Tag Archives: Star Wars

GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 Photos, Part 4 of 4: Con Stuff!

December 14, 2025 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Us doing jazz hands in a giant Funko Pop box. Anne is wearing a Santa hat and Christmas-themed Trek hoodie.

We’re Funko Pops! With extra points of articulation!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Anne and I enjoy attending entertainment and comic conventions together, whether in our hometown of Indianapolis or in adjacent states (or sometimes beyond). She’s been doing them since the early ’90s, and invited me to tag along as our relationship evolved from classmates to coworkers to neighbors to BFFs to married geeks twenty years and counting. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

This weekend we attended the fourth annual Galaxycon Columbus in Ohio’s very own Greater Columbus Convention Center. The show returned with another lengthy guest list for fans of all media across the pop culture spectrum…

…most of which we’ve covered: the actors! The cosplay! The panels! Artists Alley! But wait! There’s more! Not much more, but slightly more! Sorry if you were wishing I’d have dumped everything into a single 3000-word non-epic as usual!

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Dragon Con 2025 Photos, Part 4: The Cosplay Parade, Star Wars Division

September 6, 2025 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Banner on side of real-life Jawa Sandcrawler, depicting cartoon Jawa holding their own circus. Titled The Greatest Show on Tatooine. A Jawa with clown nose and eyes leans out a window.

The Dragon Con 2025 Cosplay Parade presents the greatest show on Earth! Screw you, ordinary circuses!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

In 2019 my wife Anne and I attended our very first Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in America. We once again made the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis and returned for our fourth nonconsecutive Labor Day weekend at that amazing colossal southern spectacle. We can’t conscientiously afford to do D*C every year, but we’ll see how long we can keep up an every-other year schedule before we’re too old or overwhelmed to handle it…

Same as our visits in 2019, in 2021, and in 2023, one of our favorite D*C features was the annual Saturday morning cosplay parade. Each year hundreds of cosplayers team up in appropriate factions or categories and march the streets of downtown Atlanta in their costumes, sometimes even driving their own geek vehicles. The roadside crowd lineup around the parade route is the best opportunity for the public-at-large to join the festivities and get a taste of comic-con life for free.

We amateur enthusiasts took nearly 800 photos (maxing out my memory card at one awkward point), from which I spent two nights culling maybe 200+ to post. We’ll be sharing batches of them over the next several chapters, time and energy permitting. If you or someone you know was in the parade and you’d love to see them, pretty-please let us know! We’ll be happy to search our files and show ’em if we caught ’em. No guarantees, but we’ll oblige if we can.

First up: lots of Star Wars characters, just because. Enjoy!

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Dragon Con 2025 Photos, Part 3: Slightly More Cosplay!

September 3, 2025 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Four costumes as in caption

Insurance mascot role call: The General! Lady Liberty! Flo! AFLAC Duck!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

In 2019 my wife Anne and I attended our very first Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in America. We once again made the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis and returned for our fourth nonconsecutive Labor Day weekend at that amazing colossal southern spectacle. We can’t conscientiously afford to do D*C every year, but we’ll see how long we can keep up an every-other year schedule before we’re too old or overwhelmed to handle it…

…but in the meantime: more cosplay pics! Except where noted, the following pics were taken Saturday between 11:30 a.m. (when the final marchers in the annual cosplay parade reached the end of the route) and 7:00 p.m., when we dragged ourselves down the Marriott’s fire-exit stairs to circumvent the out-of-order escalator and take our leave of the festivities. Same as last time, we snapped a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total talents on display, as mere amateur appreciators who like sharing such sights and wonders to You, The Viewers At Home. Sorry we missed thousands more! We just kept doing other stuff! And we’re too old to keep up this pace for 72 straight hours!

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Our 2023 Road Trip #6: Far from Hoth

April 26, 2025 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
AT-AT sculpture 16 feet tall made of white wires, standing outside in an overgrown yard.

A lone AT-AT patrols the South Carolina wilds, unaware the war is long over.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Every year since 1999 Anne and I have taken one road trip to a different part of the United States and seen attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. From 1999 to 2003 we did so as best friends; from 2004 to the present, as husband and wife. After years of contenting ourselves with everyday life in Indianapolis and any nearby places that also had comics and toy shops, we overcame some of our self-imposed limitations and resolved as a team to leave the comforts of home for annual chances to see creative, exciting, breathtaking, outlandish, historical, and/or bewildering new sights in states beyond our own. We’re the Goldens. This is who we are and what we do.

For 2023 it was time at last to venture to the Carolinas, the only southern states we hadn’t yet visited, with a focus on the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Considering how many battlefields we’d toured over the preceding years, the home of Fort Sumter was an inevitable addition to our experiential collection…

Somehow the two-day drive to Charleston felt less like a slog and more like a leisurely jaunt. I suppose it helped that we didn’t brake for as many roadside digressions as usual. After our stopover in Columbia, we enjoyed one quick sight — a modest tribute to a galaxy far, far away — before proceeding to our ultimate destination slightly farther away but not that far away.

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C2E2 2025 Photos, Part 3 of 4: The Stars in Our Galaxy!

April 14, 2025 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Us doing jazz hands while Emilio Esitevez kinda shrinks away from me and leans behind Anne.

Hi, it’s Emilio Estevez! You might remember him from such films!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, plush dolls, variant covers, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We missed a couple of past installments since their inaugural 2010 gala, but more often than not, whenever they send out the call to convene, we’re happy to answer…

…and call they indeed did! This year the showrunners at ReedPop assembled a dense guest list with cast reunions for quite a few beloved works, which attracted larger autograph crowds to McCormick Place than ever and forced us attendees to weigh a lot of tough choices. Anne and I kept our checklist short and modest, but still ran into scheduling issues that forced us to exercise one of our least favorite comic-con tactics: we had to split the party.

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C2E2 2025 Photos, Part 2 of 4: Saturday Cosplay!

April 14, 2025 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Severance cosplayers!

Helly R. and Mark S. from Severance. See you at the Equator!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, plush dolls, variant covers, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We missed a couple of past installments since their inaugural 2010 gala, but more often than not, whenever they send out the call to convene, we’re happy to answer.

While we recuperate and wait for our feet to forgive us for their punishment, please enjoy this collection of cosplayers who brightened our day around the show floor. The jazz-hands photo ops and other obligatory details will be shared in the other chapters because everyone loves costumes. We regret we can only represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total cosplay wonderment that was on display this weekend. We’re clearly not professional photographers, journalists, costume designers, or Oscars red carpet commentators. We’re just an aging geek couple doing what we can for happy sharing fun…

…and here’s our Saturday gallery. We left Chicago around 6 p.m. CDT that day and missed everything that came after, but did what we could till our legs threatened to collapse. Enjoy! Again! Please feel free to identify any characters we failed at recognizing!

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Indiana Comic Convention 2025 Photos, Part 3 of 3: The Exhibit Hall of Wonders

March 17, 2025 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Anne doing jazz hands inside a "wanted" poster frame written in the Star Wars Aurebesh fake language code.

“WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE, 70,000 CREDITS REWARD” for this cute tiny fugitive from space justice.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the eleventh edition of the Indiana Comic Convention at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. ICC 2025 was another opportunity for fans to look at walls covered with old comics, build lightsabers, buy 3D-printed knickknacks, overstock on Funko Pops, respect the anime fandom whose population dwarfs us older generations, and navigate those vast crowds. This year the showrunners occupied more square footage than ever, and last year’s edition was by no means dinky. Geek life had more space to thrive and sometimes enjoy some breathing space in between some of the narrower alleys of thriving pop-culture commerce…

Convention joys are many and varied and all around. You can appreciate the efforts and imaginations of the cosplayers who toiled to recreate and embody their favorite characters from the pop culture spectrum, as we illustrated in our costume gallery. Or, as we described at length in Part Two, you can meet actors and other celebrities, get their autographs, have your photos taken with them, attend the panels where they answer questions about their works and careers, or simply gaze upon them from a safe distance where your nervous system won’t overload at the mere thought of meeting them up close.

For some, it’s cool just immersing yourself in the main exhibit hall — a magical world of whimsy the size of multiple football fields and filled with IP-based merchandise, antiques, arts, crafts, games, toys, and vibes. It’s the nexus of our temporary realities, a three-day safe harbor from the “real” world and all its problems — the burdens, stresses, horrors, letdowns, sorrows, infuriating disruptions and abject drabness. Here we can connect with like-minded aficionados in celebrating the mass-media universes and multiverses where stories and inspirations thrive for our entertainment, meaning, uplift or escape. Community can feel positively transcendental in a place like this.

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Indiana Comic Convention 2025 Photos, Part 2 of 3: The Stars in Our Galaxy!

March 17, 2025 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Us doing jazz hands with Rainn Wilson, who wears a flannel shirt, glasses, beard, and glum Dwight-like expression.

Meet the new assistants to the assistant to the regional manager!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the eleventh edition of the Indiana Comic Convention at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. ICC 2025 was another opportunity for fans to look at walls covered with old comics, build lightsabers, buy 3D-printed knickknacks, overstock on Funko Pops, respect the anime fandom whose population dwarfs us older generations, and navigate those vast crowds. This year the showrunners occupied more square footage than ever, and last year’s edition was by no means dinky. Geek life had more space to thrive and sometimes enjoy some breathing space in between some of the narrower alleys of thriving pop-culture commerce…

…which for us worked out to a fair mix of comics and celebrities, with light shopping in between. We’d met a number of the guest list’s highest-profile names at past cons, but a few newcomers to Indy caught our attention and lured us in, such as the distinguished content provider in our lead photo — a frequent podcaster, co-founder of an erstwhile interfaith networking site, author of three books, and three-time Emmy Award Nominee who lost to guys like Jeremy Piven and Jon Cryer, thus proving the Emmys are a corrupt institution no more reliable a barometer of aesthetic transcendence than the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, who likewise nominated and denied him.

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GalaxyCon Columbus 2024 Photos, Part 2 of 2: “Weird Al” Yankovic and Everything Else!

December 9, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Us doing jazz hands with Weird Al, all of us wearing festive tropical-style shirts. Anne is also wearing a Santa hat.

The man! The myth! The master of musical mirth!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the third annual GalaxyCon Columbus in Ohio’s very own Greater Columbus Convention Center. The show returned with another lengthy guest list for fans of all media across the pop culture spectrum…though the two of us didn’t actually do a lot this time for a variety of reasons, and this year’s edition had a few logistical issues. Nevertheless, the show went on…

And what a show it was! We accomplished all our primary objectives, which was a shorter list than usual due to self-imposed budgetary restrictions. Frankly, we’ve had a long year of fiercely competitive, increasingly more expensive comic-cons and some non-geek expenditures we need to handle at fun’s expense. Also, unlike the last two GalaxyCons, there just weren’t a lot of actors on the list we wanted to meet that badly. We’d met several of them before, including the arguably biggest name, former teen star Hayden Christensen, who was at Indiana Comic Con last March. We had a couple of maybes on the list, but ultimately we had to be choosy.

I may also have been more nervous than usual because of an old comic-con war wound.

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GalaxyCon Columbus 2024 Photos, Part 1 of 2: Tiny Cosplay Gallery!

December 8, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
cosplay: Granny with stuffed Tweety and Sylvester dolls, and Yosemite Sam with a pair of cartoon revolvers.

Granny and Yosemite Sam bring joy on behalf of the Looney Tunes.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Anne and I enjoy attending entertainment and comic conventions together, whether in our hometown of Indianapolis or in adjacent states (or sometimes beyond). She’s been doing them since the early ’90s, and invited me to tag along as our relationship evolved from classmates to coworkers to neighbors to BFFs to married geeks twenty years and counting. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

This weekend we attended the third annual Galaxycon Columbus in Ohio’s very own Greater Columbus Convention Center. The con arose from the ashes of the top-notch but one-and-done GalaxyCon Louisville, and is a spiritual successor to the erstwhile Wizard World Columbus (née Mid-Ohio Con, which I used to read about every year in Comics Buyer’s Guide). The show returned with another lengthy guest list for fans of all media across the pop culture spectrum…though the two of us didn’t actually do a lot this time for a variety of reasons, and this year’s edition had a few logistical issues. Nevertheless, the show went on!

Before we showcase the latest additions to our celeb photo-op collection: it’s cosplay time! Per tradition we compiled an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny gallery of the costumes we photographed during our day-‘n’-a-half in and around the exhibit hall whenever we weren’t trapped in long lines or traffic-jammed aisles. The humble duo here at MCC appreciates the makers and wearers who enliven every comic-con with their talents and their exaltation of various fandoms. We regret we can only represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total cosplay wonderment that was on display this weekend. We’re just an aging couple doing what we can for happy sharing fun. Enjoy!

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Fan Expo Chicago 2024 Photos, Part 2 of 3: A Single Measly Cosplay Gallery!

August 19, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
cosplay: Kraven the Hunter with a spear, standing off against Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.

Kraven the Hunter bellowing, “I know Scorpion! I have fought Scorpion! You, sir, are not my Scorpion!”

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the third edition of Fan Expo Chicago at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in the suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Risen from the ashes of the late Wizard World Chicago, which we attended eleven times, Fan Expo has put forth tremendous efforts to maintain the previous showrunners’ geek-marketed traditions for longtime fans’ expectations…

…including hosting duties for all the cosplay! Everyone loves the costumes and the talents who create and/or sport them! Unfortunately, it’s with a deep sigh I must report we spent too much of Friday in lines. By Saturday we found more lines to stand in, exhausted ourselves beyond reason, and found the exhibit hall so uncomfortably hot and jam-packed with tens of thousands of bodies that we could barely inch forward, let alone ask others to brake in the middle of that crowded superbazaar to pose for us with thousands of other fans trapped behind them and seething with claustrophobic fury. We ended up fleeing Saturday much earlier than expected and forfeited all further opportunities to admire the numerous cosplayers on hand. Management regrets the retreat.

So here’s what we have to show for our hampered efforts, a cross-section of maybe one one-thousandth of the total cosplay turnout throughout this 3-day shindig. Sorry/Enjoy!

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Fan Expo Chicago 2024 Photos, Part 1 of 3: Mark Hamill Live!

August 18, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Us doing jazz hands with Mark Hamill, who's seated in a bar chair.

We’re no Muppets or Simpsons, but we tried to be good company.

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the third edition of Fan Expo Chicago at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in the suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Risen from the ashes of the late Wizard World Chicago, which we attended eleven times, Fan Expo has put forth tremendous efforts to maintain the previous showrunners’ geek-marketed traditions for longtime fans’ expectations. We were largely impressed with the results, even last year’s edition when the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes necessitated strict guidelines on the actors’ interactions. Every large-scale comic-con has its snags, of course. For better or worse, that’s all in the game.

Judgments on their 2024 installment depend on whom you ask, how much they love wall-to-wall crowds, whether or not they needed ADA accommodations, and which stars they wanted to meet from the extremely long guest list. As our lead photo hints, this would promise to be no ordinary show.

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Disney World! Part 20: The Museum of Star Wars

June 9, 2024 By in Movies/Films/Flicks, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Full Rey desert costume including goggles and face mask, plus big fictional speeder parked behind her. Exhibit backdrop is a nighttime desert with a rich, bluish-purple sky.

One of Daisy Ridley’s Rey costumes and her speeder.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year Anne and I take one (1) road trip to a different part of the United States and see attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. One thing we rarely do is fly. We’d much rather drive than be flown unless we absolutely have to…or are given some pretty sweet incentives to do so. Fast-forward to December 2022 and a most unexpected opportunity: The Powers That Be at Anne’s rather large place of employment recognized her and several other employees nationwide for outstanding achievements in the field of excellence. Their grand prize was a Disney World vacation! We could at last announce to friends and family, “THE GOLDENS ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”

For Anne it was officially, legally a business trip. Much of the time, she’d have to work…

…except for a single day off to enjoy together from dawn to dusk. Galaxy’s Edge was of course our feature presentation and favorite part of the entire vacation, but it wasn’t the only place to find Star Wars in Hollywood Studios. Up on the northwest side of the park, their Animation Courtyard section held Star Wars Launch Bay, a low-key gallery of props, vehicles, posters, miniatures, and other arts sprung forth from the collective Lucasfilm imagination. The building itself was removed from the main thoroughfares and a bit depressing with its all-black walls and minimalist adornment apart from the objets d’art themselves. It was a stark contrast from the rest of the uniformly eye-popping park and sparsely attended. It was arguably a good place for a time-out for guests who could use mental-health intermissions away from overpopulated theme-park hubbub.

On the “pro” side: it was more sights to see from, of, and about the Star Wars. Consider it extra credit to the interactive Galaxy’s Edge experience, albeit a few blocks down the road from all those superior, more lavishly exhibited areas.

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Disney World! Part 19: Postcards from Galaxy’s Edge

June 8, 2024 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
Anne standing in front of the Galaxy's Edge area that looks like a bunch of alien shops influenced by Asian designs.

A bazaar of the bizarre!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year Anne and I take one (1) road trip to a different part of the United States and see attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. One thing we rarely do is fly. We’d much rather drive than be flown unless we absolutely have to…or are given some pretty sweet incentives to do so. Fast-forward to December 2022 and a most unexpected opportunity: The Powers That Be at Anne’s rather large place of employment recognized her and several other employees nationwide for outstanding achievements in the field of excellence. Their grand prize was a Disney World vacation! We could at last announce to friends and family, “THE GOLDENS ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”

For Anne it was officially, legally a business trip. Much of the time, she’d have to work…

…but we absolutely made the most of her one day off, starting with the fabulous space neighborhood of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We never thought we’d see it person, yet here we were. The Millennium Falcon ride was pretty great and Rise of the Resistance was THE BEST, but Galaxy’s Edge is more than just a souped-up space carnival. It’s…well, okay, it’s an extremely souped-up space carnival. It’s an opportunity for Star Wars fans like us (rather noticeable on this site throughout the years) to feel transported to that one galaxy out there and explore its worlds up close like a window-shopping anthropologist.

Well, some of its worlds, anyway. We saw no signs of Dagobah, Kamino, or Mustafar. Sand was in far shorter supply than on Tatooine, though the architecture was similar. Maybe they hired the same design firms as Jakku and Scarif. And the buildings were a little too short and scruffy for Coruscant. I also doubt Florida would’ve been the proper place to recreate Hoth, unless this was a faithful rendition of Hoth in summertime. We’ve all just assumed the entirety of Hoth was Space Antarctica for however many months its years have, but what if we only saw it in wintertime and it in fact offers some wondrous tropical vacation climes in some other hemisphere that Lucas didn’t bother to show us? Then again, maybe there used to be a Hoth section, but they pulled the plug on it sometime before March 2023 because it was using too much freon and Disney needed some funds freed up to hire more lawyers to punch Ron DeSantis in the face. I’m sorry we missed it.

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Disney World! Part 18: Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run

June 6, 2024 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
My wife gesturing wildly at the life-size Millennium Falcon parked far behind her. In the background are massive canyon walls. A few other tourists mill about.

It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs! Usually it takes fifteen unless your ship can handle the Vogon hyperspace bypass!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year Anne and I take one (1) road trip to a different part of the United States and see attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. One thing we rarely do is fly. We’d much rather drive than be flown unless we absolutely have to…or are given some pretty sweet incentives to do so. Fast-forward to December 2022 and a most unexpected opportunity: The Powers That Be at Anne’s rather large place of employment recognized her and several other employees nationwide for outstanding achievements in the field of excellence. Their grand prize was a Disney World vacation! We could at last announce to friends and family, “THE GOLDENS ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”

For Anne it was officially, legally a business trip. Much of the time, she’d have to work. Not ME, baby…

…especially not on our very special Star Wars date-day!

Sure, Rise of the Resistance may or may not have been the greatest theme park ride in world history, but it wasn’t the only Lucasfilm tribute that Hollywood Studios offered. After our honorable discharge from the Resistance and some overdue breakfast (which we’ll cover in a later chapter), our next obvious stop was Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run.

The intergalactic flight simulator lets fans pretend they’re Han and Chewie, or Lando and Nien Nunb, or Rey and Finn, or Rey and Chewbacca, or Ralph and Alice Kramden going bang-zoom to the moon. It’s up to you whatever role-playing you can manage jointly in your heads while you’re being buffeted by lights and sound effects and stomach-churning vibrations, and managing the interactive tasks assigned to you. Every rider gets to be a Millennium Falcon crew member!

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Disney World! Part 17: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

June 3, 2024 By in Movies/Films/Flicks, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Shiny Death Star chamber with vaulted ceiling and dozens of Stormtrooper mannequins standing before a fake bay window viewing space.

I’ve got a great feeling about this!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year Anne and I take one (1) road trip to a different part of the United States and see attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. One thing we rarely do is fly. We’d much rather drive than be flown unless we absolutely have to…or are given some pretty sweet incentives to do so. Fast-forward to December 2022 and a most unexpected opportunity: The Powers That Be at Anne’s rather large place of employment recognized her and several other employees nationwide for outstanding achievements in the field of excellence. Their grand prize was a Disney World vacation! We could at last announce to friends and family, “THE GOLDENS ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”

For Anne it was officially, legally a business trip. Much of the time, she’d have to work. Not ME, baby…

…except on Thursday. That was her one free day, all play and no work. She’d be asked to suffer no business meetings, no HR-mandated activities, no coworker chitchat, and no miss-you-SO-much text exchanges miles apart juxtaposing my solo adventures with her expertly catered drudgery. The Wednesday evening captive dinner was the nadir of our trip, but the next morning was The Best.

Five years ago we attended Star Wars Celebration Chicago, where the exhibit hall featured a sneak preview of Disney World’s extravagant, then-upcoming new attraction, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. An entire corner of that park was terraformed into a full-scale recreation of that world-famous far-faraway galaxy. Rides! Ships! Shops! Props! Merch! Environments! Cosplaying “cast members”! Long lines just like at the theater! The convention preview was fancy and entertaining, but we kept our enthusiasm in check. We’d already been to Florida once, visited the other Orlando theme parks, and didn’t plan a Florida encore anytime soon. Of course we dreamed of one, preferably before retirement while we could still walk under our own power, but it seemed pretty doubtful at Disney World prices. We figured by the time we did come back, Galaxy’s Edge would be long gone and replaced with, like, Doc McStuffins Village or whatever.

A lot can change in five years. And, to our shock, did. Their overpriced Star Wars-themed hotel was history, but Galaxy’s Edge was still there, waiting.

Pretty much within the first minute of our trip planning, we’d known where and how this day would begin: STAR WARS!

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Happy Free Comic Book Day and May the Fourth 2024!

May 4, 2024 By in Comics/Lit, Indiana Tags: , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
11 different free comic books, including two Star Wars titles.

The second half of my haul, alphabetized — i.e., the half with the Star Wars comics in it. Happy May the Fourth for those who observe!

It’s that time of year again! Today marked the 23rd Free Comic Book Day, that annual celebration when comic shops nationwide offer no-strings-attached goodies as a form of community outreach in honor of that time-honored medium where words and pictures dance in unison on the printed page, whether in the form of super-heroes, monsters, cartoon all-stars, licensed merchandise, or entertaining ordinary folk. It’s one of the best holidays ever for hobbyists like me who’ve been comics readers since the days when drugstores sold them for thirty-five cents each and superhero movies were a rarity and an embarrassment to the genre.

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C2E2 2024 Photos, Part 3 of 5: Actors!

April 29, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Us doing jazz hands with Mads Mikkelsen! He wears a gray cap. I crouched down to Anne's height, so he leaned down to meet us there.

Hey, kids! It’s Mads Mikkelsen!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

My wife Anne and I just got home from the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, Funko Pops, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We were undecided for months because this year it was scheduled the same weekend as one of our hometown shows, Indy Pop Con. Ultimately Chicago lured us back…

…where they brought in new actors for us to see in person from stuff we’ve watched!

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C2E2 2024 Photos, Part 2 of 5: Saturday Cosplay!

April 28, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Two characters from Fallout video games: happy blonde mascot boy who gives everything a thumbs-up, and one-wheeled robot with no head and a black-and-white TV in its chest.

Fallout-mania is sweeping the nation, and Vault Boy and Yes Man are here for it!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

My wife Anne and I just got home from the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, Funko Pops, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We were undecided for months because this year it was scheduled the same weekend as one of our hometown shows, Indy Pop Con. Ultimately Chicago lured us back…

…and we took more cosplay pics! Please enjoy one more gallery of cosplayers who brightened our second day around the show floor. We regret we can only represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total cosplay wonderment that was on display this weekend. We’re clearly not professional photographers, journalists, costume designers, or Oscars red carpet commentators. We’re just an aging geek couple doing what we can for happy sharing fun. Please feel free to identify any characters we failed at recognizing!

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C2E2 2024 Photos, Part 1 of 5: Friday Cosplay!

April 28, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Two women in red, black and white costumes with staves. C2E2 sign is in the upper-right corner.

The first cosplay pic we took this weekend: Vaggie and Alastor from Hazbin Hotel.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Each year when there isn’t a pandemic fully raging, my wife Anne and I love attending entertainment and comic conventions throughout the Midwest and occasionally a bit beyond. We’re fascinated by the spectacle of each and every in-person nexus of geek cultures that presents a confluence of comics, artists, cosplayers, hobby artifacts, rare collectibles, IP-inspired handicrafts, talented performers and celebrity guests with fandom connections of varying levels of dedication and/or awesomeness.

We just got home from the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, Funko Pops, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We missed the inaugural edition in 2010, took a break starting in 2020 even before the pandemic came a-ragin’, then returned to the fold in 2023. We were undecided for months because this year it was scheduled the same weekend as one of our hometown shows, Indy Pop Con. Ultimately Chicago lured us back.

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