GenCon Milwaukee Remembered: Part 1

It's been a good 8 years since the corporately greedy and locally inept powers that be have torn one of the greatest gaming and fantasy conventions from the heart of the city I call home, Milwaukee.

It now, sadly, resides in Indianapolis, IN, a small shadow of the festival of the fantastic it used to be when it was here in Milwaukee. Everything was close by. At the end of the day people could head on down to the Safe House and dance while getting their drink on.

I know a few people who've gone to the current Gen Con that they have in Indy and say that it just isn't the same anymore. Its' not necessarily worse, just not what it was in Milwaukee.

Since this is the weekend it starts in IN, Ive decided to repost some of my Gen Con Journals from the last two years it was here in Milwaukee in the early years of the new decade throughout the month of August. Hope you enjoy. Here's part 1, it's from the 2001 Gen Con in Milwaukee......

ZANGZ'S GEN CON 2001 JOURNAL Part I:

(some of the names have been changed to protect the innocent and not so innocent.)

Throughout the ages the socially elite have somehow bestowed upon society the notion that it's a horrible flaw to be chronically in touch with one's youthful sense of imagination. They have created an unwritten law that states, once you've reached a certain age you must spend the rest of your short life worrying about such topics as, mortgages, having 2.5 children before you're 35, stock portfolios, biological clocks and taking the SUV in for a tune up. Yet, topics such as, Anakin's corruption to the Dark Side by the end of Episode II (or will it happen in III), the number of Blood Pool points it's going to take to waste a Malkavian member of the Sabbat, or whether '7 of 9' is going to travel back in time to do a guest appearance on "Enterprise" are considered both foolhardy and immature. There are those who look down their noses at such thoughts as being unimportant in "normal" society.

Well, guess what?.... "THERE IS NO NORMAL!!!"

And Gen Con isn't part of normal society! It's a place where we imaginative, free thinkers immerse ourselves into the role playing realms, worlds and genres of, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror for four days straight! This year's con will have celebrities such as Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrisian from Star Wars, Episodes V and VI), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Trio from "Star Trek: The Next Generation"), Hudson Leik (Calisto from "Xena, Warrior Princess"), Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite also from "Xena, Warrior Princess"), James Marsden (Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Richard Biggs (From "Babylon 5").

VALHALLA!!!!

The Gen Con Game Fair, held at the Midwest Express Center, has been a Milwaukee staple for over 25 years. And being a Milwaukeean, I am quite proud that thousands of the imaginatively blessed have congregated in our fair city throughout the convention's history. Disappointingly, it now has one more year (2002) in its home of Milwaukee before it moves to another town. But that's a whole other ugly story I may tell one day.

Please don't fret quite yet!! Let's take a look back at this year's extravaganza. Here's a daily play by play of my adventures (and misadventures) at the Midwest's biggest gaming convention...................

Wednesday, August 1st, 2001,

It's the day before GenCon officially opens up. I've taken the day off due to the fact that at noon GenCon will allow those of us who have pre-registered to come down to the Midwest Express Convention Center and pick up our event tickets and badges a day early before the throngs hit the registration lines. Good deal!

I get up at 10am only to find my unairconditioned apartment quite warm. I turn on the news and hear it's going to reach 90 degrees with a 101 humidity index. I'm glad I got a bus pass for the week's activities. I would have walked, but in this heat I would have ended up like a Minnesota Vikings player during training camp (ouch!)! After watching a bit of god awful daytime TV I decide to stop torturing myself and head on down to the bus stop.

Why is it that whenever I'm on the bus I always end up sitting next to someone talking or singing to themselves? It never fails! On my way to the convention center I get to hear a wonderful medley of, what I think is R& B songs from a gentleman I've named, "Mr. sing-a-song". I get off at the con center and enter the huge, modern building that also has old world charm.

I arrive shortly before noon so there is a bit of a line. Once they open the registration tables it's a short 15 minute wait and I have my badge and tickets!! Quite quick! I check my registration info and make sure everything is ship shape, which it is, and I start to look through the on-site registration book to see if any events/celebrities have been added that I might take an interest in.

Nope. Nothing new and there's little information on where the celebrity Q&A sessions are. I ask around and the employees of Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), the company that runs the con, seem to be just as perplexed as I am. I figure they may know more tomorrow when GenCon starts.

I decide to do some people watching instead. If there's a place to do some serious people watching, it's at Gen Con. The normal fare of gaming people are milling about. I see many Darth Maul shirts (many of which are an XXL), Indiana Jones style fedoras and of course younger kid's dressed all in black hoping people will mistake them for a clan of vampires. There's also some dweeb sitting around hoping to bump into a cute, young single female gamer (Oh, wait a sec. That's me. Scratch that last one). After a while I head back home on the bus. No musical accompaniment this time.

Part 2 coming soon.

Stay tuned true Gen Con Milwaukee believers!

Zangz.