On a hill overlooking the tennis courts and weekenders spread out on blankets, a lone bagpiper played a somber tune for the cardboard-clad men and women below him at the Sixth Annual Boxwars in Dolores Park on Sunday. A crowd gathered around the group of warriors readying for battle.
It was a gathering of video-game nerds, steampunks, Dungeons and Dragons aficionados and other geeks who had come to blow off some steam.
The battle itself was upstaged by two fat suit–wearing, boombox-toting interlopers who ran through the circle of cardboard warriors before the first paper sword was swung. That interruption ended just as the contenders were introduced, dressed in varying levels of armor; they then ran out into the open to display their power and glory. With names like “Middle America,” “I am Hamster” and “Microwave,” you might guess that the whole thing is one big, ironic recess for grownups.
Perhaps the sweetest battlefield moment came when Aaron Tye got down on one knee at the feet of his girlfriend, Ashley Raj, and opened a small cardboard box. Raj emphatically accepted the ring and celebrated by slapping the fiber out of her Boxwar opponents.
Thanks for the shout out! Check out the box wars portraits on my website, tomkubikphoto.com