*snicker*

It doesn't strike me as either, although I could make a case for sad.

Have you ever noticed how those helmets, absent attending paraphernalia, look like puppy dog heads? That was my first thought.

AMDG

I guess I have to say "both," but then sad wins. I snickered aloud at first glance, and then just felt terribly sad. What I see is: a poor little boy who wanted and wanted and wanted a Darth Vader helmet, and thought and thought about how wonderful it would be, and then he finally got it, and...it's not wonderful at all. He feels worse than if he'd never gotten it at all.

Go ahead, draw conclusions. I told you it was Rorschach-y. :-(

Maybe I'm feeling contrarian today. The kid looks pretty comfortable with himself to me - he's unaware of how isolated he would look to others - so I don't find it sad. He does look slightly dorky, but not dorky enough to look funny, to me.

There's no "supposed to" in my mind, anti. I guess I found my own reaction interesting and wondered what others' would be.

It was dorky enough at first to be funny to me, but that only lasted a couple of seconds.

I have to go with Janet's "neither".

The posture to me says "tired" rather than "sad" - he could have had a great day, but little constitutions do flag.

I can see why one *might* think it sad; I don't see the humour at all, though.

It doesn't look as sad to me now (almost midnight) as it did this afternoon. I'm not sure whether that's because of a change in my mood or just that I've gotten a bit more used to the picture. It's funny, the sadness is almost entirely in the droop of the head. Also in the fact that he's all by himself in that uninviting booth. Also that little paper cup of ketchup in front of him.

Probably 15 seconds after this picture was taken his friends or family rejoined him and all was merry.

It may be that rather than being existentially sad he's just worried about how he's going to eat his Happy Meal.

But then I think Happy Meals are really sad, too... :-)

I say funny.