BB1 Gets Geeky at Awesome Con, Indianapolis, IN

[BB1]

It was a cold morning that I made the 2 hour trip westward/northward to Indianapolis. I have personally never been to the city, and thought for a second that there was a park there, or at least nearby (SFOSL and IB come to mind).But that was not why I was here. No, for it was the Awesome Con that was the reason why I went.

A little background to why I went. I like Doctor Who, Tolkien books/movies, Thor(no, not a bandwagon), and so many more "fandom/geeky" things. End background.

I was expecting for it to be a tad bit warmer, nope, it was cold. We parked close by about near this outdoor "Fall Fest" was going on, think of our Oktoberfest, and scratch the German and rides, and you have yourself a Fall Fest! We finally made it into the Convention center (Which is a large labyrinth of corridors and rooms. I liked the Wabash rooms though, the name has a certain chime to it.) Navigating left and right we finally met the masses of the Awesome Con. Think of a mass of cosplay and normal clothed people. Finally, we got into the Con itself and it was HUGE, yet it really wasn't, but I'll touch on that later on. We got to sachet through first the comic book stand. Yes, this is the first time I truly became a "comic book nerd". I finally picked out two comics, DragonSlayer and RAGNAROK (Thor/Loki stuff). But the selection at this one stand was superb, Twilight Zones, War of The Worlds, DC, Marvel, you name it, it was probably in one of those boxes. Plus, they were a buck each! After this we went out onto the show floor and looked around at the different booths and the "celebrities" who were there. The Invader Zim cast (Yeah, it's one of those iffy shows, but I liked it for some of the dark yet light humor in it.) of the voice actors for Gir and Zim, Davies from LOTR was supposed to be there, never saw him though, and of course, Adam West. As well to add to that, numerous of different artists (Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors comic artist, and some other people that I cannot name) were strewn about. Now onto the vendors themselves, Etsy to comic book vendors, it was a plethora yet it did not seem large. Some local artists and carvers came out with their items, so did local shirt designers and etc. It was a great taste of what was the geek/fandom side of Indy and the region itself. Many of these prices were not that bad to be honest, so I took advantage of a few and bought a Gandalf shirt, a Dalek poster, and an "I WANT TO BELIEVE" poster from The X-Files, one of my personal classic Sci-Fi shows. Then when it came to the variety of the items though, they did not have much from the LOTR and Tolkien themes. For example, I could find troves and troves of SuperNatural, Walking Dead, Doctor Who (No problem with that) but what a few bits and pieces of LOTR/Tolkien? Maybe it was also the fact that many did not find interest nor was there as many vendors as what I was expecting or saw. But that wasn't such a bad thing as it made it more ambient and more open for people to browse and see what is around. Now onto the other part, the groups and what people were wearing. One of the major groups that was there was the 501st Legion. The 501st Legion is basically a group of Star Wars fans who dress up like Storm Troopers/etc from the film, and participate in things like this. As well, they make some amazing costumes and act very authentic. Adding onto that, out of all of the places I have ever been, this was by far the best place for some of the best costumes. I especially liked how in-depth alot of them went into. I E, Gandalf suit was superb, many Doctor Who fans (Such as myself) dressed similarly to the 11th or 4th, a reoccurring theme. The presentations were cool too, they were mainly by special guests, but they were interesting and were for the most part informative. Overall, I loved the trip out to Indy, it is a cool city with some old history too. If you are looking for a new con in 2015, go to Awesome Con, even though it costs a shiny penny, it makes for an amazing trip!

[shark6495]

Great read! Glad you had a great time. (Next time break that Big text into paragraphs

[MarkB.]

I'm guessing you went on Friday or Saturday because you didn't mention all the Colts fans rumbling around.(Lucas Oil Stadium is attached to the convention center) Glad you had a good time as Indy is my "home big city". You might want to keep in mind that Indy hosts a GenCon event in the summer.(That is a sight to be seen as it has been held on the same weekend as the MotoGP race in the past.)

later,

Mark

[LoraX]

I live outside of Indianapolis and had no clue this event took place.

[Oldiesmann]

Being a comic book nerd myself (I'm mostly into Archie), I had heard about it, but having just gone to the local comic show the previous weekend (Cincinnati Comic Expo), I decided to skip Awesome Con.

[Gabe]

Indy used to have a Coney-esque park located not far from downtown. Its heyday years were the 30s-50s. By the 60s it was on the decline and subsequently closed. A golf course now occupies most of the land. In the late 80s-90s, a Garfield-themed park was proposed out by the airport, but it never took off. The new airport terminal now occupies most of where that park would have been. Glad you had a nice time in my hometown.

[ahank]

Both living at working in downtown Indianapolis, I always enjoy the AwesomeCon and GenCon crowds. Glad to hear you had a great time

[BB1]

^^That may have been it! I do a bit of research of old parks and new parks so it is easy to occasionally forget.

Thanks for all the feedback and the information about GENcon!

[MDMC01]

I went to Indy a few years ago with two of my friends and we stayed at the same hotel where GenCon was being held. We didn't attend (we went to the Indy Zoo and did some other stuff in the city), but it was an unexpected surprise as none of us knew about the event beforehand.