Geekfest West and Con Culture

Hello, it's been a hot minute!

A lot of the cons I have been attending lately have been between working or just plain attending. The ones where I simply attend are truly ones I savor, not that working at a con isn't any fun, but it does take away from the experience I think a lot of people go to cons specifically to do.

The last event I attended was Geekfest West, a nerdy con that focuses primarily on experience rather than just dealers hall and celebrities, which honestly was such a breath of fresh air. Most of the time myself and a small team were working this event due to TheNorthwest.Goodwitch being the lead coordinator in the Lip Sync competitions, the all ages was held on Saturday while the 18+ was on Friday evening. For the 18+ I was asked to be a half time performance, to which I did my first Burlesque dance as Showgirl Ragatha. And for the all ages lip sync I was asked to be one of the judges. These experiences were ones I can truly keep in a core memory of mine because the event itself truly showed everyone just how fun cosplay can still be, especially with a looming dread of perfection and society over our heads with the cosplay community as a whole.

I think more cons need to take a page from this event, more often than not I have tried myself to bring back the fun events from past conventions when I was a kid. Dumb things like characters panels, speed dating or trivia panels. A lot of conventions have constantly denied those applications under the assumption that they are just not popular or bring in enough guests, when in fact it was the very opposite and cons just decided not to do them anymore without consulting the public first. Now newcomers look at things like these panels and call them "Cringe". But that is just it, they are, and that's what made them fun. Conventions nowadays are filled with nothing but cosplayers who want to make content, who want to win something, or to simply get an autograph from a celebrity, take a few photos in their cosplays to prove they were there and than go home. To me that is a huge waste, not only of time but of money as well.

Lip sync performances, though a contest in general, has always been something I liked to do because it helps come out of your shell more than what cosplay has already given me. It's given me a chance to exercise again, as well as challenge me to make my cosplays be able to withstand a performance on stage rather than just my skills when I stand still on stage.

I think these performances will give a good chance for a lot of these events to come back into convention settings, and help people realize that "Cringe" is just a word and doesn't really mean anything. In actuality who cares if we have a character panel, we are already dressing up as fictional characters. And who cares if there is a speed dating panel? As long as there are strict rules to help with creeps, we should be able to suddenly having a panel where one characters from one fandom is potentially going to win a date with another. It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't HAVE to mean anything. It's a way to be in our community, make friends and have fun for a weekend, AWAY from the stresses of life.

I may go to these events as a guest, a judge or a performer; but never in my life do I want to be a popular content creator to the point where I absolutely hate my job. That was never my intention to begin with. If I had to create a cosplay just because it was popular, but I didn't like the media itself, I would have a horrible time at a con in that cosplay because I would be doing is chasing clout and followers for an end goal that doesn't exist. To me I wasted my time, energy and money.

Geekfest West was the first time in YEARS where I felt like there was a purpose to this, and I truly hope they thrive going forward and continue to be the best they can be. And I also hope to see way more cringe in the future going forward!