[rant]
My grumpiness about peacebonding knows no bounds ever since I had to stand in line at Sakuracon 2004 to have a three-foot-long inflatable mallet peacebonded.
Honestly, to me, that's just ridiculous. Weren't peacebonds invented as a way for security to tell at a glance whether a potentially-dangerous-looking weapon had been approved for carrying at the con or not? How could a giant inflatable mallet possibly be construed as potentially dangerous? For heaven's sake, I beat the tar out of my friend Jon with it as part of our cosplay skit later that day and he said it didn't even hurt!
Yes, I can easily see the sense and convenience of peacebonding swords and fake guns and other "dangerous" prop weaponry, but I remain deeply in contempt of the growing practice of peacebonding practically every prop a cosplayer carries. Harry Potter wands, dinky little two-dollar plastic swords, cardboard-ended summoner staffs, resin-molded and blunt-ended ninja kunai, giant and ridiculous "bazooka" contraptions that bear no resemblance to actual firearms...
(It also drives me nuts when peacebonds are unreasonably large and garish, like the neon pink ribbons they used at Sakuracon this year. Those things had to be an inch wide, and the peacebonders often left long dangling strands hanging from the item being peacebonded. Outside of a bland/bad pose, nothing spoils a photograph like a giant pink ribbon trailing from your character's mighty weapon of choice.)
A friend of mine was passing the peacebonding booth at a con and the staffers there teasingly suggested that he get his large, shiny space-age-looking watch peacebonded. It was a joke, but it was funny because it was all too true. Peacebonding is becoming an all-time nuisance, and I think it needs to be dialed waaay back before it starts really discouraging people from even bringing props to conventions.
[/end rant] ^_^*
