10 Incredible Festivals Every Geek Will Fanboy About

July 13th happens to be Embrace Your Geekness Day. This is the perfect time to unleash your inner geeky and fanboy fantasies and go all out! In tru fashion, The Sherp shows you some of the best geeky festivals around the world.

Let it be Harry Potter, Star Trek, Star Wars, Pokemon or even Game of Thrones. Every single one of us is a fanboy and geeks out over at least one of these huge franchises! It’s no wonder than connecting with your most favourite characters onscreen and off-screen is probably the most involved you can feel with epic-ness that goes on behind the curtains! This is the perfect guidebook to such festivals around the map-

1. San Diego Comic Con

Undoubtedly THE big daddy of geek festivals anywhere in the world, the San Diego Comic Con happens every year in the month of July and sees the BIGGEST stars headline panels. The cosplays are literally one of the best anywhere you can see. People come out in full glory for their favourite shows, anime and movies. The guest panels are looked forward to the most as people get to see their favourite stars and also see exclusive content from movies like Marvel or DC Comics. This year Wonder-Woman and Suicide Squad are going to be the biggest panels headlining. It’s about to get geeky as hell from July 21-24!

2. The Official Star Trek Convention

We don’t think we need to provide any information about this epic-ness. “Beam up” to this event in Las Vegas to catch your favorite Star Trek stars come together under one roof. Over 70 stars who have been part of the unforgettable franchise show up every year to entertain their fans and also perform. You get to meet a hundred other Spocks too. Other than the event, there is also a casino as well as an amphitheatre for performances(Vegas. Duh) It’s going to take place from the 3-7 August this year. Don’t miss it!

3. WonderCon

WonderCon Anaheim is a non-profit organisation that teamed up with the San Diego Comic Con back in 2001, to let it run for the San Francisco audiences. Over the years, WonderCon has seen some crazy cosplays as well being known best for being the venue for premiering major motion pictures, especially those related to comic books. In their most early edition, they gave sneak peeks into Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins etc. Recently in 2016, they have relocated to Los Angeles and it is now known as WonderCon Los Angeles.

4. Star Wars Celebration

We don’t even have to talk about the BEHEMOTH that is Star Wars! Star Wars without a doubt has one of the biggest fan bases in the world, next to none. Which is why this is the only franchise that can boast of having an event dedicated entirely to Star Wars itself. This years edition hopes to show some footage from the eighth edition of the movie franchise as well as from Rogue One! There are also new games to be released in 2017, which might be teased. So get your Darth or Luke on, depending on if you’re a fan of The Force or The Dark Side, obviously.

5. Pale Blue Dot Festival

The Pale Blue Dot Festival describes itself as an “intergalactic festival of music, science, art, technology and exploration of the space”. The festival that’s going to be held for the first time next to the Lovell radio telescope, boasts of performances from legends like Jean-Michel Jarre and Caribou among many others. The main highlight of the festival is the different panels being organised by various astronomists and scientists from all over the world. Given the idea, this would be a totally different approach to a festival in a long time. For everyone who is interested in the vast nothingness and the outer space frontier, the open starry skies and the expert talk is the perfect place to be at! It’s happening from July 22-24.

6. E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)

Although this is an event that is exclusive to only those who are currently in the Video Game industry, it would be a blunder to not include the MECCA of the gaming industry expo of the year. It’s the place where game news is broken and also created. Every year, every industry professionals ears perk up during E3 time as there are numerous trailer releases, game-play reviews, demos launched, dates announced among a thousand other events that goes down. The tickets are also bound to burn a hole in your pocket. But, E3 still remains a must-see event if you ever get your hands on a pass. (Good Luck!)

7. Anime Expo

The Anime Expo happens to be the largest and second-longest running event in the North America. Given the fact that all over the world, anime fans are in abundance and the amount of shows being created every year is insane, this comes as no surprise. The cosplays at this expo are always immaculate with expert cosplayers getting in their best avatars to make the crowds go wild. You get to meet industry experts as well as well as take part in some crazy events and contests. The Anime Expo happens every year at LA in the month of July.

8. Quidditch World Cup

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past 2 decades then you probably know the legacy of Harry Potter and the fandom surrounding it. And obviously enough Quidditch follows Harry Potter everywhere. For the last six years, The International Quidditch Association has hosted the annual Quidditch World Cup in Kissimmee, Florida. You don’t have to think twice about the amount of fun this event would be. The level of fandom too, is too damn high! Around 60 teams from 4 countries take part every year. Get your Nimbus 3000(If you have one) and get ready to catch the snitch!

9. Run For Your Lives

If you’ve always wanted to live out your apocalypse fantasies and wanted to know if you will survive a zombie ambush, Run For Your Lives race is the best place for you. This race happens every year at various locations all across the U.S. The race has multiple obstacles which runners have to overcome while also dodging zombies hungry for your brains! This is the ultimate gore fans dream come true! It’s happening in September this year.

10. PAX Prime

The Penny Arcade comic creators made a simple comic about a gamers life which spiraled into becoming one of the biggest fan-funded gaming expos in the U.S. Their fan following is so strong and loyal that 2015’s tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes! Can you believe it? PAX stands for Penny Arcade Expo, they host a number of game related events like giving exclusive plays of to-be-released games, to independent gaming. You name it, they have it.

If you’re a geek anywhere in the world, yo can be more than certain that there is some glorious, larger-than-life event happening next to you, that you don’t about. After all, in today’s age, if you’re a geek you should embrace it! With the recent rise in everyone seeing the increase in variety of expos and exhibitions, one can only imagine what the future holds!

To infinity and beyond!

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