Betheda’s Fallout: New Vegas postcard swag.

Betheda’s Fallout: New Vegas postcard swag.

I love a good con. I’ve only been to two now where I really felt at home with the theme and the attendees, but when you find the right con and throw yourself into it wholeheartedly there is a lot of fun to be had. Sure I was on my feet for hours each day. I waited in many lines, ate bad cafeteria food, and slept very little. But man, it is all worth it for those moments when you look around you and realize that you are amongst your people. And your people are all having a damn good time.

The Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood "protest" cookie.

The Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood "protest" cookie.

Of course cons with exhibition halls are not entirely about having a good time. They are also often about the hunt for the sweet swag. People will line up for hours for a shot at a good t-shirt, and I am not entirely above that. (Note to exhibitors: more sizes for women, please.) So I give to you my notable swag list from PAX this year.

1. Aion Online shirt with a big angel dude on the front. I don’t play Aion, but I like shirts.
2. Stylized Typefrag shirt, given out at the Raid Warning podcast panel.
3. Retro-style brown shirt that says “Hardcore Pawnstar”, which I obtained for playing some battle chess game for 10 minutes.
4. Torchlight II shirt with a genie on the front. Obtained by PAX companion while I was fangirling in line for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
5. Megaman-ish stylized LEGO dude shirt for LEGO Universe, caught mid-air by limber PAX companion. Too small for either of us, but I kept it anyway.
6. Incredibly kickass Dungeons & Dragons woman’s shirt (gasp!), with a retro heavy metal design. Obtained for free at the D&D Bus.
7. “Kill the healer first” official PAX t-shirt. I paid for this one! Also, seriously, take my word for it as a frequent healer – kill me first or you’ll regret it.
8. A Dead Rising 2 bobblehead, obtained for playing the demo. Any zombie game where you can wield a kayak paddle with a chainsaw tied to each end is okay by me.
9. A .. canned stuffed piggy. This was supposed to just be limited to current Aion players, but we bluffed our way into getting one because it looked cool.
10. A set of Bethesda postcards.
11. A “bionic mustache” for some Capcom game. I didn’t even care which one it was — FREE mustache!
12. A cookie from the fake Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood protest group. Friends don’t let friends shank friends!
13. A whole pile of beta keys, lanyards, pins, stickers, novelty fliers, and samples.

Totally Magnum PI.

Totally Magnum PI.

I have to admit that by the end of the weekend I started viewing t-shirts as pelts, collected as a trophy from each kill (or hands-on game session). Of course swag isn’t everything, though. I haven’t even talked about some of the panels or the concert or the neat cell phone games for folks who lined up early or or or or or… *flail*

See you next year, west coast geeks. <3

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