Westworld is much more than ‘just a TV show’. It is a meticulously crafted piece of art. It’s no surprise fans have expressed their love for the show through a myriad of artistic mediums such as art, crafts, tattoos, cosplay, music, fan fiction, and poetry.
Westworld fans are the most intelligent and creative in the world of fandom, I may be biased but I believe this with all my heart. I have found quite a few gems that inspired me to write a series of fan creation articles like this one. In this article, I am featuring superfan Christina’s awesome day spent at the AT&T Westworld Experience in San Francisco.
I found her work by scouring Instagram for Westworld fan expressions in creativity and her pictures caught my eye. Christina was dressed in outfits that looked just like those worn by the characters Maeve and Dolores. Another thing about her posts that captured my attention were these black hat and white hat cookies. Hey what can I say, I love cookies.
This Westworld event took place at one of the AT&T stores located on 1 Powell Street in San Francisco. It’s the West Coast’s flagship store and they put on several events every year. Some of the bigger events are not unlike pop-up experiences except they tend to last for a month or two. These events are like free mini-cons where all ages can go in or out of a costume.
The Westworld experience took place from April 22nd to July 1st of this year. It included the giant Vitruvian man, authentic props, and costumes, a virtual reality experience, photo ops, an interactive experience with RFID white hat/black hat cards and a player piano.
The event culminated with an exclusive party called: ‘Private Westworld Event: Welcome to Our World’. Christina said being around other fans of the show was awesome. Original props were on display like Maeve’s Mariposa Saloon costumes, the evaporated milk cans Dolores drops, and Bernard’s red ID badge.
And what would a Westworld experience event be without hosts? The female hosts wore the now iconic white dresses and the other store employees had custom tees featuring the show’s logo. As seen in the photo below, you could choose between your white or black hat outfitted with RFID.
The event also had a DJ, a trivia game with a grand prize giveaway and Westworld themed food and drinks. Some of the treats included beef jerky, popcorn, horseshoe-shaped pretzels, and those awesome black and white hat cookies. Did I mention I like cookies? Yes, I think I did.
A 3D printer was brought out along with a technician dressed in a Felix and/or Sylvester costume. The tech was giving out mini Vitruvian man collectibles, which also spun! There were also free posters that changed weekly so if you visited the even multiple times like Christina did, you could collect them.
I saved the best part for last! The event featured special guest star Leonardo Nam. Leonardo plays Felix Lutz, an employee of the Livestock Management division of the who works as a body shop technician repairing damaged hosts. We here at Beyond Westworld like to call him ‘Employee of the Month’.
Leonardo Nam first participated in a Q and A session and later in an exclusive meet and greet for a few select guests. Each person not only got to meet him but was given a signed vinyl Westworld soundtrack. You can see the record Christina received in the last picture with the map of the park in the background.
Christina told me that meeting Leonardo was the absolute highlight of the night! She loves Maeve’s storyline and Felix’s role in her personal narrative. She feels Felix is the heart of the show and most likely “the only good human left”. She said Leonardo was genuinely happy to meet fans as well as being witty and friendly. He even complimented Christina on her Maeve cosplay outfit!
Check out more of Christina’s cosplay and fan event pictures on her Instagram page! Have you been to any of these pop-up Westworld experiences? Tell us about it via DM on any of our social media profiles and we could feature you in an article too.
Follow Beyond Westworld’s Twitter and Facebook accounts for everything you need to know about Westworld.
Westworld returns with Season 3 in 2020 (or sooner – we hope)!