Sci-Fi on the Rock happens just once a year — but for these superfans, the nerd life never ends
The convention is scheduled to start on Friday and end on Sunday
Kit Saurus says being a "hardcore-mega-nerd" is not just her hobby, but her lifestyle.
She's standing next to two gowns she plans to wear to Sci-Fi On The Rock, the annual pop culture convention that starts Friday in St. John's. One of the gowns is part of her "Jedi Elsa" costume, mashing up Star Wars and Frozen, with a lightsaber paired up with glittery blue heels.
"I grew up a nerd.… My parents were nerdy and then" — she points to herself — "tada!"
She's wearing a pink layered dress, with extravagant white sleeves and pointy elvish ears — an everyday look for her.
"I went to my first Sci-Fi on the Rock in 2008, and I was pretty much hooked after that."
Kit and her husband Drew — who both changed their last names at their wedding to the dinosaur-inspired Saurus, reflecting one of their many passions — are part of the committee that organized the convention.
Kit doesn't dress up only when the convention arrives; she lives and breathes the nerdy lifestyle.
In their house, the eyes always find something new to focus on: fluffy mushroom toys decorate the fireplace, dinosaur heads on the kitchen countertops, and a full-size human skeleton wearing a dress, casually sitting on the sofa.
In a bright pink room upstairs called the "fairy princess room," there are two closets that hold as many as 100 gowns. One shelf has crowns stacked on top of another.
Kit dresses up every other week — cosplaying — for her self-portrait business.
"Cosplaying is essentially dressing up like a character that makes you feel happy,"
The character's outfit becomes an armour — a bodysuit — that a person steps in and can embody the character's personality, she says. It's a way to escape into fantasy and have childlike fun.
"A lot of people at the convention tend to be pretty shy, but the second they pop on like a wig and cosplay they're like, 'Yeah, I've got the confidence of 1,000 gods.'"
A costume can be bought or pieced together from second-hand items.
"That's sort of the joy of it," Kit said. "You'll get your shorts and a vest and a shirt, and maybe you'll paint, like, a pokeball on a hat and you're a Pokémon trainer."
Another room downstairs is filled with action figures for the game Warhammer, exclusively for Drew — another self-described huge nerd — and two turtles floating in water tanks.
Drew, the vice-chair of Sci-Fi on the Rock, says it takes them an entire year to plan the convention. Last year's brought in up to 3,500 people.
"Anywhere from five-year-olds to 50-year-olds showing up, hugging their friends and walking off hand in hand," he said.
There will be as many as 80 vendors, a panel of actors and voice actors, a gala and karaoke, to name only a few items in a packed schedule spanning three days over the weekend.
"People want to show off their costumes. People want to talk about their interests," he said. "People just want to connect with other people."
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