SAN FRANCISCO -- With a ribbed latex mask covering his nose and forehead, spiked leather gauntlets, and a woolly wig of shaggy brown hair, Rich Hayley was dressed to kill. And he wasn't alone.
Normally, the 29-year-old 3Com project manager wouldn't have ventured outside the house in his homemade silver-padded battle armor or his honor sash studded with victory buttons. On Saturday, he'd decided to break out the rough stuff.
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After all, a Star Trek convention comes but once a year, and it's one of the few days that Hayley can toss aside his regular identity and become Yyr'kon, a mighty Klingon warrior. Well, almost.
"I've still got the furry arms coming," Hayley said, looking wistfully at his forearms. "The costume's not done."
Hayley, who is "very into costuming," used to be into the Renaissance Faire until he discovered Star Trek costumes offered greater variety.
He joined a San Jose club called the Klingon Assault Group and now happily performs Klingon operas at conventions.
Hayley and hundreds like him descended upon the annual Star Trek and Sci-Fi Media Convention at San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium on Saturday, to show off their costumes, buy memorabilia, and mingle.
"I like the camaraderie with other sci-fi enthusiasts," said Hayley, who also loves being mistaken for a real character on the show. "It's neat when the little kids ask for your autograph. You feel like a star."
Seeing the stars is one of the main reasons that Trekkies trek to the conventions. Actors from the original Star Trek television series and from other popular sci-fi shows and films make appearances to entertain fans, sign autographs, and pay the bills.
"This is how actors supplement their incomes, by going to the conventions and selling photos," said Grace Lee Whitney, who played Star Trek's Yeoman Janice Rand, in a telephone interview. "That's how we actors support ourselves, otherwise we'd be in the poorhouse."
Whitney, who has just written a book about her Star Trek experiences, travels to some 40 odd Star Trek conventions a year.
