Indigipopx 2024: A Celebration of Indigenous Nerd Culture

It's been a little over two weeks since I got back from Oklahoma City, but it still doesn't mean I can't share my thoughts and experiences from attending Indigipopx!

Not to mention this is my first blog entry (yayy)!

I'm not sure if I'll do more, but I figured why not blabber to the internet about my experiences? Plus, I know I'm a journalist at heart, but there's something about writing about my personal experiences that I can just let loose and mindlessly write about, plus- I can't shut up about how much fun I had at this event.

I had the amazing honor of being invited to the event as a cosplayer (see my TikTok) by a friend who happens to help run the event (Lee- you're amazing thank you again). I was given an "all-access" pass, allowing me passes to the night events on Friday and Saturday. Along with just attending the event, they asked me to be a part of one of the panels, which I said yes before I could comprehend that it would be the first panel I would be a part of.

When I usually attend cons, I'm more of an attendee and never really gave thought as to being a part of the programming of conventions, but with the team at Indigipopx helping me with my travels and stay, I couldn't help but say yes to the opportunity.

Now, I've never been invited to a convention before, let alone by myself. So with the idea that I didn't want to go to OKC by myself, I invited my best friend Aniceya with me because I thought she would enjoy it (I've taken the duty upon me for the past two years to get her into cosplay- and it luckily worked).

For the week leading up to it, I was so excited because I had seen photos of the con the year before and wanted to attend it- since there are no conventions like it in the United States. There would be actors from Rez Dogs, Wonder Woman, and online mutuals of mine that would also be attending the con.

We flew in a day before the con had started to get our bearings together (and steam our cosplays) and tour the small part of OKC that was around our hotel. We ended up meeting up with one of my coworkers, Kelly Holmes (the founder and editor-in-chief of Native Max Magazine), for lunch and afterward we walked around the area and found the coolest arcade bar I've ever seen. Level One is one thing- but the FlashBack RetroPub OKC was on another level (pun intended).

As far as I know there is no arcade bar like this in Phoenix, where you just had to get two drinks minimum to have unlimited gameplay on the huge array of games they had. I favored the fact that they had Mariokart available to play.

We didn't stay for very long but it was such a cool place to check out and little did we know that it had become the after-con hub for everyone to go to and hang out with people they saw a little over three hours ago.

DAY ONE: FRIDAY

Moving onto the first day of the convention, Aniceya and I had woken up bright and early (because getting ready in cosplay takes forever) for our day ahead. I had two cosplays lined up for the day, Sailor Mars (Sailor Moon) and Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender), but I had only done this once before. I knew that I would have to change halfway through the day in a bathroom, but I couldn't decide which cosplay to be for that day since I had just gotten Sailor Mars for this event and Katara is such a staple for me- so I went with both. Aniceya was Daki (Demon Slayer) for the day and of course before we left our hotel we had to take a picture of our cosplays.

(I'm really bad about taking full body pictures in my cosplays so this is how most of the photos of me in cosplay look- my bad)

In the Uber to the First Americans Museum (where the con was being held), I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of how "big" this convention was. I've had my fair shares of attending smaller cons in the past, and there's nothing wrong with them because it just feels more intimate than most cons where you can chat with everyone there without them being really busy with the crowds (don't get me started on big con crowds).

I wasn't worried when we arrived at the convention and there were quite a few people already there when it had opened at 10am, with a frybread truck outside for people to get their eats throughout the weekend.

We walked into the entrance and were greeted by people at a table who asked who we were and they handed us 'complementary' badges with some really cool artwork on them- along with a lanyard with the Indigipopx logo over. I love when cons have lanyards with it's names on it- just feels so much cooler.

The layout of the convention was a little confusing, I won't lie. Aniceya and I had a hard time figuring out if there were more vendor booths throughout the venue. It wasn't until Saturday when we found out there was a second floor of more booths, though they had fixed it with having a blowup suit hold a sign saying "MORE VENDORS UPSTAIRS" since I'm sure it was a common question other attendees had.

I always have a way with deciding what I want from conventions. That if I remember whatever I wanted after doing one thorough loop around all the vendors- it's worth getting. Or else I'd impulse buy everything at every booth (which my wallet would not be happy about). By the time I realized it was 1pm- we had done one loop through the vendors and conveniently it was time to change into my Katara cosplay.

While walking around, I saw so many amazing people that I knew professionally and from my cosplay life as well- it felt like a weird crossover episode.

Photo 1: AN AMAZING NAVAJO AHSOKA COSPLAYER THAT I MET AT THIS CON, please check out her work (@notthatrona). The amount of work that she must've put into this cosplay is insane and I loved the makeup as well. She also had a Navajo Cad Bane on Saturday and Sunday was Pow Wow Mandalorian.

Photo 2: Long story short I was in the NAJA Fellowship in 2022 and Darren Brown was one of the mentors that mentored my fellowship cohort and I lowkey thought he wouldn't remember me (not to mention I was in cosplay) but he did! We had such a great little chat before he had to get back to working on covering the con.

Photo 3: I have known Dezbah for such a long time that it was so rewarding to finally get to meet them in person! I've seen their past cosplays at this convention and they told me how amazing it was to have other cosplayers there other than the cosplay contest that was on Sunday. Also check out their content!

We met so many great people, Aniceya got a tattoo from Nathalie Standingcloud (one of the iconic aunties from the "Wide Net" Rez Dogs episode), who I did not know was a tattoo artist. Aniceya was so lucky she got her name on the list because when we later came back to check- her list was full for the rest of the weekend. I thought about getting on the list, but I thought about it for too long and the list for all the tattoo artists were booked (it just wasn't my time I guess).

I also met Mike and Bone, which was so cool, I remembered their "Rain Dance" song on America's Got Talent. They've also been in Rez Dogs and they're super funny too. Every time Aniceya and I walked past their booth each day, they would ask us if we wanted a photo and every time we said yes.

The first day went really well I think, Aniceya and I stopped and chatted with almost every vendor that was there either about the stuff they were selling, the convention, anything really. We had a great time just chatting with everyone and getting to know how they got to this convention. Everyone was so welcoming and open, which I've never really felt as much at other conventions (I might be a little biased).

Later that night we had an event called "A Night with Mistress Red", where we got to watch a short film by one of my friends Peshawn Bread, saw live performances by Kaley, TerriaXO, and Marx Cassity. It was an event I can't put into words, considering the dress attire was "BDSM-inspired" if that gives you any idea. Without giving too much away and having no pictures allowed during it I'll say- I had a lot of fun.

DAY TWO: SATURDAY

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it- Aniceya and I were out late (at the arcade bar) and maybe got like six hours of sleep on Friday. Somehow and some way- we woke up early enough to get ready for the start of the convention.

For day two, I was Indigenous Princess Zelda (a huge shoutout to my great friend KC for creating this whole cosplay for little ole me based on the commission I got from them) and Aniceya was Shizuku Murasaki from Hunter x Hunter.

This was the first time I wore this cosplay out at a con so I was really nervous, thinking about if any of the pieces on the tabbard/chest piece would fall off (as I usually am with most of my cosplays). But I was so happy wearing this out- so many people complimented my cosplay and took pictures of me in it, I even got filmed once or twice.

This was also Aniceya's first official time being my cosplay "handler", holding my drink when someone wants a picture of/with me, fixing parts of my cosplay that I can't see, etc. She did amazing and she loved her job because one lady took a pic of me and as soon as she took the pic she turned to Aniceya and gave her contact info to her. It was all very official.

Mid-day Aniceya and I got in line with our new friend Delmar (@seasensi) to meet some of the cast from Rez Dogs. We got a picture with Nathalie Standingcloud, Kaniehtiio Horn, Lane Factor, and Jon Proudstar. I will say it was so cool meeting Kaniehtiio because my brothers and I know her as Tanis from Letterkenny so it was really cool meeting her.

Another thing I'll mention about the celebrities that were here- they had their own booths set up where people can come up to them and ask for photos and/or autographs, like most conventions. Though, there are times where they would just leave their booths and walk around the convention, which I loved. Like- if I were them, I wouldn't be able to sit in one spot and would walk around myself. It just made it a little more fun since Aniceya and I would see someone wandering the convention to see the other booths.

Aniceya and I looked around the vendor hall again, bought a few things (which I'll show my haul at the end). Not to mention took even more photos, as you do at conventions.

Photo 1: If you're new here, I wrote an article for ICT about the amazing work that the NDN Girls Book Club does and since then I've become friends with Kinsale Drake (Left) and I also met Lily Painter (Right) from my cosplay account way back when. These girls are doing great work and I highly recommend checking out their website and seeing their work in action.

Photo 2: Aniceya and I saw Fixico from Rez Dogs just walking around the convention and out of nowhere, Dezbah casually mentions that he is her grandpa! Lowkey blew our minds, but we asked her if we could take a photo with him and she just held down the picture button while he was talking to us and it was great.

Photo 3: After so long, I got to finally meet one of my online mutuals from my cosplay account, Laura. She was so sweet and pretty in her royalty outfit. Not to mention- this was taken the day before (spoiler alert) she won the cosplay contest!

Since today was panel day for me, I decided to go to the room about 15 minutes before it started. It took a while to find it since some of the rooms were named differently on the website than what was shown on the doors to the room, but nonetheless, we found the classroom that I'd be in. The panel that I was a part of was called "Indigenous Women Storytelling" with guests Weyodi Oldbear, Maria Wolf, and me. Apparently most panels have a moderator, who takes most of the control of the panel, asking the panelists questions, seeing if anyone in the audience has questions, etc. and we didn't have one so we were a little nervous because to reiterate, this was my very first panel and I had no clue as to how to run one.

Luckily, Weyodi helped set the scene for everyone and helped move the panel along. When I was asked about my craft and how it related to "Indigenous storytelling" I had a difficult time trying to tie cosplay and storytelling together since I kinda went in circles the whole time but I got through it somehow.

I'll admit most people were there for Maria and Weyodi, but a few asked questions to me which was nice and I felt included when Maria and Weyodi would face me to answer questions that were asked to them. I'm no comic book artist or professional story writer, so I get it, but I had a lot of fun and was happy that I had jumped over the hurdle of my first panel.

Day two went by so fast, that we didn't realize we had stayed from open to close two days in a row (which I've never done at any other convention). We had another event that we were invited to for the I-POP Awards later that evening. We were so tired, our feet hurt, but we were not going to pass any events up, so once we got back to the hotel, we changed into our outfits for the night.

The event itself was very nice, most of the guests that were at the convention attended the event later that night and awards were given out to people in the community that should be honored. It was a quick but nice event, but of course we had taken some pictures.

DAY THREE: SUNDAY

Okay- we got about seven hours of sleep this time which was better than the two nights before. Lucky for us, our outfits for the last day were very comfortable and less time-consuming to get ready in.

Sunday we were "comfy cosplaying" Gon and Killua from Hunter x Hunter. Aniceya had the amazing idea last year to sew ribbonskirts that correlated to the colors that Gon and Killua wear in the anime. We always compare each other to the two in the anime, so it seemed very fitting to wear them at this convention where it would fit right in. We didn't really care for people to recognize us, but when they did- it was pretty cool.

Since the convention closed at 3:30pm that day, we decided if we wanted something from the vendors, it was now or never. So we did our loops around the convention hall, purchases after purchases.

We also forgot about the cosplay contes that by the time we got there they were wrapping up on all the cosplayers, but from what I saw- they all looked amazing.

AND I EVEN GOT A PHOTO WITH THE COSPLAY CONTEST WINNER (who's also a friend of mine, hehe). Laura worked so hard on her Choctaw Padme cosplay, she even messaged me on Instagram the weeks leading up to the convention about her con-crunching her cosplay and now seeing that her hard work paid off is amazing to see.

Wrapping up my experience at the convention, I'll show the purchases I made with who I got them from as well of course- in a TikTok that you can watch!

In all seriousness though, being able to attend this convention has been a huge honor for me because it makes me know that there's a huge community of "Indiginerds" around me. For example, when I make cosplay content on either TikTok or Instagram I get a few comments about how there aren't many Indigenous cosplayers, and being at this convention just solidifies the fact that there are so many of us out there.

I do hope that they'll have me again for next years convention, because I've never had such a great experience like this at any other convention (sorry SDCC- I still love you though).

A huge thank you to the Indigipopx team for putting on a great event, and thank you Lee for inviting me to attend this convention! And an even bigger thanks for those who took the time to read my little blog post!

It's Grace Benally