Cosplay, Gaming and More at Origins 2017!

Origins is a gaming convention that I have been going to every June in Columbus, Ohio ever since I was little. My family and I spend the whole week at Origins Game Fair where we nerd out and enjoy the convention. I greatly enjoy going every year to see the many new games and to see old friends. Some call me PNut, but my name is Eva Shaffer.

For the past 11 years I have been going to Origins so I am well acquainted with the layout of the convention and which game companies usually attend Origins. I do however love to see what is new each year, there is always something that catches my eye.

There are always great games, art, and cosplay and even a cosplay and costume contest. I myself cosplay at Origins Game Fair, usually a different theme on each day. As an artist myself, I love to look at the art here at Origins.

There are always great artists attending the convention, it is great just to see the different styles and to talk to the artists themselves.

I also enjoy painting miniatures at the Paint n’ Take. Due to the many game companies attend there are always games to demo. Most of the time the demos are great and you most definitely need to buy the game due to the fact that you will enjoy playing the game at home as well.

The Cosplay at Origins Game Fair is always great, I have always seen many people who put time and effort into their cosplay or costumes. Some may be simple and some complex but they always pull it off.

I always bring my own cosplay and costumes when I go to Origins because that part of the fun and me being a nerd. I’ve cosplayed and dressed up since I was little, over the years I have cosplayed as a fairy, princesses, a Jedi, a ninja, Princess Leia, a Scout Trooper, a knight in training, an army pilot, and this past year, the Witch from The Great and Powerful OZ, and Levi from Attack on Titan.

One of my fondest memories from cosplaying was when I was 6. I was dressed up in a pink princess dress and I had fairy wings on. My father was in a suit of shining armor and we were in a small alcove at the convention where they had foam swords, both my father and I picked up foam swords and were playing around.

A tiny fairy princess running around fending off the mean knight. I had so much fun and I’m sure my father would say the same.

I suppose others found it entertaining and enjoyable to watch because when we were finished we had gathered a crowd, it reminded my mother of the Darth Vader/Ben Kenobi battle on the Death Star and how everyone stopped what they were doing to watch.

Cosplaying is a great way to enjoy yourself and be someone else for a short amount of time!

The art at Origins Game Fair is fantastic. Its amazing what people are able to draw and paint. It’s quite extraordinary to see the amount of work put into a single miniature, painting, sculpture, or drawing. Paint n’ Take is a great set up where you can just sit and paint miniatures, and there is also the painting contests and speed painting contests which is also an enjoyable activity at Origins. Reaper, a miniature company always has great miniatures for sale whether it be for Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, its there.

If you have miniatures of your own that you have painted you can enter them into a miniature contest! I have only entered one or two of my miniatures into the contest into the youth league. I still have yet to claim a position in the top three.

Gaming, that’s what Origins is all about. I’d be lying if I said that the companies there don’t have great games. Whether it be table top, card games, virtual reality, or RPG games, it’s all there. I’ve done demos of quite a few games from quite a few game companies. Malifaux, Puppet Wars Unstitched, and Darkness come Rattling all from Wyrd games, and Mice and Mystics from Plaid Hat games are a few of the games I have demoed. All of them were great to play.

Some virtual reality gaming my family and I love is what we call the Pods. The Pods are a virtual reality set up, a cockpit you sit in (even closing the outside door), revolving around BattleTech. You choose your own mech light, medium, heavy, or assault, based upon weight classes. Each mech has its own positives and negatives. Typically for me it comes down to preference. I myself typically go with an assault mech, either an Atlas or a Behemoth. There’s even a real dungeon game for people to LARP (Live Action Role Play) in called True Dungeon!

Overall Origins is a great convention to go to and I always enjoy attending. The cosplay, art, and gaming, can I really choose one to look forward to the most? What I do look forward to for the upcoming Origins is more great games and more time to nerd out.

Origins brings out my inner nerdiness which I absolutely love. I can’t wait to share my next article!

Thanks to Kenn for the final audio, video-remastering, and image staging, and many thanks to you for reading and for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

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Thank you,

Eva (@PnutTBC_WHR)