Calling all Gauteng geeks: It's ICON time

-
If you're a geeky-hearted individual in the Gauteng area this weekend, it's worth hitting ICON, South Africa's biggest gaming and comics convention. Sure there's the annual rAge Expo for the video gamers and techies, but ICON caters for gamers of the character sheet-wielding, dice-throwing, boardgame-loving, miniatures-painting, card game-playing variety. Oh, and the LARPers and cosplayers as well.


Anyway, you can download the ICON 2011 brochure here or ask any questions you have on the Facebook event page. In summary though, these are the details you need to know:

When: Friday, 15 - Sunday, 17 July
Where: Jabula Recreation Centre, Athlone Avenue, Sandringham, Johannesburg
How much: R20 per day entry or R40 for the entire weekend.
PLUS, budget approximately R25 per activity you wish to participate in, and put some cash aside for the dozens of comic, gaming, geek lifestyle and anime exhibitors who will be punting their wares.
This year's dress-up theme: Steampunk

Although budget and leave constraints mean I can't make the con this year, I had a fantastic time when I attended ICON 2009 (Post 1, Post 2 here) . So I leave 2011 attendees with a few words of advice:

  • Saturday is the best day to attend.
  • Buy a commemorative mug, which comes with free hot beverage refills for the entire weekend (you'll need it).
  • Don't forget to try out the demo boardgames.
  • Never expect the RPGs to run according to the printed schedule.
  • Take your vitamins and immune boosters beforehand if you want to try and avoid debilitating "con flu."
  • Seize the opportunity to socialise and have fun with like-minded, passionate individuals. The South African role-playing community - or at least those guys and gals who regularly reach out and make the effort to popularise the pastime - is surprisingly small.

Have fun and be safe!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov...
Read more

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Queer Icon (Part 4)

-
Image
Part 4: The mystery of Lara Croft’s sexuality “Now what’s a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?” – Larson Conway (Tomb Raider, 1996) Despite being an icon for many queer pop culture consumers, Lara Croft’s own sexual orientation remains ambiguous. Outside of the Top Cow comics and live-action films – where Lara is blatantly heterosexual, with a fondness for slightly scruffy bad boys (who keep betraying and hurting her) – the character comes across as primarily asexual. Kurtis Trent is the only male figure who even comes close to being a love interest in the game series. Lara's apparent sexual disinterest is despite the adventurer appearing very sexually attractive herself; a figure of desire with bee-stung lips, voluptuous breasts, toned stomach and impossibly long, athlete’s legs. Yet Lara is never dominated by sexual yearnings or romantic affections. She is very much in control of herself at all times. It’s worth noting, however, that over time th...
Read more

Ladies I Love: Part 2 - Rhona Mitra

-
Image
Following on from the first post in this series , you may realise that I have a very definite type. Anyway, today we profile model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra . This 36 year old Briton is of English, Irish and Indian descent. You'll have seen her pop up on the big and small screen multiple over the past decade and a half, although Mitra's claim to fame is that she was the second ever model (some say first if you rule out "unofficial"  Nathalie Cook ) to play iconic video game character Lara Croft . From 1997-1998, Mitra could be found in PR material, as well as at trade shows, events and conventions as a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Tomb Raider 's kick-ass archeologist lead. There have been many official Lara Croft models over the years , but as far as I'm concerned Mitra remains the best. In my mind, of all of them, she most closely resembles the video game character in terms of facial features. Plus she comes from money and had a rebellious boarding...
Read more