Wednesday, June 17, 2015

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...


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.


  1. VT is so small that we don't get much. The sites I've been able to find aren't updated enough. The only reason I found out about was that I saw a sign while driving through Springfield last month.
    By the way, if you want to attend a convention in the (hopefully) cool New England almost-fall, the one linked above has a lot going on at an inn with its own observatory .
    I am in no way affiliated w/this and will probably be out of state that weekend :(

  2. my 2 favorite costumes, i don't recognize the reference for?
    #1 the girl int he tardis with the awesome hair and hat and
    #2 below her--the lady spattered with blood and holding some sort of gun
    anybody halp?

    1. I'm not sure, but the little girl kind of looks like the Johnny Depp version of the Mad Hatter.

    2. The blood splattered girl is Elizabeth from bioshock infinite. And I agree that the other one looks like the mad hatter

    3. KA & Bronwayn already got it covered, but yep, Elizabeth & Mad Hatter!

  3. SQUEEEEE! An adorable photo of Jen!

    SQUEEEEE! Suh-weet pics of excellent costumes and awesome art from a Florida con I've never heard of!

    SQUEEEEE! Horsies!!!!

    SQUEEEEE! John in socks trying to knock his pal over with a giant Q-tip!

    SQUEEEEE! Is that...could it be...the Epcot-loving Jeff of CW Spaceship Earth fame?!?! I mean, maybe you guys have more than one friend named Jeff, but nah! I want this guy to be THE Jeff!

    SQUEEEEE! Cute mini-Leia bites the dust!

    Thanks for all the squees, Jen!


    1. You crack me up, KW. :)

      Lessee... Jeff of CW Spaceship Earth fame? Egads, I'm lost! Although we *do* have more than one friend named Jeff?

  4. I believe the technical term for the padded bar thingies is 'pugil sticks' - you obviously haven't seen enough episodes of 'Gladiators'.

  5. Jen,

    How was your social anxiety? Sounds like you did great. How is Lilly?


    P.S. It was great to see you in Pittsburgh!

    1. I actually do great at cons, anxiety-wise. I'm the rare panic person who *doesn't* mind crowds and lots of people, unless of course they're blocking my route to the exit.

      Lily's still doing great, but has another over-grooming spot we're keeping an eye on. I'm just glad I get unlimited snuggling time with her again. :)

    2. Jen,

      I am really happy for you and I know how great it is being able to snuggle with your cat again after being separated for awhile. Is the gluten thing still working for you as well?

  6. That is so cool! I would love to find a smaller con to go to in north west ar or MO (there is one in Little rock but that is FIVE HOURS AWAY) before we come to dragon con in GA. We are planning to go in two years after we have accrued sufficient vacation days.

    1. I found one for Arkansas in my back yard at the end of July!! Glitchcon. Its seems more like a gamer con and I think that is key to dragging my broski along ! But I will go alone if necessary. ( though the idea of that freaks me out a little) SQUEEEE IM SO EXCITED IM GONNA DIE

  7. There's a site called Upcoming Conventions that has a variety of conventions like anime, comic book, steampunk. It also has a map and some states has page with a list of conventions.

    It doesn't list all the conventions though as I checked my state and it's missing Wizard World in August and a very small one at the Lockport Library.

  8. Those costumes are amazing, but the girl dressed as Agent Carter completely missed an opportunity... she looks EXACTLY like Meg from Supernatural! That smirk? Perfection!

  9. A Renfaire outside of a convention!?! Win and win, i'd say! Love the mini Leia takedown!

  10. I need an inflatable bouncy house with padded q-tips for my backyard.
    And magazine art storm trooper is fantastic!
    Also, you're adorable.
    Glad you survived the heat!!

    --Piper P from Washington State

  11. OMG, Jen was in Melbourne?! How did I miss that? I live in Melbourne! I think this was the weekend I was at DHS for SWWE, and I was actually looking out for you there. Imagine, you were right in my backyard the whole time I was in yours! LOL

  12. Here on the Treasure Coast (about 2 hours south of you), we're having our first Treasure Coast ComicCon this weekend! My daughter and I go to Orlando for MegaCon, so glad to have a Con close by! You should check out their website,, if for no other reason than to see the amazing typo that's worthy of a Cake Wrecks catastrophe. Hopefully the Con will be run better than their graphics department!

  13. If you're in the Chicago area, there's Windycon ( and in the Greater St. Louis area is my home convention - Archon ( Archon is usually around 2000 people, with programming almost 24 hours a day. It's a great Con for readers, costumers, and filkers.

    I'd also suggest checking the community billboard at your local library, bookstore, comic book shop, or game store.

    When you DO get to a Con, be sure to check the freebie table - there are generally flyers for upcoming conventions there.

  14. The state sport of Maryland is jousting so our Ren faire ALWAYS has it several times a day. It's great fun and I'm SUPER excited to go this year because my friend is making me a dress to wear as my birthday/Christmas present for last year. The late summer heat will not be fun but I'll be wearing an Italian Renaissance dress so I don't really care!

  15. Oh, how fun! I did a little *SQUEE* when I saw you. LOOK! Jen totally geeking out!! Hahahaha So glad you went and had fun. I cannot even imagine how hot those jousters were in armor. I've seen that at Ren fairs also and they are always fun. LOVE the pics -- thanks very much for sharing.
    Maureen S

  16. is a good starting point of finding names of cons that are coming, it still usually involves more googling to find websites and details. :) Happy conventioning!

  17. Looks like it was great fun! Your posts about the different cons around here really inspire me to seek them out. Why just be relegated to the large cons?

  18. Thank you for the support and kind words. Space Coast Nerd Fest is continuing to grow and will be held again April 16th & 17th 2016 at the Melbourne Rialto Hilton.

