Ratha Con festivities will span from Friday to Sunday as attendees celebrate pop culture.
Dragons, zombies and Jedi will meet at the fifth annual Ratha Con, Athens’s own pop culture convention.
The weekend’s events will kick off Friday with a pop culture art exhibition reception at 5 p.m. and movie screenings starting at 6 p.m. at ARTS/West. Ratha Con begins at the Athens Community Center on Saturday at 10 a.m. A costume dance party at Casa Nueva follows at 9 p.m., and day two of Ratha Con begins 12 p.m. Sunday.
Kelly Lawrence, Ratha Con’s co-creator and project director, said Ratha Con’s focus on the artist sets it apart from other conventions.
“People are in love with the comics,” Lawrence said. “Artists should be praised for that.”
Lawrence said as a “geeky nerd,” she wanted to provide Athens with something it was lacking, a comic convention like the ones presented in big cities throughout the country.
After a few conventions, Lawrence found comics to be too narrow a topic and broadened the scope of Ratha Con. The convention was transformed to represent all of pop culture, but comics are still central. Saturday marks Free Comic Book Day and vendors will offer free comics to collectors.
Art is featured throughout the event. Presenters will show off homemade creations in costume and weaponry workshops and special effects artist John Marks’ lifesize Toothless, a dragon from the movie How to Train Your Dragon, will offer rides to eventgoers.
Tom Fiocchi, a props technology specialist in Ohio University’s Theater Division, will be presenting the weapons workshop.
Fiocchi creates replicas that span from Star Wars to steampunk. The blasters of Boba Fett and Han Solo will sit among the gadgets at his table. Fiocchi said he hopes to complete Doctor Who’s time-traveling TARDIS and Chewbacca’s bowcaster in time for Ratha Con.
Fiocchi will speak to cosplayers about the research that goes into creating a weapon as well as the methods and materials he uses.
“(In) my shop, we have a lot of equipment. Most of these people doing cosplay are doing it in garages and prop rooms which can be difficult,” Fiocchi said.
Airship Athena, a steampunk group in Athens, is one cosplay group attending the convention. Steampunk is a cosplay genre that combines Victorian and Edwardian dress with science fiction weaponry. Megan Rogers, who calls herself the captain of the airship, created the group.
Whether a captain, lieutenant or lady, members of the group use fantasy titles to create background stories for their characters.
“I love the creativity because you can take whatever strengths in creativity you have and apply (them) to steampunk,” Rogers said.
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It will be Airship Athena’s third year participating in Ratha Con. Rogers said in the past the group has brought gadgets to display and has taught the history and culture of steampunk.
“There is a really cool social aspect to it,” Rogers said.
Ratha Con will include three costume contests. One contest will be for fun, another for professionals and one for moms and their kids on Mother’s Day.
Fiocchi said the convention appeals to all ages.
“The geeks and the nerds are going to be there. They always (are),” Fiocchi said. “But it is really kid friendly.”
Kids can bring Halloween costumes to participate in the competitions.
“It is always fun,” Fiocchi said. “I call it halfway Halloween.”
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