No, Halloween didn’t come early this year. The custom-clad troupes you may have seen in the State Street area this weekend were actually celebrating Madison’s second annual GeeK.Kon, the city’s very own, yet little, convention to embrace and rejoice over all things geeky, from anime and sci-fi to gaming miniatures and video gaming.
Hosted yet again in the labyrinthine Humanities building, the free convention welcomed geeks of all ages united by their avid fandom, and perhaps their fear of sunlight. Offering a variety of events in individual classrooms or lecture halls such as panels with professionals of the industry, media viewings, DDR and RockBand tournaments, amateur artist stands and various vendors selling all sorts of geeky paraphernalia, GeeK.Kon kept its gatherers occupied and pleased. (I personally snagged a choose-your-own-adventure-book from the 80s for a cool dollar.)
But by and large the biggest appeal of GeeK.Kon is the attendees themselves. Strangely enough, you’ll actually feel out of place if you’re not wearing a wig, cape or any sort costume otherwise. In addition to the brochure of events, the information stand really ought to have mini-encyclopedias picturing who everyone is dressed up as and what show or game they’re from, though the tacit understanding is that you probably already know, or ought to know, if you’re attending. Stores and screenings no doubt offer entertainment, but the true fun comes from seeing casts of cosplayers (fans dressed up in costumes, playing as that character) as they acted out skits, strutted through the masquerade, and simply reveled in the glorious, geeky levity of it all, demanding to take pictures of each other. But fear not you “regular people”– while you might get looked at askance for not being in costume, GeeK.Kon welcomes people of all levels of geekiness to enjoy the various events.
Oh, and did I mention sword-fighting in the Humanities courtyard? Yeah, pretty awesome stuff.
So while GeeK.Kon ’08 has come to its geeky end, the fledgling convention saw a much larger draw this year, marking good chances of it coming again in 2009.
