Episode 1: The Ringmasters

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:47:08
O Stecina (They/He)
The world has changed in many ways since 2014. As a totally random example, you used to be able to “go nuts, show nuts” on Tumblr. Those were the days. But despite popular belief, there are still people who actively use Tumblr. Living mostly algorithm free, generating discourse, posting their Blorbos, reblogging something for that one mutual like Gatsby throwing parties in the hopes that Daisy attends.

00:00:47:10 - 00:01:12:08
Creating the screenshots that you'll see on Instagram and Reddit in a few weeks. And I am one of those people. Hi, my name is O, just like the letter, and my first tumblr post was May 25th, 2014 and is as follows. Post title: “Tumblr” Post body: “Well hi everyone. Someone teach me how to do this stuff. I will pay you in hugs and imaginary potatoes.”

00:01:12:10 - 00:01:29:05
I had just finished seventh grade, realized that I was queer, and about a month after posting that I would be at VidCon waiting nine and a half hours in line to meet Dan and Phil and give them a DVD that I burned myself with this video on it, which I have never played for another soul before.

00:01:29:07 - 00:01:47:04
O, age 13
I first started watching both of you almost a whole year ago, after my friend recommended you at summer camp. The first night I watched, I stayed up till one in the morning watching all the videos I could find of you two. After I started watching you for a while, I started looking you guys up on my social media sites and found quite a few fan accounts and followed them, and many of them became my friends.

00:01:47:05 - 00:02:08:04
I actually made my own fan account, allyourfandomsarebelongtous, because of the others. Later I decided that I wanted to get my haircut like you guys, and I did. So do you notice anything different about me? Maybe the fact that all my hair is gone. I just finished getting it cut and it looks awesome. I wanted it to look like Danisnotonfire.

00:02:08:04 - 00:02:25:01
And it does. And I'm happy. And yay! So I owe you an epic haircut and a portion of my personality. I had always known I was different, but was afraid to come out. Watching you both helped me know that no matter what I am, I will be accepted by someone. You've shaped my hair, my personality, my friendships, and my life.

00:02:25:03 - 00:02:40:24
I know that there are so many fans that you both have that obsess over you, but I just want you to know that I am who I am because my friend Nevaeh told me to watch Danisnotonfire and Amazingphil at summer camp. I'm so happy that you watched this far and it was awesome meeting you guys. Bye!

00:02:41:01 - 00:02:58:21
O Stecina (They/He)
I still have no idea why my parents let me go to VidCon by myself. I spent all of my food money on merch, but I was able to meet the cast of MyMusic. Does anybody remember MyMusic? See Potter Puppet Pals live and watch a screening of The Fault in Our Stars with John Green, Mr. Fishingboatproceeds himself, in attendance.

00:02:58:23 - 00:03:21:10
It was a very well-run convention, and it was probably the most people that I had ever been around at once, coming from a small town in Colorado. But while I was off at VidCon and really only on Tumblr for Dan and Phil, Bo Burnham, and Nancy Drew content, Tumblr at large was preparing for Dashcon. Held the weekend of July 11th, 2014, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois,

00:03:21:11 - 00:03:43:10
Dashcon was, by all accounts, a mess. They expected 7000 people to come, and only about 350 did. The folks from Welcome to Night Vale, who were featured guests, couldn't be paid in advance of their appearance and didn't have transportation or hotel costs covered, so they didn't show. The consolation for this, for the people who had been waiting for the panel? An extra hour in the ball pit.

00:03:43:12 - 00:03:51:03
The original ball pit was about the size of a kiddy pool, and despite myths to the contrary, there is no evidence that anyone actually pissed in it,

00:03:51:14 - 00:04:16:05
or gave birth in it. In fact, there were many games of misinformation telephone going on because people who were there were live-blogging the whole thing, intermingled in tags with people who were not there, and are what Canadians affectionately refer to as “shit-disturbers”. What is true is that on the first night of the convention, the hotel told Dashcon organizers that they needed to pay for the space right then and there, which they were not able to do.

00:04:16:07 - 00:04:44:10
They turned to the crowd, asking for $17,000 in donations to keep the con alive, after people had already paid $65 for weekend pass tickets and raised about $4,000 for the initial Indiegogo campaign. For a lot of people, this cemented the idea in their minds that Dashcon had entirely been a scam. They did end up raising the money, but the entire convention was marred with a general lack of preparedness, a lot of empty space, and plenty of gawkers, both online and in person.

00:04:44:12 - 00:04:53:09
There were dozens of news articles and videos about Dashcon, and it's firmly secured its place in cringe history.

00:04:53:11 - 00:05:13:00
Now, I wasn't there. I didn't learn about all of this until much later, through good old fashioned posting osmosis. But I don't think that Dashcon was designed to be a scam like some say it was. I think there were some people working very hard to do something that was basically impossible for them to achieve, and some others who saw that desperation and used it for their own personal benefit.

00:05:13:02 - 00:05:42:19
It's a classic story. They even tried to hold another pseudo-Dashcon called Emoti-Con the next year, but it died. Cut to July 2024. Ten years have passed. I've been on T for three years, moved from Colorado to Toronto to study sound design, and I have three girlfriends. And yes, they all smoke weed. But I am still on Tumblr posting about Julia Serano, reminiscing about physical media, complaining about the housing market, and letting Maisie Car drive around my dashboard.

00:05:42:21 - 00:06:01:14
July 31st, Dashcon 2 gets announced, and in my city no less. I immediately signed up for the mailing list, resolving to purchase a ticket no matter what, which is met with giggles from my nesting partner, but whatever. I'm cringe, but I am free. September 7th, an interest form goes out for volunteers and I also immediately sign up for that.

00:06:01:14 - 00:06:19:04
Maybe I'll bring my microphone, I think to myself. My classes for my final year of university have just started, and my thoughts on Dashcon 2 go dormant until second semester, when I start taking The Art of Podcasting with Lori Beckstead. A few days into the class, the Dashcon 2 mailing list gets an update. The venue and dates have been announced.

00:06:19:06 - 00:06:53:17
Everything is starting to coalesce. January 30th I sent an email to queries@dashcontwo.com asking if they'd like some free media in the form of my podcast assignment for this course, and they respond two days later with a yes, which I was honestly not expecting. My quest in life has now become to document this silly convention, to get it right this time, to be there for it all, to introduce people to the wonderful city I've come to call home, and to go in a real life ball pit for the first time in my life.

00:06:53:19 - 00:07:19:21
Dashcon 2 is taking place on July 5th, 2025 at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, which you'll often hear referred to as just the JCCC. It's situated right around where the Don Valley Parkway meets Eglinton Avenue in the North York area of Toronto. The JCCC itself has been around since 1963 and has hosted a variety of festivals, exhibitions, film screenings, and small conventions with a focus on sharing Japanese art and culture.

00:07:19:23 - 00:07:44:23
Their website’s Land Acknowledgment states, “We, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, acknowledge that we are hosted on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people.” Being in Toronto, you'll end up hearing this boilerplate land acknowledgment a lot, at the start of events and on websites like this.

00:07:45:00 - 00:08:07:03
Let's get a little bit deeper into it and learn what these terms actually mean, and a little bit of the history behind the land. First Nations refers to the hundreds of communities of Indigenous or Aboriginal people across Canada. Inuit is the collective name of the peoples of the Arctic, meaning “the people” in the Inuktitut language. And the Métis people are communities of people who are of both European and First Nations descent.

00:08:07:05 - 00:08:28:01
First Nations, Indigenous, and Aboriginal all describe the same thing, and terms like Native American and Indian are considered outdated in a Canadian context. Toronto comes from a Mohawk word, “Tkaronto” which means “the place in the water where the trees are standing.” This water being the rivers where the Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat utilized fishing weirs to hunt for food.

00:08:28:03 - 00:08:54:18
The land that the JCCC is on was a part of the Toronto Purchase, and the British Crown did a lot of incredibly shady things over the late 1700s and early 1800s to claim legal rights over that land, like claiming that gifts given to the Mississaugas were payment for the land, having chiefs sign blank documents and then physically transferring those signatures to different documents, and finally paying for basically the whole city of Toronto with ten shillings, which is about $60.

00:08:54:18 - 00:09:14:13
Something you'll also hear a lot is that Toronto is in the Dish With One Spoon territory. “The Dish With One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, the Mississaugas, and the Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers, have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship, and respect.”

00:09:14:15 - 00:09:38:04
I myself am a newcomer to Canada, having been welcomed here from the United States, where I grew up on the lands of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute. Canada and the US both have extremely fraught histories with the indigenous people whose land they colonized, and a quest for truth and reconciliation has been ongoing in Canada. Using tools like the website “whose.land” can give you a better understanding of the history of the land that you're on,

00:09:38:04 - 00:09:54:22
and I think it's really important to note that everybody attending Dashcon 2 is a guest in multiple capacities. You're a guest to the venue in their efforts to educate about and support Japanese culture, a lot of you will be guests to Canada and Toronto, and all of us are guests for the original stewards of the land, so be kind to it, okay?

00:10:03:13 - 00:10:14:13
The Dashcon 2 team is incredibly small and entirely volunteer based. Although they're not associated with the original Dashcon crew, there are a decent amount of similarities between them.

00:10:14:15 - 00:10:19:13
Avis (They/Them)
I feel like, of Simone and I, it's kind of like, I am the voice of caution. She is the voice of go for it.

00:10:19:18 - 00:10:22:05
Martin (He/Him)
And yet both of them still have incredible amounts of hubris.

00:10:22:07 - 00:10:36:10
Avis (They/Them)
Together we build one fully rounded business person. We were like, all like, hanging out on her couch, and she just said something, it was like, oh, it was a little bit out of the blue. But she said, like, “My toxic trait is that I think I could run Dashcon.”

00:10:36:19 - 00:10:54:06
And I love her for that. Well, we started talking about it because I was also like, yeah, I could probably run Dashcon. But the problem is, the more we started discussing it, the more we realized it was actually feasible. Like when we started talking to more and more like of our friends and like our circle, we realized just like, oh, there are so many more people,

00:10:54:06 - 00:10:55:20
For example, like Martin.

00:10:55:20 - 00:11:12:16
Martin (He/Him)
Yeah, you called me the night of. As like after you were discussing it, and you're like, “Hey, would you be down to run Dashcon 2?” and I was just like, sure, why not? And I immediately got to work on, like, trying to draft, like, different logos and, the mascots, the “Cirque du Dash”.

00:11:12:18 - 00:11:35:02
O Stecina (They/He)
They're young, scrappy and hungry. I'm sorry, I had to. And they're definitely not in it for the money. I met with Avis, who serves as the co-director, and Martin, the art director, a few weeks before tickets went on sale. They had high hopes, but were also trying to be fairly realistic about things, especially considering the reputation that preceded them.

00:11:35:04 - 00:11:38:20
Do you think that it's going to sell out? How fast do you think it's going to sell out?

00:11:38:22 - 00:11:45:20
Martin (He/Him)
We're trying to not be too... even like this far in, like even doing an interview. We're still trying to, like, temper our expectations.

00:11:45:20 - 00:11:49:22
Avis (They/Them)
It is rule number one on our list, rule number two, for the record, is answer your email.

00:11:49:23 - 00:11:57:12
Martin (He/Him)
I feel good about our numbers. I don't know about selling out. And we're really hoping to avoid scalpers.

00:11:57:18 - 00:12:25:20
O Stecina (They/He)
If any of you were also waiting at 8:55 a.m. EST, February 22nd, wielding a credit card and readying your refresh trigger finger. You'll know that they did, in fact, sell out. Within less than half an hour. They also managed to completely crash the website of their ticketing platform. It was chaos. That chaos isn't new, though. Behind the scenes, a lot of scrambling was done to even get to this point.

00:12:25:22 - 00:12:45:08
Avis (They/Them)
So right off the bat, we knew we were planning for a way smaller crowd. Originally we were planning for about 300 attendees because, from the information we had at the time, that was about how many attendees as the original Dashcon was, and that was about as much interest as we kind of expected to garner, to be honest. We had originally selected a venue where, Martin, you knew some of the people who worked there.

00:12:45:08 - 00:12:49:01
We had a couple connections, and it was around the size that we were looking for.

00:12:49:05 - 00:13:11:16
Martin (He/Him)
The only issue is, during our process of drafting, trying to figure out, and negotiate, our expectations, what the security was going to look like. The person that I was connected with, brought it up with the board that the event space used. And unfortunately, they knew the original Dashcon and, like, the legacy.

00:13:11:18 - 00:13:14:07
So the board shut us down.

00:13:14:09 - 00:13:20:01
Avis (They/Them)
We had been braced for a no right off the bat, we had not been braced for a no three months into discussions with this venue.

00:13:20:03 - 00:13:22:14
Martin (He/Him)
And we'd already gone like, semipublic.

00:13:22:16 - 00:13:27:00
Avis (They/Them)
They backed out on us after our announcement with Strange.

00:13:27:02 - 00:13:55:14
O Stecina (They/He)
I feel like the Venn diagram between people who are listening to this podcast, and people who put on a Strange Aeons video to wind down after a long day is pretty circular. But affectionately referred to usually as just “Strange”, Strange Aeons is a YouTuber who's pretty much served as Tumblr's cultural historian for the past seven years, providing long form dramatic readings of iconic posts and also doing her fair share of analysis on the Hellsite's ecosystem.

00:13:55:16 - 00:14:17:08
Of course, she's got a video on Dashcon, probably the most comprehensive and the least mean spirited, at least as far as I've seen. She's also based in Toronto, although I've yet to encounter her on the TTC. When Avis learned that Strange was going to be making a video about the original Dashcon, they swooped in, possessing little but a domain name, to start a partnership of sorts.

00:14:17:10 - 00:14:37:12
Avis (They/Them)
I think we put in like the 50 bucks to get the website for a year. We didn't want to put in a lot more than that from the beginning, until we had more things lined up, because getting an email from “@dashcontwo.com” immediately hands like some legitimacy. So we sent her an email, I think like the first sentence of the email was just like, “I know that the subject line of this is a lot. Bear with me”

00:14:37:14 - 00:14:39:13
Martin (He/Him)
I know this sounds bad.

00:14:39:15 - 00:14:42:16
Avis (They/Them)
But we had a call with her like shortly after that.

00:14:42:18 - 00:14:46:05
O Stecina (They/He)
Things started to get really real at that point.

00:14:46:07 - 00:14:48:04
Avis (They/Them)
We spoke to Lochlan O’Neil, actually.

00:14:48:09 - 00:15:14:09
O Stecina (They/He)
Lochlan O'Neil was 15 years old when she first got the idea for Dashcon in 2012. She was getting high school internship credits for planning it. She was also the one holding the paper bag, asking a bunch of other teenagers for cash donations, in full Homestuck cosplay, because several actual adults had been incredibly financially irresponsible and weren't able to pay the convention center or the featured guests ahead of time.

00:15:14:11 - 00:15:34:02
Avis (They/Them)
So we got the like, their perspective on the original Dashcon and like some other information from them. They're wonderful. Strange, I believe, put us in contact with them. And then we had sent an email to Tumblr. I think we sent it to Tumblr Press. Because that's one of the emails they have public on their site that was just like, “Hey, we're doing Dashcon 2, would Tumblr would be interested in sponsoring it?”

00:15:34:02 - 00:15:36:11
Martin (He/Him)
And it was just like a crack shot. We weren't really expecting much.

00:15:36:11 - 00:15:57:13
Avis (They/Them)
It was shot in the dark. We got an email back that was just like, “Hey, Tumblr is not interested in sponsoring anything at this time.” And we're like, okay, that's that. And then... I think a week later, if that, we get double texted from Tumblr. Tumblr sends us another email. Where it’s the same person like, “Hey, we've been talking around the office and everyone's like, wants to make Dashcon 2 a success.

00:15:59:07- 00:16:05:19
I have CC’ed the COO of Tumblr and we're thinking we could give you free Blaze credits on Tumblr.”

00:16:05:21 - 00:16:06:19
O Stecina (They/He)
Oh!

00:16:06:19 - 00:16:19:16
Avis (They/Them)
Yeah. So, if you notice in our original announcer post, we put, at the bottom, like, “Blaze credits somehow provided by Tumblr.” So whenever we’ve blazed a post on Tumblr, it has been because we've gotten that free coupon from them.

00:16:19:18 - 00:16:20:15
Martin (He/Him)
We really appreciate it.

00:16:20:16 - 00:16:30:19
Avis (They/Them)
It's wonderful. And so that was just like a wild moment. And it was kind of like one of the moments early on where we realized, oh, wow, we're doing this.

00:16:30:21 - 00:16:36:07
Martin (He/Him)
It's like, wow, I'm really doing like, the marketing for Dashcon 2. Okay.

00:16:36:09 - 00:16:56:22
O Stecina (They/He)
Tumblr is also famous for its ability to rally together to drive someone's mental health into the ground. “This site's hate mail game is insane,” Quoth Ortiel42, creator of Cookie Clicker, after being told he seems like someone who “unironically enjoyed electro swing circa 2012” on an anonymous ask.

00:16:56:24 - 00:17:21:06
Avis (They/Them)
Honestly, the response in general has been incredibly positive. Which was something we were surprised by, because we've been kind of bracing ourselves for the Tumblr cynicism the whole time. Because, like, Tumblr is, my home. It is also a cesspit. And I think that, like, there is the expected amount of people being like, “Hey, guys, why are you creating the next Torment Nexus from the book Don’t Create The Torment Nexus?”

00:17:24:06 - 00:17:28:16
Martin (He/Him)
Yeah. That Hellsite has found my personal LinkedIn a couple times. Yeah.

00:17:28:18 - 00:17:34:18
Avis (They/Them)
We actually had our names and images on the website. That was taken down real fast once the post started gaining numbers.

00:17:34:20 - 00:18:00:01
O Stecina (They/He)
In addition to having giant clown shoes to fill, the Dashcon 2 team has to grapple with the fact that they're soon going to be in a fairly small building with 500 of the most ravenous members of the site's user base, sweating off their Sharpie-bath-gray skin in the Toronto heat, and eagerly hoping to see some of the real life faces behind iconic blogs like themuppetjoker and hymen-restoration-project.

00:18:00:03 - 00:18:12:17
Attendees have promised not to piss in the ball pit lest they face a $1,000 fine. Provided that everyone behaves themselves, though, there are a lot of good signs for this new crew.

00:18:12:19 - 00:18:37:17
Avis (They/Them)
Legally speaking, I should clarify. Legally speaking, according to our contract, the convention is not happening unless we pay the venue in full before the day of the event. There will be no hat passed around the room, I promise. We're actually going to be raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society. If you can't come or you think we're a scam, spend whatever money you would have spent on tickets on this. Pretty early into the planning process of Dashcon 2,

00:18:37:19 - 00:18:54:21
My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. And it made a lot of things, like, really difficult in my life. And so, Simone had the idea of fundraising for cancer as a way to feel like I could do something for her. It's not the first time someone in my family has dealt with cancer, and it's impacted a lot of our team.

00:18:54:21 - 00:19:12:20
Avis (They/Them)
And so it's such an important cause. So just check out the link. It'll be in our bio. It'll be on our website. We cannot touch this money. It is not going to us, the link will take you to the Canadian Care Society's website. I believe we're raising money for, whatever research is in the most need right now.

00:19:12:22 - 00:19:19:01
And our, fundraising goal is $17,000.

00:19:19:03 - 00:19:28:03
O Stecina (They/He)
And the “Cirque du Dash” clowns, genetically engineered in a lab to be as Tumblr as possible, are already getting lots of asks on their roleplay blog.

00:19:28:03 - 00:19:51:04
Martin (He/Him)
From the get-go, We kind of knew that we wanted, like, some mascot characters, because we were really inspired by a number of other, like, local conventions. And we had the idea of what if we had a Tumblr Sexyman. And so I was like, pulling like a human Bill Cipher. I was pulling Onceler, like, just like the toe to tip quintessential, like, Sexyman dynamics.

00:19:51:04 - 00:20:12:04
But as I was going through and analyzing some of these I like, I started like pulling like Sans. I started pulling like Reigen. I was like, there's something here. So, we ended up, wanting to develop a, a full circus, with the different, hit points of the, Tumblr sexy genre. So, Edmund is very much like, the quintessential, like, you think Tumblr Sexyman

00:20:12:04 - 00:20:33:20
and you think, like, long legs, giant suits. Like you got the bow tie and all. I was debating about doing, like, a little floaty hat, but that was that was too much. And I didn't want to think about that. With Blorbo, I really wanted to pull on like, the very much, like laid back, but still like very attentive, semi-meta character archetypes.

00:20:33:22 - 00:20:55:03
I bully, my friends are just like, this is just Sans. I was really into the Undertale trenches as well. You can tell very quickly by my art style. With Mel, I really wanted to play with, like, being a bit bouncy. Still like the very much like, the people that are into, like, Breaking Bad,

00:20:55:03 - 00:21:17:03
I have a feeling really like, will, like, connect to Mel. I partially based some of, like, her, music taste and, like, a lot of, like, my inspirations for him, off of, like, some of my friends who, like, fall into that category a little bit. And then Lady Dimitrescu, Val, phenomenal. Sometimes you just need a big woman that'll hit you at a hammer.

00:21:17:05 - 00:21:17:16
O Stecina (They/He)
Exactly.

00:21:17:18 - 00:21:20:22
Don’t I know it.

00:21:20:24 - 00:21:46:15
Martin (He/Him)
And so, their role, in development, with it is, A, to have people connect to, the ideas of our convention on a much more like, personal level. And so, like, having these characters, like, interact, we have a couple of, like, backlogged comics and stuff, and then we are planning on, like, working with them, on a more interwoven con scale.

00:21:46:15 - 00:21:50:02
But I don't know how much I can talk about that. Until we start getting, like volunteer stuff.

00:21:50:04 - 00:21:51:18
Avis (They/Them)
We’re still kind of figuring that out.

00:21:51:20 - 00:22:02:07
O Stecina (They/He)
A lot of this is still in wait and see territory. But what I'm definitely certain of is that whatever does end up happening will receive Goncharov levels of analysis.

00:22:02:09 - 00:22:04:03
Avis (They/Them)
Oh, I Goncahrov-posted so hard.

00:22:04:05 - 00:22:07:00
Martin (He/Him)
Oh we Gonched like no tomorrow.

00:22:07:02 - 00:22:13:06
Avis (They/Them)
This this is a fun fact, the social media intern hates Goncharov.

00:22:13:07 - 00:22:14:03
Martin (He/Him)
Wait really? I didn't know that.

00:22:14:05 - 00:22:15:06
Avis (They/Them)
Oh, loathes it.

00:22:15:06 - 00:22:30:20
O Stecina (They/He)
And you'll be able to hear it straight from the source. A microphone-wielding Toronto Tboy dressed as John Egbert.

00:22:30:22 - 00:22:55:04
There's a discord server that got cobbled together in real time during the chaos of ticket buying, called “Dashcon 2 or Bust”. It's fairly consistently buzzing with chatter about cosplay, arts and crafts, travel and hotel logistics, things to do in Toronto, what everyone had for dinner last night, that sort of thing. At this point, it's up to about 150 people, some with tickets and some watching from the sidelines just getting to know their fellow Tumblr users.

00:22:55:06 - 00:22:59:08
I hopped into a call with some of them to learn more about the server and the people chatting in it.

00:22:59:10 - 00:23:08:11
Discord Speaker 1
So I was scrolling the Dashcon 2 tag after I got my ticket and I found this place and I'm like, you know what? Why don't I join? So I'm here now.

00:23:08:13 - 00:23:18:01
Discord Speaker 2
Yeah. Similar story, I bought my ticket and, in like the chat on the ticket website, they had a link for this, server.

00:23:18:03 - 00:23:38:04
Discord Speaker 3
The tickets went on sale and the website had crashed as soon as they dropped. I'm sure all of us know that it crashed. Very stressful. I was very tenacious about it because that's just how I am. And there was like a little messaging thing in the website where you can talk to other people who got a ticket.

00:23:38:09 - 00:23:58:09
I wasn't the one who initially came up with the discord idea. It was actually Doc, I believe. They mentioned someone, like doing a server and they didn't want to do it. No one else seemed to want to do it, so I ended up making one real quick. It was very barebones, you know, like general channel and like a VC channel.

00:23:58:09 - 00:24:09:06
It's literally just that at first. I was building up the server around everyone coming in, which was fun. I'm only like about four hours away.

00:24:09:12 - 00:24:13:10
Discord Speaker 1
Yeah, I'm about eight hours off. I'm like, coming from Jersey.

00:24:13:14 - 00:24:17:13
Discord Speaker 4
I live in Washington State. So West Coast. Woohoo!

00:24:17:15 - 00:24:25:11
Discord Speaker 5
I'm coming from the UK, so a little, a little far. I just thought it'd be funny. It's like, actually, I can't believe I'm here right now.

00:24:25:11 - 00:24:44:10
Discord Speaker 6
I'm not traveling too far. I'm coming from Detroit. I've gone to Toronto a few times to visit a friend of mine. Honestly, whether or not Dashcon 2 turns out to be fantastic, a dumpster fire, or somewhere in between, like, I'll get to see my friend. So that rules.

00:24:44:12 - 00:24:51:00
Discord Speaker 1
Yeah, honestly, like, even if it sucks, we just gotta be there. I'm so excited for the fight. It's going to.

00:24:51:00 - 00:24:52:09
Discord Speaker 3
Oh, it's going to be awesome.

00:24:52:09 - 00:24:54:13
Discord Speaker 1
It's going to be something at the very least.

00:24:54:15 - 00:25:02:23
Discord Speaker 2
Hoping for like a WWE type of vibe where they both come in from opposite ends. There's the ball pit, there's some smack talk.

00:25:02:23 - 00:25:11:17
Discord Speaker 1
Can you imagine like Teya slamming themuppetjoker into the ground and breaking his nose.

00:25:11:19 - 00:25:13:23
Discord Speaker 4
There won't be piss in the ball pit. There will be blood.

00:25:15:05 - 00:25:18:24
Hell yeah. And still a biohazard.

00:25:18:24 - 00:25:23:07
Discord Speaker 3
They have said that they're doing a, an auction, so.

00:25:23:09 - 00:25:27:09
O Stecina (They/He)
Is there anything that anybody is hoping won't happen?

00:25:27:11 - 00:25:34:02
Discord Speaker 1
Hopefully no trolling, hopefully no threats of violence. And hopefully no one pisses in the ball pit.

00:25:34:04 - 00:25:48:10
Discord Speaker 3
A lot of my worries have already been, like, assuaged just by like, how professional they've been, how they work with all of us and stuff. You know? So I don't really have any fears or like, doubts. Honestly, I'm very optimistic about it.

00:25:48:12 - 00:25:51:15
O Stecina (They/He)
What is the main sell for you on this event?

00:25:51:18 - 00:25:52:21
Discord Speaker 2
Ballpit.

00:25:52:23 - 00:25:56:14
Discord Speaker 3
Of course. You would say fucking ballpit.

00:25:56:16 - 00:26:00:04
Discord Speaker 1
I mean yeah, yeah. Makes sense. The ballpit.

00:26:00:04 - 00:26:17:00
Discord Speaker 3
For me specifically, it's just I've never had many Homestuck in person friends and just going there in cosplay and just meeting a bunch of Homestucks I feel like will be amazing. I've been in that fandom for 11 years, man.

00:26:17:02 - 00:26:48:01
O Stecina (They/He)
But then, I got a DM. Simone, who at that point I had yet to meet, told me that she was very curious about what was going on in my call, and I was absolutely giddy to facilitate my own Gråkappan moment, which is not pronounced grok-shu-pen, Severance fans. And Awosting Falls In Minnewaska State Park is not the tallest waterfall on the planet! So I kept quiet and let Simone hear what the con-goers were discussing and theorizing, on the condition that we would talk about it together afterwards.

00:26:48:03 - 00:27:14:12
Discord Speaker 2
One of the things I want to do as a souvenir is, make a book filled with, like, Dashcon memes and then get, like, Tumblr celebrities to sign my book on, like, memes related to them. I want to tie that into my cosplay somehow. So I don't necessarily want to be a ball pit, but I want to do something that's related to the ball pit, because that's like the iconic Tumblr like image and like what people think of when they think of Dashcon.

00:27:14:16 - 00:27:22:02
Simone (She/Her)
I'm very curious to see how a duel in the ball pit would actually work physically. If they go for a ball pit the size of the original one.

00:27:22:04 - 00:27:32:02
O Stecina (They/He)
You're hearing Simone right now. Co-director of Dashcon 2, interfacing with her public, beginning to sow the seeds of intrigue.

00:27:32:04 - 00:27:34:09
Discord Speaker 1
They’re just going to be tussling.

00:27:34:09 - 00:27:35:14
O Stecina (They/He)
It’s gonna be a little slap fight.

00:27:35:16 - 00:27:39:20
Discord Speaker 3
I’ve been imagining them with like, foam, like swords, or like those

00:27:39:22 - 00:27:40:19
Simone (She/Her)
Like a pool noodle?

00:27:40:19 - 00:27:43:24
Discord Speaker 3
Exactly. Just like whacking each other with them.

00:27:44:01 - 00:27:49:01
Discord Speaker 1
Imagine how much like, foundation is going to be in that thing. Body paint.

00:27:49:03 - 00:27:50:11
Simone (She/Her)
You mean gray foundation?

00:27:50:17 - 00:27:53:09
Discord Speaker 1
Yeah. Gray foundation. Any kind of foundation.

00:27:53:09 - 00:27:56:23
Discord Speaker 3
Hey, we're going to seal, okay? We're going to seal our paint, okay?

00:27:57:00 - 00:28:02:19
Discord Speaker 1
I know, but someone won’t. Someone won't and it's going to be there.

00:28:02:21 - 00:28:09:24
O Stecina (They/He)
It's been very, very wonderful talking to you all. I'll be at the con in July. Come find me with my microphone and come talk to me.

00:28:10:02 - 00:28:11:20
Discord Speaker 3
No, you have to find me.

00:28:11:22 - 00:28:14:07
O Stecina (They/He)
I will. You rest assured I'll find you.

00:28:14:07 - 00:28:17:04
Discord Speaker 1
That’d be so epic.

00:28:17:06 - 00:28:18:01
O Stecina (They/He)
I’ll track you down.

00:28:18:06 - 00:28:18:18
Discord Speaker 3
What have I done?

00:28:18:22 - 00:28:42:23
O Stecina (They/He)
I'm looking forward to meeting you guys in person, eventually. And giving you all big hugs. If that's what you like. Thanks for being here for this. And listen to the podcast when it comes out. Okay. Thank you.

00:28:43:00 - 00:28:43:22
O Stecina (They/He)
Hi.

00:28:43:22 - 00:28:44:19
Simone (She/Her)
Hello!

00:28:44:21 - 00:28:46:20
O Stecina (They/He)
So are you, are you Simone?

00:28:46:22 - 00:28:48:01
Simone (She/Her)
Yes I am.

00:28:48:03 - 00:28:50:01
O Stecina (They/He)
You did a pretty good job at blending in. The mole!

00:28:50:04 - 00:29:09:18
Simone (She/Her)
I didn't want to blend in like, too too hard because I didn't want to feel like I was tricking people. But it was. It's fun. I understand why people like to do this sort of thing. Martin was having the time of his life when he joined the, server. Like, lurking as hard as he could and playing dumb.

00:29:09:18 - 00:29:32:09
I believe, like, pretty much the entire core staff team, give or take a few people, is in the server. Most people just haven't said anything. There's something that just feels very young about the Dashcon 2 or Bust server. I don't know if I'm reading it wrong, or perhaps it's just like optimism reads as like the naivety of youth or something.

00:29:32:11 - 00:29:58:16
But I look at that and the feeling I get is, oh, these are like my ducklings, or these are my little siblings and original Dashcon had a lot of kids who were very intensely interested in just meeting their like, online friends in real life. And I look at the server and I look at the audience we've garnered, and I think I have to make this good for you.

00:29:58:18 - 00:30:17:11
I cannot let you down because for some of you, this is your first convention experience ever. You just haven't had a lot of opportunity to do a thing like this. And you're so excited. I always wanted to make a good product, but now it's doubly important. I have people looking up to me in a very real way.

00:30:17:13 - 00:30:31:24
O Stecina (They/He)
I've met Avis and I've met Martin, and I'm talking to you now like I'm getting to know the team that are working behind the scenes. It's so strange to see the posts from people who just kind of assume that it's being thrown by this sort of omnipotent force.

00:30:32:01 - 00:30:48:14
Simone (She/Her)
Mhm. Cuz like, I totally understand it. Because if you didn't know me, yeah, that's how you would read things. People have insane assumptions about us, and we're inclined to just let them do their thing. There's no point in correcting every little guy, because why would you want to bother with that?

00:30:48:18 - 00:30:49:02
O Stecina (They/He)
Yeah.

00:30:49:02 - 00:30:52:09
Simone (She/Her)
Responding to what I heard in call, aw, it was so sweet.

00:30:52:11 - 00:31:07:19
I'm not too worried about crowding. That's something that we've been very aware of. So we're trying to schedule a lot of interesting things happening at the same time to subdivide so people aren't getting overloaded. We understand that a lot of our audience base is divergent.

00:31:07:19 - 00:31:08:01
O Stecina (They/He)
Yeah.

00:31:08:02 - 00:31:13:19
Simone (She/Her)
Honestly, most of our staff are neurodivergent as well. We are going to have a low sensory room.

00:31:13:19 - 00:31:34:01
So it's it's something that we we've thought about because I've, I've been to quite a few conventions. So I, I know what works and what doesn't. Very concerned about weather since I know that a lot of people are going to be showing up to the JCCC without having a ticket, just to kind of have a exist outside block party style.

00:31:34:01 - 00:31:53:00
O Stecina (They/He)
It's something that I do expect. So watch yourselves. It's July. We will have free water because please bros, don't, don't get sunstroke, don't get heatstroke. Please look after yourselves. Like where we want to have a, like a like on our plan your visit site to be like, okay, here's your here's your to do list. Here's your kit.

00:31:53:00 - 00:31:56:23
Simone (She/Her)
Bring water, bring food, store it somewhere. Bring sunscreen.

00:31:56:23 - 00:31:57:11
O Stecina (They/He)
Yeah.

00:31:57:13 - 00:32:03:11
Simone (She/Her)
There's the concern of trolls. Yeah I, I'm not actually as concerned about people pissing in the ball pit as you might expect.

00:32:03:11 - 00:32:05:23
O Stecina (They/He)
Yeah I think people talk a big game, but they would not.

00:32:06:00 - 00:32:11:19
Simone (She/Her)
People talk a big game, but it's you know, you have to know that if you do that, you're ruining everyone else's fun.

00:32:11:21 - 00:32:12:03
O Stecina (They/He)
Yeah.

00:32:12:03 - 00:32:21:24
Simone (She/Her)
And while you might get 15 minutes of internet fame, you have to pay us $1,000. And I'm not letting you get away from that. Not because I want the money. The money was not the important part.

00:32:21:24 - 00:32:34:15
The money would just go to, like, cleaning costs because we're renting stuff. We're having some very close, trusted volunteers on anti-piss patrol. There, there are people that are actually going to be watching the ballpit just to make sure people are safe. But also like,

00:32:34:16 - 00:32:35:20
O Stecina (They/He)
That's, that's good.

00:32:35:22 - 00:32:37:11
Simone (She/Her)
You, you're not getting away with this.

00:32:37:11 - 00:32:39:19
O Stecina (They/He)
Yeah.

00:32:39:21 - 00:33:05:06
At the time of this little Discord call, the Dashcon Trials were in full swing. It was an online fan led competition to distribute a highly coveted, accidentally purchased extra ticket to the most determined Dashcon Enjoyer. Throughout the month of March, people applied and competed in trials of the mind, the body and the spirit. And then there was the grand finale, a Tumblr lore themed jeopardy game amongst the finalists.

00:33:05:08 - 00:33:10:04
You may be hearing from some of them later because they're all going to be at Dashcon 2.

00:33:10:04 - 00:33:39:18
Simone (She/Her)
That was so funny. The second one was a minecraft parkour challenge, and they recreated the facade outside of the JCCC. And then there was a ball pit on top of it, and then you had to climb out of the ball pit in order to reach the top in this parkour challenge. And just seeing someone who undoubtedly had to spend so many hours just staring at like the seven photos of that building that exist online to make this oh, it's it's it's wonderful.

00:33:39:18 - 00:33:54:09
It's just I, I, I love everybody who participated in that. It's so sweet. I guess I can, I can mention this because it'll come out soon. We're, all three winners are going.

00:33:54:11 - 00:33:56:01
O Stecina (They/He)
That's so awesome.

00:33:56:01 - 00:34:19:09
Simone (She/Her)
They're not competing for one ticket. They're competing for three. We we struck up a kind of, like, a bargain with the person who's created the trials. Because we are using their Kahoot subscription that they paid 50 bucks for. Honestly, it came out to exactly the right amount, which it's like, okay, you lend us the subscription, we'll let you a Dashcon tickets’ worth of subscription, which is two.

00:34:19:11 - 00:34:26:17
O Stecina (They/He)
And before I left the call, I asked Simone if there was anything that she wanted the listeners of this podcast to especially know.

00:34:26:19 - 00:34:52:05
Simone (She/Her)
We want you to have fun. That's that's why we're doing it. We charge money because we kind of have to to pay for our costs. We, we’re doing this truly, because it would be a really fun thing to do, and I know we can do it.

00:34:52:07 - 00:35:16:19
O Stecina (They/He)
As of the point of recording this episode, Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, one day before the assignment is due and 79 days before the convention, here is what we know about Dashcon 2, or at least what I've been allowed to publicly share. A lot of this information comes from the Dashcon 2 Substack page. Though tickets are completely sold out for the physical event, many aspects of Dashcon 2 will be live streamed through Virtual Dashcon.

00:35:16:21 - 00:35:37:16
Tickets for this are estimated to cost half the price of the physical tickets, so $17.50 Canadian, with 15% of each ticket going toward the Cancer Society fundraiser, and the duel between themuppetjoker and Strange Aeons will be professionally recorded. Volunteer applications are released now, and signing up for a four hour shift will get you free access to the rest of the convention.

00:35:37:16 - 00:36:01:06
So if you missed your shot on actual ticketing day, that's another avenue you can go down to be there in person. Volunteers have to be older than 14 and virtual positions are getting announced later. A full schedule or a full list of vendors and guests isn't available yet, but we've been given some hints. Obviously, there will be the duel, but recently Dashcon 2’s version of Tumblr Prom was announced, and it's fittingly ballroom dancing themed.

00:36:01:08 - 00:36:20:05
The complete theme of Dashcon 2 was also announced: “A Royal Ball.” With that announcement came a reveal of a panel from The Burnt Courthouse where they're actually going to teach you how to ballroom dance. I'm really looking forward to the playlist because it's going to be absolute chaos, and there's a real chance that it might contain All I want for Christmas Is You.

00:36:20:05 - 00:36:37:18
Their Tumblr will eventually have a place where you can vote songs into the playlist, and it'll be public on Spotify, so you can subject your friends to it forevermore. If you saw anything about Dashcon On The Lawn, it's been transformed into an official, not on the lawn panel, where they'll be screening a YouTube series made by a fan called Bloody Heartss.

00:36:37:18 - 00:36:57:06
That's with two S's. We've also been told that there will be some drag performances, and there was a call for local drag performers. And as far as guests go, Lochlan O’Neil of OG Dashcon will be there giving a panel called “Rabid and Loving! Intro to All Things Raccoon.” There will not be any live raccoons at said panel, although they can be found basically all throughout Toronto anyways.

00:36:57:06 - 00:37:24:05
“uncarley” of YouTube video essay and Girl Historian Podcast fame will also be there. An email went out to people subscribed to the mailing list on April 10th, addressing the potential problems that could arise for people crossing the US Canada border. They've ensured that refunds will always be available. And if things really do go south down south, Dashcon 2 could potentially be rescheduled to July 5th, 2026, but Virtual Dashcon would still be happening this July regardless.

00:37:24:07 - 00:37:45:01
Obviously there are a lot of people who are coming to Dashcon 2 from America, and a great deal of those people have targets on their backs with the current administration and their complete disregard for the constitutional right of due process. Americans, please keep your wits about you and make sure that you are prepared with all of the things that you need to smoothly cross the border.

00:37:45:03 - 00:38:07:21
Just popping in again from April 25th, to add a few more updates because things keep getting announced. Maps and schedules are going to be getting released on the Dashcon 2 website starting in May, but we have two new confirmed activities: a cosplay catwalk competition which opens up for registration July 4th, the day before the convention, and a magical idol show in collaboration with Toronto Tenshi.

00:38:07:23 - 00:38:35:03
LVL UP Games, which is a board game cafe in nearby Mississauga, is also hosting an all day board games room. It's BYoD, bring your own dice, but they provide the tables for all of your one shots and board game expeditions. If for whatever reason, you can't go to IRL Dashcon anymore and you need to sell or transfer your ticket, be aware that if the organizers find out you're selling your ticket for above retail price, you risk getting that ticket straight up canceled.

00:38:35:05 - 00:38:55:00
The team is trying to crack down on scalpers. So, in the words of our iconic TTC lady, if you see something, say something. If you signed up to have a wristband mailed to you when you got your ticket, whoever you give your ticket to will need that wristband, and lost ones won't be replaced. So keep a good eye on that sucker because it's basically your wearable ticket.

00:38:55:02 - 00:39:15:09
Wristbands are getting mailed out at the beginning of June, giving you plenty of time to get yours, even with the Canada Post strikes happening right now. But if you need to change the address that a wristband is mailed to, send an email to registration@dashcontwo.com before the end of May. If you didn't sign up to have the wristband mailed to you, then you'll just pick it up at the registration desk day-of using the QR code on your ticket.

00:39:15:14 - 00:39:40:05
But you have to wear the wristband all the time, so keep that in mind when designing your cosplays. As time goes on, we will be learning more about what Dashcon 2 is actually going to look like, and I'll be doing my best to try and relay that information to you, with my own personal style and flair, as it comes up. I expect to release episode 2 in June, episode 3 at the start of July, and a few more with all of the stuff that I managed to gather at the con itself.

00:39:40:07 - 00:40:01:19
If you're participating in Dashcon 2 in some way and you'd like to be on the show, send me a message at dashcon2podcast, rhat's the number 2, on Tumblr, through the form on the show's website, dashcon2podcast.com, or by sending an email to o@dashcon2podcast.com. I appreciate you sticking around to listen, even if you think that this whole thing is a scam.

00:40:01:21 - 00:40:21:10
Virtual Dashcon may need to charge money to keep the lights on, but this podcast remains free and all that I ask is that you are niceys to me at the actual event and in my askbox. As an additional bit of self promo, my thesis project for University, Soundscapes of Self, is available for streaming on most major podcasting platforms and YouTube.

00:40:21:12 - 00:40:40:04
If you're the type of person that's curious about how the human voice works and all the ways that that interacts with gender stuff, or you just like immersive surround sound, go check it out. There are a lot of very cool trans people in Toronto, and I interviewed over a dozen of them for that project. You can find all of the info at soundscapesofself.online.

00:40:40:06 - 00:40:52:09
I am very, very excited to meet a lot of you in person this July, and to get to know more of my fellow Tumblr freaks through this podcast. The internet and my life would not be the same without you.

00:40:52:11 - 00:41:00:03
Ball pit. Ball pit. Ball pit. Ball pit. Ball pit.

00:41:00:09 - 00:41:05:20
Check it out. I'm in the dash con ball pit.

00:41:05:22 - 00:41:07:07
This is a.

00:41:07:09 - 00:41:08:03
Dashcon.

00:41:08:08 - 00:41:09:19
Podcast.

00:41:09:21 - 00:41:13:16
July 5th. J-C-C-C.

00:41:13:18 - 00:41:15:20
A Ro-yal Ball is the theme.

00:41:15:22 - 00:41:25:24
Dashcon 2. Will it be dope or half-assed? Find out on this podcast.