Jewish figure in British theater.
I also wasn't too wowed by the poor kid they got to play young Anakin. He looked to be five years younger than Natalie Portman - whose character Princess Amidala was getting set up as Anakin's future lover/wife - and he behaved ten years younger than he should have. I can't even remember his name right now - had to check IMDB, it was Jake Lloyd - but I heard years later the poor kid went through a lot of abuse from fans who hated him for Anakin. I didn't blame the actors - not Amhed, not Jake - but for how their characters were written/created. It was like Lucas didn't know what he was doing drawing them up from his plot ideas.
The final thing that finally got me upset was trying to reconcile my understanding of the Jedi faith in the Force with the prequel revelation of bacterial midichlorians that turned out to be a symbiotic lifeform that gave the Jedi (and the Sith) their links to mystical powers. I got the feeling Lucas was responding to criticisms of not grounding the Force upon any scientific rationale, so he went with "superpowered bacteria" as an excuse rather than a character's innate ability to connect from the Force and learn/live from it. It felt clunky, like a last-minute excuse, and noticeably a lot of post-Prequel stories avoid going into any further detail.
By the end of 1999, I felt regret and maybe some shame from having like Phantom Menace. I realized I got more out of The Matrix film that year, along with enjoying other big movies that surprisingly made it one of the better years in film history.
I think what really bummed me was when I came across a fan-made retelling of the movie called The Phantom Edit. At the time an anonymous creation - later identified as a film editor (Mike Nichols) and named on the Wiki page - the film cut out a lot of the slapstick, redid Jar-Jar's and other Gungan dialog as alien speak to make them sound more like a Proud Warrior race, dropped the midichlorian subplot, edited in deleted scenes to make the plot more sensible, and essentially tightened the film with crisper cutscenes. It essentially made me realize what had been wrong with Episode I... and it haunted me all through the following movies Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
It made me realize an unconstrained George Lucas was a danger to his own visionary work.
When I looked back at Episodes IV through VI, Lucas was under creative limits: He answered to other Producers - in particular Gary Kurtz - and had other people working on his scripts - Lawrence Kasdan in particular. He had others direct Empire and Return. When I looked at Episodes I through III, Lucas had no co-creators (there may have been a Producer Rick McCallum, and there was a co-screenwriter for Clones in Jonathan Hales, but Lucas was clearly in control).
Granted, an artist has a right to create as he or she sees fit. A poem can't be made by committee, a sculpture never looks good if there's twenty different people carving out the marble twenty different ways.
But sometimes, there has to be some kind of input and feedback. Someone standing off to the side saying "Okay, why is this speech about sand so romantic, George? Why is Obi-Wan's facial expression so flat in this scene, can't Ewen emote just a little for the fans to see the whimsy that Alec Guinness provided? Is there any way to make it feasible to have these characters NOT be so racist...?"
I think without that kind of feedback, without some kind of editorial control, George indulged in ALL his ideas and didn't weed them down to the good ones, the ones that made the Original trilogy so good. He made serious efforts to create good films, and in hindsight the pictures themselves are on a grand, epic scale and impressive to see. He didn't underplay the political drama that made the Originals genuinely subversive tracts for their era (yes, I got the politics of how the Republic fell). He did make a few memorable new characters among the handful that were one-note and perfunctory (although Jango Fett, Boba's father, was a bit of a disappointment. Good actor, but underdeveloped).
But Lucas was terrible at writing romance. The scenes between Anakin and Amidala were awkward at best. Portman is a good actress and the older Anakin played by Hayden Christensen was suitably imposing and yearning, but the romantic plot was just... who talked like that? I know I have no social skills, but half the dialog between them had little emotional impact, and yet they hooked up anyway. Bleh.
If Lucas just had someone who had a better ear for dialog, for building up character relationships, the key element of the prequels - how Anakin fell in love and betrayed everything good in the process, becoming the haunted man-machine Vader - would have gone over a lot better, and I'd be able to rewatch them the way I rewatch the Originals.
I know it sounds very nitpicky, but I'm a writer meself. I've dabbled in the craft. And my best work that got published by others had gone through a tough editorial process with other eyes critiquing me. It didn't curb my output or my artistic intentions: It sometimes made me a better writer. It created better-received stories.
So when the Final Trilogy was announced, after Disney had bought up Lucasfilm rights and reset the franchise (clearing out some popular novelizations but also a lot of chaff), I was very much relieved to find out that Lucas ceded most of the creative control this time to other writers and directors (much like he did with the Originals). I'm sure he still had input and some creative control, but the films were going to have other hands and as long as the fun was there.
And yes, I loved The Force Awakens and yes I liked The Last Jedi (oh Good God, the incel hate towards that movie, I will never understand).
We'll just see how Episode IX wraps this saga up. Hopefully as true to Lucas' vision as possible... with better dialog dammit... (ow stop Force Choking me, George)
Okay, I kid. Only 99 percent of the Dothraki and maybe half the Unsullied and about 20 percent of the Wildlings and about 85 percent of everybody's vision because if your flat-screen TV wasn't set to the highest Brightness setting you couldn't see a DAMN thing.
As I figured, Beric and Theon were toast. Lost Edd, likely the final Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (since the Wall is gone and the White Walkers are dead). I didn't want Lady Lyanna Mormont to die (NOOOOO) but at least she killed a giant wight before she passed on. Her cousin Jorah Mormont was marked for doom as the perpetual Friendzoned bodyguard of his Khaleesi, but I had hoped he'd survive... nope. But he went out defending his queen and Daenerys really really felt bad about it so there's that. Almost lost Sandor but Beric slapped some sense into him before he bit the ballista. Completely forgot about the Red Woman Melisandre but she showed up at the last minute and used her firebending to defend the castle before quitting this world like a boss.
Every other major and secondary character survived, which means they're now faced with the priorities of taking on a well-rested and fully-powered Cersei at King's Landing. But they can all thank one character for finishing up this part of the epic storyline by wiping out the zombie apocalypse.
Yay Arya.
Sheesh. You'd think she'd won a Super Bowl or something.
Well, okay, so a lot of people were really impressed that she...
Okay, so everyone's completely freaking out over Arya...
So with the final season of Game of Thrones about to enter its biggest moment - the long-awaiting BIG BATTLE BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD - is there any thought towards who lives and who dies?
I've seen the Twitter explode over a major television episode before, but not like this where the fandom was seemingly "OMG How could they do this?" And one of the tweets caught my eye: someone arguing that Robb Stark - one of the key victims of the massacre - was meant to be the hero of the story, the avenger of his fallen father, etc.
But the thing is if you pay attention to any of the High Fantasy tropes, even when Deconstructed, you might notice that Robb Stark was never meant to be the hero of the story...
Mixed into all this is The Hero's Journey, the Jungian/Campbellian method of storytelling that lends itself best to High Fantasy (and pulp fantasy) literature. In most respects, Robb doesn't fit the cycle at all: his call to adventure is more an act of vengeance against the family that betrayed his. While it falls into the narrative of Seeking Justice (SEE the legend/myth of Horus), Robb is not out for any Enlightenment nor is he setting the natural balance of the world back in place (i.e., the return of the Rightful, Once-Promised King). In some respects he doesn't fulfill the Prophecy...
The obvious choice of being the Hero is Daenerys Targaryen. A bit of a gender flip but she qualifies: the prophecy of the Prince Who Was Promised fits her (birth under the right stars, her childhood, her travels, her proving her mystical dragon power). As the last known member of her royal family, it's her throne by blood-right. She's undergone various journeys of self-discovery (the Hero's Journey) that has unlocked more magick to her, has suffered setbacks but survived.
By sheer volume of POV chapters, Tyrion Lannister (also the most popular character yet) could by that designation be the most likely candidate of being the Hero. The unliked and unloved member of a powerful, corrupt family, the one member with any recognizable decency as a human being, quick with words, adept at politics, victimized not by his actions but by a world that can't handle a dwarf as lord or hero... It would again be a twist on the concept of Hero (you were perhaps expecting someone 6'4" with broad shoulders, a gleaming sword and amusing comedic sidekick?) to have him end up surviving the whole mess and uniting the kingdoms under a peaceful rule.
Another candidate is Jon Snow, bastard son (as generally believed) of the Fallen Good Father figure of Eddard Stark. Treated coolly by his adoptive mother Catelyn, Jon is nonetheless on great terms with the Stark family. Jon accepts a Call to Adventure by volunteering to do his service as Night Watch on the Wall (a key stronghold against wildlings and the zombie-like Others), and undergoes many unnerving quests and tests of character. It was Jon who insisted on the children adopting a set of orphaned direwolves (mystic animal guardians associated to the Stark crest). With Robb as the decoy hero now fallen, Jon now fits the bill as the heroic heir of House Stark. Given no one really knows who his mother is, that Eddard refused to reveal the secret, that Eddard was present at his sister's mysterious death, said sister having been abducted/raped(?) by the Targaryen heir... there's a very reasonable fan theory that Jon may be the Prince Who Was Promised. (Note: there is a slight problem with this as Jon is getting stabbed to death at the end of the latest novel. He could, of course, survive the ordeal... something a Hero does in the Campbellian cycle)... (Follow-Up Note: In the TV show he *did* get better).
I've listed those as the three likeliest survivors to win the Iron Throne, and so far they haven't let me down. Given how they're likely to survive to the series finale, I'd give Dany, Jon and Tyrion a pass on the Dead Pool list.
However:
That leaves about eight to twenty fan favorites to worry about.
Let's focus Starks first:
Sansa? Had turned from airhead princess into cold-hard Queen of the North. She's endured things, man. I doubt a Night King can put her down now. Either her, Arya or Dany will put an end to Cersei (who will survive because HER fate is the series finale).
Arya? She's gone from tomboy to sellsword to faceless assassin able to kill any man up close (Needle!) or far away (throwing knives and arrows!). She got it on with her childhood crush Gendry. She's done everything but finish her list of enemies... and that means Cersei better hide...
Bran? He's gone from crippled thing to warging seer to the Three-Eyed Raven. In some ways, he's already dead to the world, so dying in a final confrontation with the Night King (who seems to want Bran deader than dead) wouldn't be much of a shock. But he has achieved Gifts and powers beyond the known, and may be fated to live/die another way...
Theon? Not really a Stark and indeed caused much of their earlier misery when he betrayed them to gain favor with a House (Greyjoy) that abandoned him. But he suffered immensely for his folly and found some redemption saving Sansa and then his own sister. He's offered to defend Bran personally as they wait in the trap being set for the Night King. Theon's probably toast.
Samwise uh Samwell Tarly? The bookworm. Jon's bumbling sidekick who turns out to be the truest friend. A Secret Finder. The first one who actually killed a Walker and found out it's dragonglass that could work. He's still not really a good fighter, but he's brave enough to stand when it matters. He kind of needs to live because he has a destiny to confront a corrupt Maester citadel that refuses to save the world.
Gilly? Samwell's wildling girlfriend. She's raising a sister-daughter (raped by her own father, that's how effed up this world is) but smarter and braver than most other characters. Stuff her into a fridge and they will riot in the bars. So I think she lives.
Lyanna Mormont? She's ten. She's dead serious about defending the North and standing with the Starks through thick and thin. She may be a bigger ass-kicker than Arya. In the name of the Old Gods and the New, don't kill her.
Ghost? Jon's Direwolf, one of the last to survive (Arya's Nymeria is the other). He's too cool to die. He's gonna put in a good kill before the series ends.
The other Heroes of Westeros:
Gendry? He's not a true warrior - he's more the smithy - and he's done something - sex with his One True Pairing Arya - that usually condemns a minor hero to a tragic death. But he's a bastard son of Eddard Stark's oldest friend, the one honest character among the heroes, a figure of the Common Man who may yet achieve better things for a future world. Also, if he dies Arya might break the Fourth Wall and kill the show's producers. So he might survive...
Tormund? Leader of the Wildlings, ardent and unwanted suitor of Brienne, fearless warrior of the cold. Armed with dragonglass, he could prove worthy and survive. But a strong hero has to fall in this battle to make it meaningful, and he's a likely target to do so.
Edd? Last Commander of the Night's Watch. Sarcastic ally to Jon. He might die like Tormund to highlight how deadly this battle will get. But he's been a survivor of other major battles and may yet survive this one.
Beric? Leader of the Brotherhood without Banners, a True Believer in the Lord of Light who's been dead and risen more times than I've had hot dinners. He possesses a wight-ready weapon of a flaming sword and may be difficult to put down in a fight... but if the Night King kills him and resurrects him as a White Walker that would be an ironic fate.
Davos? He's no fighter, he'll tell you as much when you ask. He's arguably the sanest man in the Seven Kingdoms who gives counsel probably better than Tyrion could. He's completed several journeys following one banner (Stannis) and another (Jon). Lost a son to war and gained a spiritual one in Gendry. Lost an adopted daughter to madness (Shireen) and may yet rescue a child of the North when (not if) the Crypts they're hiding in turn into death traps. He deserves to survive to see a better world, but he could die to make the day more tragic.
The Lannisters and their allies at Winterfell:
I mentioned Tyrion earlier as a likely survivor - he has one final problem (his lying sister) to confront - so that's moot.
Jaime? He started off as the Kingslayer, a betrayer, someone who tried to kill Bran (crippling him), fought against the Starks, had incestuous relations with his sister Cersei that doomed much of the kingdom to the Hell they're about to face... but has also gone through a Redemption Arc of trying to do the right thing that made him more heroic than other villains could be. Honestly brave, even with one hand gone a good fighter for the battle to come, he will play a key role this episode... but will he survive? He's completed much of his redemption - turning against Cersei at last, confessing his sins to Bran the one he hurt the most, knighted his redeemer Brienne - but has one last part to complete: confronting his love and betraying the one he should have betrayed long ago...
The Hound (Sandor)? He has a terrible fear of fire that could make him useless in a fight - especially if Beric turns and wields his firesword against Sandor. Thing is, Sandor's got one fight left in him. CLEGANEBOWL. “What they did to you doesn’t matter. It’s not how it ends for you, brother. You know who’s coming for you. You’ve always known.” Two men enter...
Podrick? Faithful squire, Sex God among men, worst fighter on the battlefield. But he's the sweetest, purest Lannister ally in the game. They can't kill him... They shouldn't...
Brienne? A woman warrior in a world that frowned against her role, her arc has been to prove herself a Knight and Die (Live?) for a cause greater than herself. She loved the one man who showed any kindness (Renly, an early casualty of the Game) and may be in love with the only man who showed any respect (Jaime). The previous episode gave her what she desired most: actual knighthood, given by Jaime as the noblest act he's ever done (and she knows it). In every respects... she's doomed. Prime candidate of the Hero(ine) the fans love most whose death will break a million viewers' hearts. As long as it's a good death... Actually, I kid. She's gonna survive, marry Jaime, and have like seven daughters who grow up as the next Kingsguard.
Bronn? He's not showing up yet, so he's good until he has to show up to either betray his best friend Tyrion, his best boss Jaime, or his financial backer Cersei...
Daeneyrs' army and followers:
Khaleesi and her dragon will survive, but the rest are in trouble...
Jorah? A Mormont who betrayed his family name, who then betrayed a woman Khaleesi he came to worship (even love). Patron Saint of the Friendzone. He's come to terms with the fact she will never love him, and found out his own father Jeor (who served as Jon's Lord Commander on the Night's Watch) passed on his legacy to Jon. He's survived greyscale and more Suicide-By-Sellsword attempts than any man alive. He's got nothing to live for and every reason to die a martyr (likely saving Dany from a cold death). So of course he's gonna live.
Missandei? A freed slave who's become Dany's closest confidant and friend. A witness to history and potential speaker for it. She kinda has to live but she's in a relationship that can doom characters like her...
Greyworm? Leader of Khaleesi's Unsullied army, the best and most tight-knit unit on the battlefield (think US Marines). While much of that army can fall, he's the one with the name and face-time for fans to root for. He may be gelded but he's still a man, in love with Missandei. Um, yeah. That could kill them both.
Dany's Dragons? Drogon is hers, named for her lost first husband (and genuine love). Rhaegar is Jon's... so he might die because Jon is more of a Wolf (Ghost!). Viserion (named for her evil older brother who died Season 1) is already an Ice Dragon under thrall to the Knight King. He'll die in a one-on-one version Drogon...
But in particular the Knight King. He lives, his army grows. He dies, the entire army dies with him. Thing is, while Cersei is a major villain she's just a flea compared to the dire threat the Knight King presents. Killing *him* too early makes the remaining episodes seem anticlimactic. There's a possibility the Knight King loses the battle of Winterfell... but survives somehow to remain a final threat to our heroes when the final battle commences in King's Landing.
This summer is coming up faster than expected, and in some ways I'm not ready for some of the films that are due to break loose starting next week:
I mean, YES on Avengers: Endgame and YES on Godzilla: Gonna Slap Me a Ghidorah and YES on Spider-Man: I Got Better. I might actually go see MiB if only because Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson were fantastic as teammates in Thor: Immigrant Song. But the rest? For some reason, not really pumped about John Wick again even though I loved the first and liked the second (I worry about serial escalation making it more absurd than it should be). I don't agree with Disney live-action remakes of their animated movies, never understood the appeal. Lost interest in Fast & Furious when it turned into James Bond (and I like James Bond... but on its own merits). The X-Men movie is actually the hardest pitch for me: I'm not a huge fan of the rebooted timeline and Dark Phoenix looks like an attempt to remake the Last Stand fiasco but not in a good way.
Where's the Leonard Elmore adaptations? For awhile there in the late 90s, those were fun summer movies, crime thrillers with a dash of humor. Sigh, regrets...
So this is it, OLD GODS AND NEW. I need to live this long, at least. I don't want to die, not now, not with the world like this, but at least grant me this one boon to survive and watch the last official Star Wars saga film EVER. (Spinoffs are unavoidable at this point)
WILL THERE BE EWOKS? Maybe, one shot suggests being on Endor's Moon.
WILL THERE BE PORG? Well, Chewie's gotta eat SOMEthing...
WILL THERE BE A REINCARNATED EMPEROR PALPATINE? ...HOLY SSHHHHIIIIIIII---
So to the Concern Trolls that tried to bash her on Politico earlier, talking about "reining her in," she beat you, sons. She rolled up and mic-dropped and rolled away with you all just standing there going "what the hell happened."
I just wanna let everyone know I'm not gonna go all creepy or anything, okay? We cool? We cool. I just... will start this little altar over against the wall with a few pictures, and some candles and voodoo dolls of her enemies and...
Somewhere in my mind there is a seven year old boy sitting in a large rocking chair in a movie theater called a Bijou in downtown Clearwater Florida.
It's late summer, just before school. Having taken care of a big event in our family's lives - moving into a new home - the parents relent and take their three youthful boys to see this movie everyone's been gabbing about called Star Wars. The lads are familiar with some elements of science fiction - we've seen this thing called Star Trek on the teevee once or twice - but all we knew about the movie was from an ad campaign that showed spaceships blowing up and robots running around...
...It's archetypal, it's nostalgic, it's futuristic, it's action, it's space opera, it's primal emotional satisfaction. When Luke finishes that trench run and the Death Star blows up (oh shush I'm not spoiling a damn thing), the need among everyone in the audience to stand and cheer in victory is universal.
I'm remembering the good times again because today - May 25 - is the 40th anniversary when Star Wars officially came out. It actually got released to a handful of theaters because 20th Century Fox wasn't too sure it would do well and was just dumping it off into a summer season that tended to be quiet for the industry.
And then the whole thing blew up. Word of mouth spread. Kids, teens, and adults all flocked like mad to see a movie with incredible visual effects, impressive Wagnerian musical score by John Williams, and a faithful archetypal story. Millions went back for repeat viewings (home videotape was still years away from reaching the public, and waiting for movies to reach television took years). They released the movie to more theaters across the nation, where the demand overwhelmed the smaller places that hosted one or two (!) screens.
It rewired the entire film industry. Combined with a previous summer blockbuster Jaws, it convinced Hollywood that summertime was when blockbuster spectacles should be released. Special effects action movies dominated the production schedules. Movies were geared for kids and teens as much as possible. Multiplex theaters blossomed to match the demand (and supply as every studio raced to make their own Star Wars franchise hit).
That all didn't matter much to me at the time. It took awhile - the whole summer - to get to see it, but once my family had settled into our new home in Palm Harbor our parents were able to escort us to the theaters to watch it.
I didn't go completely geeky: my parents would indulge a little in the toys and the games, but they didn't buy every bit of merch that spawned around Lucas' empire. But I kept up with it, spread my interest to other SciFi and Fantasy 'Verses, and refreshed my geekery in the comics/graphic novel world as I grew into an adult.
I still hark back to my fanboy foundation, though, as evidenced by my prized lightsaber and showing up at local comic-cons dressed as a Jedi.
Man, forty years.
That Clearwater theater is long gone. Carrie Fisher and Kenny Baker too. But there's another Episode coming out this year, and with luck I'll live long enough to see Episode IX which promises to be the big finale.
So you know me, geek that I am, whenever there's a comic-con in driving distance I am prone to showing up and clogging the narrow vendor aisles.
You might remember I went to this SwampCon at UF last year. They've actually been doing this for awhile, but 2016 was the first I'd heard of it and hey, it's a chance for me to head back and check out my alma mater (also, I'm doing a shit-ton of research on Pragmatism, so to the shelvers at Library West I'm the guy who left three piles of philosophy books on that reading table on the First Floor).
Good news is, the worst thing was Trump getting into a Twitter war with civil rights hero John Lewis. Everybody else on Twitter was punching back and making Trump bleed, so it's all nice sweet schadenfreude.
As for the convention itself, here are my takes (and some photos and video):
The registration / wristband tables are set up at the entrance walkway to the Reitz Union.
I didn't dress up this trip. I'm saving the Jedi outfit for the SyFy street convention this February. I basically dressed as I usually did when I was a student here from 1988 to 1992: with a blue button shirt over a Batman tee.
Deadpool! My old nemesis! This time working on his foam sword skills.
Last year was before Pokemon Go came out. This year, I looked at the map and damn near fainted. The University campus has Pokestops all over the place within easy walking distance of each other. As soon as you step out of one Stop's range you're already in range of two others, meaning the spawnage rate with well-placed Lures would make this an ideal hunting ground for Pokemon. IT'S PIKACHU HEAVEN!!!
Also I finally caught a Tauros - my birth sign! - and an Onix, both of which don't naturally spawn where I live.
I need to come back to campus someday, with my bicycle and about 9 Incubation jars with 10km eggs to hatch...
Funny thing about living on a campus for Florida Gators. We get real gators floating in the Reitz Union pond. It's cool, he's cool, we're cool, right Bitey?
Except for this guy. He was pissed he couldn't go wading in that pond.
In terms of vendor space, this one room doesn't compete with the massive floorspaces that MegaCon and Tampa ComicCon work with. This is still a pretty small, regional con. There were a lot of anime/manga vendors though.
Told you I had some homework to do, so I walked from Reitz Union to Library West that afternoon, and en route there's Turlington Hall and THIS statue. Everyone seems to call it "The Potato". Even the Pokestop description labels it "The Potato".
IT'S NOT A FREAKING POTATO, PEOPLE! IT'S A FREAKING GLOVE! Look, to the right of that rocky shape. THAT'S THE THUMB! Sheesh!
Also, that's Century Tower in the background.
After I did some homework on Pragmatism, I walked off-campus across 13th Street to go to Leonardo's Pizza. While there, I got a photo of this... GAUDY MONSTROSITY being built at the corner of University Ave. and 13th.
It's that long-planned condo project the city's been dying to build since I had been back in Gainesville working at Library West from 2003 to 2006. It wouldn't look out of place in New York City or downtown Tampa, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of a mid-sized city where it will dwarf the college buildings right across the street from it. It blocks out the sky, it's getting built right on top of the roads, claustrophobic... Gods. Look, I know there's a problem with residential properties in Gainesville, as more and more UF students stay in-town when they graduate, and that Gainesville is growing in population. But you need to be more responsible with what you're actually building and where. This thing is gonna clash with the old-style architecture of the UF campus, no lie. Something of this size and complexity could have easily been built maybe a mile away, closer to downtown Gainesville where you want more of a nightlife community to sprout (or maybe closer to Oaks Mall or Archer Road strip malls). You all should have been something half that height and with an eye towards matching the campus architecture to where it would COMPLEMENT the scenery, not consume it.
Speaking of consumption, here's the pizza slice from Leonardo's I ate.
This was a mainstay eatery within walking distance of campus back when I was a student, and it'd been around for years before then. Last year, the place has been bought out by the university (they're looking to build more campus offices I believe) and I've been told that June 2017 is when it will close. So that pizza slice might be the last one I'll ever eat from there.
You can't go home again to the same pizzeria, can you? :(
On the way back, I took a slight detour to go visit one of the iconic locales on-campus.
THE FRENCH FRIES STATUE
On the lawn, they were prepping another group of foam swordfights, so I got some video clippage of that. Ooh, wait, I can't, Blogger can't handle the file size. Gimme five minutes to YouTube it instead.
I made it back to SwampCon for the afternoon, and I wanted to go into the "So Bad It's Good" Anime revue. Sadly, by the time I got there the room was packed. Note to the con organizers: next year, bigger room for these guys (or any other anime-themed shows, that culture is HUGE on-campus).
Other observations of note:
There was a shit-ton of Steven Universe cosplayers (I should have gotten more pictures of them, but was busy catching Onixes). Only two Deadpools. Where's my plethora of Deadpools?!?!?!
I'm used to an Artists Alley at other cons where local and published artists set up tables for autographs and print sales. The SwampCon folks should look into that, especially since there's an art college on-campus where up-and-coming sketchers and inkers are learning their trade (and there should be a number of Florida-based artists who'd love to show)...
The UF Bookstore needed to do a better job advertising and promoting the works of the authors who showed up for discussions on writing and publishing. These are authors who either live in Gainesville, are graduates of your school, or authors of some renown who put in the time to help with activities and events for the day. Putting a small pile of books on top of a table with little signage shoved into the corner of the Vendors room does not cut it.
Things have really changed in the year I've been away. Wal-Mart is no longer where it was on Archer Rd. and nearly 90 percent of that mall had been bull-dozed. Half the restaurants I knew are long gone, it took me an hour to find a Mexican eatery (for some reason I was in the mood for Mexican to balance out having pizza for lunch. I don't normally do that...) before I got back on the road to drive home and feed mah kittehs.
I did find time for one thing, to pay my respects:
I almost didn't go this year, but changed my mind when I figured out my fiscal budget could handle the indulgence (just a little: there is no way I will be able to buy any booze for the next three months... which is okay because I'm sober and don't drink booze).
So much like I've done the year before and the year before that and the year... yeah, there's your trend for ya... SAY HELLO TO DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE that I attended the 2016 Tampa Bay Comic Con!
Early morning opening on the showroom floor. Don't worry, it'll get packed soon...
This year I was on a mission, more on that later...
And here's an early morning - way early, as most people were still in line up on the mezzanine - writer's panel! Bill Hatfield, remind me the names of the ladies joining you on the discussion.
This is still early in the morning: the gaming rooms were still getting set up.
Tampa doesn't get a lot of steampunk cosplay, unlike Orlando's MegaCon, but there's still some incredible designs here.
Alas, I did not dress up as a Jedi this year, as I had other plans. So I took pictures of everybody else being a Sith...
A Rey of Sunshine.
Yes, I punned. Sue me.
Getting seated for the one guest speaker appearance I could watch today...
It's Clara for the Oswin! (okay, it's Jenna Coleman).
Had to upload to YouTube and link the video from there.
Told you...
...it would...
...get busier!
That's Daryl from Walking Dead. Huge line for photos and autographs... He's incredibly popular. Don't forget, if Daryl dies we riot.
You know, I'm in this mob somewhere...
I AM GROOT guy wins best Cosplay costume in my humble opinion.
Guy was getting a lot of requests for pics in Artist's Alley...
With Pokemon GO an addicting phone app game, there was every likelihood the convention center would be a haven for Pokeball throwing madness. Well, it was kind of yes and no. The Tampa Convention Center - and a good part of surrounding Downtown Tampa - is rife with PokeStops and Gyms... But they were all well away from the building itself, too far to activate a Stop for supplies or battle for a Gym. However, the PokeStops were close enough to drop Lures on them to spawn armies of Pokemon to catch... meaning you can run out of balls real quick.
It also didn't help that there's no free WiFi inside the convention center. I know it's a for-profit convention where you gotta spend $15 for lunch, but complimentary WiFi isn't gonna wipe out the budget will it?
On the bright side I caught like 20 MagiKarps. You need like 150 of them to Evolve one to the powerful Serpent Pokemon. It all has to do with location: The Convention Center is right on the channel AND river, and geographic closeness to water spawns more Water-type Pokemon...
Anyway, my mission: I still owe my nephew Andrew a birthday present from last year (!) and one this year, so I bought a (information withheld until the gift is delivered). It took me months to get anybody to tell me (redacted) so I picked out (classified). I hope he likes it.
Anyway, there's my Saturday done and done. What's next, peoples?
