People Watching at Balticon

So far I’ve spotted a man with a rat tail down to his butt, a teenaged boy wearing a corset*, and an unidentified stranger who smells of urine...and I haven’t even made it through registration yet.

Attending a Science Fiction/Fantasy convention can be a little daunting, especially for the uninitiated. Not everyone can do it. More accurately, not everyone *wants* to do it. It takes endurance, curiosity, and a mind wide open.

Until last weekend I’d only attended two conventions: The Science Fiction Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and Capclave. They were both small professional gatherings of writers hoping to get published.

Balticon is a different beast.

The mermaid on my badge is clearly upset by being chopped into sushi.

Every memorial day weekend in Baltimore costumed fans swarm the Hunt Valley Inn in a bonanza of steampunk hats, fantasy swords, and Star Wars tattoos. While it’s still considered small compared to ComicCon or WorldCon, it was big and boisterous to me. The closest thing I can compare it to is a Renaissance Festival.

Most of the participants were middle aged white guys with beards wearing T-shirts with obscure cultural references. But the steampunk dresses! The adorable little girls with swashbuckling capes and Dread Pirate Roberts masks! The Hogwarts robes! The variety and depth of interests is staggering. You expect people to wear a leather doublet or cat ears to a con, but some of these costumes astounded me. The best part was that it was all totally ok.

There are so few safe spaces where a person can be truly weird. Balticon was one of those spaces and I sensed it almost immediately. My shoulder blades relaxed, I laughed louder at Doctor Who jokes, I made eye contact with total strangers as if to say “We’re all a little crazy here.”

And I bought adorable art for the nursery.Alan F. Beck is the artist

The real test of the crowd’s tolerance wasn’t the man who started snoring in the middle of a panel discussion, or the cross-dressing little mermaid, it was the elderly man who introduced me to kigurumi.

Example of a "doller" a subset of Kigurimu

He came dressed as Chloe the Bratz doll. He wore a fiberglass mask about three times the size of his head. It was built around a bicycle helmet and heavily padded--it was a wonder he could breathe in there. Flesh colored cloth covered his arms and legs, a pink camisole and khaki pants completed the look. He flipped the mask up for some air, revealing his face...and no one said a word.

I asked him about his giant mask. It was specially made in Indonesia, there are only four like it in the world and the other owners don’t wear them outside of the house. This man is a furry and he and his friends get together on weekends for photo shoots. Sometimes he goes around his yard leaf blowing while wearing the Bratz doll outfit.

Just like this, but worn by a man with a disproportionately large head.

As I asked him about his life and his costuming, the rest of the room stilled and listened, probably wondering the same thing. I want to emphasize that they didn’t snicker, or ask condescending questions, or stare rudely; they just listened.

This guy has a rare hobby shared by few in America. It’s frankly, openly, and indefensibly weird...and it was also ok.

I’m prouder than I can say to belong to the community that loves this man. It is an honor to be part of a society built on exploring our bizarre passions rather than looking down our noses at people who happen to love something different.

Thanks fellow geeks. Tune in next week for an account of the actual writing-related news at Balticon: Brandon Sanderson, Charles E. Gannon, Myke Cole, Dark Quest Books, and absolutely ZERO cockroach erotica.

*The corset was actually working for him. Totally pulled it off.