Audra Schroeder

A young lady as Maka Albarn, from the Japanese series Soul Eater

The first time I heard the alert for a lost child in the main convention hall, I was reminded how much Irving Convention Center feels like a suburban mall. From the outside, it looks sort of like an unfinished Rubik's Cube. Being in that space for my first Dallas Comic Con on Saturday afternoon was much like being in a very crowded mall, where nearly everyone is costumed. This might seem like a nightmare scenario to some, but others thrive on its essence. And there is a lot of essence.

There were some crowd-flow issues. Early in the afternoon, one escalator let off too many people, who collided with a line of people waiting to get into a talk on the second floor. There was a sudden comedic pile up of bodies, a pen-and-ink whir of arms and legs, and then a very real pang of fear that I might be trampled to death at Comic Con. The man behind me yelled, "It happened again!"

See also:
The Ten Best Costumes from Dallas Comic-Con

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All Photos by Ed Steele

Dallas Comic-Con is a magical place where Wookiees high-five Cylons while William Shatner lurks behind potted plants. It is a true nerd oasis, and that's precisely why we love it. Photographer Ed Steele set up camp at the Irving Convention Center to capture the most innovative, weird and flat-out cool costumes of the weekend. We sifted through the geekly treasures and selected our ten favorites.

See Also:
The 60 Best Costumes of Dallas Comic-Con 2013

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Embrace your fandom, dig for obscure back issues of your favorite reads and pull on a weird jumpsuit because it's Comic Con time. This year's fest sets its phasers to stun on Saturday when Shatner pops by for a visit. Prefer late-model Trek? No problem, special guests Geordi La Forge, Data and Dr. Beverly Crusher will also materialize for photo ops.

We've got two pairs of Sunday passes to give away. Just drop a caption for this Next Generation photo in the comments, and make sure you're linked to an active Twitter, email or Facebook account so we can reach you if you win.

This contest closes in a random drawing at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15.

Shaq on the Cavs: Now that was funny.

This weekend, SMU plays host to something called the North East Texas Humor Research Conference, pithily titled "Humor in the Professions, Psychology, Philology: Intercultural perspectives." The conference is co-hosted by SMU and Texas A&M-Commerce, and features sessions like "Crowdsourcing Cartooning," "Neuroscience of Humor" and "Evaluative Formulas Behind Psychology Jokes."

Sounds like the perfect weekend if you ask me. But if that and "8 paper sessions with 25 peer-reviewed presentations by international experts in humor research from Europe and the United States, as well as a session with 10 poster presentations" doesn't sound like a worthy romp to you, maybe the keynote speaker will: basketball great Shaquille O'Neal.

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All photos by Matthew Lawson

There really should be Stormtroopers at more piano bars.

It was a night that would make the lurkers of a Tatooine night club proud. An intergalactic hoedown hosted locally at Louie Louie's Dueling Piano Bar.

Stormtroopers mingled alongside Starfleet cadets and the two groups cast glances of reserved respect for one another. They are two collections of collectors and geeks that are connected by their passion for science fiction, but separated by the universes they choose to admire. The sequestered sets of nerds decided to put their sabers and phasers away for the night, and join forces to raise funds for the USO, and help the lives of American veterans in a unique night of unification.

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Chewie actor Peter Mayhew will be there, in that shirt if God answers prayers.

Could Captain Kirk kick Han Solo's ass? Is Spock more wise and knowledgeable than C-3PO? Phasers or light sabers? Would you rather spend a romantic evening with Android Andrea or Princess Leia? Who possesses more power, Kahn or Emperor Palpatine?

Some of these important questions may be boozily discussed at Louie Louie's Piano Bar in Arlington on Friday, as a sci-fi themed USO benefit show takes over. Be warned, though, the road ahead may be a nerdy one.

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Do you know how many buttons Lamb Chop has? What actress is slated to play Pepper Pots in Iron Man 3? What about the four most common religions in India? If you can answer these questions, you should probably get thee to everyone's favorite pub quiz, Geeks Who Drink.

The national quiz, founded in Denver in 2006, has been making the rounds through various bars and restaurants in Dallas for the past couple of years. Its initial stint at the Amsterdam Bar was killed off by the wonderful mix of Texas sun and cat pee, and the quiz has weaved its way through the metroplex since, making stops at watering holes including the Barley House, Stan's Blue Note and the Texas Theatre.

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Matthew Lawson

The UTD Robotic chess team sets up for a demonstration at Klyde Warren Park

Bobby Fischer said that "chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent's mind." If chess is a war, then the minds at UTD have just gone nuclear.

See also:
Five Ways to Use Klyde Warren Park

In a joint effort between UTD's electrical and mechanical engineering departments and the legendary UTD chess program -- world-championship legendary -- have combined to create robot chess, which was on display at Klyde Warren Park over the weekend. If you thought chess was all broken bottle cap glasses and pocket protectors, think again.

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Forget Ladies Who Lunch, the Texas Theatre is where it's going down hardcore Spock-style tonight. Geeks Who Drink, a national pub trivia phenomenon, is back in Dallas and going down in Oak Cliff at 8:00 p.m. Gather up your 1337357 homies and compete for prizes. Those affecting the most pwnage, go home without paying their tab.

You got a better team name than Vibrating Spock Ring (out of Geeks Who Drink Seattle)?

Need some practice? Set up a quick escape key - aka the ol' porn panic button - and get in a practice round during these last few moments at work. Sample questions courtesy of geekswhodrink.com.

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Welcome to another edition of Geek-Offs, where you'll find the perfect distractions to help you muddle your way through hump day each week.

It's a rare day when you see an app in the iTunes store that has a 5 star rating (for the current rating at least, and 4 ½ stars for all versions, but who's counting) and over 130,000 reviews, so when I happened upon Temple Run, I knew I had to check it out. And several hours later - along with a fresh battery recharge - we offer up the iPhone running game from Imangi Studios as this week's welcome to the new year Geek-Off.

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