{"id":707,"date":"2016-10-28T19:19:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-29T00:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=707"},"modified":"2019-03-06T07:24:23","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T13:24:23","slug":"visioncon-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2016\/10\/28\/visioncon-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"VisionCon 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

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VisionCon 2016<\/strong><\/h1>\n

by Caleb Brubaker with Joshua Heston<\/h3>\n

\u201dAnd that\u2019s when I created the first elven vampire,\u201d said best-selling science-fiction \/ fantasy author Christie Golden from stage. I seated myself next to Batman and a stout fellow in a shabby Jedi cloak. I was, after all, at VisionCon \u2014 surrounded by cosplayers (those who dress in costumes associated with science-fiction and fantasy stories) \u2014 at the Hilton Convention Center in Branson, Missouri.<\/p>\n

Here there is a plethora of strange. It is not every day you stand in line for a bottle of water behind Batman\u2019s Riddler, the voluptuous Poison Ivy, and a Royal Guard from Star Wars. After paying for my Dasani, I looked over to see a man brandishing a katana. Beside him was a girl dressed in pure white, wearing fox-ear earmuffs.<\/p>\n

Catwoman and another Batman posed for photos next to the catsup and mustard.<\/p>\n

Scenes like these are not isolated at VisionCon. Cosplayers often put great effort into their costumes and each costume can mean many things. For some, it can be a fun way to express appreciation for some particular piece of sci-fi \/ fantasy literature. Some dress as characters they admire. Others dress as characters they relate to. Or characters they wish they were. Or characters they fear to become!<\/p>\n

Each costume is a window into the human spirit. But how did this convention\u00a0begin in the Ozarks?<\/p>\n

Author E.M. Irvin has been a part of VisionCon from the start. \u201cFirst and foremost,\u201d she remembers, \u201cit was a gaming convention. Where geeks can show up and be with other people like them.\u201d Twenty years ago attendance was small.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love how much bigger it\u2019s getting and how much it\u2019s growing. How there\u2019s more opportunity. There are more things happening. The Convention Center is huge and gorgeous. We have like a thousand more people than we did last year.”<\/p>\n

She then shared\u00a0something profound. \u201cMost of us have been considered outcasts for one reason or another because of something we like \u2014 something we find interesting. It could be what we look like. Because of that we tend to come together and be more supportive as a whole. People\u00a0[at events like VisionCon]\u00a0are less likely to judge each other more harshly for superficial things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keynote speaker Sam Witwer (Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Being Human, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels<\/em>) specializes in playing broken characters. On\u00a0Being Human<\/em>, he gave depth to Aidan, a vampire haunted by his past debaucheries and\u00a0tormented by inner demons. \u201cHumanizing is really the only job on that set,\u201d he noted as we sat down for a one-on-one interview. \u201cFor me I was just a guy battling addiction.\u201d Witwer has since been nominated for an Emmy in his voice acting work on\u00a0Star Wars: The Clone Wars<\/em>.<\/p>\n

People cosplay for the same reason stories have always been told: to manifest the human spirit. \u201cAll art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril,\u201d wrote Oscar Wilde in the preface of\u00a0Dorian Gray<\/em>. At VisionCon and events like it, that peril is openly embraced.<\/p>\n

Attendees share their own oddness proudly, without fear of ridicule. Many cosplayers feel alienated by a media-driven culture glorifying certain ways of looking, acting or being. \u201cMainstream\u201d it might be called and these people don\u2019t fit in. Here, however, is a place where differences are celebrated.<\/p>\n

(Continued below)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The crowded convention floor of VisionCon 2016 at the Branson Convention Center, February 26-28, 2016.<\/p>\n

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Best-selling author Christie Golden (left) converses with writer Caleb Brubaker (right).<\/p>\n

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Hollywood actor Sam Witwer (right) answers vampire- and StarWars-associated\u00a0questions.<\/p>\n

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“You are like a trained ape!” Joss Whedon’s iconic though ill-fated\u00a0Firefly<\/em> is relived by fans.<\/p>\n

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Artist Josh Cullen is one of many Ozarks-region artists to share at VisionCon.<\/p>\n

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Cat woman and Batman pose for eager fans.<\/p>\n

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VisionCon 2016…<\/h1>\n

Continued from above<\/h3>\n

“No one will believe you’re Spiderman,” I told Deadpool, the comic book-turned-movie-anti-hero brought to life in the recent \u2014and controversial \u2014 R-rated film. In the comic book, there is a long-running gag in which he is regularly mistaken for Spiderman. \u201cNice beard, Obi Wan,” he retorted, referring to my beard’s similarity to that of Star Wars’ archetypal wizard. This is the open, playful mood of VisionCon.<\/p>\n

\u201cYer the boss, boss,\u201d noted Captain Malcolm Reynolds in a live performance of Joss Whedon\u2019s\u00a0Firefly<\/em>, a sci-fi show canceled in 2003 before it had even completed its first season. The Reynolds character was played by Nathan Fillion on tv but here was brought to life by a young and commanding woman. Gender roles reverse regularly in cosplay, a strange nod to classical Shakespearean times in which women\u2019s roles were played by men. Despite\u00a0Firefly\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0brief time on tv over a decade ago, the room was packed with fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I got invited [to attend as an artist] I didn\u2019t even know it was a thing,\u201d shares Josh Cullins, a Lebanon, Missouri artist who creates \u201880s and \u201890s horror and sci-fi art when he\u2019s not teaching grade school. \u201cIt feels like family. It\u2019s a weird thing that people with so many [diverse] passions are able to coexist. I\u2019m not a very social person. This is my place to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Role-play gaming has been an integral part of VisionCon since its early days and entire breakout rooms are set aside for gamers. \u201cRoleplaying is about creating a story,\u201d explains Kenneth Kidder of the Tortured Earth game. \u201cIt\u2019s not about these monstrous, over-the-top characters.\u201d Tortured Earth is a \u201cclass-less, level-less game set in an apocalyptic future,\u201d in which characters may \u201ctransition directly from medieval fantasy into futuristic sci-fi or Elizabethan horror without interruption to character development or story balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that day, a Sci-Fi & Shakespeare panel led by Ozarks Technical Community College\u2019s Donna Graham reminded convention-goers that Star Trek explored our own humanity even more than it explored deep space. Whether Shakespeare or Star Trek, the real monster was often within the protagonist\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

VisionCon even provided its own folksy Star Trek song to hit the point home. Sung by a guitar-strumming man who looked more like an Australian drover than a sleek, brainy alien, the chorus was heartfelt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt changed our hearts, it changed our minds \/ It made us all a little bit color-blind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Shakespeare\u2019s influence on science fiction goes deeper than you might expect. A ripe example is the 1956 film\u00a0Forbidden Planet<\/em>, a space adaptation of\u00a0The Tempest<\/em>. \u201cO brave new world that has such people in it!\u201d exclaims lovely\u00a0Miranda when, after long isolation, she sees her handsome prince. Never mind the obvious science fiction feel of the supporting characters (an evil warrior sprite, a witch\u2019s son, a long-dead sorceress) and focus \u2014 if just for a moment! \u2014 on the humanity. \u201cHow beauteous mankind is,\u201d pines Miranda. It is her longing to touch humanity that draws her to the prince.<\/p>\n

It is that same longing that brings people together at VisionCon. Isolation is the theme of\u00a0The Tempest<\/em>. People who cannot \u2014 either publicly or privately \u2014 live up to the superficial standards of a mainstream world feel isolated in so many ways. Here, they touch humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much do I know about Shakespeare?\u201d quotes Graham rhetorically. \u201cNot as much as Shakespeare knows about me.\u201d I propose a furthered aphorism. \u201cHow much do I know about science fiction? Not as much as science fiction knows about me.\u201d\u00a0 Each time we tell a new sci-fi \/ fantasy story, we place our shared struggles and ideas in new light. The humanity of VisionCon is its strength. As author Christie Golden says, \u201cPeople are people. Even if they are orcs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Caleb Brubaker of St. James, Missouri, is a current student at College of the Ozarks where he studies English and journalism. He served as intern with StateoftheOzarks during the spring\u00a0semester of 2016.<\/p>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text] VisionCon 2016 by Caleb Brubaker with Joshua Heston \u201dAnd that\u2019s when I created the first elven vampire,\u201d said best-selling science-fiction \/ fantasy author Christie Golden from stage. I seated myself next to Batman and a stout fellow in a shabby Jedi cloak. I was, after all, at VisionCon \u2014 surrounded by cosplayers (those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[956,582,581],"tags":[66,68,70,72,63,71,69,65,62,73,67,64],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozarknerds","category-sotoarchive","category-sotofeature","tag-christie-golden","tag-deadpool","tag-dorian-gray","tag-e-m-irvin","tag-firefly","tag-jedi","tag-oscar-wilde","tag-sam-witwer","tag-science-fiction","tag-shakespeare","tag-star-trek","tag-starwars","category-956","category-582","category-581","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":711,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}