Green Linen Shirt

Okay, Team. I haven’t done a proper review in a while, and last weekend was BlerDCon: Summer Madness, so let’s jump right in with the disclaimers.

No one asked for my opinion, and I don’t seek the viewpoints of strangers on the internet. We all have our own goals and preferred outcomes that should guide our wallets. I took notes throughout the weekend for this year’s review, and expanded upon those bits & pieces for this post. As with previous years, this is the long version of the same feedback that I provide in BlerDCon’s wrap-up surveys. I only lurk in the official FB group, so this is the one place I’m gonna bother with my perspective. In that spirit, as an attendee of this con all seven years, I’ve found that a good weekend for me is 50% panels, 15% vendors, 10% food trucks, and 25% AC in my hotel room. I’m an introvert, and I’m old, and I firmly believe that any con is what you make of it. Overall, I had a positive experience, so my nerves and emotions are calm as I acknowledge where I see room for improvement.

Pre-Con

Stepping back a bit, I had no intention of attending BlerDCon 2023 because of the previous year’s shenanigans, but my cousins wanted to check it out, so I relented. Despite a pretty serious personal kerfuffle during 2023’s Fae’d To Black weekend, I had a fantastic time and allowed myself to be swayed into getting a badge for 2024 as well. I snagged a room in the Hyatt the day the block was opened and started packing a couple of weeks out. 

Through the FB group, I learned that the con would be using the Guidebook app this year. If you understand how these apps work, it’s a “garbage in, garbage out” scenario. If only partial information is provided for panels, guests, or meetups, then that’s all the user sees. I found the schedule to be less packed than previous years, and there were disappointing panel overlaps specifically for someone trying to schedule their own cosplay track. However, I was able to create that personal schedule without using a highlighter and a paper handout. It was at that point that I decided to leave my babies at home for the weekend. I was pleased to see the increase in family programming (filtered as “kids” and “teen” in the app), but I knew population logistics would still be an issue in the host hotel. On a related note, the maps in the Guidebook app were lacking, but I didn’t realize just how much of an issue that would be until later. 

Day 0

With experience as my weapon, I set my GPS for the parking garage rather than the Hyatt and arrived just after badge pickup ended. It was more important to get a good parking space before the garage closed than to hop in line at the last minute, so that’s what I did. I packed “light” this year with one large suitcase, a travel backpack, gaming case, food bag, and a shoulder bag. That equated to four costumes and their sundries, a bunch of mundane clothes that I didn’t wear, and enough provisions that I only stopped at the food trucks for actual food on the first afternoon and second day brunch as a courtesy. In truth, it was too hot to eat. 

Check-in is always easy with the Hyatt app, and they’ve finally redeemed themselves in my eyes for the years of omitted breakfast buffet discounts. When my room was missing an iron, they brought one up, new-in-box within minutes. No cracked reservoir or scorched plate for my costume pieces. I unpacked, did a little organizing, then fell asleep to the sounds of someone’s crying baby. 

Day 1

Badge pick up at the Courtyard Marriott has truly been an inspired choice these last few years, and I’m beyond pleased that they moved some programming over there as well. I’ll also take this chance to recognize the Marriott for having the Starbucks open early in the morning, unlike some other hotel….

Marriott: 1; Hyatt: 0

I was the line leader after the registration doors opened, and that team is consistently fantastic–from the line directors to the phone checkers. Caramel Macchiato in hand, I headed back to the room to get dressed, which is when the elevator shenanigans began. There was a line…at 9:15 am on FRIDAY. DragonCon was mentioned a number of times as the con population waxed throughout the weekend, and my spidey-sense is still tingling because of it. 

Panels were laid out similarly to years past with the normal lines and crowding. There seemed to be fewer room monitors, and a number of panelists were responsible for their own timing with an alarming amount running over and causing delays. Rooms were not cleared between sessions and I witnessed droves of people entering and exiting panels at random. They did, however, open the room dividers for double occupancy, once in the middle of a panel. Normally, I would say that they should have booked more panels to fill those empty rooms, but the extra air was nice. 

At some point, I made it down to what used to be the primary vendor hall on the Independence level. There was a line to get in. Additional artist and vendor spaces were put in the old tabletop room on the Ballroom floor, the new tabletop room (in the Marriott), and, for another year, the Independence and second floor walkways. I didn’t see a line for the Potomac vendor room, but people were still setting up while the doors were open so I just kept moving. In all, it was difficult to find booths and to move through open spaces especially after businesses started moving rooms, rendering the map completely useless. I sincerely hope that they consider a vendor/artist cap for next year. As much as I love seeing so many Blerd creatives, I can’t imagine that the community is getting a fair shot at making table with so many heads. 

I saw two badge checkers all weekend, and they were both on the first day. The first one was on his phone, but took the time to raise his voice at me to take my parasol down to the prop check table at the bottom of the escalator. Not the umbrella that I was also carrying, just the parasol…that looks like an umbrella. He received one of my brighter smiles, because I’m not a troublemaker. The other badge checker was standing at attention and totally cool.

As always, the BlerDCon Prop Check is a five-star experience, and they always keep cosplayer photographs in mind when tagging our items. Seriously, they’re the absolute best in the industry–friendly, efficient, and thoughtful.

I ended up heading to the Main Stage for the Phil Lamarr interview, which started late because the interviewer never showed. Phil eventually went on stage with a handler, who went into the audience to take questions. Since the signal in the ballroom (basement) is non-existent, there was no way to tell if there’d been a schedule update. Good times. 

Eventually, I was able to get into the vendor room to meet up with a friend. And then I had to take all of the escalators and start up the stairs to get back to my room. On a Friday afternoon.

Hyatt: 1; Shasta: 0

Day 2

It was as crowded as the Orisha intended, and I paid dearly for taking so long with my makeup in the morning. Having rooftop panels this year greatly impacted the 5½  elevators in the Hyatt, but I was lucky to have been bestowed a relatively low floor. Once family arrived, we walked around and did some shopping, then took a break from the heat at the Marriott’s Starbucks. I was properly themed to attend another Sailor Moon meetup this year in my Italian Renaissance fit. The scheduled meetups were mostly placed at the Courtyard 2nd floor balcony, which seemed like a good choice until all of the Scouts and their handlers arrived. It was…very cozy. Luckily, the hosts and photographer were seasoned and moved us along pretty well. 

Afterward, I checked in with my cousins, hit up another panel, then made my way down to the Main Stage. 

Participant-wise, the Cosplay Contest gets better every year! Right up front, I’m happy to say that my intuition was spot-on with the winners without even knowing their categories. Everyone did a great job!

With regard to the actual contest, there was a delayed start to get butts in seats. Apparently, the overpopulation wasn’t simply remedied by having the DJ tell people to leave. Weird. Totally didn’t expect a bunch of grown ass adults to just go sit on the floor to essentially hide from whoever was enforcing the no standing rule. Shocking. Like the panel monitors, I didn’t see anyone around to handle the crowding, and I do have concerns about event staffing, especially with security. I know that some of the floor dwellers were contestant handlers, but not all of them. Despite the annoyed murmurings from the crowd, the contest was underway with a good pace from the kids’ through the adults, the intermission for judging, and awards. Again, with experience on my side, I waited in my seat patiently until it was safe to start the meandering quest back up to my room. I really didn’t intend to stay in all night, but my window looked out over the food trucks, and with the number of people down there, I figured I’d need one meal for the hike back and a second as my actual dinner. I could hear the concert from my spot, so I was good to start packing up and doing my nails.  

Day 3

The Final Countdown started as it always does–I woke up refreshed, took the majority of my stuff down to the car, and was finally able to call elevators both ways. My costume preparation took me right up to check out time, which I completed on the app, headed back to the car with the last bag, grabbed a cold brew, then started a series of shopping laps. With less people everywhere, following the big party night, I was able to take my time catching up with some friends. The panel I wanted to see had quite a line by the time I made it back to the third floor, so I ended up leaving early, which I’ll note as a huge mistake for two very specific reasons. 

1 – I hit standstill traffic as soon as I exited the “con campus”, and I stayed in that traffic until the last 30 minutes of my drive home. 

2 – As soon as I got home, I checked the FB group to see what the next year’s theme would be since it’s always announced at Closing Ceremonies. Little did I know, there was an Early Early Bird ticket option that would only be available for a couple of hours. I put my phone down to catch up with my kids, and by the time I jumped back on my phone to get a $68 general admission weekend badge, the price had jumped to $93.  Womp, womp.

I won’t say, “Never Again”, but I’m definitely going to have to take Mondays off in the future and stay through the end of the con. 

Three days after the con, I was hearing some pretty alarming stories from other attendees, vendors, and even volunteers. I do expect better staffing next year, since I wasn’t alone in my observations. With the con being moved to March, I now have a scheduling conflict, but I plan on making an effort to attend for some part of the weekend. I do want this convention to continue thriving because it’s been such an inspiring safe space, fostering a community of blerds–old, young, and in between.