cosplay at CTC
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
Central Texas College held the first ever GeekFest Preview Saturday night at the Mayborn Science Theater to give a taste of what GeekFest will be like come August.
The free event had mini-programs like Retro Gaming or Dungeons and Dragons Online as well as Dragon Ball Z Abridged and a question and answer program regarding costuming and cosplaying. The event was also the last time to purchase wristbands with Early Bird pricing for the eighth annual GeekFest, set for August 18-20.
There were also a few tables set up representing vendors and groups that will be at GeekFest, such as some newcomers, the Central Texas Steampunk group, fully dressed in costume, set up in the rotunda,.
Rusty Briggs and her husband Jack Briggs, both members of the group, have been coming to GeekFest since 2015.
“I think it’s growing nicely,” Jack said. “The first year we came it was a little subdued- they could have used more rock bands- but last year was pretty good. Got to see Deadpool and Captain Jack Sparrow.”
Briggs went on to explain that Steampunk allows a person to have freedom in becoming a character, and not just sticking to a Spiderman costume or something similar.
“You can be who you want to be and you can invent yourself and invent your own timeline, and things like that,” Briggs said. “There’s something for everyone. Don’t be shy because no matter who you are or how you dress, you’re gonna have a lot of fun.”
Rusty added that GeekFest is a great place for people to meet up and “geek out.”
Other presenters include Maria Gonzales, who drives the TexasTARDIS, which is the only BBC-approved Mini Cooper that looks like the flying time machine from the renowned BBC show, Doctor Who.
The TexasTARDIS is a 2005 Mini TT Type 40 Mark 3 Cooper S, painted blue with various decals on the car marking it as the blue police box from the show.
The car acts as a conversation starter that allows Gonzales to transition into talking about autism and sensory processing disorder, which her son has.
The car started as a reason to get her son to go to school, Gonzales said. He liked Doctor Who out of all the shows they were watching and she used that as motivation to get him to get into the TexasTARDIS and go to school.
In addition to letting people take pictures with her car and talk about mental health awareness, Gonzales also sold merchandise and had a table set up for face painting. The rainy weather moved her table inside, away from the blue car, but at GeekFest, she hopes to be set up near her car, she said.
Bawcom explained that they started the preview this year because of how often they talk to people who say they’ve never heard of GeekFest. Bawcom also shared things that were new last year and would be new this year.
GeekFest takes up the entire Mayborn Science Theater, all of the Anderson Campus Center and all of the Student Center, with over 75 vendors and over 100 programs over the 3-day period, Bawcom said. There will also be celebrity guests, an anime contest, a costume contest, a cake contest and lots of gaming tournaments. There will also be vendors selling merchandise, food trucks, an Artist Alley and an interactive collaborative comic book, called Comic Jam, where an artist starts the comic with one or two panels and guests can continue the story by buying a panel at a time.
There will also be movies, like the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” playing in the Dome.
“There’s just a little of everything anything geeky people enjoy,” Bawcom said.
GeekFest is different from other Comic and Anime events because it’s really fans who create and run it and it’s non-profit, with proceeds going to scholarships for CTC students, Bawcom said.
Last year, one of the guests was Christopher Reed, from “Sons of Anarchy”, held an acting workshop, Bawcom said. This year, there will be a film festival sponsored by Gumball Entertainment. Film submissions will be in three categories- Short Film, Feature Film and Trailer- and must be appropriate for all ages. There are only four genres: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Superhero and Fantasy. The deadline to submit finished films is June 30.
The Baylor Quidditch Team is also bringing Quidditch demonstrations back to GeekFest, and visitors can also experience the GeekFest Harry Potter Yule Ball being held August 18 in the Roy J. Smith Student Center.
Tickets are still available for GeekFest. VIP Passes are $50 and available in advance only until August 17. Three-day wristbands will be $20 in advance until August 17 and $30 at the door; and one-day wristbands will be $15 in advance until August 17 and $20 at the door.