WonderCon! (Part One)

by Dana

Eleventy-million years ago, my home-room teacher drew the entire class's attention to me. 

“This one's yours, right?”  She held up a piece of paper.  “The one with the dodecahedrons doodled all over it?”

Busted. 

“They're dice,” I said, wishing I could sink into the floor.  The yearbook ballots, the ones where the class decided about favorite TV shows, class clown, etc., were anonymous for a reason.

"Dice with twelve sides?”

“Yup.”

"And Dr. Who is your favorite TV show?”  she persisted, as if unaware of all the heads turning my way.   

In 19-aught-Neolithic, virtually no one in my town had heard of Dr. Who.  There was maybe a handful, and we were all in the same Dungeons and Dragons group using those polyhedral dice.  If I say Tom Baker was the latest Doctor then— complete with scarf, TARDIS, sonic screwdriver, and K-9—you'll get an idea of how long ago this was.  (Above: I'm with the wonderful LeAnna (of Mysterious Galaxy Books), as the personification of a TARDIS.)

Dark muttering in the classroom.  Not good.

"Yep.  Dr. Who.”

“Huh.”  She went back to the other ballots, which would eventually pick “Dallas” or “Dynasty” or something as best TV show for my class. 

Thanks, lady.  Draw attention to my unpopular tastes, then leave me to the jackals.

Fortunately, that was senior year, so prom, graduation, and What Happens After swallowed up that particular of mine shortly.

Flash forward to southern California a bunch of decades later.  Last weekend.  I am at WonderCon, where everyone revels in their geekitude and fandoms (right: Wonder Woman, the Easter Bunny, Xena).  I was there to do a panel and sign copies of my latest book, Seven Kinds of Hell (it's a great place to have folks with lots of interests see your work).  The attendees often show up in costume, and the most popular costume I've seen is a version of the TARDIS, mostly worn by young women. 

I am no longer alone in my geekishness.  We not only walk the earth, we rule it!

(Left: You remember Ripley, from Aliens, right?) 

WonderCon is a part of the Comic-Con family of events.  Although smaller than the San Diego affair, where movies are premiered, it's still pretty big, with around 40,000 people attending over a long weekend.  That's a good-sized town's population!  Fannishness and creativity in popular culture is celebrated.  There are comic book writers and illustrators, artisans peddling everything from steampunk goggles to light sabres, and panels on new TV shows, how-tos, and retrospectives.  People pay homage to their favorite fandoms.  Entire families go, and every age/ethnic/gender group is represented.

In addition to the TARDIS costumes, I also saw:  Flocks of Sailors Moon, Black Widows, Ghost Busters.  Jedi and Sith and Rebel Alliance pilots, oh my!  A Wonder Woman costume, worn by an older man.  Several BBC Sherlocks who are younger women.  Old-school X-Men, new-school Hawkeyes; Pokemon; Mortal Kombat characters; a Leeloo (Mila Jovovich's character from The Fifth Element) in Jean-Paul Gaultier couture-like bandages; flocks of Whovians in fezes, scarves, bowties, tweed.  A boat-load of Hobbits; I saw the Mouth of Sauron waiting in line at the burrito truck.  Several Battlestar Galactica re-boot Starbucks.  A Sookie Stackhouse in Merlotte's uniform.  There's even someone dressed as Dana Cameron, in a t-shirt and jeans and hiking shoes...

Okay, that one is me. 

This is beyond Bouchercon, beyond Boskone, beyond World Fantasy, and I haven't even made it to the panels, yet.

There are lots of zombies, zombie hunters, and zombie chow.  Steampunkers, anime and game characters.  Folks wearing t-shirts celebrating Firefly, science, and every comic book hero imaginable.  And in terms of comics, there's everyone from the large publishers to small indies, gay comics, Christian comics, monster comics, caped-superhero comics, retro comics, and things that look to me like they, um, mostly depict the improbable curves of improbable, gymnastic, and pliant women. 

And those are just the ones I can recognize.   I've been lapped by popular culture, and am eager to find out what I've been missing.  Turns out, much of what I used to know is still current.  Fandoms don't necessarily fade away; they just multiply.  (Above; Victorian Whovians, possibly from "The Snowmen."  :) Note the TARDIS parasol.)

Tomorrow!  Find "WonderCon (Part Two)" at the Jungle Reds blog, wherein I describe one of my personal con highlights!

Comments

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

WOW!

And as for the teacher: HAH!

[Kelly Saderholm]

Oh, Dana, can we talk high school geek? I played DnD in the one of the Band practice rooms-nicely soundproofed in case the melee rounds got too animated. I sealed my high-school geekdom when My senior English teacher assigned us an essay comparing and contrasting two fictional characters- and I wrote about Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Spock. (Either my teacher was a bit of a geek herself, or she was bored with all the Dynasty/Dallas comparisons because I got an A and she never breathed a word.)

So adding-WonderCon to my list.

[Dana Cameron]

Right, Hank?

Ooh, that essay sounds great, Kelly! You'd have a blast at WonderCon.

[catriona mcpherson]

Wonderful! I am still a bit unsettled from when John Pertwee became Tom Baker and my parents and big sisters thought nothing of it . . .
Also, it's just occurred to me that when young US Whovians visit England and see Tardises on the street, they must get quite excited

[Dana Cameron]

It's such a weird viewer moment, Catriona, to see the metamorphosis, isn't it? And yeah, I saw a "TARDIS" in Australia, outside a museum of police work! Took a picture, of course!

[Elaine Viets]

Geeks and nerds do rule -- we're just late bloomers. But boy, do we have fun when we come into our own.
Loved the photos on this blog, Dana.

[Dana Cameron]

Thanks so much, Elaine! I was very pleased to see so many families geeking together.

[krisneri]

I love Comic-cons, too, and this one looks great. What's wrong with teachers who try to stifle kids from growing into the interesting, creative people they want to be? Elaine is right, geeks and nerds do bloom later, but we enjoy longer blooms.

[Dana Cameron]

You know, Kris, I suspect that teacher was just intrigued, but picked a really poor way of expressing it. Love "longer blooms"!