The Guilfordian

Yachting Club geek-fest rocks Dana

Paddy Lehane and Simon Kelly

Issue date: 2/16/08 Section: World

Page 1 of 1

Media Credit: Ana Martinez

The sounds of a colossal battle could be heard from quite a distance. Two men, fighting each other with swords, were a dominating presence. The only other sound aside from the clanging of the swords was this cry from a bystander: "Nip him in the butt, Sir Preston!"

Once a year, for the past five years, Guilford College has been witness to the anime-crazed, role-playing game obsessed, live-action role play loving circus known as What The Hell Con?! Flocking from all directions, the faithful came in droves, bearing all manners of electronics, comic books and medieval weaponry.

The amassed con-goers successfully took over Duke Memorial Hall and Dana Lounge for the weekend, filling the rooms with everything from video games, to role-playing games, to even a "Social Skills for Geeks" seminar.

Rising from meager beginnings in 2003, today What the Hell Con?! is a huge draw for like-minded folks from Guilford and beyond.

"We had one guy who drove 15 hours from upstate New York to be here," said con co-founder John Davis, a Guilford alumnus.

A walk through the halls of Duke and Dana could make for a potentially jaw-dropping experience, as in addition to strobing screens and hentai images, the passerby might also have a run in with a vampire or a posse of super heroes.

And if the look-but-don't-touch policy isn't to your liking, the Gauction (Geek-auction, that is) is the place to be.

A disturbing combination between a strip show and a cattle auction, several young men volunteered their services to the highest bidder. One young man, scantily clad in a spandex wrestling outfit and showing off his skills with suggestive somersaults, was a star attraction. While the proceeds went to charity, he was in it for the glory.

"I wanted to exploit myself and see what I could get for it," said Michael Aubrey Monroe, a con-goer from Virginia. "Also, I'm an attention whore."

And while the men were doing their best to get top dollar, the crowd was erupting in catcalls and cutthroat bidding. The event raised upwards of $500 for the Child's Play Foundation, an organization that helps children suffering from behavioral problems, and the One Laptop Per Child program, which distributes laptops to poor children.

But the Gauction wasn't the only opportunity for late-night debauchery. From 10:30 p.m. on Friday night until 3 a.m., the Crapathon was held, revealing the unknown pleasures of tentacle porn, among other variations of the hentai genre.

"It's basically a collection of everything horrid that was ever conceived in Japanese animation," said first-year con-goer Theo Kogod, "The object is, quite simply to see how much of it you can take before you are crippled with disgust."

And as quickly they appeared, the con-goers dispersed into the shadows, leaving behind nothing but a few comic books and the promise of a valiant and impassioned return to Guilford next year.

Page 1 of 1