Blerdcon 2024, called the Summer Madness show this year, was even bigger and better than last time, which does not seem possible given how great that event was, and how much it had expanded for the 2023 convention. But the 2024 convention events sprawled through even more hotels, and there was more of everything including cosplay, vendors, tabletop role-playing rooms, video game play areas and more. There were even more connections and alliances formed with other conventions as Blerdcon officially takes its place in the must-attend circuit of gaming shows.
In fact, the only real challenge was the heat and humidity in Virginia where the convention took place. It was tipping into 100 degrees Fahrenheit this year, coupled with high humidity. In fact, the management of Blerdcon responded to the heat by moving its 2025 convention, which will be horror-themed and named “Thrilla,” to March. Hopefully, it should be a little bit cooler next year.
The Blerdcon show now fills three hotels in a tight walkable triangle of south Arlington, Virginia: the Hyatt Regency, Courtyard Marriot and the Holiday Inn. It is within two miles of both Ronald Reagan National Airport and the nearest Metro Station, and it’s five miles from downtown Washington DC. This was evident by all the pilots and flight attendants making their way to and from the hotels. More than once a group of flight attendants stopped and asked the amazing cosplayers for pictures. It definitely seemed to brighten the flight attendants’ day before flying.
Being the Crystal City section of Arlington, parking is at a premium and there were many cars displaying Lyft stickers dropping people off. You did see some attendees in the many local restaurants nearby, but the food trucks that parked at the convention were also extremely busy.
The first day of Blerdcon showed an impressive array of event choices for fans of all kinds of different genres and hobbies. You had different panels, such as “The Last 20 Years of Being Black in Wrestling: The Good, The Bad and Who Chose This,” “Folktale, Lore and Mythology of the African Diaspora” and “Funding Your Fun: How to Monetize Your Hobby.” There were also celebrity meet and greets like two of the Power Rangers, Karan Ashley and Walter Jones. You could also meet and talk with Phil LaMarr, who is known for so many great roles including being on the original MAD TV, the voice of Hermes on Futurama, playing the tragic Marvin character in Pulp Fiction, becoming Green Lantern of the Justice League and also providing the voice for Samurai Jack. My reporting partner at Blerdcon Ron Williams got to talk quite a bit with Phil LaMarr and will have a report about that soon, so stay tuned for that.
Blerdcon is also known for its room full of freestanding video games, and they were in abundance this year throughout the Atrium Gaming Arcade on the bottom floor of the convention center. The company that sponsored the arcade this year even had old style arcade games alongside controllers hooked up to large screens.
The official Blerdcon DJ is extremely talented and helped to feature great music in the background for much of the Second Annual Gauntlet Tournament. The tournament featured the fighting games Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear, Mortal Kombat 1 and Super Smash Bros. For the video game enthusiasts who attended this year, there were lots of choices and lots of fun to be had.
One of the greatest parts about Blerdcon is always those who attend the show. They bring great energy and amazing cosplay, and 2024 was no exception. We here at GameIndustry.com took a lot of pictures, which we will show along with many of our show articles this year, but know that if you really want to experience the wonder of Blerdcon cosplay, you should come and visit the show yourself because it’s quite an experience in person.
Blerdcon also took care of their cosplayers by again partnering with NOVA Labs to create a Cosplay repair shop. Glue guns, simple stitching stations and creative solutions were all employed to help attendees whose costumes suffered any kind of rip, tear or other damage. Two of the members of NOVA labs we spoke to, Kelly Smith and Kelsey Metoxen, had already worked on reapplying stars to one cosplayer’s skin and fixed two costumes with their glue guns for others, and this was very early on the first day of the show.
In addition to NOVA labs, another resource returned to Blerdcon. Last year GiN reported on a panel that examined accessibility issues for gamers, especially those with physical challenges. It was great to find that the presenter for that session, Misato Kaminari, who goes by Majestic Accessibility on Facebook and other platforms, was back again this year. She said she would love to chat with anyone who has accessibility and gaming questions.
Most of the days during the Blerdcon show ended with a bang, and this year there were multiple events people could choose from when ending their day at the convention. There was everything from a dance party to special screenings of various anime movies like, Windbreaker, Train to the End of the World, Death Note and Hellsing Ultimate. After such a long and amazing time at Blerdcon, it was great to be able to choose which event to punctuate such an amazing day at the show.
Stay tuned to GiN for more coverage of what happened at Blerdcon 2024.