Space Coast Nerd Fest

Last month John and I went with some friends to check out Space Coast Nerd Fest, a little convention out in Melbourne.

This was a pretty unique con, in that it combined a mini Ren Fair outside with a mini convention inside. Of course, it being summer in Florida, having anything outside is a bad call in my book. We were dying just waiting in the short line to buy tickets!

The inside parts were nicely air-conditioned, though, and consisted of a large packed vendor hall with a stage at one end for events. Plenty of vendors, lots of attendees - heck, they even had a little BSG ship you could take photos in for free:

I'm holding a little Daggit. LITTLE DAGGIT!

I'm calling this a little con, but that's in comparison to the behemoths like MegaCon and Dragon Con. Truth is, this was a great size for newbies, with just enough crowds to make it fun, but not so much to be overwhelming.

Now, a few costumes:

 

 

 (Gravity Falls!)

 

Luigi's Mansion! Here's a reference:

She really nailed that backpack, right?

This artist was doing amazing things with magazine clippings, if you can believe it:

And over in the Droid Builders booth, a steampunk R2 in the works:

 :)

I finally binge-watched all of Agent Carter, btw. SO GOOD. (Have you seen it? Go see it!)

An amazing group of Star Wars costumes showed up in time for the costume contest:

I've never seen anyone cosplay an Ithorian before - very cool! Love the feet.

And a perfect Jawa & Bounty Hunter:

 I happened to be in the right place just as all the Mandalorians got together for a group photo:

 

Later, we braved the heat to go watch a little jousting:

That's right: full-contact jousting! At a con!

The knights did a great job hamming it up and making us laugh. Sorry I didn't get any action shots, though; I was in the back of the crowd.

There were also a bunch of outside vendor tents, which we speed-browsed because did I mention how hot it was? Urg. Oh, and there was a big inflatable ring for, uh... doing this?

For a couple of bucks you could balance on a bean bag, balanced on a big inflatable bouncy house, and try to whack each other with padded bar thingies. (Technical term.)

That's John and our friend Jeff up there, and they proved to be so entertaining that the operators just let them keep going, even after their few minutes was up.

When I say "entertaining," I mean:

John tells me it was more fun falling down than trying to balance. So he did. A LOT. Ha! 

As the guys were getting their shoes back on, we watched an adorable little Leia & princess get into position:

They could barely lift the bars!

And then...

 

:D

I hope this encourages you guys to seek out the smaller cons in your area; they really are fun, and are a great way to mingle with your fellow geeks without the crowds and stress of the bigger conventions.

Also, if any of you know of a good place online for *finding* local cons (besides Google, of course), please share in the comments! Even as plugged in as I try to be, I still miss stuff here in Orlando, so I know it's not easy to keep up.