The Best Moments from Wizard World Chicago #wwchicago

Wolverine and Hawkman

1. Wolverine takes off his clothes

There was a fantastic cosplayer as Wolverine/Logan. I snapped a few pictures earlier in the day, but it wasn’t until the costume contest that he really got my attention. As he walked on stage, the cosplayer took off his leather jacket. This guy obviously hits the gym. The crowd applauded.

Then, he took off his wife beater. Now, some people may describe it as the sound of thunderous applause, but I’m pretty sure what followed was the sound and crashing of 500 pairs of panties hitting the floor. I was sitting toward the back half of the room and I could see his clearly-developed abs. It made me drool. Until that very moment, I had no idea that I was into Wolverine.

He picked up his things and began to leave the stage, but the MC made a joke about his abs being painted on. Wolverine returned and threatened him with his claws. The crowd went fucking wild.

2. Alan Tudyk speaking in his King Candy Voice

Now, I was excited for the Firefly panel, but my favorite thing had nothing to do with the show at all. I was previously unaware that Alan played the voice of King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph, which was a sweet and funny movie that you should see if you haven’t already. King Candy is an over-the-top character and his lispy voice is perfect for the image. I can’t find an actual clip of if online — thank you Disney — but Youtube is full of impressions if you want to hear.

Anyway, a fan asked Alan to say something in his voice, and he obliged. He explained how he had played a racist character in the recent movie 42, and decided to say one of his lines, which happened to be along the lines of “Say Jackie, how many of these players’ wives have you crawled on?” It was entirely inappropriate but absolutely hilarious!

3. Wil Wheaton responds to Robyn’s question with a quote from George R.R. Martin

Wil Wheaton plays a jerk, but if you read his blog or listen to him talk, he realize that he’s a nice guy. He’s the nerd’s nerd. He represents the culture as a whole, and the way he talks about community is heart-warming. I remembering feeling all teary-eyed while he spoke. If you’ve seen this video, then you’ve got a good idea what Wil’s all about.

If that wasn’t good enough, Robyn had the chance to ask his a question, and it was about his favorite strong female characters. He started to list them off at first, but then he changed tactics. Robyn didn’t like it, but I loved it! Rather than name characters, he said he didn’t feel it was fair to answer that question based on gender. My inner feminist regaled.

But. then. he quoted George R.R. Martin. I don’t know and can’t find the exact quote, and Wil might not even have been dead on but it went something like this:

I like to write women as though they are people.

The crowd went wild. I fell in love. The end.

4. Michael Rosenbaum molests Robyn

You might know him better as the actor who played Lex in Smallville. Robyn, the friend with whom I traveled to Chicago, loves the show and the actor. She had her picture taken with the cast, and she went to all of their panels. His panel happened to still be going on when I got out of SciFi Speed Dating, which is the most forgettable thing I’ve done in a long time.

So I find Robyn’s panel room and I look for Robyn. I cannot spot her, but then I look up toward the center of the room where Michael is, and I see him pawing all over Robyn as he responds to her comment about how the show just wasn’t as good when he left. Later, Robyn told me that he’d queued her question but forgot about her. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have walked in at the very right time!

5. A biker dances in the street

Traffic was horrible, especially if you’re not from a big city. There were a lot of times when we could’ve turned off the engine and got out of the car for a stretch. We didn’t, but one biker did. Traffic was at a standstill under an overpass, and he was riding next to a younger biker. The older one, who was all clad in leather and had a big Santa beard, was listening to some classic rock. I’m thinking something like the Rolling Stones. He may even have said something about how rap sucked. I don’t recall exactly.

What I do remember, however, is him getting off of his bike and twirling his arms in a disco-like dance as traffic waited impatiently for the holdup to finish. It made me smile, but it was over too quickly for me to get out my camera.

So, there you have it. These are the top 5 moments. There were other awesome moments — check out my Facebook album here — and everything was enjoyable and exciting overall, but these stood out the most.