This is Instinct vs Status Quo. Instinct (one of my fav teams) would go on to win the tournament. Fun fact: Elamite Warrior (favorite player) from instinct is the older brother of Ace from Status Quo.

I'm sure you don't care but ya, it was that good.

This is the group o’ guys that I went with. All around awesome people. Even if you don’t care.

"For free?" "Ya, for free."

Needless to say, we ate a lot of chips. And drank a lot of Dr. Pepper. And chewed a lot of Stride. I love sponsors.

Bic hosted a FFA competition that was open to everyone. Top 8 players competed on the main stage. Winner gets to compete against all the other FFA winners from all other competitions at the end of the year. And they got a tshirt. Yippee. Fun fact: a girl gamer made it to the top 8 and ended up getting 2nd place. 3rd place. It doesn’t matter, she did good.

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Str8 Rippin, the 2008 national champions, ended up finishing 10th in Columbus. Rumor has it, Snip3down rage quit a game, threw his headset, and kicked over a chair. Everyone said he did it so it must be true, right? For what it’s worth, I think that if Elamite Warrior hadn’t left Str8 they would have done much much better. Maybe I’m just a fanboy.

Speaking of Str8 Rippin

Nash modeling a shnazzy backpack signed by Str8 Rippin. All you had to do was fill out a survey and they gave you the back. Pretty sweet. On a side note, the four of us entered a Dr. Pepper acting/singing competition and actually won. Barbershop quartet meets improve/freestyle hip-hop. It was crazy.

There was a horror/blood/gore/evil convention next door. Very creepy overall, but some of the costumes were cool.

My semi-artistic shot

We all bought hats. It would have been a shame not to hang them off of lighting fixtures. An even bigger one if I hadn’t taken a picture of it. By the way, that is the Final Boss emblem.

The Old Spice feature stand

One of the sponsor stands where placement rounds and losers bracket were played. Nowhere near as cool as the main stage.

Us trying to watch the game. There were stands in the way.

The security guard put a chair in the way. That means we’re not allowed in. Sitting on the outside really sucked. At least they had that one tv showing the featured player.

Poster says it all

I’m going to leave it at that. Mostly because I ran out of decent pictures to post. Overall, the event was awesome. Not sure if non-gamers would like it, but if you’re even mildly interested in gaming I would highly suggest going. My group of friends and I are already making plans to attend Dallas in November. Hope you guys were able to stay at least marginally entertained throughout these posts. If you’re hungry for more MLG head over to mlgpro.com for all the gaming eye candy you could ever want.

Kinda a strange place to host a national gaming competition.

It took us 12 hours to drive. Didn’t even stop for lunch. Forgot to account for the time change so we ended up arriving late. Bummer.

Just inside the room devoted to the competition.

Pardon the picture quality. I was actually surprised by what a big deal this competition. There were some hardcore guys here. In a creepy way.

See that area to the left? Ya that’s the entire SSBB and Tekken crowd.

The World of Warcraft arena. Not really sure how that works. It was really boring to watch, so we left.

Not a fan of either team but it's an alright pic

This pic explains the screen setup. Center screen is featured player. Left and right are divided into fourths for each individual player.

One of my favorite players signing stuff.

FearItSelf: main slayer for Final Boss (awesome team) I guess fans come in all shapes and sizes.

My trip to Vegas with Photographer Heather Cardone

You can see good photos [here] or continue to see my crappy photos!

On the next page… interesting pictures of water?

Tandem At-At

R2D2 crazyness

This crazy Robot was running around like crazy for two days. I think it was drunk. It kept projecting obscene home movies of Leia and Han… and Chewie.

K-9 Crazy!

Ok, while I am on a Robot kick, K-9! I am a Dr.Who nerd so this made my day.

I don't know what this is, but it's cool

There needed to be more of this, and I don’t even know what this is.

Watchmen!

I’m glad to see the Hangman and the Comedian back together again.

Hot Fury Action

I’m not sure what is going on here… but I think this particular fury is on the slow road to a mask made of human skin, starting with Michal Jackson’s nose.

Robin and the Gay Blade

Bleached!

I say Bleach, I honestly don’t know… nor do I care enough to lift my pinky and Google it, But I do know a ninja who needs a belt when I see it.

Back Scratcher

This was awesome and frightening… how long does it take to get dressed in electrical tape every morning?

Steam Punk Chicks!

Just think if they were dressed as goth chicks we would instantly hate them, but give them color and guns and they are magical!

how to keep Batman away...

Ok, here is is, Poison Ivy. kinda makes your eyes peal back. But she was LOVING the attention she got. I was LOVING the hotel store having Pepto Bismal.

Weclcome to DragonCon

OK, because you still had some stomach lining left.

LEGO!

The DragonCon had a wide variety of Storm Troopers, my personal favorate were the baby storm troopers, but Lego is always a hit with me!

Punisher Finds Love

I don’t know how this worked out, but somehow it did. I wish them both the best… but the Punisher (admittedly) looks a little drained.

Thor and Loki

The boys from Asguard found time to make it to the show. Sadly Thor  got to all the in-flight meals before take off. Screaming FEAST! doesn’t make it cool.

Fairy Odd Parents

Looks like Timmy has been overfeeding his goldfish. But they sure are cute.

Got to catch them all

I don’t know what that pose is about… I guess the Poke biz is getting tough.  Later on he was spotted holding a sign, “Dry hump, $5″

Cash Cow

I don’t know how to start with this one… all I will say is that it doesn’t pick up those dollars with it’s hands.

Bird Girl vists the booth

TheOneRing.net newsletter lines her cage.

Beast Vs. Monster

The Beast flexes his protest muscle.

KISS

Rock And Roll never dies, no mater how much you want it to.

Right before Art Sr. Claimed it's head as a trophy

Art Sr. is a big man. Mouth like a pirate. Arms of steel. When we met he punched me in the soloplexus and I crapped out my adrenal system. He killed 10 Pirates with his bare hands before we could tell him it was just a convention. So much carnage.

VikingStormTrooperScotsman

Ok, so you are a StormTrooper… Viking… from Scotland? Is that the tartan from clan McWtf?

Stewards of The One Ring

I don’t know these people, in fact I only know one person who I took pictures of. All I do know is that this man’s bazaar knowledge of the lesser works of JRR Tolken, made the con GREAT! Thanks strange man for boring Art to tears by debating the 1st Age with two guys who have no idea what you were talking about. God bless you sir.

TheOneRing.net

This was the table I was at all weekend. Art–  the dude who got me there, Larry– the dude who was seemingly in charge, Some British chick who gave us cookies and dressed up everyday (sometimes twice a day). Man she could push them shirts. Bill Thomas was not available, but like Elijah we kept his seat available.

Welcome to Atlanta

Art welcomes me to Atlanta properly. Hot syrup? Genius.

Anime Chick and Elven Jedi

Chunky Jedi Elf uses Jedi mind tricks to get laid by French maid. Best part? In the morning free turn down service.

GungHo joins Cobra and sells his soul for a three some.

Best Ghostbusters we saw, and we saw lots.

We were surrounded by GhostBusters for the entire Con. They just stood around talking about cars and sports. Lame! I saw tons of ghosts! These two found a ghost and proceeded to put their hands up it’s ass. Remember when GhostBusting was more about busting than fisting?

G-Force!

I don’t know much about G-Force, but I know that this guy rocks!

Sinestro! GO YELLOW AND RED!

This was not a costume, it was the REAL Sinestro! He created a giant top-hat with his ring, and asked for bus money. Apparently, crime really does not pay.

Star Wars all over

Slave Girl Leia runs amok as a storm trouper hits on a blue tentacled girl. Female Han looks for Twinkies.

No wonder they call him Super-Man

So Superman has let himself go… that’s understandable, human or not he is like 60 or something. But more distracting than anything else is that the baggier super suit can’t hold back Superman’s massive member. It was like he was smuggling Krypto in his front pocket. Lois Lane’s vagina must be stretched out wider than the 405.

Princess Monoki!

This was just cool! I can’t wait to see 400 Ponyo’s running around next year!

Star Trek unamed crew live a life of fear.

Everyone knows that when you beam down to a planet you bring: Spock, Bones, maybe Checkoff, and a couple of nameless pawns in red shirts to draw fire. That’s why they are dressed in brightly colored red shirts, and why Scotty was never allowed to beam down.

Who is this? A nurse with a key?

Anime? Steam-Punk? I don’t know, all I know is people should dress like this everyday.

Ok... another nurse... and the asian Marylon Manson?

This is what you get with a single payer health-care plan! Just ask Germany. I prescribe 2 aspirin and 5 hours of humiliating sex acts.

Found him!