I'm so behind on posting, already!
On July 11, the beau and I packed up our bags and headed to Crystal City, Virginia just shy of downtown Washington D.C for BlerdCon.
One of the goals I made for 2019 was to
- give over my fear of cosplaying and just do it
- travel to more conventions to be less introverted and network more aka talk to people more.
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| Photo Credits: Otis Casey |
With having missed the chance to head to MomoCon in Atlanta, Georgia and DaishoCon in Sandusky, Ohio, I decided to make a point to head to BlerdCon. I will admit that there was a bit of hesitation due to never having been to this convention before and not knowing how everything would turn out at this convention.
A little background about conventions, I've attended Anime Milwaukee for 10 years, attended AnimeCentral for two years and nearly died at Anime Expo in LA (I couldn't move through the crowd of people) But this year at BlerdCon was the first time I had a large cosplay + a prop.
Now, for the big question - what is BlerdCon?
Blerdcon is an event that highlights and celebrates Blerd culture and creates a marketplace of ideas where sharing that culture can take place with proper context, attribution and positivity in an inclusive environment.
Blerdcon is derived from the term “Blerd” which is short for black nerd. Blerd culture encompasses creatives, fans, producers who are and have been contributing to every fandom, but don’t get the recognition or notoriety.
Blerdcon celebrates our connection with LGBTQ, the disabled, POCs and the international community! All are welcome to partake in the experience as we are an open community who love all the same nerddom. - BlerdCon website
Jumping into the convention, this was the first time I've experienced a convention that was catered to Black Nerds and the sheer amount of blerds in one area. Not to mention, all the panels were focused on the black community but not ignorant or selfish to those that were not of the black community.
It was a welcoming convention to any and all that wanted to attend.
The convention was held in a hotel convention center and it was packed. There were so many people at the convention and paired with the heat from outside the air conditioner was useless. If you were standing perfectly still in a conversation, you would be sweating.
It was just that hot, the only safe space in the hotel was your hotel room if you were lucky to snag one and lucky enough to get on an elevator to take you to your room.
The elevator wait was near 10-15 minutes and also two of the elevators were 'broken' throughout the weekend of the convention but honestly, I think the hotel turned off the elevators which is a common practice of hotel convention centers to prevent children or others from playing with them.
As I looked more into the schedule, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of panels that were offered compared to the convention in my hometown that has been around for 10 years. With a quick glance, panel topics ranging from anime, video games, cosplay, culturally centered topics and more. Guests that were catered to the black community but still was applicable to everyone that came to the convention. I planned to attend some of these panels but didn't and I can't even remember why...
Ahem...
This year was also my first time was I debut one of my very first cosplays that involved a large prop. I cosplayed before with smaller pieces but I wanted to challenge myself and also stay true to goals I had set earlier this year-- Start cosplaying ( Cosplay More)
- Go to conventions ( to cosplay more)
- Take fancy photos of cosplays
This year, I cosplayed as 2b from the video game Nier: Automata, a game that made me fall in love with the story, characters, and design. The main characters have a monochromatic, gothic and lolita-esque feel behind them which drew my attention to the main heroine of the game, 2b. I made sure that I would be able to cosplay this specific character as much as possible because I was so fond of the character.
I did research to find a shop/place that offered top quality materials and customization for this cosplay. (I am currently working on a post and will share when finished.)
I overall, I have fallen in love with BlerdCon and will attend BlerdCon 2020 (I already reserved the hotel room) I am also on my way to fulfilling my dream of cosplaying and also crushing my goals of cosplaying & attending cons as well. I had tons of fun, met a lot of streamers from twitch, saw some amazing cosplays, missed a bunch a of panels, experienced my first big cosplay all while being in a welcoming community.
I can see nothing but BlerdCon growing in the upcoming years, the convention itself is still fairly new compared to other conventions like KatsuCon. Representation is important and BlerdCon will become the convention where blerds are able to share, meet, and experience all things anime, gaming, nerdy, and represent their culture with others like them together.
It's one big Black Nerdy Community.
Have you been to BlerdCon before? Have you ever been to specific/specialized convention before i.e AlienCon, DoomCon, DinoCon, etc.
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