If you’ve been following us for any length of time or if you simply recognize the character referenced in our cosplay name, you’ll know that the Uncanny Experience convention was basically our mecca.
From their mission statement: “The Uncanny Experience is a two day immersive fandom event created by fans for fans who desire to be mutant and proud. Our mission is to transport you into the universe of mutantkind, build community, and give a platform to the creators, artists, and actors of the X-Men universe to interact with and educate attendees.
The Uncanny Experience, an event produced by Giant-Size Productions, is a fan convention with immersive elements held at the Minneapolis Club in Minnesota. We provide participants with quality entertainment and an immersive experience like none other, in the form of panels, vendor booths, cosplay, fan activities, live entertainment, and celebrity & creator signings.”
The 2024 Uncanny Experience offered fans the chance to meet comics greats like Chris Claremont, Gail Simone, Leah Williams, and Tyler Kirkham, X-Men ’97 Storyboard Artist Jerry Gaylord, X-Men ’97 producers Eric and Julia Lewald, and voice talents Alison Sealy-Smith, George Buza, and Gui Agustini.
This con provided a unique experience by sorting attendees into different houses (House Xavier, House Morlock, House Pryde, and House Hellfire) according to their personality attributes. Each house held its own pep rallies and had both ribbons and various merch available for purchase to show one’s house pride.
Crayle and Kelly were SHOCKED to have been sorted into different houses, but then again, Phoenix and Dark Phoenix can be opposites of each other as much as they are connected. Kelly was House Pryde and Crayle was House Xavier.
Cosplay was a big part of the con, as there were a number of con staff who were on hand to cosplay certain characters. There was also a cosplay contest, a drag show, and a formal ball afterparty on Saturday night where in-character formalwear was highly encouraged. The number of photo ops around the Minneapolis Club were numerous, as the Club building itself resembled Xavier’s mansion and each room was decorated with various themes.
The absolute centerpiece of the con was the professor’s office, which allowed fans to meet with Chris Claremont and get autographs and photos.
For any X-Men fan, Chris is one of the most influential creators of the comics as he wrote many of the storylines that shaped the X-Men as we know and love them today, including the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sagas. For us, it was an incredible moment to get to meet him while dressed in our Phoenix and Dark Phoenix costumes.
He looked up at us when we entered and his face lit up, and he shared his insights on the Phoenix Force and how he envisioned the Dark Phoenix as representing death and the regular Phoenix as representing light, and the two sides of the Phoenix Force as being forever intertwined as part of the necessary yin and yang of life. This was a beautiful insight into both the storyline that we love and our own joined-at-the-hip bond.
Claremont also took a joke photo with us where he took each of our hands and looked like completing the circuit between Phoenix and Dark Phoenix was overloading him with power! We’re so glad we took off our gloves to show him our matching Phoenix tattoos, because then he got to take our hands and make a funny memory in addition to the insight into the character we got from him.
We can not thank the con enough for providing such memorable moments like this, and we look forward to seeing what’s in store for next year!
