After a year of no concerts or nerd conventions, and armed with both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, my best friend, Brooke and I made the trek to Arlington, VA for the fourth annual BlerDCon.* (Now with vaccination and mask mandates for your safety!)

I actually didn’t know that BlerDCon was a thing until Brooke kidnapped me back in 2019 in order to attend and I had a blast. It is hands down the best con I’ve ever attended, though I only have 10 years of New York Comic Con and 1 year of Anime NYC to compare it to. While our first year at BlerDCon was amazing (we only got to stay for 18 hours out of the 3 days), this year we took it up a notch,  as this was the year of the Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune “couple cosplay.”

We first started planning this cosplay on the bus ride back from the con to New York.  Brooke was the first to suggest that we to make this a race-bent cosplay, down to having naturally textured hair, so I eagerly went looking for a teal curly wig . While I did find a wig that was close to what I wanted, unfortunately it never made it to me and the vendor I bought it from wouldn’t send me a replacement. Brooke was clearly much more successful in her wig hunt so I couldn’t help but feel slightly defeated that my first BlerDCon cosplay was a bit of a bust. In the end I opted for braiding some teal hair clips and incorporating them into my hairstyle and I decided to go bigger with my makeup, because why not?

As I’ve mentioned before, although I’m a big fan of cosplay, my sewing skills are pretty much limited to hemming, and buttons so I took great care in researching options for how we could make this cosplay a reality. After weeks of searching, I found this Sailor Seifuku Uniform Set that was just within our budget and available in plus sizes.

I ordered a size 2XL based on the measurements on the size chart believing that this was cotton and that it would actually turn out to be a bit more oversized. I was sadly mistaken. We noticed very quickly that not only was it  more snug than both of us would have wanted, it also had more of a polyester fabrication that didn’t stretch or allow for much movement. Admittedly this made things uncomfortable in the heat of the day so we were in a constant search for water to hydrate and ac for most of the day.  Guess this basically proves that cosplay, much like mainstream fashion/beauty, is pain hahaha. In the end we still looked great so it was worth the trouble.

Also white sneakers were the name of the game here instead of the more character accurate boots/heels because it was way too hot for that, plus this is a comic con, which means walking. A LOT of walking and standing.  I’m all for canon-accurate cosplay but even I have my limits. Either way we clearly made an impression as we were asked to pose for photos throughout the day. This honestly made me feel pretty good given the whole wig situation that had me almost give up on this plan altogether. Well that, and the fact that I had to convince Brooke to wear a mini skater skirt which is more my style than it is hers.

Sidenote: If you know of or stumble across a teal wig that has a similar curl pattern to mine let a girl know. Brooke and I plan on making this particular “couple cosplay” our thing for cons in the future so I’m already thinking up of making my Sailor Neptune even better. Brooke is also on the hunt for a better Haruka/Sailor Uranus wig as we are currently discussing possibly recreating one of the Michiru and Haruka’s “citizen-life outfits” so you’ll definitely be seeing these two again in some way and with better photography for sure.

For day 2 of the con both Brooke and I went for outfits that were a bit more laidback and definitely more movement-friendly, though clearly the fandoms we chose were not related in the slightest, haha. Talk about a major shift from day one, but a welcome one at least for me because this dress has pockets. Seriously, you don’t realize how much you miss having pockets until you’re scrambling for your mask or wallet at random times.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you actually may recognize this dress as it was my Halloween costume last year.  I decided to forgo the temporary red hair color gel as I tend to sweat a lot once the temperature is even one degree above 65 so it wouldn’t have lasted even the first hour. If I had managed to get my contacts in I probably would have gone bigger with my makeup to be more in character, complete with recreating the face stitches like I did the last time, though I would lying if I said I didn’t love this more subtle take on Sally. With the bit of blue peaking at the inner corners of my eye, the smokey black liner and the bright red lipstick.

As you can expect it was this day that I did most of my shopping in the market place and I spent way more money than I had originally budgeted for. Not that I regret it, I mean I finally scored an awesome halo crown and some awesome Norse-inspired jewelry for my collection, money well spent in my option.

This was my first year as a VIP-ticket and given the fact that I got to play my fill of Street Fighter in the amazingly air conditioned VIP lounge, I believe I will be purchasing this same ticket for next year. The theme is “Homecoming” so I already know that it’s going to be a hell of a party. If you’re a fellow BIPOC nerd I highly recommend joining in if you can. Hope to see you there!

---

* Note: Blerd = Black Nerd and BlerDCon, as the name implies is a convention that celebrates Black nerd culture within an inclusive environment.

Have you ever heard of or been to BlerDCon? What major events are on your calendar now that events are starting to be a thing again?