Geek Girl Con turned out to be a much bigger convention than I expected. Though smaller than PAX, the convention still spanned three floors of the Washington Convention Center. I spent most of my time playing a small Magic draft, but I was able to walk the floor for a few hours and catch a panel.
Table Top Gaming
The lower floor was dedicated to table top games, including several tables for Wizards of the Coast. At these tables there were groups of experienced players teaching games like Magic, Pathfinder, and Kaijudo. They had a small booster draft that I entered and ended up winning that afternoon, with additional drafts lined up for the evening and Sunday. There was a wide variety of experience levels playing in a very casual environment.
Artists and Vendors
After the Magic Tournament I visited the artist’s corner, where original and fan art prints, jewelry, and comics were being sold. The work was of course amazing and I had to duck out of there before I spent my entire bank account.
As I wandered around I tried to snap as many pictures with my phone as possible (an evil monster stole the SD card out of my real camera, sorry for the horrible quality) I discovered a tribe of 501st Legion and Garrison Titan members–dressed as Storm Troopers, Jedis, and Bounty Hunters–had a booth raising funds for charity. Not far away the EMP Museum was handing out coupons for admission and had the original Wicked Witch’s hat on display.
The Exhibitor Hall was filled with vendors selling t-shirts, art prints, books, games, you name it. Once again I had to remind myself that my wallet was not big enough for my eyes. I managed to escape with a few Breaking Bad souvenirs followed by being ushered into a line for the Costume Contest.
Costume Contest
My only complaint about this one was the dimmed lighting, but I doubt my phone would have done much better even with better light. Over fifty contestants took the stage in carefully constructed costumes. My personal favorites were the Dalek, Modoka and Kyubey, and the cast of Peter Pan. There were several winners, receiving various “geek girl” merchandise as prizes. The ultimate winner was “Gears of Kitty,” Gears of War armor painting white and pink. I felt like the audience and the contestants had a great time.
Panel: “Is Star Trek a Feminist Utopia?”
The overwhelming answer, of course, was no. The panel consisted of listing off various good and bad examples of equal representation. Voyager, seen as one of the more progressive shows, featuring my personal hero Captain Kathryn Janeway, still has cringeworthy episodes and characters (I’m looking at you Seska). The panel took time to express it’s gratitude to Star Trek, providing a sense of family and belonging to many of its viewers. While Star Trek is not currently a feminist utopia, it definitely has the potential to be. Many of the questions asked during the Q&A were about people’s reactions to the new movies (surprisingly negative, though with arguably good reasons) and discussion about what we as fans would want from a more feminist Star Trek TV series. Panelists included Jamala Henderson, Jarrah Hodge, Mary Czerwinski, and Tanya Feldman.
Final Thoughts
I was very impressed with Geek Girl Con and wished I had been able to attend both days so I could have gone to more of the interesting panel discussions. I have a weak spot for Magic, though, and I tend to find myself stuck there for half of my convention time. I can’t wait to use the coupon I got to go to the EMP Museum and see the Imperial Dalek up close! I will definitely be going to Geek Girl Con next year and recommend it to anyone in the Puget Sound area.
ABOUT KAYCEE
KayCee is a disco ball. Sometimes the disco ball opens and inside is a small, sad kitten. She’s holding a big plush Millennium Falcon. She feels very bad about having inconvenienced whoever is looking at her at the time.
1 Comment
I wish I could get out to something like this one day.