Todd Allen takes a look at the folks who are hired to dress up in costume at comic conventions to help promote a booth and/or product. This is becoming something of an industry unto itself.
While I'm near this topic: I keep getting e-mails from folks complaining about the crowded aisles at conventions. This is obviously a problem, especially when the resident Fire Marshall is ready to shut things down. But I think some of the complainers don't get that for the folks who operate those exhibits (and pay mightily for booth space), crowding the aisles is the goal. Just as at some of the panels that preview new films or DVD releases, they're delighted when people can't get in. If you're promoting a new movie or product that's coming out next year, one of the reasons you spend the bucks to go to Comic-Con — one of the reasons you drag your cast and director down there and give out free stuff — is so that you can announce, "Interest in this is so strong that at Comic-Con, people lined up six hours early for a panel and we turned thousands away."
If you're one of those thousands, it sucks. But from the standpoint of the promoter, it's a job well done.
I'm not saying this should always be tolerated or encouraged, or that the convention couldn't/shouldn't do more to minimize crowds and long lines for things like this. But let's recognize that sometimes, the con and the exhibitors are working at cross-purposes. If I get a little time later — this is a Big Deadline Weekend for some of us — I'll post an anecdote about Buffalo Bob Smith that illumines the point.