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Comic-Con
Unleashed on Reality Unleashed...
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| "I
really can't talk right now. I'm mesmerized by this
guy dressed as Alvin of The Chipmunks..." |
Klingons
and Romulans rub shoulders with Jedi. Over in Aisle 1500,
a band of students from Hogwarts Academy ogle Xena, Warrior
Princess. And without a team of lawyers okaying the measure,
several Spider-Men freely stand side-by-side with Batman (one
very dark, intense Batman, by the way, making the rounds on
Sunday).
In the face of all this fantasy, the very thing that defines
San Diego Comic-Con even when panels strip away some of
the illusions, one question faced Creative Light Entertainment.
Does reality have a place here?
Three
survivors of reality television spent Sunday trying to find
out. Okay, one actual Survivor and a couple of Big Brothers,
but you get the drift. Josh Souza from
the first Big Big Brother, Kim Powers
from Survivor: Africa and Erika Landin
from Big Brother 4 were diving in the deep end of
fandom, all for the first time.
They
had come Saturday for a panel introducing a website called
The Fishbowl
and its first DVD, Reality Unleashed, but stayed
to wander the floor the next day. They began tentatively,
by standing around in the beautiful autograph area, with
its tented ceiling allowing natural daylight, but not too
much, to illuminate the area. It may have been the last
time they saw the sun for hours.
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| Two
who have escaped Big Brother, but not fandom. |
There we talked a bit about their experiences at the Convention.
Only Erika had some inkling of what it was all about, as
her brother is a huge fan. However, she was not prepared
for the price tags on the back issues she had found. The
most interesting thing to the striking brunette was all
the costumes. Though Erika had familiarity with the subculture,
Josh found it all really surprising.
"I've
never seen Luke Skywalker standing next to Spider-Man,"
he laughed, eyes darting over to the table where Mark Hamill
sat signing autographs. When pressed, though, he admitted
that if fans accepted him, he would "…love to be a part
of it."
Kim, too, found
herself being won over by the experience. "It's easy to
look around and think it's odd or freaky," she commented,
"but the talent of some of these people just blew me away."
One could assume that could mean just Jess Harnell, but
let's take a broader interpretation.
Sure, all three
played coy about knowing much about the Con, but both women
readily responded when asked which super-hero they would
want to be. "Wonder Woman!"
When Erika gave
her answer, Josh grinned lop-sidedly. "I'd prefer you to
be Catwoman."
As for the man
from Big Brother, he enthusiastically said he would
want to be The Thing. "I mean, what is he?" he asked. "No
one knows."
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| Erika
auditions to be Wonder Woman. |
I called him
on it. "You've only seen the cartoon where he's a teenager,
haven't you?" Josh laughed and got a faraway look in his
eyes picturing those simple Saturday mornings wearing pajamas
and eating cereal.
But that's what
the Convention is for, recapturing old memories and making
new ones. Since both Kim and Erika wanted to be Wonder Woman,
Fanboy Planet determined to make the dream come true. Luckily,
the DC booth had a ready supply of cardboard tiaras in honor
of the DVD release of Wonder
Woman - The Complete First Season.
We proudly traipsed
through the crowd, unmolested as people dressed much more
brightly got all the attention. Finally we reached the DC
booth and presented everyone with tiaras. Strangely enough,
Josh got his on first.
As
they all wrangled the tiaras, somebody (it may have been
me) started a chant that should have filled them with fear:
"One of us! One of us!"
From
the smiles on their faces, I think they were okay with that.
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