Free nerd

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

It’s no secret that I’m a nerd. I’ve waxed poetic about The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek enough in these pages for the average reader to pick up on that. Yet, it wasn’t until March 2025 that I had my nerd coming-of-age experience and attended my first comic con.

The name’s a bit misleading since, for the most part, contemporary fan expos don’t focus on comic books. Instead, they’re dedicated to every flavor of nerdiness known to humankind. Whether it’s discussions of classic literature, Mario Kart tournaments or celebrity interviews, comic cons cater to all tastes.

I knew I desperately wanted to go to Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con when I was an 11-year-old obsessed with Doctor Who. Still, there was always something to hold me back. First, I didn’t want my classmates to belittle me for the crime of loving something. Then, I poured all my energy into academics to the point that I barely allowed myself to look at the movies, books and games that brought me joy.

Phryne Fisher from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Courtesy photo.

The author dressed as Phryne Fisher from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Photo by Alex Plant

Comic con wasn’t going to make me cool or help me get a job, so why devote time and energy to it?

As a Gen-Z, I’ve come of age at the peak of “cringe culture,” a time when harmless joy is persecuted, while commodified, shallow pursuits are enforced. It’s a social panopticon where everyone self-polices to avoid punishment.

Comic con is proof that the punishment never comes.

This year, 85,000 people attended ECCC, and each chose to be their most authentic, nerdiest self. I dressed up like the version of Merlin from a small BBC show that ended more than a decade ago. I ate lunch next to a couple in their 80s cosplaying Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Odd Parents and a University of Washington astronomy professor in a Star Trek uniform.

My simple, inexpensive costume — which I debated making, let alone wearing in public — blended seamlessly into the throngs of Mandalorians in real metal armor and people with cardboard boxes on their heads Sharpied to look like TVs. There was no arbitrary amount of money we needed to spend or talent we needed to showcase to be accepted.

We had the green light to love what we love, and, to my surprise, it brought nothing but joy to everyone involved. Not even the office workers in fine suits passing by the convention center batted an eye.

Much to my shock and elation, my obscure costumes — I was also Phryne from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries — led six people to ask to take my picture. I received enough compliments and nerdy quips to make my cheeks hurt from grinning. It was a whole lot of love and acceptance for an anxious introvert who’d talked herself out of attending ECCC for years. By god, it felt good.

After meeting one of my favorite authors — Silvia Moreno-Garcia — chatting with Kim-Joy from The Great British Baking Show, listening to the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds nerd out and asking one of the world’s leading experts on the Planet Nine hypothesis about the Oort Cloud, I decided I’m done with cringe culture. I’ve tasted the freedom of being unapologetically myself with perfect strangers, and I’m never going back to my self-imposed limitations.

I will mourn the opportunities for joy that I denied myself because I thought someone would judge me for my passion — for a while, anyway. I won’t mourn for long, though, now that I’ve seen the connections and experiences that self-expression can bring, no matter how ridiculous it may seem.

There’s a lot more love and kindness in this world than social media and divisive politics would have us believe. All it takes to find it is the courage to look.