The season has arrived, my fellow nerds. I’m not talking about baseball season, finals season, rabbit season or duck season. No, I’m talking about the greatest, most glorifying season for all geeks out there. Convention season, of course.

Convention season is the best time of the year for geeks. I’m not sure who decreed it, but all of the best geek conventions seem to pop up during the summer. San Diego Comic-Con, E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo, for those who have never touched a video game controller in their life), Philadelphia Comic Con, Chicago Comic Con … you get my point. It’s like Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, your birthday and Presidents Day all wrapped up in a few months of nerd bliss. And Stormtrooper costumes.

Whether they are geared toward comic books, video games or anime, conventions occur when geeks around the world converge under one roof to, well … nerd out. We meet, greet and geek with our fellow enthusiasts to whine about ‘Tekken 1’ being better than ‘Tekken 2,’ or wish for our greatest geek desires. (Doctor Doom/Howard the Duck team-up, anyone?) Rock stars from the nerd kingdom visit us geek-plebeians. People who dress up as every fictional character known to man wait in line just to get their autographs. And yes, donning all those hot costumes can result in some pretty rank body odor. But hey, anything to get my ‘Predator’ T-shirt signed, right?

In all seriousness, geek conventions have a lot going for them. Attributes people wouldn’t consider off the top of their head. For instance, they serve as an appetizer to all the great video games and movies on the horizon. Where else can you find Scarlett Johansson showing off exclusive clips of ‘Iron Man 2?’ Or better yet, try out a video game months before it’s released? I mean, I’m pretty sure a trip to a Blockbuster store can’t cover that.

And where do they get all those wonderful toys? Every piece of memorabilia is lined up for viewing pleasure around the convention floor. Naturally, geeks swarm like hyenas on an antelope around these coveted glass cases, drooling over action figures we won’t even be able to buy for another six months. Just don’t cut the line to the visual feeding frenzy. Get between a geek and his replica of Boba Fett’s helmet and he or she might start acting like their plastic lightsaber is real. You’ve been warned.

At the end of every convention, when all costumes, toys and Scarlett Johansson fans are removed, conventions are really about one thing: the fans. Before all these big companies and corporate sponsors became involved, conventions were started by the geeks, for the geeks.

While there are plenty of geeks in the world, they tend to be scattered everywhere, left to fend for themselves. Conventions are when all geeks can meet up on such a large scale. It’s no different than fans tailgating before a football game. It’s a place where geeks can actually meet, face to face. And I’m sorry, ‘LightingLass34,’ but I don’t care what you said on those message boards. You look nothing like Wonder Woman, so leave me alone.

So to all the geeks who have never been to a convention: You’re missing out. Heck, even if you’re not a geek, give it a shot. Yeah, it may smell a little bit, and yeah, there might two girls in the entire room, but it’s the world we live in. The important part is geeks can actually act like a functioning, interactive community for a few months. Even if we all don’t look like Wonder Woman.

Flash Steinbeiser is a communications and rhetorical studies and writing major and the feature editor. He’d like to go to Comic Con dressed as the Joker but is afraid those guys dressed as Batman again will beat him up … again. If you have any better costume ideas, you can contact him at ansteinb@syr.edu.
 

Published on April 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm