conventions
From Comic Con, to Wizard World, geek conventions showcase comics, film, television, and all things geek.
The Cities We Travel, The Connections We Keep
There’s something uniquely magical about exploring a new city and discovering its rhythm, the hum of streets at dawn, the smell of fresh coffee from corner cafés, the snippets of conversations in languages you don’t understand but still find charming. Traveling opens up new worlds, but it also brings an unexpected longing for the familiar. Even in the middle of bustling streets or breathtaking landscapes, many of us quietly seek small comforts, and sometimes, those comforts come from our screens.
By Ester Allenwood2 months ago in Geeks
Becoming Kitty Pryde: My Hero Time Custom Suit Experience
For many X-Men fans, bringing a favorite character to life is a magical experience. For me, that character has always been Kitty Pryde, an intangible, intelligent, and relatable mutant from Marvel's iconic lineup. When I discovered Hero Time could create a custom version of her "modern" uniform from the 2013 All-New X-Men series, I knew I had to try it.
By Jenna Deedy3 months ago in Geeks
Toy Story 5: Pixar’s Beloved Franchise Returns with New Adventures and Familiar Hearts
After years of speculation, Pixar has officially confirmed that Toy Story 5 is in development — marking the return of one of the most iconic animated franchises in cinematic history. Following the emotional farewell of Toy Story 4, fans wondered if Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and their friends had truly said goodbye. Now, it seems there’s still one more story to tell.
By KAMRAN AHMAD3 months ago in Geeks
Stranger Things Season 5: The Beginning of the End for Hawkins
Few shows have captured the world’s imagination quite like Stranger Things. Since its debut in 2016, the Netflix phenomenon has become a cultural powerhouse — blending supernatural mystery, 80s nostalgia, and heartfelt friendship into one unforgettable story. Now, with Stranger Things Season 5, the series prepares for its biggest and most emotional conclusion yet.
By KAMRAN AHMAD3 months ago in Geeks
Post Cosplay Life: One Year Later
October 27, 2024: a date that I'll always remember forever. If you're new to Vocal or my page, welcome aboard. After 10 years of doing cosplay, I made the decision to retire from this wonderful craft. I loved meeting so many people on social media and at conventions. Not only that, but I loved showing off my cosplays to everyone. I participated in many cosplay contests, winning two of them. So why did I decide to walk away from the thing that I enjoyed so much, you ask? Three reasons were deciding factors in making this decision: the almost three-year absence of me not attending cons, the tragic passing of my grandfather back in 2022, and experienced signs of burnout. I attended my first con in nearly three years in late September 2022, then attended my final two conventions in 2024 before closing out my decade-long cosplay journey. I didn't see myself cosplaying well into 2025 and beyond, because I wanted to seek and pursue other interests and hobbies. 10 years was a really good run, but I want to explore new things that I always wanted to try. For example, I've always had a huge fascination with photography. My amazing experiences with cosplay photographers at and outside of cons made me curious to try this skill. I had a digital camera over 15 years ago while I was attending college, but I ended up losing it. Now, I'm eager to learn how to be skilled in taking picture perfect photographs. My ultimate goal is to photograph at fan conventions and possibly do cosplay photoshoots somewhere down the road.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Geeks
Is YouTube Down?
It’s a modern-day moment of panic for millions: you settle in to watch a video, only to be met with a spinning buffer wheel or an enigmatic playback error. The immediate question pops into your head and into search bars worldwide: "Is YouTube down?" When the platform hosting over 2 billion users goes offline, even briefly, it creates a digital earthquake.
By KAMRAN AHMAD4 months ago in Geeks
My Experiences Doing Cosplay Photoshoots
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. As someone who has attended many conventions as a former cosplayer, one of my favorite things to take part of were cosplay photoshoots. They're a great way to be yourself and let your personality loose. I've participated in a few of these and stick around, because I'll hare with you one cosplay photoshoot that was the most enjoyable and memorable. If you're new to Vocal or aren't familiar with my stories, I was a cosplayer for 10 years before retiring last October. Cosplay photoshoots take place either outside of venues where conventions take place or any spot of your choice. While most photoshoots are free, others require a charge in order for the photographer to take amazing shots of you. My very first cosplay photoshoot took place back in 2016 while attending an anime convention, where I went as a genderbent Harley Quinn. I made a mallet to go with my cosplay. Was it the best I've ever made? Probably not, but I had a good time that weekend. I'll share a story about a photoshoot that took place at a local park.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 4 months ago in Geeks
The Echo in the Red Dust: My Martian Garden and the Memories I Carried
The air on Mars smelled of metallic dust and something faintly sweet, a scent unique to the synthetic atmospheres our habitats provided. It was not the crisp, earthy aroma of rain on fertile soil that I remembered from Earth, but after twenty years, it was home. My name is Elara, and I am a gardener on Mars, nurturing life where once there was none.
By Hussein Gazo4 months ago in Geeks
Lady Comic Book History
Hello! I am Alexandrea Callaghan the author and podcaster of Lady Comic Book History and I am here to talk about the history of women in comics. First I want to tell you a little bit about how I got into this. It was COVID, we had all been locked up for maybe a month and I decided that I wanted to start a podcast about female superheroes. Now I wasn’t really sure what that was going to look like, but as I went down the rabbit hole of existing superhero history podcasts I noticed that there weren’t any that were doing what I wanted to do, which ended up being a simple chronicle of the history of female comic book characters. So few characters actually stand the test of time and the treatment of women in comics has always been a little questionable. And I wanted there to be a clear and thorough documentation of this history all in one place. Several books and other accounts are also extremely inaccurate and I needed to clear that up. So you guys are going to get a super fast forwarded version of the book I wrote that goes into this history in an even more in depth way then my podcast does. A lot of what I do revolves around getting people to understand that media doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It does directly affect our daily lives and how we view and interact with the world. It's never just a comic or just a tv show. And it is ALWAYS that deep. I use philosophical, psychological and sociological evidence, these are things in making up, this is not my opinion. These are facts that have been true since the beginning of art and humanity. But today I only have 40 minutes to talk to you guys so we are just going pure history. I am going to take you through what I have deemed some of the most impactful and important moments for women in comics, including the women themselves. So we are starting at the very beginning in 1938.
By Alexandrea Callaghan4 months ago in Geeks
