App-solutely Magical: How a Convention App, a Castle Set and a Forest Full of Cosplayers Made Supercon 2025 the Smoothest, Geekiest Escape of the Year.

July 18th – 19th, 2025

This past weekend, I had the honor of attending Supercon 2025 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, and, having attended the past several Florida Supercons, my expectations were set high for the event. 

I only had a week to plan for Supercon, but I didn’t need more than that. One of my favorite parts of Supercon is how easy it is to prepare for; the app they created (and, most importantly, advertise and encourage people to download) is a lifesaver. 

From parking addresses and a list of all their food and drink vendors and locations, to a full schedule of every event happening at Supercon, the app really does do it all. I always knew exactly where everything in the venue was because the app has a full, live map of the convention center and listed locations of every event, vendor, artist and panel. You can buy tickets within the app or purchase photo-ops and autographs from celebrity guests. Additionally, I didn’t need to make my own itinerary; Supercon has an in-app way to search events and panels by time, location or demographic and favorite them to your own personal schedule, and notifies you before your event is about to begin. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love this app, and how much it really elevates the convention experience. I’m not usually a fan of downloading apps for things, especially events when those apps are slow and buggy. Even last year, I experienced some lag with my app when trying to access the map features. However, this year, I noticed app performance improvement, and can now comfortably recommend downloading it for anyone attending in the future.

I attended Friday and Saturday at the convention and can say that I think the weekend passes are worth the money. I always felt like there were things to see and do during my time there. For me, I feel like my ideal convention is a con where I can do everything I want but still feel like there are things I didn’t do. If I’m at a convention this size and I can walk around the vendors floor one time and say I’ve seen everything, we have a problem. That isn’t what I saw here. In fact, even with dedicating a good portion of my time to the vendors hall on both days, I’m still not sure I saw all the artists, and I know there were panels I missed, but I still saw what I most wanted and left very satisfied.

I also feel like they did a better job selecting vendors this year than in years prior. Noticeably, there were fewer “slop” stalls. Anyone who is seasoned in the convention space knows what I mean by “slop”; 3D prints of the same public use trinkets over and over, stickers of the same official manga labels slapped on cups, obviously drop-shipped goods, etc. Generally summarized as stalls that prioritize easy profit over passion. While I may have spotted one or two of each of these, the vast majority of vendors were selling their own handcrafted goods. I was ecstatic, and I felt honored to be in a room with so many skilled craftsmen and artists. Additionally, the isles were wide and I never felt claustrophobic, having plenty of space to peruse each vendor.

Sharing the enormous vendor’s floor was Cosplay Central, an area of the convention specifically dedicated to the art of cosplay. There were free “cosplay medic” stations for repairing broken costumes, the cosplay admin desk for cosplay related events, and multiple themed photoshooting areas with backstops and props for taking cosplay photography. These cosplay photoshoot areas had handmade sets, and my favorites were the castle, the magic forest and the retro diner. This entire area radiated respect for the cosplaying community.

If you’ve been to Supercon in prior years, you have the advantage of learning the layout to where certain things are. Individual panels switch around spaces, but the Tavern and LARP areas, as well as the vending and artist ally areas, were still in the same place, which I liked. One placement I wasn’t fond of was the location of the Pride Lounge, since it was at the farthest possible end point of the convention. Genuinely, the signs that say “Pride Lounge Here” also say to turn around because the convention stops at that point. I’m not sure if the hosts of the Pride Lounge chose their spot, but I have to say, as a queer person, if they didn’t choose to set up there I would be very disappointed. Despite the considerable trek to the Lounge, I did attend a panel and loved the panel hosts and the pride-themed environment.

The final event that I attended at Supercon was the Cosplay Central Crown Championships, where the best cosplayers from prejudging would showcase their builds on stage and judges would decide a champion for three categories as well as overall. Each cosplayer was announced with a slide on a projected screen with their name, their character’s name, the franchise the character was from, and a picture of the character they were cosplaying. As they walked on stage, announcers would tell the crowd details the audience should be looking for in each costume, as well as details about the costume’s production (such as the time taken, materials used, techniques used, etc). This was phenomenal, and should be the standard for cosplay contest finals. Even those who have never cosplayed could easily follow along and understand the level of craftsmanship these artists displayed, and this felt like the most respectful way to showcase them. The announcers for this competition were succinct but entertaining, and during the judging, held a hilarious dance contest with random members of the audience to keep the crowd entertained. Overall, one of my favorite cosplay contest experiences I’ve attended.

Photo of Animauull as San, 2nd Place (left) Nerdy Nostalgia as Laudna, 1st Place (center) and MonsterMoth Props as Banbaro Armor, 3rd Place (right). Photo by Florida Supercon.

Florida Supercon has firmly cemented itself as a must-go to Florida nerds everywhere, every year attracting more attendees and bigger names for celebrity guests. I see no reason for Florida Supercon to slow down, so if previous years have been any indication, next year’s event will undoubtedly be even better.

– Briana Taylor

July 20th, 2025