DarkCon 2012 – An Arizona Steampunk & Fantasy Convention [DarkCon]
If you like your ears pointy and your outfits steampunk-y, Mesa is hosting the perfect convention for you next month.
Gathering the valley’s role-playing, steampunk, and all-around fantasy nerds, DarkCon 2012 is happening in January 2012.
In addition to hosting workshops, gaming, and even LARPing, they’ll be hosting some guests of honor including: Jacqueline Carey, Doug Jones, Meg Foster, Bill Myer, Ruth Thompson, and John Wick & Ken St Andre.
- Going down on Jan 12th – 15th.
- At The Phoenix Marriott in Mesa.
- Attendance is limited to 1,200 – so get your tickets here.
- They’re $40 until the end of the year, and $50 at the door.
- (Group rates are also available. Just email them.)
- Like them on Facebook to stay up to date.
I’m sure costumes will abound, so I recommend gobbling up as much as you can from Evermore Nevermore before they close this Friday.
And if like this whole gritty-fantasy-steampunk flavor, the convention is hosted by the local fantasy group The Dark Ones, who you may want to check out.
My 2 Year Old’s Recap of Encredicon & Sci-Fi-Friday [Recap]
On Friday night I took my son Jonas with me to Downtown Mesa’s geek-themed 2nd Friday.
The evening consisted of a bazillion comic and video game artists, a handful of costumers, lots of cool people, and suprisingly cool(ish) weather.
This time, though, I gave Jonas a camera and let him take the pictures for this recap.
For a 2 year old, I think he did an awesome job! He must have downloaded some talent from his mother’s genes.
(But we probably need to work on getting that finger out of the way.)
Some visitors from a galaxy far, far away decided to visit for the evening:
First stop was Gotham City Comics:
Then we swung by The Royal to say hi and exchange books.
Got a nice tweet from it too!
Then we swung over to HeatSync Labs where this little rover was cruising around, feeding video back to the front of their space.
Jonas loved it, which is weird because he’s terrified of Rumbas for some reason…
Last stop was Evermore Nevermore where Scott Shehi drew Jonas a picture of “Pie-Man.”
(You and I know him as “Spider-man.”)
This may have been Jonas’ favorite part of the evening due to that big red bowl on the bottom left of the picture.
Evermore Nevermore also hosted the SciFi Fashion show, which was very steampunk oriented with a few time traveling hotties thrown in the mix:
Technically, we did go check out the LEGO display at the Mesa Arts Theater, but it was pretty dang dissapointing – hardly anything there, and what was there was not worth posting about. Oh well.
We had a great evening, got to see some awesome folks (like Sarah) and even met some readers for the first time.
Mad props to Mesa for morphing into a kind of East Valley nerd mecca, and a big thanks to Jonas for taking the pictures!
5 Things For Geeks To Do This Weekend In Arizona [WE 08/14]
This weekend, Arizona has a Unicorn party, throws some tiger upercuts, & puts on a steampunk variety show.
I’ll be heading out of the heat this weekend, so I’ve arranged for some events to go on to keep you entertained without me.
(Okay, they were happening anyway.)
Friday, August 12th
- Taking place at the steampunky/post-apocolyptic-y Rusted Nail.
- Check out tons of custom resin toys by tons of artists.
- And learn how to make them yourself if you’re curious.
- All evening long in downtown Mesa.
- Grab some details on Facebook.
Street Fighter II Tournament [Phoenix]
- Hadouuuuuken!
- Yoga flame the competition at Cade Gallery.
- It’s free, so show up at 7pm and earn some 90′s bragging rights.
- Details, and more tournaments, at Press The Pause Button.
Unicorn Mixer & Petting Zoo! [Phoenix]
- Bastian’s dad may not understand, but these local authors/artists do.
- And they’re launching a new book about raising magical unicorns.
- Join the party at Co+Hoots in Phoenix at 7pm.
- A unicorn art show there will even be a unicorn petting zoo!
- Grab the magical details on the Facebook.
- (PS – Bastian’s utterly disdainful look makes me laugh out loud every time.)
- If you’ve ever played the NES, I recommend you see The Minibosses live at least once.
- They’ll be playing at the Yucca Tap Room Friday night.
- Old school Nintendo songs will be rocked.
- A tiny bit more information here.
Saturday, August 13th
Steampunk Vaudville Show [Tempe]
- A Victorian-era fantasy sci-fi variety show?
- It would appear so!
- At the Plaza de Anaya starting at 6:30pm.
- Tickets are $10 and you can grab them online,or pay $15 at the door.
- All the details (and tickets) you can handle here.
Now, go forth, cephalobots, and consume Arizona with your might this weekend.
Leave no event unattended, no game un-played, no unicorn un-petted.
