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Arts & Culture

Comic-Con 2010, Friday: Stormtroopers And Society for Creative Anachronism

By Angela Carone / Cultural Enterprise Reporter
Published July 23, 2010 at 8:07 PM PDT
This story was published more than 14 years ago.
Today was Star Wars Day at Comic-Con International, which always means stormtroopers on the move.
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Today was Star Wars Day at Comic-Con International, which always means stormtroopers on the move.
Angela Carone
A stormtrooper works day two of Comic-Con International in downtown San Diego.
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A stormtrooper works day two of Comic-Con International in downtown San Diego.
Angela Carone
It seems like everyone has a camera at Comic-Con and anyone in costume comes ready to pose.
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It seems like everyone has a camera at Comic-Con and anyone in costume comes ready to pose.
Angela Carone
Even superheroes on the move work it for the camera.
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Even superheroes on the move work it for the camera.
Angela Carone
A Comic-Con cosplayer dressed as Jack Sparrow breaks for a coffee.
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A Comic-Con cosplayer dressed as Jack Sparrow breaks for a coffee.
Angela Carone
Skip works at the San Diego Convention Center and has worked Comic-Con for 20 years. He said this was the largest Friday crowd he's ever seen, rivaling the Saturday crowds of years past.
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Skip works at the San Diego Convention Center and has worked Comic-Con for 20 years. He said this was the largest Friday crowd he's ever seen, rivaling the Saturday crowds of years past.
Angela Carone
Everywhere you looked, there were crowds moving in and around the convention center.
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Everywhere you looked, there were crowds moving in and around the convention center.
Angela Carone
The face of Mary Louise Parker, star of the Showtime comedy "Weeds," on the side of a bus in front of the convention center.
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The face of Mary Louise Parker, star of the Showtime comedy "Weeds," on the side of a bus in front of the convention center.
Angela Carone
Comic-Con attendees dressed as members of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, a supervillain collective from The Venture Bros., a show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
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Comic-Con attendees dressed as members of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, a supervillain collective from The Venture Bros., a show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
Angela Carone
A group of young girls demo the Just Dance 2 video game on the convention floor.
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A group of young girls demo the Just Dance 2 video game on the convention floor.
Angela Carone
A little boy watches his parents get their picture taken with a corpse on a fake set for the new AMC drama "The Walking Dead." He was too frightened to join them.
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A little boy watches his parents get their picture taken with a corpse on a fake set for the new AMC drama "The Walking Dead." He was too frightened to join them.
Angela Carone
A young Spiderman demonstrates how he would shoot his web at Comic-Con International.
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A young Spiderman demonstrates how he would shoot his web at Comic-Con International.
Angela Carone
Today I discovered that the Society for Creative Anachronism stages combats on the mezzanine level of the convention center during Comic-Con. The SCA is devoted to the study and preservation of the Middle Ages.
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Today I discovered that the Society for Creative Anachronism stages combats on the mezzanine level of the convention center during Comic-Con. The SCA is devoted to the study and preservation of the Middle Ages.
Angela Carone
SCA members fight with swords (made of rattan) and real armor (very heavy). They claim to recreate the fun parts of medieval society, like feasts, costumes and sword fighting, and leave out plagues, lice, and beheadings.
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SCA members fight with swords (made of rattan) and real armor (very heavy). They claim to recreate the fun parts of medieval society, like feasts, costumes and sword fighting, and leave out plagues, lice, and beheadings.
Angela Carone
After the combats, the participants invite the kids in the crowd to enter the ring and learn how to sword fight. They call it "Whack-a-Knight."
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After the combats, the participants invite the kids in the crowd to enter the ring and learn how to sword fight. They call it "Whack-a-Knight."
Angela Carone
A member of the Society for Creative Anachronism rests after a combat demonstration.
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A member of the Society for Creative Anachronism rests after a combat demonstration.
Angela Carone
A young cosplayer at Comic-Con dressed as the Mad Hatter from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."
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A young cosplayer at Comic-Con dressed as the Mad Hatter from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."
Angela Carone
A crowd of photographers gathered at the sight of Disney heroines (see next picture).
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A crowd of photographers gathered at the sight of Disney heroines (see next picture).
Angela Carone
These were not the traditional Disney heroines, which explains the large number of male photographers.
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These were not the traditional Disney heroines, which explains the large number of male photographers.
Angela Carone
A steampunk couple at Comic-Con, International.
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A steampunk couple at Comic-Con, International.
Angela Carone

Today was Star Wars day at Comic-Con International, as well as day two of the popular four-day convention. As costumes go, stormtroopers were a common sight, as were your Spidermans and Jack Sparrows. One cosplayer told me today was about showing off one's second best costume and that tomorrow, Saturday, is when the creme of the costume crop is on display. Check out the photo gallery to see if there's anything second rate about today's costumes.

I continue to approach Comic-Con like an amateur anthropologist, more interested in fan culture than the celebrities and big movie panels. I did flirt with the idea of going to the "True Blood" panel, but then heard Ballroom 20 was closed almost four hours before the actual panel because the room was full of of "TB" fans.

Among my cultural discoveries - I'll blog about the others soon - I learned that a group of medieval enthusiasts, the Society for Creative Anachronism, hold sparring and combat demonstrations at Comic-Con every year (on the back mezzanine level). They fight with swords (made of rattan) and wear full body armor in the style of medieval knights (see gallery pictures).

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I chatted up a woman dressed in Medieval garb who's really into medieval cooking. Apparently this includes baked eel in a pie and a chicken, tumeric and rice dish that was a favorite of Richard V.

Oh, and we here in San Diego live in the barony of Calafia, part of the kingdom of Caid, which includes Southern California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Just one of the many subcultural gems to be mined at the largest pop culture convention in the world.

I'll be going only one more day - Saturday - so check back for more pictures and observations throughout the weekend.

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Angela Carone
Angela Carone covered arts and culture for KPBS and was the author of Culture Lust. Angela has produced public radio programs focused on the arts for the Atlanta and San Diego markets. In this role, she has covered topics ranging from books, film, theater, music, visual arts and pop culture. She also has more than 15 years experience in print media, having been published in various newspapers, alternative weeklies, and exhibition catalogs. Angela has degrees in political science from Pennsylvania State University and in English literature from Georgia State University. She is also a published photographer.
See stories by Angela Carone
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