Weirdo with the letter "g": geeks Mossow Comic Convention

Back in the 1900s, they already knew about geeks. At that time, this was the name of artists who traveled with traveling circuses. These brave guys were famous not for tricks, not for the ability to juggle sharp daggers and not even for their flexibility. During the performance, geeks did strange and disgusting things to themselves by the standards of an ordinary person: they bit off the heads of live chickens, ate mice and smeared themselves with manure. All with the sole purpose of shocking the public.

(18 photos in total)

For more than a hundred years, everything has changed. At first, geeks were confidently called strange people whose hobbies and interests did not correspond to the generally accepted ones. This attitude has quickly sunk into oblivion — now almost every second person knows that geeks are not artists or cranks, but fierce fans of TV series, games, comics and much more.

In June, Moscow hosted the Moscow Comic Convention, which for a few days became the natural habitat of all the geeks of the capital and nearby cities. And since these wonderful people have so successfully gathered in one place, we decided to figure out which of them is which.

Serial Geeks

These guys don't just remember by heart all the episodes of the "Big Bang Theory" (most likely, they don't remember at all, memory is spent on other things). According to their own criteria, they divide the entire huge serial world into black and white. Choosing one or two "native" series, they become real experts: they know the crew, the history of the creation of the series, they remember all the actors. They turn into the main experts of all fan theories and often into their creators.

Comic geeks

Do not think that these are people who buy Marvel publications in bundles and know the authors of all the plots by heart. Among comic geeks there are real connoisseurs who perceive comics as nothing but art. They really "fumble" who draws what, they are well versed in plots and characters and are not indifferent to rare publications.

Game geeks

The phrase "gaming geeks" seems frivolous. However, it is among these guys that the most technically savvy people are found. They love their computer a little more than the whole world, they understand how to assemble a system kit that can not only reveal all the cinematic graphics of the third "Witcher", but also, under certain circumstances, fly to Mars and back.

And after the recognition of esports as an official sport, the guys can go to a completely different level. Already today, game teams are being supported as fiercely as football teams. So it is quite possible that soon those who just came to the MCC this year will become titled athletes next year.

Cosplayers

The guys hardly consider themselves at least one of the types described above — they are fans of appearance and the real masters of reincarnation. They masterfully transform themselves into heroes of TV series, and into characters of comics or games. Among the cosplayers you will meet book characters and heroes from adjacent universes ("Game of Thrones", for example). A separate League of Cosplay contest was held at MCC, which determined the masters of cosplay.

In fact, the concept of "geek" is so firmly embedded in our lives that it is almost impossible to try to divide these people into groups. A geek can safely be called anyone who is really a fan of something and is well versed in the chosen field. A professional fan is much scarier than an ordinary professional. And that's exactly what we want you to become — no matter what you are obsessed with.

All photos: Mikhail Markov.