NerdinOut Con returns for another year
Oct. 7—ROCHESTER — The 5th annual NerdinOut Con brought in guests from all over the Midwest to Rochester this weekend.
NerdinOut Con was started in 2018 by Brad Vigesaa and Jake Scharpen, co-owners of NerdinOut, a pop culture shop featuring comics, toys and video games. The convention has evolved throughout the years into a three-day con filled with vendors, celebrity guests, authors, attractions and more.
Many attendees were in full costume, ranging from onesies to fully-fledged hand-crafted cosplays.
Cosplaying is the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book or video game. Attendees dressed up in a variety of different fandoms from Pokemon, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, anime and more.
One of the attendees, Troy Luther, has lived in Rochester for many years. He didn't get into making cosplay outfits until his 8-year-old grandson asked him to go trick or treating one year.
"My grandson called me up out of the blue last year and wanted to go trick or treating with me and he's never done that," said Luther. "I'm like, 'OK, I'll go with,' and he's like, 'I'm gonna be baby Yoda. You'll be a Mandalorian.'"
From there Luther got to work, buying a 3D printer to create an entire set of armor replicating the Mandalorian's outfit from the show. The pieces looked so good that another attendee even asked to buy the helmet right off of Luther's head.
Since creating this cosplay, Luther has started his own 3D printing business. He's also created other cosplay of characters like Judge Dredd, Darth Vader and Stormtroopers.
His cosplay has also inspired his grandson to get into 3D printing. Luther and his wife got their grandson a 3D printer for his birthday and love that it encourages him to be creative and inventive.
Another con attendee is a frequent con-goer and organizer. Jason Kaeding from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, made the four-hour drive over with his family to attend the con. They had just wrapped up the con, SiouxperCon, last weekend where he and his wife are the cosplay directors. They have been spending their time checking out other local cons.
Kaeding was cosplaying StarLord from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though his cosplay was mostly bought from an online store called ProCosplay, he still took time to add his own personal touch to it. He 3D-printed his weapons and the iconic Walkman cassette player that StarLord is always seen with. He also wore a belt that he hand-sewn that took him about a year to complete.
Kaeding has been a frequent con attendee, checking out OCon in Omaha, Nebraska the weekend before SiouxperCon. He's been attending them since his first one in 2017.
"What got me into it is that my birthday is Oct. 28," said Kaeding. "I've always had a Halloween theme and then one year I did a Halo (video game) and people just loved it. They're like, 'Hey, we got this con in town. You should go check it out.' And then it just clicked."
Unlike Kaeding, this was a first con for many. Conner Ludeking came to NerdinOut Con from Iowa to attend his first con with his friends. It has been an ongoing joke with his friends that he looks like Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil so he decided to cosplay as him for his first con experience.
"I never planned on (attending a con) initially because it's just a hobby thing. Ever since I was younger, I liked to dress up and everything was like I started to put more time and care into it and I knew I should just go one of these days and be like way worth it."
His friend he attended with, Will Wedl, was also in cosplay as Goblin Slayer from the anime of the same name. This was not the first con Wedl has attended and his cosplay was completely homemade except the boots, shirt and pants.
Wedl has handsewn his leather pants and accessories, handmade the chainmail on his cosplay and 3D printed the armor portion. Overall his cosplay took him all summer and totaled 100 hours to finish it.
