Last weekend, the Exportdrv space in Rijeka became the center of science fiction, gaming and pop culture thanks to the convention Recon 2024, which this year attracted over 4,000 visitors from Croatia and the region. This year's Rikon, held from October 11 to 13, 2024, was marked by hosting Doug Cockle, the voice actor of the legendary Geralt of Rivia from the mega-popular game "Witcher", as well as a rich program that brought together fans of games, cosplay, movies, literature and Asian pop culture.
Doug Cockle, počasni gost konvencije, fromuševio je obožavatelis and publiku s panelthere is i razgovorthere is. Cockle, američki glumac i glasovni glumac, except what je obožavateljthere is potpisivao autographs, razgovarao je o svojim iskustvthere is iza kulisa. Except what daje glas u poznatim videogamema, like "Witchera", "Baldur's Gate 3" i "Alan Wake II", radio is and na mnogim movieovthere is i s poznatim zvijezdama - posebno is andstaknuo Susan Sarandon te Dolly Parton as svois onjdraže suradnje. Cockleov dolazak svahow is it was najistaknutiji dio programa Recona, which is posjetiteljthere is pružio jedinstvenu prorku da se susretnu s jednim od najpoznatijih glasova u svijetu gaminga.
“Zbilja smo oduševljeni Dougovim pristupom publici - he was užitak gledati ga how se during potpisivanja autograma posvetio svakoj osobi, ne just for autogram or sliku, nego i porazgovarao i with iskrenim interesom slušao svoje fanew ones. Razgovarali smo s njim lateis and složor se how, iako mu je to posao, zbilja se vidi koliko on uživa u tome. Mi smo pak najviše impresionirani nekim fanewma koji su, after what su received autogram na ruku, otrčali do tattoo zone i istetovirali isti!”, kazala je organizatorica Valentina Mišković Yoe, which, as he says, presented the guest of honor with all the best things about Croatia, including a selection of top Croatian wines.
Cosplay competition and K-pop Dance delighted the audience
Friday was all about Korean pop music, with the only international K-pop Dance competition held in Croatia. The competition attracted talented dancers from Croatia and surrounding countries. Prizes were awarded for the best solo performance (Nikolina Škrlec), the best duo performance (Lana Matuš, Nika Predavec) and the best group (Se7en).
Subota je bila rezervirana za najpopularniji dio programa – Cosplay competition, na kojem je this year sudjehuntingalo 23 natjecatelja iz Hrvatske, Shuntingeniis and Srbije. Ontjecanje se odvija u dvije kategorije - ona za početnike this one zanata te majstorska liga. IN početničkoj ligi glavnu nagradu osvojila je Lea Pungerčić from Slovenia, while in the masters league she won the prestigious "Best in Show" award Vida Simic iz Srbije, like lik iz games “Witcher” - Noonwraith. WITHvi natjecatelji publiku su oduševor svojim impresivnim kostimthere is i requiziteam, a ponajviše svojim kreativnim nastupthere is, but ipak favoriti koji su osvojor awards publike su početnica Nex Cosplays with the Skull Kid mask from the game "Legend of Zelda" and again, Vida Simić and Damjan Silbaški, with a joint performance as ViD arts duo.
Courtčki panel natjecanja činio je trojac impresivnih cosplay umjetnika - Veronica Alzate who se kriis andza umjetničkog imena “Hanami Cosplayer”, kolumbijka sa zagrebačkom adresom, who je osvojila mnoge međunarodne awards, a ranije this year i nagradu prvog riječkog gaming expoa. “Lonely Wolf J” - Jan Strmšek iz susjedne Shuntingenije - which is konvencijom prošetao u svojoj impresivnoj verziji Geralt te Lovro Belosevic from Krapina, better known on social networks as "Supernaut", where he publishes educational videos about making props and costumes.
“Oduševljen sam s Dougom, htio sam ga upoznati još otkad sam počeo raditi na svom Witcher kostimu - after gamenja games. Za potrebe performansa this one cosplay kostthere is naučio sam imitiwari njegov glas, a sada sam had prorke upoznati Douga i čuti ga glasno i jasno. Onučio me neke trikove how da zvučim as Witcher, to je moj omiljeni kostim i game”, kazao je Jan Strmšek. “Na Reconu sam prvi put i zbilja sam oduševljen kvalitetom organizacije, produkcije, pažnis and ljubavi koju organizacija očito posalreadyuje ovoj konvenciji!"
Filmska magic - kaskaderi u akciji
Posebnu pažnju privuas je program posalreadyen movieskoj industriji te onim nevidljivim herojthere is - kaskaderthere is, na kojem su sudjehuntingali domaći i strani kaskaderi te ravnatelj karhuntingačkog China Edison, Ivan Gojmerac, as the organizer of the first Croatian stunt festival. Željko Matovina, the Croatian stuntman revealed various secrets of the trade to the audience, while the Italian stuntman Ivan Furlani izazvao vrisak i ovacije publike na demonstraciju zapaljenja - i prošetao punu minutu u plamenu ispred publike.
"We have worked on various globally known hits such as "Game of Thrones" and the films "The Expendables". It is our pleasure to convey part of these experiences to the audience at Rikon." he revealed to us Željko Matovina.
Another program dedicated to science, knowledge and entertainment
Uz iznimno bogat program, posjetitelji Recona 2024. mogli su sudjehuntingati u brojnim panelthere is koji su se dotakli raznih relevantnih tema, and notzaobilazni su bor i zabavni quizovi. Special panel "Karijere u the video game industry: Put do uspjeha" he was pripremljen s ciljem edukacije mladih i srednjoškolaca o mogućnostthere is obrazovanja i karijera u domaćoj the video game industry, pružajući im korisne savjete o tome how strast prema videogamema može postati unosna karijera. Posebno zanimljiv he was panel "Courtr generacija: Od kultnih sci-fi a classic do metaverse monopola", na kojem se žustro raspravljalo o promjenama u movieskoj industriji i budućnosti znanstvene fantastike.
Posebno je popraćen i panel s temom "Cro-Asian perspectives: Living between cultures" s gostthere is iz isexactly-azijskih zemalja o njihovim iskustvthere is življenja u Hrvatskoj - Kim Ji Yeon from Rijeka's Sejong Institute for the Korean Language and Jonathan Yoe, an Asian American, who is also part of Rikon's own organization.
"It is interesting to listen to the experiences of other Asians in Croatia. It was a lot of fun for me to share my experiences and talk about how Croatia has been developing in recent years, since I was one of the few Asians here, and now more different faces have come to Croatia," he said. Jonathan Yoe and added that he has been participating in Rikon for a long time and likes to share his experiences with the audience, who always ask curious questions.
Rikon 2024 exceeded expectations
This year's Rikon once again showed why it is the largest and most important convention of this type in Croatia. Rijeka finally got the festival it deserves, at the level of quality of European pop culture festivals, and Rikon once again proved itself as a unique platform for entertainment and educational content for young people.
“Svake year festival raste, but this year posebno smo ponosni na novu lokaciju - Exportwood, in centru grada. Divno je vidjeti how publika reagira na prostor, slušati pozitivne komentare i vidjeti rezultat ourga rada. Onš tim je mali, but predano cijelu godinu radimo na ovom projektu.”, izjavila je organizatorica Marta Glažar. "About 4,000 visitors walked through Rikon this weekend, from the youngest fans to the most loyal old friends. We are certainly grateful for the support of the City of Rijeka and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, as well as the Ministry of Culture and Media and various sponsors."
Rikon 2024 has ended, but the impressions and memories remain, and Rijeka has once again positioned itself as the center of culture, fantasy and pop culture in the region.
