ICON 2009 – First Impressions of a First Timer

Come the festival of Sukkoth, Sci-Fi and fantasy fans know the “place to be” is ICON- Israel’s Science Fiction, Fantasy and Role-Playing Festival, which takes place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. ICON is known for its wealth of lectures, tabletop and role-playing games and festive atmosphere, yet somehow I had managed to miss this major event every year for the last twelve years running. This year, I had to make an exception and finally see what it was all about. I arrived Sunday, the first day of the weeklong event.

While entry to the convention was free, the entry desk was busy and clearly overwhelmed with guests who were pressing to buy tickets for a seat at one of the lectures or events of the day. The event prices ranged from 20nis to 70nis depending on the type of event and discounts that a guest could acquire (for example, a train ticket to the event gave a onetime 10nis discount.) After getting my tickets and walking into the building, it felt like I had entered a whole new world. What was on most days a fairly normal building had been transformed into a fantastical world: people in costume, books, video games and DVDs of every kind were in abundance and any unoccupied corner had an ad-hoc game of settlers or munchkin running in it.

An unshaven middle-eastern looking man with dreadlocks came up to me and asked me nicely if I’d like to play “Gloom.” when I asked him how to play, he told me with a grin that it’s a [card] game where the goal is to make your family miserable and then finally kill them. Eager to explore further, I turned down his kind offer, feeling like Alice being invited to a tea party with the Mad Hatter. Making my way through the crowd, I checked out the commercial offerings (after all, what is a mystical village without a place to buy merchandise?) One of the stalls (Rubika) sold T-shirts  with slogans that only fans could appreciate such as “If Starfleet wanted you to have a life, it would have issued you one” and “do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.” I managed to resist the urge to get a shirt or two only because the lecture I had signed up for was about to begin

The first lecture I took part in was “effects makeup” given by Michal Bartov, a professional makeup artist for over eight years, both in studio and effects makeup. Michal introduced herself and described her ambitious project of the day: she was going to turn her slightly geeky assistant into a half-Orc, with a faux 3rd degree burn on his arm and a missing finger. Michal took the lesson seriously, educating us every step of the way as to what components to use, what common pitfalls to avoid (talc powder in eyes is bad), and where to find cheap and safe alternatives to her expensive makeup kit. As she waited for the face effects to dry, Michal began to work on the fake 3rd degree burn and described to us how her experience in MDA improved the quality of her faux burns and bruises. When she completed the final bloody layers of the burn I had to admit she was right: I don’t know if she could have fooled a doctor but the burn was disgustingly bloody and had me completely taken in. After she finished her work and her assistant gleefully wiggled the bloody stump of his “missing” finger at us, Michal handed out her phone number and email and told us she’s available both for makeup tips as well as any professional makeup needs from bridal to Purim.

I took advantage of my short break between lectures to stretch my legs and I had to do some expert weaving to avoid stumbling over a group of “Magic:The Gathering” players that had taken over the hallway. The players seemed unfazed by the expertly painted half-Orc dragging a table and draped with makeup kits as the players intently focused on the next round of the game. My musing was cut short by a young man dressed in torn green clothes with a shoehorn hat. He held up a medieval-looking poster notifying me that the woman depicted below was wanted “dead or alive” and asked me if I had seen her. Sadly, I didn’t have any information or leads and I told him so. Rather than be upset, he told me that the character he was playing was part of a movie he helped create called Ardea, which had gotten into ICON at the last minute and thus wasn’t on the program.

The second lecture of the day differed sharply from the first. Gone was the friendly, intimate attitude of Michal Bartov as Eliyahu Zigdon gave his rapid-fire lecture on how to get a short film noticed and marketed in the ultracompetitive market of Israeli cinematography. His lecture consisted of step by step guides and bullet points, defining clearly what needs to be done with a short film to make it a promotional success. I didn’t realize when I had signed up that the lecture was going to be so technical and I found myself bored despite the educational and useful content being relayed.

It was the last lecture I went to that really set the tone for the day. “Disposable-Reusable” by Michael Gordon was a lecture about how to make a short role-playing game fun and interesting for the players. The room was mostly full and the vast majority of the class was experienced both in making such games and running them. Despite the high level of experience shared by the audience, Michael’s lecture was simple and accessible even to someone not from a strong role-playing background. Michael broke down the qualities important for a GM (Game Master, the person running the game for the players) to have in a long lasting adventure, then illustrated through a short role-playing exercise how bad those same traits are in a short role-playing game.  After the allotted hour and a half of lecture time had passed, Michel still had about half his lecture to go and that left his audience both satisfied with the sheer amount they learned and regretful that they couldn’t stay longer.

As I left the building, I realized people were still coming to the event, a large number of whom planned to find a quiet corner to sleep until the doors opened the next day. Despite the darkened sky and my personal exhaustion, the enthusiasm level of the crowd was still high and board games were being set up and drafting players. I was saluted on my way out by a man dressed as a knight in homemade armor, wishing me a safe trip while an Elvish alchemist looked on. It was strange and almost a shock being back on a main street with cars going by and for a moment I considered turning back to that fantastical world and joining one last game.