Despite Minnesota having something nerdy going on almost weekly, it has lacked that “BIG” show. Luckily, Nerd Street LLC came to the rescue a few years ago with the creation of Twin Cities Con. Over the last couple of years, this show fills the void and Twin Cities Con has become the midwest convention to attend in the late fall. Even though this year brought struggles with lack of funds and travel restrictions due to the government shutdown, the overall vibes of this show was delightful.

In 2024, Twin Cities Con was magical as we volunteered with both The Uncanny Experience and the Minnesota Comic Exchange. Both community tables were located next to each other and the whole show felt like a party. Left the show with a Joker tattoo and a bank account that looked pretty sad. Leaving Twin Cities Con in 2024, it became the annual show that had potential of being the C2E2 or Planet Comic Con for Minnesota. To say we were excited for the 2025 version of Twin Cities Con would have been an understatement.

This year, Twin Cities Con happened Friday November 7th through Sunday November 9th at the Minneapolis Convention Center and the growth of this show was noticeable when we arrived Friday morning. We were on the opposite side of the con floor, which was a blessing for us and curse for others. This year there was an estimated 600 vendors, Ben Penrod mentioned during his interview on KSTP Friday morning. Being a part of the community section of the show, while working the table for The Uncanny Experience our days flew by as we had people at our table on the regular. Once we left our table to meet up with some artists and comic shop owners, we realized that they we were experiencing different shows.

Before talking about the artists and comic vendors, let’s discuss the main attractions of Twin Cities Con. The Guests! This is the window dressing of conventions, the thing that brings in people. This year Twin Cities Con had Most of the cast of The Mummy with Brendan Fraser headlining. This proved to be perfect timing for Twin Cities Con as the day before the show started the announcement of The Mummy 4 was released. For those that love Star Wars, Rosario Dawson headlined Friday’s guest list accompanied by Eman Esfandi and Giancarlo Esposito. Cast members of Buffy, voice actors from One Piece and so many other shows and a handful of wrestling greats. The one thing that Twin Cities Con should be proud of is being able to appeal to just about anyone. We only met one guest this year, it would have been three but due to long lines for Rosario Dawson and Sting and other commitments. We met the Harley Quinn co-creator, Paul Dini Sunday right before he left. Between his work on Batman the Animated Series, the Arkham games and Freakazoid, Paul impacted my childhood in a meaningful way. Hopefully one day, we will be able to meet Bruce Timm and Mark Hamill to round off the four pillars of Batman The Animated Series.

One noticeable thing about the show was where it was busier at. We mentioned the long line for celebrities but did these attendees make their way to other sections of the show? That depends on who you asked at the show. Friday we attended a Drink and Draw with our friend Jaime Coker which proved to be one of the highlights of the show. It was a packed house that featured many local artists showing off their creative skills. But, please don’t ask us to show you our work, it was bad. But, while sitting there I was asking myself “Its packed here, where were most of these people before?” From our observation, people just wanted to hang out! Panels seemed busier than usual at those that we attended, the gaming section was filled with no open systems to play and cosplayers were hanging out. Shoutout to Dylan, Tyson, Chandler and Adrian for their awesome K–Pop Demon Hunters cosplay.

Artist Alley was never too busy, we could go up and chat with friends without distracting them. This was a shame because in my opinion, this was the strongest Artist Alley that Twin Cities Con has had. It featured current well established comic creators like Mark Brooks, Ryan Stegman, Tim Seeley and Pat Gleason. It also had the likes of Michael Kingston from Headlocked comics, Fabrice Sapolsky from Fairsquare Graphics, and Aubrey Sitterson who is currently writing Free Planet for Image Comics. It also gave a space for Minnesota talent to showcase their work to an audience that do not attend smaller shows. As some faced a drastic decline in sales, it was noticeable that people currently did not have the extra money to support creators. Hopefully this is not a trend that continues as some artists mentioned they may not return to Minnesota.

As someone that attends Twin Cities Con in a multitude of ways, attendee, community table and press, I hope that creators look at this as an off year. I do understand that suffering a drastic decline in sales is never good, but Twin Cities Con was hit by so many factors this year. The government shutdown had wallets lighter, the hunting opening was the same weekend, the Minnesota Vikings were playing near by and a big book festival was happening in Saint Paul. For 2026, the dates have shifted to November 20-22nd, this could work against the show or in favor of the show. Twin Cities Con in 2026 could be the show that people do their holiday shopping and I hope that is the case.

Make sure to watch our haul video on our YouTube channel. We will be joined by some friends to do a little show and tell!