DashCon is the most infamous fan convention you’ve probably never heard of — unless you were deep into Tumblr in 2014.
On July 5, Toronto hosted DashCon 2 at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. Though not organized by the same team as the first, the one-day event drew about 800 people — 550 ticket holders and 200 volunteers — all brought together by the same chaotic, queer, and deeply online fandom culture that once defined Tumblr.
The first DashCon, held in Schaumburg, IL., in 2014, was meant to celebrate the fandoms that dominated Tumblr during its heyday — including TV shows “Supernatural,” “Doctor Who,” and “Sherlock,” webcomics like “Homestuck,” and video games like “Undertale.” But poor planning and unrealistic expectations meant it descended into chaos and became the stuff of internet legend.
Organizers reportedly overestimated attendance and were forced to raise $17,000 on the first day to avoid being kicked out of the venue. After allegedly promising to cover hotel and travel costs for featured guests, they left many to pay out of pocket — prompting several high-profile cancellations.
And the image that stuck? A kiddie pool–sized ball pit in an otherwise empty hall — rumoured to have been peed in (though it wasn’t).
The reboot: DashCon2
McGill University students Simone Miller and Avis Petrie, both 21, were 10 years old when the original DashCon happened. As they grew up and fell in love with Tumblr themselves, they learned not just about the fiasco — but about the hopeful, if flawed, vision behind it.
They organized DashCon 2 to celebrate that era of the internet and its lasting presence on Tumblr — but also to give people a chance to meet up, “touch grass,” and make real-life connections with those they usually only know from behind a screen.
“It really hit all of us in COVID how important real in-person connections are,” said Petrie. “Online communities are amazing…but the fact of the matter is we can often lose a sense of connection with online interactions.”
There were also practical motivations: as soon-to-be graduates, they hoped organizing a convention would strengthen their résumés. That included putting together a vendor hall. DashCon 2’s artist alley featured 86 vendors selling everything from fan art prints and Tumblr-referencing stickers to plushies, pins, and keychains of fan-favorite characters.
Miller and Petrie were well aware of what had doomed the first DashCon — so they managed expectations, paid for the venue in full using early ticket sales, and kept things transparent. Guests, panelists, and most of the day-of staff volunteered their time.
To help give the event credibility, the organizers reached out to Strange Aeons, a Canadian YouTuber known for documenting obscure corners of internet history. Teya, as she is known in her personal life, said she was impressed by their pitch, including a professional slide deck — and mentioned the convention in a video about the original DashCon.
“It’s everything that I make videos about, but in person. It’s DashCon, it’s Tumblr come to life… I want to go to that,” she said.
Programming ranged from panels on queerness in the “Conclave” fandom and lessons in internet archaeology — preserving and documenting online stories — to activities like a drag show and a “crow exchange,” where attendees could bring any kind of trinkets to trade with one another. DashCon 2 stayed true to its mission of giving a home to what some might call the internet’s cringiest.
Its magnum opus? A duel between Strange Aeons and a notorious Tumblr user known as The Muppet Joker, whom she had investigated in her videos. The two had been trading (lighthearted) barbs for months leading up to the event.
Lochlan O’Neil, now 28, created DashCon when she was just 15 and running a Tumblr blog. Though the con quickly spun out of her control, she remained the public face — and, at 17, was the one sent around the convention with a paper bag to collect emergency funds from attendees.
O’Neil said she received death threats from strangers who hadn’t even attended the convention long after, but said things have calmed down in the decade since. When Strange Aeons reached out about a video, she agreed to participate — and when she heard about DashCon 2, she decided to attend.
“People coming together and having a good time and making friends and being silly and dressing up. So to see this [event] realized is very special for me,” she said. “Tumblr is such a non-judgmental place. I’m autistic, so it’s always been very hard for me to make friends, and the internet has always been a place that I’ve been able to find them… So, to have a convention where you can get those people with those niche interests all in one place. It’s wonderful.”
Why people came
Ophelia Pond, 26, travelled from Ottawa to attend DashCon2 because she said it felt “culturally significant.”
“[Tumblr] feels less corporate and less sanitized than a lot of the others. It’s like you don’t have to censor yourself on there. It’s the queerness, the diversity, and just the celebration of weirdness,” she said.
She also praised the event’s focus on accessibility.
“I think that is so important and especially for me I’m quite isolated because being disabled I’m stuck at home a lot of the time … so I think it’s been wonderful for that.”
Apollo Avery, 25, an animator who was vending at DashCon 2, said the crowd was very understanding of any hiccups, including their card payment system going down, they were having since it was their first time tabling at a convention.
Avery shared that they are now a Canadian permanent resident but are originally from Russia, and that Tumblr helped them discover they were queer and gave them the words to describe themself which is part of what made celebrating that culture at DashCon so special.
“Tumblr in that iteration of fandom space, you know a safe space for queer neurodivergent people mainly, has been effectively my roots… A lot of immigrants and children of immigrants have definitely discovered themselves on Tumblr.”
Natasha Martin, 23, from Brampton said knowing that DashCon 2 was happening near her and that they would be attending helped her fall back in love with Tumblr.
She also explained that she really enjoyed how intimate the convention was.
“It’s small, but it’s a good size. It feels very cozy. It’s not like FanExpo, where there’s just like a hundred thousand people and it’s just everybody’s so different. The vibes are not as friendly and nice, so it’s nice to have more of these little community-oriented events,” they said.
The organizers also wanted to make sure the convention could be a greater force for good so they also sold raffle tickets as part of a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society, which they say raised $7,000. The charity was chosen because both Petrie and creative director Martin Puddephatt have parents who are cancer survivors and it is an illness that nearly half of Canadians will get at some point.
While most of the attendees were not at the original DashCon, many recall watching the chaos unfold live on Tumblr in 2014, or hearing about its mythos in the years since and wanting to be part of what would hopefully be a redemption arc — and they universally said that it was. Online, the event was received well. It was in Tumblr’s top 10 trending topics on Saturday and Sunday. Attendees also posted videos of the event on TikTok. “Dashcon 2 felt like stepping into a time capsule of the conventions of yesteryear. Such a fun time, I hope they do it again,” one video’s caption read.
Will there be a DashCon 3? Organizers aren’t sure yet — but if it happens, they plan to keep the DashCon 2 branding. Petrie is personally pushing for: DashCon 2: The Third One.
