Dream come true: RDCWorld attracts 20,000 fans to Black nerd convention Dream Con

Since 2018, creator group RDCWorld has organized an annual event series called Dream Con, which takes place in the group’s home state of Texas. The 2023 edition of Dream Con established several milestones for the yearly gathering: It was the first DreamCon to take place in Austin, and it drew the largest crowd in the convention’s history, with more than 20,000 attendees flocking to the Austin Convention Center.

Dream Con exists on several axes. On the surface, it’s a creator convention that provides a Texan complement to VidCon. For the members of RDCWorld, the three-day event is an opportunity to rub shoulders with like-minded creators and entertainment industry notables.

But at its core, Dream Con is a space for Black nerds — or “Blerds” — who love anime, video games, and sports. It’s a chance to hang with other members of that community and meet the people who are sharing Blerd culture with millions of YouTube subscribers.

The RDCWorld channel and Dream Con have grown alongside one another.

The convention began in 2018 in the college town of Waco, where members of RDCWorld grew up. By that point, the comedy channel led by Mark Phillips and Affiong Harris had already produced several viral sketches, with anime, superhero movies, and hip-hop culture emerging as common themes. Those topics appealed to early Dream Con attendees, who flocked to Waco during the convention’s first two years. Dream Con drew 800 fans for its inaugural event and hit 1,200 guests the year later.

The COVID-19 pandemic nixed plans for an in-person gathering in 2020, but even without Dream Con, RDCWorld (which stands for “Real Dreamers Change the World”) continued to build on its rising star status. Its sketches began to satirize the world of basketball, with Phillips often using his broad comedic style to portray Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

In one sketch, Phillips imagined LeBron’s reaction to the formation of superteams around the NBA. The video was another hit for the RDCWorld YouTube channel, and it even caught the attention of its subject. At the premiere of Space Jam: A New Legacy, LeBron gave Phillips a big hug and recited the sketch’s most quotable line. “I’m 36!” he shouted. “I’m not Thanos!”

As RDCWorld cultivated mainstream awareness, it became clear that Dream Con needed a change of scenery. “Waco is hard to get to,” Phillips said during a press conference at Dream Con 2023. “You gotta get off a plane in Dallas, and you gotta drive like an hour and a half. And people was not trying to do that. They ain’t like us that much.”

Dream Con headed to Dallas in 2021 and 2022, and its attendance doubled in each of those years. It reached 3,000 guests in 2021 and 6,000 in 2022. As if that growth wasn’t rapid enough already, the Austin-based version of the event drew more than three times as many fans as any previous iteration.

Blerd alert

RDCWorld subscribers are hardly a monolithic group, and the channel’s stars make sure that their convention serves a wide variety of interests. The 2023 event brought more than 150 vendors to Austin between July 28-30. Dyed-in-the-wool Blerds enjoyed appearances from pop culture figures like Carl Jones (of The Boondocks fame) and animation voice actor Zeno Robinson. Cosplayers roamed the halls dressed as anime and video game characters.

Gamers participated in a Mortal Kombat tournament on a stage sponsored by Mountain Dew. And for the sports fans, RDCWorld turned to a longtime partner: House of Highlights. The Bleacher Report-run brand had a big presence at Dream Con 2023, where it continued an annual dodgeball tradition while also broadcasting some matches from its Creator League.

Those events could fit in at any nerdy convention, but Dream Con earns its Blerd credibility through its programming decisions and invite list. The special guests who showed up for Dream Con Austin included top Black creators like King Vader, Storymodebae, and the members of the AMP supergroup.

On platforms like X, Black communities are struggling to keep their safe spaces intact. But at Dream Con, the Black experience is front-and-center. One memorable panel hosted by creator TheBlackSpeed featured an in-depth look at pop culture characters who are “secretly” coded as Black. Naturally, A Goofy Movie was a big part of that discussion.

During the Dream Con press conference, Phillips was asked to share his feelings about the “Black con” he and his groupmates have created. “Of course the supporters of Dream Con are mostly gonna be Black, you know? But I’m sure a lot of people see themselves in us at some point in their life,” Phillips said. He remarked that attendees of “all races” are welcome at the con.

“Yeah, we cool with just being the majority,” joked fellow RDCWorld member John Newton. “It’s cool. We can be 80%.”

The dreamers are ready to change the world.

One month after Dream Con 2023 ended, RDCWorld won the Streamy Award for Comedy for the second year in a row. The unassuming nerds from Waco have become one of the biggest things in digital entertainment. The success of Dream Con shows that RDCWorld’s influence is not limited to YouTube, and the comedy brand is getting ready to introduce itself to some brand-new audiences.

For years, Phillips has been working on an original anime and manga series called Dark Lights. The project’s producers include big-name Black creatives like Issa Rae and Michael B. Jordan.

Rae, who also plied her trade in the creator world before becoming a TV star, has been given Phillips some pointers. As the RDCWorld President prepares to break into the broader entertainment world, he’s organizing his production company to look more like Rae’s.

“I really like the fact that it doesn’t really feel like you’re at a company,” Phillips said about Rae’s firm Hoorae Media. “It feels like you’re just at a place that’s genuine, with friends, and y’all trying to make the best quality content or movies or TV shows that you can make.”

At Dream Con 2023, Phillips teased a separate partnership with director Jordan Peele, though he declined to offer any specifics about that deal. The coming year will be a pivotal time for RDCWorld, but even if these Blerd kings take Hollywood by storm, they won’t forget their roots. Dream Con is set to return to Austin on July 26, 2024, and some tickets have already been sold.