Get ready to immerse yourself in a world of fandom and fun at ThunderCon 2025, the third annual pop culture convention at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Scheduled for September 13, this highly anticipated event promises to be bigger, better, and more exciting than ever before.

“We are very excited to host ThunderCon again this year,” said Shawn Burnette, ABAC’s Coordinator of Student Activities. “With the help of Tifton‘s Gray Ghost Comics and Kraken Pro-Wrestling, we’ve expanded our offerings, and will have vendors, panels and presentations, and some exciting featured guests.”

Hosted in Gressette Gymnasium from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., ThunderCon aims to bring together ABAC students, faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the Tifton community and surrounding areas to celebrate a wide variety of interests and hobbies, from anime and comic books to video games, sci-fi, fantasy, and trading card games.

This year’s featured guests include Brian Beacock, an on-camera and voice actor best known for voicing Monokuma in the Danganronpa game series, and Akutagawa in “Bungo Stray Dogs.”He can currently be heard as Yumichika in “Bleach: 1000 Year Blood War”, Chojuro in “Boruto”, Shima in “Blue Exorcist, and Yamashita in “Mission: Yozakura Family.” Also scheduled to appear are Jessica Rey, who appeared as the White Wild Force Power Ranger in Power Rangers Wild Force; Tiffany Grant, a voice actor best known for playing Asuka in Neon Genesis Evangelion; Jess L.M. Anderson, aka @stressinabox, author of fantasy series The Source Keepers and online content creator with more than two million followers; Kevin Steverson, a lyricist and author of more than 17 novels and 34 short stories, including the best-selling Salvage Title Trilogy,; Chris Garrett, an artist, poet, and award-winning writer who is co-creator of the Scairy Tales comic book series, The Finleys; Todd Kelley, a writer and creator of several comic book series including the Project Titan Series and Sheldorr: The Defender.

Several cosplayers will be featured guests as well, including Hallow.eve.cosplay, Golden Spirit Cosplay and Raenisa Elavaris Cosplay. Cosplayers of all skill levels are invited to compete in the cosplay contest, showcasing their creativity and craftsmanship.

According to Burnette, new offerings for this year’s convention include Itasha wrapped cars, which are vehicles covered with a custom anime-themed wrap. There will be a car wrapping demonstration as well as a medieval sword fighting demonstration hosted by the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). There will also be a live nerdcore concert performed by anime and gaming musician Sam Sky.

“We’re also planning to have more than 80 vendors with tables and booths,” said Burnette. “These vendors include artists and authors offering unique and creative items. There’s something for everyone at ThunderCon.”

According to Burnette, the event will feature several presentations and panels on different topics including “How to Succeed in Cosplay Skits Without Really Trying,” “Itasha 101: The Art of Car Culture and Anime,” “Painting Characters with Watercolor,” “Cryptids, Creatures, and the Unknown: A Deep Dive into America’s Legends,” “Deciphering Madoka Magica,” and “Radical Accessibility in Fandom Spaces,” as well as a cosplay roundtable and a Vtuber meet and greet.

More information and tickets are available at link.abac.edu/thundercon.