Well, well, well, where do I begin? It’s been a week since Dream Con 2023, and I’ve had more than enough time to collect my thoughts.

Disclaimer: Before y’all come for me, this is my first weekend convention and the first con I’ve been to in over five years, so bear with me. I didn’t have any set expectations for the event, and after reflection, I realized it wasn’t so bad in the end. I had a great time within my means, but there’s always room for improvement.

Dream Con Day One

Let’s start with Friday. Before I even got to the Austin Convention Center, Dream Con had already troubled me. When I tried registering, the app wouldn’t even load. After fifteen minutes of frustration, I headed to the Discord channel to find that I wasn’t the only one with this issue – thankfully but unfortunately. An hour had passed before I was able to register and add events to my schedule. Some were full, of course, but eventually, that didn’t matter. During that hour, there was no response from the staff. (Okay, I’ll give them grace since it was the first day, but it was disheartening to wait with no updates about when the app would be up and running.)

That convention line was long. It’s abysmal for people to be waiting in the heat for God knows how long. (You know how funky people get, especially these gamers and anime fans who don’t believe in deodorant.) I don’t think people knew to enter from the Hilton side; you could literally just walk in and go to the con, instead of via the convention center, but thankfully the other days went smoothly with entry.

Now navigating the con was definitely tricky because it was split into two buildings. I personally found that there were way more staff and volunteers in the Hilton than in the convention center – and they really needed assistance. Some people were met with hostility by the staff. I was fortunate not to, but I could tell that some were at their wit's end, just became a volunteer to attend the con, and/or did not know what was going on.

And before I go on: Dream Con, can we talk about how expensive the food was? I understand convention prices but $10 for a slice of pizza is insane. Even in New York, I could get two slices and a soda for $7 at most from a touristy spot. Additionally, there were only three hot food options on location, resulting in long lines. Luckily, they moved relatively fast, and I got food the first day in under 20 minutes to make it to a panel in time. (Let’s not talk about the panels, not just yet.)

Exhibit Hall

My favorite part of the con was the exhibit hall, which was freezing, by the way. I am a relatively thin person, but there had to have been a 10-degree temperature shift from the rest of the event locations by the way the A/C was blasting.

There were plenty of talented artists to buy merch from. I would have supported each and every one if my pockets allowed, which made it vital to do my purchasing the first couple of days as almost everything was sold out by Sunday.

(And thank you, Lan Party, for playing some bops that allowed me to forget the cold for a moment as I waited for an autograph from voice actor Zeno Robinson. Y’all are the GOATs!)

Events

My first event of the day was the gaming tournament with RDC World and Some Bros. I know Black people are notorious for being late to events, but this was atrocious. The event started an hour late, and the first round of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament was over in not even five minutes. If the MCs are getting impatient now, that says something.

Despite this, it was nice to see that RDC World has some exciting upcoming collaborations with Mountain Dew, an anticipated eSports tournament in Atlanta, a scholarship for HBCU students, and even a special movie deal with Jordan Peele in the works. I wish them all the best and for them to continue to have successful and fun cons in the future.

Panels

There was one particular panel I went to on Friday that piqued my interest, and that was the tax education for content creators. Rony was extremely helpful and so nice to talk to after the event was over, especially being an anime fan himself. I couldn’t take notes fast enough, and he was kind enough to give out his email and social media handles after the panel was over for additional questions.

However, the room was way too small and as hot as My Hero Academia’s Endeavor’s ass****, and I think informative panels like these should have a bigger space.

The K-pop trivia was cute. It was very 4th and 2nd gen centered with the questions (if you know, you know), but I wish they had a little more substance than “Guess the music video thumbnail,” which made up ⅓ of the 44 questions total.

Cosplay Cabaret

Now let’s talk about cabaret night. What was that? There wasn’t a line to get in as everyone crowded around the doors, and one hostile volunteer said they’d “shut the convention down” if we didn’t stop moving. After around thirty minutes of waiting, they started to check IDs to let everyone in, and by then, the show had already started. It wasn’t fair to those who were waiting in line for a while only to be cut by others – but when do we ever do things fairly?

But once I got in – when I tell you the people there could’ve started singing “I’m in Luv with a Stripper,” I mean it. It wasn’t rowdy, but the crowd went crazy when this fine, juicy Black woman came on stage and showed off her skills. I do not remember her name, unfortunately, but she had the audience in a chokehold, and as one of the few Black entertainers on stage, she did a solid job. I wish there were more POCs (maybe there were, but it didn’t look that way to me) on stage and doing their thing. Shout out to the boss man who paid $100 to get a lap dance. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I fear.

Dream Con Day Two

After the first day exhausted me, I was excited to get ready for Saturday, which was equally as entertaining as the first.

Easiest entry ever. I was inside the convention center not even five minutes after I arrived. Whoever said you couldn’t bring any food or water in is lying, because the security didn’t even check that I had snacks. I would’ve packed home-cooked meals all three days if I had known this information beforehand. It was almost too lax as bags didn’t go through metal detectors, and if people really tried, they could have concealed a weapon without anyone knowing. It’s a Godsend that nobody got hurt during the con (unless it was self-inflicted alcohol poisoning), and I would 100% go back next year for this reason alone.

Exhibit Hall

I loved the Black and POC-owned brands in Artist Alley. I never saw a single white person the entire three days unless they were ringing me up for merch! This is how life should be. I bought an Akatsuki-themed bonnet that I look forward to wearing as I dream about Worick rocking me to sleep (#based if you’ve watched GANGSTA.), and other stickers, pins, and a pricey, yet solid material, Attack on Titan-themed jacket from Anime Gear Guru. Dream Con should definitely continue this trend of Black-owned brands, and I hope more talented artists and creators can showcase their work next year.

Okay, what did Sexyy Red say? “Looking for the hoochie daddies, I’m tryna get my c—” yeah, you know. Y’all were fine as hell at Dream Con. Why aren’t y’all in New York City? Like, I’m actually offended. I was sneaking glances left and right because there was no way there was that much eye candy. Please go outside so I can find you—thank you very much!

Events

So, the Family Feud event: If y’all weren’t so busy watching Jerry Springer and Maury when skipping school faking sick, y’all would know how to play. Who taught y’all how to play Family Feud? Not only did the event start late (unsurprisingly), but there was slight confusion about how to play the game.

Maybe it’s different being on stage, and the nerves rattled a bit, but despite that, I was thoroughly entertained. Berleezy dressed up as Steve Harvey, sweating his ass off in that suit too, and I’m so glad nobody gave too bad of an answer (we know how the Black families can get sometimes on the official show). It was probably the most fun event at Dream Con, and I enjoyed it very much.

Panels

Directly after was the voice acting panel. As someone with an interest in getting into this industry, their words of wisdom resonated with me as they shared their experiences with VA work. The host asked deep-dive questions like “Who would you be if you weren’t a voice actor?” and the classic “What advice would you have for those interested in becoming a voice actor?” They gave a sneak peek of how their sessions go, which are typically recorded individually. However, there can be acting partners in the room with them from time to time. They bounce off and learn from each other’s work, encouraging each other to try out new things to enhance their performance. Thank you to Zeno, Amanda, AJ, Catero, Anairis, and Dani for the amazing panel. And it ended on time!

Later on, was the cosplay contest. Everybody was so creative with their costumes and performances that it felt like the anime and gaming versions of Project Runway and a talent show combined. I didn’t recognize many cosplays since a lot were from games, but I appreciated the Alphonse mecha suit winning the night. Much deserved! (Just a little disappointed the event was running late, but at that point, I shouldn’t have been surprised).

Dream Con After Dark

I thought the Anime After Dark panel was supposed to be 18+, but the only thing 18 and over about it was the weird “Would you rather?” questions. (I’d rather choose to watch abnormal Titan sex than have Hisoka babysit my kids, but that’s just me). I appreciated everyone sharing their top three (If your top anime is Dragonball Z, I cannot take you seriously), but I wished the questions were a bit spicier, like “What are your top three favorite Shonen Boy Love (BL) ships,” “Your top three uke voice actors,” and “Your top three who could top you?”

The Dream Con afterparty? Lit as hell. The drinks were too pricey, though.

Dream Con Day Three

The next and final day sped by. There was an extremely informative embroidery machine workshop that taught the basics of using an embroidery machine for personal and business use. It was one of my favorite panels, and I learned so much from Sew Much More (no pun intended), based in Austin.

The monetizing content panel was the last one I attended before the con concluded, and let me tell you, it’ll motivate anybody to start a business, become a content creator, and follow their dreams. It was the perfect panel to end the con, and I’m sure it left the audience inspired to start their journey.

Sunday went by way too fast, and I felt a longing once the con was over. At the ending ceremony, RDC addressed the disorganization, saying they worked as fast as they could to solve the issues that arose. I appreciated that they said something but considering the population spike of almost 15K and it being their fifth year, I think the convention overall still went pretty well.

Final Thoughts

With bigger conventions, there aren’t spaces for people like us. It was refreshing to see Black people be in their element, free of judgment. In the end, I and several others didn’t want to leave the convention center as exiting the doors marked the final conclusion that everything was over. People hung around outside the Austin Convention Center in the blistering heat to make their final connections and say their goodbyes before officially parting ways.

One thing I did notice was that everybody and their mama is trying to be a content creator. Everywhere I went, I saw cameras, video cameras, gimbals, tripods, and all other sorts of gear.  Even leaving the con, some random dude came up to this other girl and me asking what our top five anime was and invited us to a pool party (I appreciate the invite but be for real). I hope that Dream Con doesn’t turn into a hub for content creators solely looking for followers instead of people spending time with other like-minded individuals and enjoying the convention.

Personally, I wish that there were more of my niche interest at this con, but I know that it’s not for everybody. I didn’t make it to the “Battle of the Yaoi” panel but considering that was the only BL-centered event, I feel a meetup of some sort would have been nice for the hiding fujoshis (I know y’all are out there). It seems like all the merch and conversations stemmed around popular Shonen anime, which is great. But although I love Shonen, can we start to branch out a bit with our anime taste? Where are my psycho-horror and historical fiction girlies at? Elfen Lied? Moriarty the Patriot? No. 6? I can only take so much about Gojo and Nanami double-tapping y’all until the walls sweat.

Overall, Dream Con was very cute. Do I think it should be canceled like that one girl said on TikTok? Absolutely not. Nerdy Black people don’t have the opportunity to be nerdy Black people. I think there can be more spaces for the nerdier sub-niches (yes, my omega verse, monster f**king, and fanfic writers I’m talking to you), but more exposure can fix that. Can it be more organized? Yes, but that’s with every convention. There’s room for improvement, but the vibes were immaculate. Keep it up, RDC – Dream Con will become something great and be a memorable convention for years to come.