It’s some kind of weird tradition for the inhabitants of the Galaxion’s science lab. They all have these peculiar nicknames! We learned a while ago that “Mal” is actually short for “Malodorous”, although we have yet to learn why. It stands to reason that “Meg” and “Con” must be short for something, too.
What kind of crazy nicknames can “Meg” and “Con” possibly be short for? I want you to tell me! There are so many… interesting possibilities. Heh. Post your ideas here or email them to me at tara ~at sign~ galaxioncomics ~dot~com. I’ll pick the one I like best, and the winner (or winners) will receive a fancy-pants 2-inch pin-back button!
So far I’ve only been selling these at conventions, so they’re somewhat hard to come by. (But if you happen to be one of the few who have this design already, I can substitute another.) I know, not a great big prize, but eh, this is just for fun anyway. 
Keep in mind, it’s just the names I’m looking for. You can supply a whole backstory about how these characters landed themselves with the nicknames if you like, and if I laugh hard enough it may even swing my vote your way, but I don’t promise to cannonize it! I will, however, use the winning names in the comic whenever it becomes appropriate (not that I have any idea when that might be…).
Get your entries in by midnight December 7th. I’ll announce the winner(s) December 14th. Good luck!
Well, since you say we can just post our nickname ideas here, I’ll just come right out and claim “Contrary” as my entry.
Just kidding!
Its an in-joke because he’s so agreeable.
Anyway, it’s the best nickname ever and no other ‘con’ name can compete. Except maybe “Confidence”, but I’m not sure…
:p
No, wait! It is obviously a shortened form of “Conflagration”, which refers to an impressive lab accident.
No not that one last month, the one last year, just after that one where the door caught fire…
I’ll have to think about ‘Meg’ for a while and get back to you. Maybe she likes Nutmeg in her hot chocolate?
Con – Conniption – I’m thinking more of the hysterics fit rather than a temper tantrum. Probably due to some fit of the giggles at a party when he’d had too much to drink.
Meg – Megalosaurus – she collects fossils
“Constant.” His parents wanted to name him after Boltzmann *and* Planck. Rather than saddle him with both of those names, they finally settled on “Constant” as a reference to not just the above physicists but all who have ever had a constant named for them.
Meg: short for Megalomaniac? (obvious why); short for Megamouth? (talks too much)
Con: short for Connor (from Highlander fame)? because he/she is “immortal” and “survives” any situation and/or trouble; short for Conundrum? (nobody knows what’s he/she thinking about)
I look at these nicknames being akin to call signs that fighter pilots have. As such, they’re usually an indication of something about the person, or a reference to some stupid event in the past.
Con had finished watching the very ancient movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and was just coming on duty. Another crewmember was having a hard time with a console and, while banging on it with his fists, yelled, “Damn this console!”. Remembering the movie he just saw, Con decided to simply yell, “KHANNNN!” and started laughing. Of course, nobody else had seen the movie (it’s really old) and, as such, didn’t get the reference (his laughter died embarrassingly quickly). They also didn’t get the spelling. Con was annoyed with the nickname until he saw it in a memo.
You could probably come up with a similar embarrassing story with AlpineBob’s “conflagration” (a small fire that was quickly put out but that he was the cause of). Gabriel took the “Meg” I had thought of, “Megalomaniac”. Unfortunately, I don’t have a story for that one. “Megawatt” might be good if she has a lot of energy (or did).
“Meg” could also be an acronym: Mighty Energetic Girl.
Okay, for Con I’m going Continuum or (in)Constant.
Meg, MediEvil Groupie or Moderately Evil Giraffe.
“Megaphone” – loud voice in arguments
“Constipation” – does a funny grimace when thinking
Roland beat me to it, but ‘Constipation’ was the first Con word I thought of.
Perhaps I’ll go the mathematical route with ‘Contrapositive’, or ‘Contradiction’. (perhaps he always starts by assuming things aren’t true…)
If he were ‘Constipation’, we could continue the theme and call her ‘Megacolon’, but now it’s just getting gross.
Raising my mind out of the gutter, I’ll suggest ‘Megabit’.
Meg – Nutmeg, because that’s what she puts in her coffee.
Con – Condensed Milk, because that’s what he puts in his coffee.
Likewise, Mal – Malodorous because of what he puts in his coffee (whatever it is), which gives off an unpelasant odour as well as those fizzy bits.
Con = Contraption. It’s what he calls all the equipment he uses in the lab, much to the chagrin and annoyance of the lab techs and engineers who have to keep coming in to fix it when he breaks it. Leading to them asking “What contraption needs a fix-up?” to mean “What has Con broken this time?” Also, no one else in the lab calls their lab equipment contraptions. Con may or may not actually understand the inner workings of electronics, computers, and software, he just prefers to have someone else fix it.
Meg = Going Eventually Mad. Considering others in the lab had nicknames, Meg tried to get everyone to call her “Gem” but it never caught on. Meg did though, she hated it at first and still will occasionally try to come up with a creative acronym for it, but has accepted that’s what people call her.
Meg – Megaphone. Don’t know why. It popped into my head.
Con – Contradictory. I had to think about that one, and I don’t like it, but, it beats Contrary.
@ hiikeeba – I hate to be contradictory, but Contrary is clearly the better name.
It’s even been used in a nursery rhyme – how many of the other entrants in this contest can claim that distinction, eh? :p
Megabyte – she has a passion for antique computing devices. Talks about them constantly and the others got tired of hearing about how memory capacity used to be measured in paltry Megs…
Meg – “nutmeg”, because she is crazy
Con – could be a reference to Val Con yos’Phelium from the Liaden Universe, or could be con-man
Meg: Megabyte (then I read Sean K.’s post — Damn You!); Omega; Megavolt.
Con: Consternation; Constellation; Confab.
I don’t mind not getting a prize.
Ironically, this reminds me of a comic book convention taking place in Orlando on March 25 – 27: MegaCon.
It has media people, too (William Shatner will be attending).
They were spotted together at this convention? Naw, that just reaching.
LOL! I’m relieved I’m not the only one who can’t keep that convention from popping into my head when discussing those two. It is for precisely that reason I always have to call them “Con and Meg” and never “Meg and Con”. I went to MegaCon in… 1998? 1999? Something like that. My one and only time in Florida. Mostly what I remember about that show was the giant Lobster (or possibly Lobster car??) that was lurking near the entrance.
awww, so much too late
I was going to go for OMEGoid.