It’s safe to say that Fall is here! Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the changing of the leaves, Halloween, apple orchards, carving pumpkins, and decorating our house with Halloween decorations. Me and my husband went on a shopping trip where we bought two inflatables and a cat wearing a witches hat that’s sitting outside on our doorstep. My husband is not thrilled that we put it out in August, but I couldn’t be happier. Unfortunately, my husband didn’t approve of buying a 12-foot-tall Skeleton, but there is always next year.

For every convention, I always set aside a certain amount to spend. For Gen Con, my budget was substantially more than other conventions that I attend. I was fully aware that this would be a more expensive convention due to all the cool things that you can buy at Gen Con. To end my blog post series, I wanted to share my haul from Gen Con this year.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette when I applied for my press badge. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own. Additionally, everything in my haul was purchased with my own money, nothing was given to me for free.

Queen by Midnight – Darrington Press

I alluded to this already, but the first thing I bought at Gen Con was a copy of Queen by Midnight by Darrington Press. I wasn’t planning on buying Queen By Midnight, however, by the time I made it to the front of the line, I was intrigued by the concept of the game. I do wish that Darrington Press had more merch to sell. I would have easily bought a Candela Obscura t-shirt or dice set. There were also a lot of fans waiting in line who weren’t able to get a copy of Queen By Midnight, so I think it would have been neat if there was additional merch that fans could buy if they weren’t able to purchase a copy of the game.

Vagrant Song + Malifaux Starter Set – Wyrd Games

The second purchase I made was at the Wyrd Games booth. Vagrant Song is a board game that reminded me of Bioshock and Cuphead. It’s a cooperative game in which players face off against rogue ghosts on a train. I liked the spooky aesthetic of the game and I look forward to playing this game closer to Halloween.

The second purchase was a Malifaux Starter Set. My brother actually bought me this starter set as a late birthday present. One of the booth employees was explaining the concept of Malifaux to me. I will say, I have struggled to get into miniature games, but what intrigued me about Malifaux was the idea that you could still win the game even if your minis are killed in battle. I played Warhammer once and once my minis died, it felt cumbersome to try and remain invested in the game. Malifaux also has a spooky element as well which I love. I convinced my brother to buy a starter set too, so I would at least have someone I could play the game with.

Trail of Cthulhu – Pelgrane Press

I mentioned Trail of Cthulhu in an earlier post. I won’t say much else except that I’m looking forward to paging through the rule book and eventually writing my own story.

Laudna Dice Guardian + DnD Notebooks – Dice Guardians

This was my last purchase at Gen Con. I walked by the Dice Guardians booth on Thursday and made a note to myself that if the Laudna Dice Guardian was still available by Sunday, I would purchase it. Sure enough, I was walking by their booth on Sunday and saw they had some left and I couldn’t resist. I plan on taking it to work with me and setting it on my desk. Besides the Laudna Dice Guardian, I also bought some new notebooks. I tend to take lots of notes in my DnD sessions and I had been using a regular standard notebook to write in. The issue is that it’s bulky to carry, so I like that these are a lot smaller. They had a deal if I bought three at once, so I figured why not, now I will have backups.

Besides gaming stuff, I ended up finding a local comic book store in downtown Indianapolis called Downtown Comics. It was within walking distance of the convention center, so I ended up purchasing a few comics. The final purchase I made was at Sun King, a brewery that’s a sponsor of Gen Con. I purchased a four-pack of their beer, so my husband could try some.

Gen Con will easily be a highlight of 2023. I hope to attend Gen Con next year.

Reflecting back on Gen Con, it was easily the perfect convention vacation. While I had a blast at Gen Con, there are some things that I learned or things that I would do differently if I’m able to attend Gen Con next year. I wanted to share a few takeaways from Gen Con and what I might do differently in the future.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Sticking to 2 Cosplays Instead of 3

I planned three different cosplays for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Most of my cosplays were comfortable for the most part. Although, I didn’t think about how the Summer heat would impact my comfort in cosplay. By the time Sunday came around, I was ready to wear normal clothes. I’m only going to plan two cosplays going forward.

My three cosplays this year were: Red Riding Hood, Daenerys, and a Splicer from Bioshock. Oddly enough, the Splicer cosplay was the cosplay I got the most compliments on. This was a cosplay I put together myself including staining my white gloves. I was talking with my friends and we came to the conclusion that the Splicer cosplay was more niche, so the people who understood what my cosplay was were excited to see it. It was cool to see people come up to me and ask me if it was a Splicer cosplay. One person said it was “fan fuckingtastic” and I was thrilled.

Bring Magic: the Gathering Decks to Play

It didn’t cross my mind to bring my Magic decks with me to Gen Con. I figured I would be so busy playing other games that I wouldn’t have time to play Magic. Gen Con runs “Commander Pods” which are events in which four players come together to play Commander or EDH, a type of Magic format. My group ended up playing in a Commander Pod during our downtime. I liked the way that Gen Con handled Commander Pods. Each Pod was made up of four players and each player received 1,300 in prize tickets solely for participating in a Magic event. Those tickets could be redeemed for prizes. I ended up using mine on a booster pack from another Magic set.

The one reason why I didn’t bring my Magic decks is that I’m not a competitive player. My decks are casual, so they aren’t aggressive. I find playing Magic with random people to be a hit-or-a-miss type of experience depending on the other players in a group.

I had way more fun playing Magic than I thought I would. I’m inspired to go through my Magic decks and revamp them by next year.

Booking a Hotel vs. an Air BnB

This year for Gen Con, my group participated in the hotel lottery. Fortunately, our group booked a hotel within walking distance of the Convention Center. This was a game-changer. It was so convenient to be able to walk to and from our hotel to drop off our purchases or to take a breather. Our hotel also had free breakfast which is always a good thing.

I’m sure there are Air BnB in downtown Indianapolis, I just don’t know enough of the area to know where they would be.

Don’t Book Roleplaying Sessions After 8 PM

I was ambitious when I was signing up for events at Gen Con. I had an event on Saturday for Vampire: the Masquerade at 8 PM. The event was five hours meaning it would be done at 1 AM. I had no energy on Saturday and I ended up not going to the event. It’s not great etiquette to skip an event, but I couldn’t motivate myself to go to a roleplaying session for five hours straight. That was a lesson learned and 8 PM will be my new cut-off for signing up for events at Gen Con.

I’m halfway through my Gen Con post series and I’m not sick at all of talking about Gen Con.

I’m back from Gen Con and it was amazing! Gen Con was everything I expected it to be and so much more. While at Gen Con, I was mulling around what I wanted to write about when I got back home. I decided that I would be writing four posts dedicated to all things Gen Con. This first post is going to be a recap post where I will talk about Gen Con as a whole. The second post will be some takeaways or things that I learned since it had been four years since I last attended Gen Con and there were things that I forgot. The third post will feature some of the games I demoed along with some of the roleplaying sessions I was a part of. The final Gen Con post will be centered around my haul because I bought a lot of different games, accessories, and merch. I’m so ready to recap all things Gen Con 2023.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Traveling to Gen Con can be long at times. Me and my friend group started driving on Wednesday and it took about 9-10 hours to get to Indianapolis. Wednesday was a really long day, but it was nice to finally get to our hotel. This year, our hotel was within walking distance of Gen Con which was really nice. Me and my brother rented an AirBnB previously and having a hotel was ten times better. It was nice to be able to drop off things versus having to commit to being at Gen Con all day because it was a thirty-minute Lyft ride back. I am sold on the idea of getting a hotel rather than an Air BnB that’s not located downtown.

If there was a theme for Gen Con this year, it would be Disney Lorcana. For those who are unaware, Disney released their trading card game called Disney Lorcana. I’m told it’s similar to Magic: the Gathering, but Disney-themed. I don’t know much else because I chose to not camp out overnight to wait in line. You heard me right, the lines for Disney Lorcana were wild! It seems like Gen Con was encouraging people to wait in line early which I don’t think was a good thing. The lines were lengthy and fans were frustrated. It seemed rather unorganized and chaotic. If anybody was lucky enough to get their hands on Disney Lorcana, I’m happy for you! I was not one of those people and I’m okay with that.

For Gen Con, I had on average 1-2 events per day. Events can be shows, game demos, and roleplaying sessions. This was perfect! One of my friends planned a Grim Fairytale-type roleplaying session for our friend group. It was nice to be able to unwind with our small group after a long day at the convention. In between events, I roamed the vendor haul, went to a superhero music sing-along (I will write about this later), and tried the official Sun King Brewery Gen Con beer. I bought a four-pack, so my husband could also try some too.

This post is already getting slightly too long, but there was one more thing that I wanted to talk about. I wrote a post weeks ago about how Darrington Press, Critical Role’s game company was going to be at Gen Con. I made it a priority on Thursday to visit their booth first. I was towards the front of the line when the exhibition hall opened and I fast walked all the way to the Darrington Press booth. I was waiting in line as the booth only had so many copies of their newest board game, Queen by Midnight. I wasn’t planning on buying the game, but when I got closer to the front, I was sold. I ended up purchasing Queen by Midnight. On Thursday, Queen by Midnight sold out within an hour. On Friday and Saturday, Queen by Midnight sold out within fifteen minutes. I am shocked that I was able to get a copy of the game. I’m still in awe that this happened.

I could honestly keep writing paragraph after paragraph about Gen Con and everything that I did, but I think this gives enough of an idea as to what happened this year. The countdown to Gen Con 2024 begins.

By the time this post is live, I will be at Gen Con! It’s surreal because even though I’m leaving this week, it doesn’t feel like Gen Con is actually here. Gen Con is easily one of the best conventions that I have ever been to and I know that no matter what, I will have a blast while I’m there. I wanted to share a few things that I’m looking forward to about attending Gen Con this year.

Cosplay

I will be bringing three cosplays with me. I will share pictures once Gen Con is over. The nice thing is that only one of the cosplays that I’m bringing will require a wig.

Food & Drink

Gen Con hosts a block party right outside the convention center. There are so many food trucks that are packed right outside. Sun King is the official brewery sponsor at Gen Con and they will have an outdoor beer garden open throughout most of the convention. HotBox Pizza has a Gen Con pizza called “The Queen’s Hambit” that I definitely want to try.

TTRPGs! (Table-Top Roleplaying Games)

It will be a jam-packed four days of gaming. I have a few events throughout the days, but I tried really hard to keep my schedule open. Open time is great for panels, browsing the dealer’s room, and wandering around at the block party. I’m planning on bringing a few of my dice sets, my dice rolling tray, and a notebook to take notes of all my sessions.

Spending Time with My Brother

My brother is coming with me again this year. I don’t get to see my brother as much as I should, so this is going to be a great way to spend time together. With Indianapolis being a 9 1/2 hour car ride, I’m sure we will run out of things to talk about.

I can’t wait to be at Gen Con this year!

Minnesota is known for its harsher winters, but our summers here are perfect. If there’s one thing that I love to do in summer, it’s going to see live music outside. TC Summer Fest is an outdoor music concert held at Target Field where the Minnesota Twins play. On Friday, The Killers were the headliner and on Saturday, Imagine Dragons was playing. My husband went to both concerts while I only went to see Imagine Dragons. I don’t know every Imagine Dragons song and I wouldn’t say I’m their biggest fan, but they put on a great show.

The fun part about TC Summer Fest was that there was live music playing all day. While many chose to show up for Imagine Dragons only, there were other acts going on throughout the day. One of our friends was looking forward to seeing Talk who I knew nothing about. If I had to gauge my favorite act (besides Imagine Dragons), I think it would have to be Chelsea Cutler. I knew nothing about her before her act, but I felt she was vibing with the crowd.

Imagine Dragons took the stage at 9:40 PM ish. I completely forgot how many songs Imagine Dragons has. They played most of their well-known songs with a few songs I had never heard of before. The crowd was energized and looking around the stadium, people held up their phones with their flashlights on. It was cool to see a sea of white light during the set.

It’s funny, I didn’t take that many pictures throughout the concert. I know a few people nearby us would record the concert, but I tend not to do that. I would rather enjoy the concert in real-time and I find when I record it, I don’t actually end up re-watching it. Plus the audio is nowhere near as good as being at the venue, so what’s the point.

I haven’t been to a concert in a while, so I was reminded of how much I enjoy being around friends and listening to good music.

As I was writing my recap post about CONvergence, I realized something. It’s been ten years since I started attending conventions. I second-guessed myself because ten years feels like a long time ago, but it’s true. I went to CONvergence for the first time in 2013. I initially found out about CONvergence in 2012 when my friend’s mom was planning to attend. Me and my friend decided we wanted to attend the year after. The rest is history. I wanted to share a few photos along with sharing what I hope for in the future.

I remember being mesmerized by all the people in cosplay. It was so fun to walk around and take photos with other cosplayers. I talked with so many different people at my first con and cosplay in some ways acted as a way to help start a conversation without feeling the intimidation of talking to someone I didn’t know.

Besides cosplaying as Mario, I also put together a quick Lara Croft cosplay. This felt on point since the Tomb Raider game came out that year. As I was walking around CONvergence, I saw another Lara Croft cosplayer and I was really excited. Let’s be real, this cosplayer did a much better job than I did in cosplaying Lara Croft. It was a fun memory to see someone else cosplaying the exact same character but in a completely different way.

When I first started attending CONvergence, The Twin Cities Ghostbusters used to always make an appearance. They usually had a party room at CONvergence along with bringing their car out in the parking lot. I haven’t seen them at CONvergence in a while, but I hope they come back soon.

It’s funny looking at old photos. My first thought is how young I look! The other thing that I think about is where my mindset was at this time of my life. I had so much to learn whether that be about life in general or how I viewed myself. I’m grateful for all of the experiences I have had thus far and how I have grown as a person.

Looking into the future, I’m fully planning on cosplaying throughout the next ten years. I want to try colored contacts or body paint. Besides cosplay, there are a few conventions that I would like to attend including Emerald City Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and Dragon Con. Me and my husband have also begun having conversations about starting a family and I would love to bring my kids to conventions. Here’s to ten more years of cosplay and conventions!

After being out of town for the 4th of July and attending a convention, I took a writing break. In a turn of events, I could attend CONvergence this year. For those who are new to Bizarre Brunette, CONvergence was the first convention I went to. CONvergence will always have a special place in my heart as being my first con but also introduced me to cosplay, conventions, and geek culture in general. I wanted to share a little recap about CONvergence along with what it was like to be back post-Covid.

CONvergence was so fun! This year, I tabled at the Twin Cities Geek booth. I was able to connect with so many different people who came up to talk to me. I saw so many cosplayers walking by. One of the biggest things at CONvergence is ribbons which can be attached to your badge. I received so many ribbons from con-goers, I might have set a personal record.

Besides sitting at the Twin Cities Geek booth, I also went to the party rooms. Party rooms are hotel rooms that have been turned into themed rooms. The hotel rooms often serve alcoholic beverages that are on point with the party room. The drinks are free, but it’s encouraged to tip the party room as the organizers who throw the party pay for all the booze, mixers, and set-up. One party room we went to was Doctor Who-themed. There was a “Tears of the Tardis” challenge to take a shot that was really sour. If you completed the challenge, you could earn a ribbon for your badge. I am all for adding ribbons to my badge, so I did partake. The shot was very sour, but it was worth it for the ribbon.

CONvergence was slightly different than the other times I have attended in the past. This was the first time attending since the pandemic. It felt like nothing had changed which is a good thing. The other difference was that most of my friends that I used to go with weren’t there this year. Some friends moved away, and other friends simply couldn’t make it. I was a little nervous about finding and meeting new people. Fortunately, I ended up meeting quite a few new people and now I feel like I have a good group of people to meet up with and talk to next year.

Reflecting back on this past weekend, I realize how happy I am to have found a place within the convention scene. I feel at home and I feel like I can be myself. I’m looking forward to CONvergence next year.

Last weekend was Twin Cities Pride here in Minneapolis. If I’m in town, I always try to make a point to go to Pride for a portion of the festivities. As a cis, white woman, I attend to show my support and stand in solidarity with others. This year, I helped staff the Geek Partnership Society booth which meant talking to various people about Twin Cities Geek, conventions, and other nerd-related topics. A running quote that we would say is “This is the nerd side of Pride”.

I didn’t end up taking that many photos of Pride since I was talking to people who came to visit our booth. It was nice seeing people being able to exist as themselves.

As a final note, I wanted to share some of my favorite non-profits & charities that help support LGBTQIA+ people. The first non-profit that I give to the most is The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is focused on younger LGBTQIA+ lives and providing them resources if need be. The second non-profit is the ACLU. The ACLU is focused on all human rights and a lot of that fight is for LGBTQIA+ rights. These are the two non-profits I will continuously donate to as I support their cause.