Sample helmets and display collectibles courtesy of the 501st Legion.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

For the last few years, my wife and I have spent our respective birthdays together finding some new place or attraction to visit as a one-day road trip — partly as an excuse to spend time together on this most wondrous day, partly to explore areas of Indiana we’ve never experienced before. My 2015 birthday destination of choice: the city of Fort Wayne, some 100+ miles northeast of here. It’s home to several manufacturing concerns, one major insurance company, a selection of buildings with historical importance to the locals, and a small comic book convention I’d never heard of before this year. We checked out the area, we found ways to enjoy ourselves, we got some much-needed exercise, and we took photos.

Fort Wayne’s fourth annual Appleseed Comic Con happened to fall on the same weekend as my 43rd birthday. With this lucky timing, this unknown con rose quickly to the top of my birthday-weekend brainstorming list and easily won out over clothes shopping, Netflix marathon, and “go someplace my wife wants to see”.

Right this way for all the photos!