Looking for a girlfriend whom really loves horror movie paraphernalia and anime? She that are sitting across away from you at ny Comic Con’s event that is speed-dating. Brian Heater reports.

Brian Heater

a meeting goer appears close to Ork from Warhammer 40,000 through the 2010 New York Comic Con at the Jacob K. Javits Center in new york October 8, 2010. (Timothy A. Clary, AFP / Getty Images)

Looking for a gf whom really loves horror-movie paraphernalia and anime? She that are sitting across away from you at nyc Comic-Con’s event that is speed-dating. Brian Heater reports.

“You know Ke$ha, right?” asks tut koko app Arbeit the lady because of the synthetic Freddie Krueger glove.

“Sure,” I answer, a bit baffled. Provided the limitless conversational subjects presented by the convention that is jam-packed above our minds, i’d do not have guessed we’d broach the task for the “Tik Tok” singer therefore quickly.

“There’s a song,” the girl explains, “Take it well.” She recites the chorus,

There’s a place downtown, where in fact the freaks all come around. It’s a hole into the wall. It’s a dirty free for several.

The parallels between nyc Comic-Con and that track are clear, she claims. First, the convention is downtown. (really, the Jacob K. Javits Center is maybe not downtown, but we don’t correct her. No one likes a know-it-all.) The freaks component, she states, is inherent—the geeks, the dorks, the nerds (my terms), all decked down in costumes and paraphernalia.

The “hole within the wall surface part that is confusing. I’ve got a couple of theories, but offered the duration that is fairly limited of date, We keep them to myself.

Eventually, all of it results in that line that is final. Nyc Comic-Con, this indicates, is a dirty free for many.

Of course, there’s absolutely nothing particularly “dirty” going on in space 1A20. The area is sterile and well-lit, with 40 chairs that are folding arranged. When every three full minutes, the guys are instructed to stand up, just take one step to their right, and begin anew with all the next woman that is available.

Emcee and self-styled geek standup Ryan Glitch operates a rather well-oiled device in a seminar space so steeped in intimate awkwardness you could cut it with a light-saber reproduction. “They call me personally ‘Giganakin,’” Glitch announces before the session commences, “because I’m overweight, and my costume is Anakin.”

The declaration is not completely accurate. He’s a guy that is big certainly—a self-proclaimed stereotypical showgoer (hefty, white, nerdy)—but there’s no Jedi paraphernalia on their big frame. We have been first introduced to him outside, as he separates us into lines of male and female, forbidding pre-show inter-gender conversations, muttering the phrase “sausage-fest” many times, and generally lamenting the dearth of X chromosomes.

“What kind of geek have you been?” a female asks me personally. We hesitate for a brief moment and react, “Comics, i suppose.” It’s not as popular a solution when I expected.

It really is a concern, without doubt, provided by both lines, and Glitch and their scantily clad gf start the entire process of flagging down ladies.

Glitch announces reassuringly towards the type of dudes he came across his “lovely associate” at a previous event—C5, he informs me later on, brief for Celebration, a semi-annual Star Wars meeting, the 5th of that was held come july 1st in Orlando. It had been the time that is first one-man business, Lightning Fast Speed Dating, had taken component such a show, plus it ended up being a rousing success, by many reports.

As soon as we first spot him downstairs at the Javits Center, but, he’s got exchanged their Jedi robes for sunglasses and a black colored T-shirt. It’s only after an assistant hands him a black leather-based coat|leather that is black} and fake synthetic shotgun with a bright orange tip that he’s more than simply a speed-dating host; he’s a cyborg sent through the future to facilitate nerd love, offer water bottles in return for Star Gate trivia, and break jokes of debateable style in blended business.

Ours could be the 2nd of three such sessions held during the period of brand new York Comic-Con’s 3 days, plus one about speed dating throughout the convention seemingly have captured the imagination associated with the show’s attendees. The lines are long, and Glitch will finally turn individuals (mostly guys) away before opening the doorways. He counts from the females and an number that is equal of, cutting from the line right before me.

“Can we keep in touch with you for an additional?” I ask.

“Am I in some trouble?” the Terminator reacts.

We make sure he understands that I’m because of the press. That I’m here to report in the event, undercover.

“Are you single?” he responds. We nod.

“Are you right here merely to report, or will you be searching for somebody?”

“Well,” I answer, “you can’t say for sure.”