Game face: ON!

On Vikings Sundays, the Metrodome becomes a true garment district, a bizarre bazaar teeming with slathered faces, dangling braids, horns a-plenty and outre accoutrements. As their warriors pitch a fierce battle on tepid tundra beneath a Teflon sky, scores of geared-up fanatics show their tried-and-true color: purple. We caught up with urban plunderers from all corners of the continent at a game this month and asked them to regale you with their regalia.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH? Trey Miller of Orlando calls his outfit "one-third real Viking, one-third Vikings player and one-third monster." One can't help but wonder how Miller's grandfather -- "who was the spittin' image of Bud Grant" -- would feel about it. Miller takes three hours to paint his head, with help from a friend on the back side, and a half-hour to put on clothing that includes some leather he made himself. The result? "I'm a 48-year-old guy and can act like I'm 28," he said.

TALK ABOUT TRUE LOVE Stacy Larson of Gettysburg, S.D., is actually a Miami Dolphins fan, but she's also a seamstress and made her husband Vaughn's tux-shaped jacket (with tails). She found the pattern online and used it on the "tux" and a converted St. Patrick's Day hat that she found at Kmart. "He likes to stand out in a crowd," she said. Mission accomplished.

A FAN 'FUR-EVER' By the time Mike Grabow was 5, he "knew who all the Vikings players were." Four decades later, the Garrison, N.D., resident makes it to a couple of games a year with his sister, Kathy Grabow Strommen, who's "not quite as far to the purple side as I am." The handmade and handstitched leather coat and hat were crafted by "a guy in northern Minnesota, I can't remember his name," Grabow said. "Those are real horns and fur on the hat. I want to look like a real Viking."

FOUR-FOR-4 Be careful what you wish for: Dan Neiber of Britton, S.D., thought it would be cool for his kids and their pals to go the Full Vike-y. So, from left, Chase Neiber, Hunter Neiber, Tyson Morris and Megan Morris got their faces painted by a pro outside the Dome. "It was 10-below. Not my idea of fun," Dan said. The younger set? "They were all fired up, didn't faze 'em a bit." Ah, youth. A

NEW WORLD ORDER Rami Dana of Montreal, left, and Trey Miller are members of the Viking World Order, a continent-wide organization of true fanatics. For his job at a call center, Dana wears a different Vikings jersey every day. As a child in Vermont, his favorite color was purple, "so when it came time to pick a favorite, I saw the Vikings and said, 'That's my team.'" When he and Miller sit together, "I beat his pads every time they do something good. It does hurt, but you're just so pumped."

TWINS FOR THE VIKINGS? "We get that sometimes," said Rachel Mehus, left, of Stanley, N.D. But she's 18 and sister ReeAnn is 16. For their first Vikings game in about 10 years. Rachel donned a Sidney Rice jersey and ReeAnn a Percy Harvin, but the rest of their getup is identical. "A lot of people liked our headbands," said Rachel. With that look, these Dakotans were feeling Minnesota through and through.

SCARFING DOWN Upon further review, yes, that is indeed a monkey underneath Karl Nyberg's scarf. "I got it as a Christmas gift," said the Moorhead, Minn., resident, "and figured we had to amp up the costume for this game." Nyberg's face paint was inspired by former Vikings star John Randle. "It takes about 20 minutes to put on," he said, "and I take it off quick, but some of it stays on for a couple of days."

HORNS A-PLENTY Most of us have seen Maple Grove's Roger Cormier as host of "Midwest Outdoors Television" or that dude whom Randy Moss used to hug after scoring. His game-day garb -- a five-pompon 'do beneath a gold-dome, horned helmet, painted Vikings eyebrows and mustache, a bazillion beads -- takes less than half an hour to assemble. "I want people, when they see me on TV, to say, 'Wow, those Vikings fans are nuts.'" Done, and done.

Bill Ward • 612-673-7643