Some stories are such that, even though they can be summarized in a few words, they’re hard to believe.
Although the exact origin is unverified (and likely unverifiable) the history of this competition reportedly dates to a few joking comments made at DragonCon, a massive science fiction & media convention held yearly in Atlanta, Georgia. The convention has an attendance in excess of 75,000 and hosts multiple programming tracks dependent in part on the guests. Cosplay – people dressing up as characters from television, comics, and movies – is a popular feature of the convention, with a large hotel area designated specifically for people to take pictures of the cosplayers.
A given walkthrough might feature a Deadpool, a set of Sailor Scouts from Sailor Moon, Mario & Luigi, people dressed as characters from Star Trek, furries in mascot suits…
Quick hit: Star Trek is a massive pop culture phenomenon, originating with a 1960s television show and expanding to movies, books, comics, sequel shows and more. Their primary antagonists (eventually, allies) are a conquering interstellar race called the Klingons.
Quick hit 2: Furries are a fandom based around anthropomorphic animals, ranging from things like Bugs Bunny up through The Last Unicorn and sports mascots.
Both fandoms have been plagued by odd sexual associations (the Kirk/Spock sex fanzines introduced the term “slash fiction” for sleazy porn and pseudo-porn stories based on media characters, and any sexuality associated with animals, however anthromorphized and fictional, falls into “odd” by default) and both have worked to distance themselves from those associations.
One way or another, representatives from these two groups decided they needed to demonstrate their fealty to their respective fandoms in a very positive, if bizarre way. These two groups decided on… a bowling tournament. Two, in fact, in what never quite materialized into an annual tournament, but left many nearby bowlers (and national media groups) puzzled.
This is known in fandom circles as “freaking the mundanes”. Enjoyment is gained by watching the reactions of those around the performers.
So, from 2007… Furry vs. Klingon bowling.
Question for the night: what strange things have you seen?
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