TwinCitiesCon 2025: Panels, Guests, and Our Epic Realms Adventure
- Holly Burd
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
Holly Burd | November 17, 2025 This year Nick and I were able to attend all three days of Twin Cities Con! Twin Cities Con is a large comic and pop culture convention in Minnesota that is run by Nerd Street. The convention took place from November 7th through the 9th, 2025 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. This convention focuses on bringing in actors and voice actors from big IPs, comic book creators, authors and other pop culture figures. Their vendor hall is filled with a lot of creators, artists, and local businesses. There was so much for us to see and do, that we had no way to fit it all in!
This was our second year attending this local-to-us convention. When we went in 2024, we went on Saturday only, and it took us about an hour to get into the Con due to the long lines and security process. I am happy to report that we went through the security line at least twice every day of the Con and never had to wait. Whatever they did to improve the security process made a huge difference.
This year Nick was able to moderate a couple of panels as well as participate as a featured player in a couple of live RPGs. All of these were part of the Creative Track of events. The panels he moderated were called "The Business of Writing and Publishing" and "The Craft of Writing." I think that they both went really well and the authors on the panels had a lot of great insight and advice for those looking to get their writing published. Settings like this, and the Podcast, allow Nick to show his talent by bringing thoughtful questions, letting the guests have time to shine, as well as being able to give the audience the opportunity to engage. The RPGs he played in were by Red Rose Games called 1 Page Dice Dungeon (1PDD). They were fun games that seemed like they could translate well to streaming with their live audience interaction.
Some of the other panels that I really enjoyed were: "Sketch Dual Battle: Brent Schoonover and Bryan Tillman," "Sketch Dual Battle: Robert Wilson IV and Gavin Guidry," and "Cooking Live!" with Jarrett Melendez. In the event "Cooking Live!," Jarrett made the brownies from the Pokémon Cookbook that he wrote using a microwave and an air fryer. The stories that he told about making cookbooks and developing recipes were really fun. We did pick up his Percy Jackson Cookbook for a birthday present and the recipes in it really pulled from the inspiration of the book series. Looking over his other cookbooks, I was tempted to get the White Lotus Cookbook for myself just because the recipes looked so good.
For the sketch battles, the artists were given prompts to draw and 20 minutes to complete the sketch. During the time, the moderator asked questions about drawing, how they got started, some of the major IPs that they have worked on and it was a fun laid back 30 minutes. At the end of the battles, the sketches were given away to folks who attended the session. That means that two people went home with sketches of Sailor Moon eating a Juicy Lucy and two people went home with a Wizard Batman (these were the prompts). Unfortunately, nobody from our group won any of the sketches.
There was a lot of different things to do and people to meet. One thing that I was very on the fence about was getting a signed picture or a selfie with a celebrity. Part of my trepidation was that I couldn't figure out what to do, when to pay, what time to line up, etc. When it came to planning and paying for the professional photo shoot with a celebrity, both the app and the website were pretty clear, but I didn't really understand the more casual ones at their tables. So I am going to let you all know what I learned. Unless the celeb is a very big name (Brendan Fraser, Rosario Dawson), they will have a table in the signing area for whatever days they are booked to be at the convention. When they are not doing the professional photo shoots with fans or taking a break, they will be at their table. You can just walk up to the table (or wait in line if there is one). Once you are at the table, the assistant/handler will ask what you would like from their list of options. This can be buying a photo and getting it signed, taking a selfie, getting an item you bring in signed, getting a voice recording of a famous line, etc. You will then pay for the item or service you select and get to chat briefly with the celebrity while getting the thing signed or getting a selfie.
If you happen to be in the Twin Cities in early November, this convention is worth checking out!