GenreCon 2013

It was a rainy and foggy day that would usually keep most people wanting to stay inside, but for some people the venture out meant taking the wonderful advantage of making it to GenreCon in Guelph.

For those of you that don’t know what GenreCon is, it’s a convention that is packed with everything to do with literature, film, horror, sci fi, fantasy, comics and much more. The event is packed with vendors selling everything from cross stitched Mario and Kirby pictures to Steam Punk clothing and independent comic books. There is a timetable handed out of panels covering just about everything you could possibly think about. You can sit in and discuss Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or take a class and learn everything you wanted to know about LARP. People will travel from hours away just to showcase their newly created cosplay piece or sit in and learn about the Doctor Who Dalek’s on site. GenreCon was a place you can walk down a hall and run into a stormtrooper, Jean Grey, a red dragon, and a Dalek all at once.

During my time there I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with a gentleman by the name of Alfonso who has been in the comic industry doing self-publishing with his company Studio Comix for years. His comics were neatly spread across the table and what started as a conversation about his very talented work very easily turned into a conversation about movies, the comic industry and many more things. That is one of the greatest parts about any convention; that you can stop and talk to anyone and 9 times out of 10 you find someone so down to earth that you can pick up a conversation as if you’ve know the person for years.

A cosplayer posing as Dark Phoenix.

From there I spent some time going up the aisles and seeing all the different thing people had to offer. If you’ve never been to a con, you have to either leave your wallet at home or be prepared to bring enough money to satisfy the urges you will get to buy almost everything you see. After leaving the amazing displays in the vendor hall that GenreCon had to offer, I decided to make my way into some of the demonstration rooms. My first stop was in a large room with three Dalek’s set up and a gentleman sharing some very entertaining stories about him and his Dalek. As hard as it was to pull away, I moved onto a room where I heard a lot of banging and yelling. As I walked in, I find myself dead smack in a room full of people dressed up and having a LARP battle. LARP, if you don’t know, is Live Action Role Playing, and these particular people looked like they were having the time of their life smashing their foam sword and weapons into each other’s shields. It’s one room I could definitely say everyone comes out less stressed. From there I passed by a room where there were a few people around a table playing a Game of Thrones board game. I made sure not to get sucked in as I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan and didn’t want to miss the rest of what Genre Con had to offer.

Once you get to the upstairs things seem to quiet down a bit. You can see a lot of cosplayers outside doing photo shoots and moving from one shoot to the next or just taking a quick break. It’s amazing how much work and thought goes into each and every cosplay, and GenreCon had nothing but talented people roaming the hallways and conference rooms. After a quick break, I took part in a few very engaging panels about sci-fi and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., before heading back down to get some more photos and chat with some more people about their interests and experiences.

I’ve been to a few cons, and GenreCon had a little of everything. It was an incredibly enjoyable day packed with amazingly friendly people. I only wish I could have spent more time at what may be one of my personal favorite cons of the year. I will definitely be back to the next GenreCon, and hope that you can join me or stop by and say hi. I just may be one of those people glued to a gaming table next time.