What the fuck I just discovered a post I made about Steam Powered Giraffe in like 2013 was used by Dashcon to promote the infamous concert that SPG never even agreed to be in. I’m part of the fucking dashcon legend
you were at dashcon??? omg tell some war-stories please, I thought I'd never find a user who was actually there!
Alright, yes, i was there. I experienced the horror. But I need to provide some preface before I launch into the madness that was Dashcon:
Dashcon happened in the summer of 2014. It was first introduced back in the fall of 2013; now remember, kids, that was still part of the time when fandoms “ruled” tumbler, being a SuperWhoLock was considered really cool on here, etc. Dashcon was presented as a convention for people who wanted to meet up with their tumblr friends and share their tumblr fandom interests - ie, it would have more of a SuperWhoLock, general theme than normal Anime conventions. People came from all over the world to go to Dashcon and it was marketed well. Also remember that there were WAY less people on the site back then and it had a stronger community feel.
By the winter of 2014-15, people began harboring the kind of tumblr mindset that you see nowadays: more cynical and ironic that ever before. A few posts started circling around talking about how Dashcon was such a stupid idea, and I began to agree with them. That is, until my birthday came around and I learned that my parents had gotten me Dashcon tickets as presents.
Yay.
I tried to become more positive about it. Eventually summertime rolled around, my mom and I packed up the family minivan and we drove to Schaumburg. Now don’t get me wrong, Schaumburg is a really neat little town with a cool mall and a freaking delicious breakfast place right by the hotel Dashcon was in that we actually went back to Schaumburg for to eat there again. There’s also an IKEA right there, which is neat, too. The Renaissance Schaumburg is a beautiful hotel/convention center, too, and that one picture of the ballpit really doesn’t do it justice.
Now, there are quite a few stories that I can tell about Dashcon. It was also 2 years ago so I may have some of the events and days mixed up. But here are a few that are the most prominent in my memory:
-When said mom and I arrived on Friday night I believe, the day was just about to end. We went into the ballpit room, which actually looked like an airplane hanger, to get our badges. Everyone running dashcon was at 2 tiny tables at the back of this monstrous hanger and there were no other decorations or anything to indicate that they weren’t just hanging out there. We got the badges (which had fluffy chickens on them, part of tumblr lore from long ago) and tumblr stickers. After checking in I decided to attend the ‘Prom’ held in the ballroom, so I donned my old homecoming dress and heels and and awkwardly stood around by myself while other people danced and chatted with the friends they had come with.
-Right as I was about to leave, a crowd of people started funneling into the ballroom. The Prom people had no idea what was happening. Eventually word got out that something was wrong, people were being locked out of their rooms for being too noisy and a verbal agreement between the Dashcon owners and the Hotel had not been honored so they needed to pay the hotel a ton of money much earlier than they expected. More and more people came into the ballroom until it was packed full of homestucks, NBC Hannibal and Supernatural cosplayers, all sorts of awkward teens and young adults. There were a few announcements made about how much money they needed to raise or else the convention would end; there was and uprise since many people had already paid for weekend badges that were $60 each. There was a mad flurry of activity: people having panic attacks, kids calling their parents to see if they could send money or pick them up, people passing hats around trying to collect money, people trying to get photos with the best cosplayers. It was fucking madness. The energy in the room when they did the hunger games salute and sang the songs was incredible but it was pretty ridiculous even then to see grown adults seriously, unironically singing high school musical and stuff.
-The next day was pretty strange. A ton of the vendors left after that incident and nobody was sure how to act. I tried to go to a few panels, including quidditch in a gym, where none of the panelists showed up so a bunch of kids in cosplay just stood around awkwardly for half an hour outside before moving on. I got some really cool pins and posters and stuff in the Artists’ Alley, but everyone there seemed kind of pissed and stressed. The ballpit was in the original airplane hanger room along with a bouncy castle (also stupid, I know), a bunch of tables set up and some people selling food in the back. I remember seeing a lot of homestucks in the ballpit for whatever reason. Anyway, the panels that I did attend were pretty neat and I met some cool people there. I never heard anything about them letting minors into NSFW panels or the like until the event was over.
-Finally, I wasn’t interested in the band that was performing there, Steam Powered Giraffe, at the time but I remember meeting up with a new friend who was in line to see the show. There were a TON of people who had paid for tickets waiting to see the band, and I think that a few of them got in to get autographs and stuff beforehand, but at some point some staff members came out and let us know that the band had gotten angry and stormed out over a dispute - I later learned that it was because the poor band members were at their wits end and then the staff refused to pay them at the time when they had agreed to do so, so essentially they would have paid their way to Schaumburg to perform a free concert. The people waiting in line were enraged and rightfully so, but to make up for it (and for the previous night’s bullshit) they promised everyone an extra hour with the ballpit and refunds for their Steam Powered Giraffe tickets. I never knew if they really refunded them.
Anyway, Dashcon was really a strange experience but it’s great that it became a meme because now I can say that I was a part of that historic weekend, I am one of the select few who remembers that hell firsthand.
I think, on reflection, the best part about the whole DashCon fiasco was people sitting at home on their computer were trying to tell me that I didn't get my money's worth from the convention.
