NEW CENTURY, Kan. — Since 2019, co-owners of Fountain City Con Barry Poole, Jud Kite and Brian Tefft have been working to create a safe space for comic lovers from all walks of life.
“If you have a geek flag, you can fly it here," Poole said.
After being delayed for nearly two-years due to the pandemic, Fountain City Con returned, this time at the New Horizon Fieldhouse in New Century, Kansas.
“Whether it’s sharing geekdoms, or collecting comics or toys, it’s friends getting together,” Poole said.
Many of the attendees got into cosplay, including Matt Lang, from Wichita, Kansas.
Lang attended Fountain City dressed up as The Mandalorian from Star Wars.
“I created this character cosplay from start to finish, and I have a little razor crest because my ship got destroyed by the empire remnant,” Lang said. ” But Grogru needs a ride, Grogu gets the best ride.”
Characters at Fountain City Con go from the screen, book or action figures, to real life like Andy Barnett from Kansas.
"I get to voice Rhinox, and the cool thing about Rhinox is he’s this big hulking guy,” Barnett said. “The character I do is from Transformers War, for Cybertron I do the character Rhinox, which is something that was brought back from the late 90s.”
For Kite, Fountain City Con is a place where fantasies come to life and family memories are created.
“Its like any heirloom. Like whether it be a locket, whether it’s family history or something like that,” Kite said. ”If it’s something that was near and dear to my heart, that I want to share with my little ones.”
However, creating family memories is something that Rob Ross enjoys with his two kids.
“Toys really transcend political boundaries and social boundaries and racism boundaries, and all of those,” Ross said. ”And people are here in Cosplay, people are here doing stuff and some people in here would never hang out with each other in real life, for any other reason, and they are all just people who love collectibles and toys."
For organizers and fans, Fountain City Con is a a place where superheroes, villains or sidekicks can unlock their powers to be who they want
“Everybody talks about inclusiveness, but when you come to an event like this you absolutely can be anybody you want to be,” Lang said.
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