Getting Hyper for Hypericon
Hypericon has been a mainstay in Nashville, TN for 13 years. What is Hypericon? Hypericon is a convention based around fan art, fanfiction cosplay and other types of media created by fans in any given canon. It's designed to give fans a chance to display their art work revolving around already established media.
They added a real kick this year by inviting Geek Girls Brunch Nashville (GGBN), a local chapter of the national group Geek Girls Brunch, to have a fan table and host panels on whatever geeky topics they could think of. I have been a part of Geek Girls Brunch Nashville since its inception last November. This was our first time attending a con as a group, and it was a wonderful experience. Hyericon welcomed us with open arms.
Us geeky ladies in GGBN had a lot of fun doing our panels. "Star Trek: Discovery vs. Everything Else Trek" was the panel I hosted, along with one other GGBN member. It was fun comparing Discovery to the other Star Trek shows. "Women of Doctor Who" panel presented a slide show and discussion of female companions and other women of the series. The panel "Growing Up Geek" was about how geeks raise their kids and about how us geeks were raised by our parents. And then there was "Tolkien Talk", deliberating about Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and other pieces related to their realms.
These and a few other panels rounded out our contributions. We all had fun, and hope to be invited back next year.
The main media guest was Nicholas Brendan who played Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I missed his Q&A panel, but I passed him in the hallway. He was very friendly, said, "Hi" and waved and smiled. Another guest was Cosplay Guest of Honor Ginger Oh Snap, who made a splash at Dragon Con, the largest sci-fi/fantasy con in the southeast, as Mary Jane alongside Stan Lee in the 2017 Dragon Con Parade. Here she had her own fan table and performed burlesque at the cabaret show Friday night. Caberet. It was called the "Bombshell Kittens Cabaret" with Master of Ceremonies Big Daddy Cool, a local talent who does cons and other shows in the area. He is mostly known for Dieselpunk cosplay, singing, comedy, and magic. And his backup ladies, known as the Bombshell Kittens, did their burlesque acts along with Ginger Oh Snap and a few other ladies of burlesque. This was a late night show that was not for the kiddies, but great fun for the adults.
Another adult event was the "Deadpool Dating Game". The bachelorette was Mary Jane, Peter Parker's love interest. Only in this game, she was looking for another man. The bachelors were Red Hood from DC Comics, Captain America, and Deadpool. The bachelorette and all the bachelors were in costume and stayed in character throughout the entire game. Captain America was a straight man who didn't get any of the adult jokes, while Deadpool kept putting out the adult jokes, playing them to the hilt!
"Not Just Marvel & DC: Comics Beyond the Franchises" was a panel about any independent comic book series worth mentioning. The people who were supposed to host the panel never showed up. But not to worry, because my husband Ryan and his friend Dave Bries got up and led the panel themselves. Among the independent comics they talked about were "Concrete" about a man whose brain was put into a stone body, and "Vampirella" about a female vampire who wore a skimpy outfit and is often cosplayed at cons. And then there's "Flaming Carrot and the Mystery Men" by cartoonist Bob Burden, who has been a frequent guest at Dragon Con. The panel went pretty well. Sometimes an unplanned panelist or two can save the day.
There was even a video arcade game room. I've seen these at other cons, and they are always fun. Oh the nostalgia for those of us who are old enough to have played these games in the 80s, making sure we had enough quarters in our pockets for hours of play. Of course, cons have them for free, so we could just play Centipede or pinball machines to our heart's content. There was also a gaming room with lots of board games and a small vendors room. There were several writers selling their books, most of them of the fantasy genre. The Nashville Public Library had their own table with a button-making machine so you could make buttons with whatever picture you wanted. The button machine was such a big hit that their table was crowded during most of the con.
The panel "1968: The Year in SciFi" covered a plethora of pop culture things that happened in 1968. It was a year for monumental films such as Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey. One person had a framed 3D publicity picture from the movie that was autographed by Arthur C. Clarke and star Gary Lockwood.
One of my experiences started one day before the con, when I saw a notice on Facebook that steampunk guest Sara Neathery needed backup dancers for her opening act for the Saturday night dance, appropriately called the "Time Travelers' Ball". I quickly volunteered. I love finding fun ways to participate in cons. The dance involved a little bit of choreography and a lot of improvisation. It was very short notice, but Sara and the other volunteers and I pulled it off pretty well, I would say!
I just can't go on without mentioning there was a weeping angel statue and a Ghotsbusters Stay Puft Marshmallow Man display. And the cosplayers were out in full force. There was a 4th Doctor, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Harry Potter, Mulan, Starfleet officer, Agent Carter, Joker, Black Canary, Cinderella, Belle, and Maleficent, all mingling together in the common areas. There were fan tables of local groups such as Cosplay Collective, Music City Geeks, and Tennessee Ghostbusters.
There were a few things for kids, such as "Children's Character Meet & Great", but I think it mostly centered around entertainment for grownups. It was much more about fun fan panels than celebrities. All-in-all, it was a most joyous event. It was great to be a part of this fan-run con. It was my first time attending this one, but it won't be the last.
