X-Men

Inside The Uncanny Experience

A 2-day immersive fan convention for people who love the X-Men.

September 20, 2023

On September 16^th & 17^th, The Uncanny Experience took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a historic venue called The Minneapolis Club. The team at Giant-Size Productions transformed the location in Xavier Institute for a 2-day immersive fan convention for people who love the X-Men. Attendees were addressed as students, given Student IDs as badges, a class curriculum, and were taught by cosplayers and creatives of the X-Men Universe.

(Lenore Zann, the voice of Rogue poses with Omega Red cosplayer Hummin_H2. Photo by Loco FX)

Highlights for the weekend include an in-universe lecture from Chris Claremont titled Mutant History 101 where he spoke to the students about the evolution of mutants in modern day society. Other classes included physical education from Professor Logan, a class on Intergalactic Social Studies of the Shi’ar Empire and other Alien Races, and so many more. Saturday night, VIP ticket holders were treated to an immersive karaoke experience with Dazzler where they could sing on stage with her, plus downstairs there was a Hellfire Club New Member Initiation Ceremony where audiences raised their champagne glasses to toast the White Queen, only to have a burlesque performer intrude and strip down into Selene – The Black Queen!

(Attendees of the Hellfire Club New Member Initiation Ceremony toast their White Queen. Photo by Loco FX)

(Cal Dodd, the voice of Wolverine, poses for the iconic meme his character created. Photo by Loco FX)

Special Guests were flown in from all areas of the X-Men universe from comics, to movies, to cartoons featuring Claremont alongside the cast and creative of X-Men: The Animated Series (Larry Houston, Eric Lewald, Julia Lewald, Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, Alyson Court, and Dan Veesenmeyer). Plus, movie actors Daniel Cudmore and Casper Van Dien were on site to meet and greet the students.

(Michelle Waffle as Jean Grey with Cerebro)

Immersive elements of the mansion included a desk with a Cerebro Helmet with a painted portrait of Xavier looking over the students, Wolverine’s Bedroom with a framed photo of Cyclops and Jean so Wolverine fans could recreate the iconic meme, Jubilation Station – a game room dedicated to free-play arcade machines and board gaming, a room with tarot readings from the Hellions character Tarot, and hidden touches all throughout the mansion including a scavenger hunt style clue-solving puzzle called Mystery in the Mansion.

(Chris Claremont hands out diplomas for the Graduation Ceremony. Photo by Loco FX)

The weekend concluding with a special Graduation Ceremony that saw Chris Claremont give closing remakes and hand out Mutant Diplomas to every attendee. Check out even more photos below!

The Uncanny Experience is produced by Giant-Size Productions and was generously sponsored by Cedar Printing, Gambit Brewery, Number 12 Cider, and 2D-Con. Learn more about the event at www.theuncannyexperience.com.