WACO, Texas — Mark Sr. and Ruby Phillips’ house is as much of a film set as it is a home.
“They will tell us to stay in our room,” Mark Sr. said.
That’s how he knows his son Mark and his friends are about to get to work.
The house is a familiar backdrop to fans of RDC World. It’s the childhood home of co-founder Mark Phillips. “We’ve been here for over 30 years,” Ruby said.
Mark is the youngest of six siblings. His sister, LaStandria Brooks, laughs at the mention of Mark’s bedroom, considering it hasn’t changed much over the years.
“We all grew up in the same house, but Mark is the only one that has his original room,” Brooks said, smiling. “He can call me right now and I’m going to fly to wherever he is. That’s still my baby.”
Mark was a quiet and reserved child who didn’t spark up or boss his family around until he was older, according to his parents.
Mark Sr. introduced his son to anime around the time he was 5 years old.
“I saw Japanese anime over in Japan when I was stationed there,” Mark Sr. said. “I loved it so much I introduced it to them as kids.”
Mark grew an interest in drawing while in elementary school. His sister says he would spend hours drawing with neighborhood friend, Affiong Harris.
“I always knew he was going to do something because he never gave up,” Brooks said.
By the time they were in high school, Mark and his friends started making videos using Affiong’s home camera. Mark Sr. recalls the group needing to make a video for a school project, but it turned into a hobby after they posted a video to YouTube and realized they could make money.
RDC World was born.
Mark graduated from Waco High School and was committed to getting his bachelor’s degree at the University of North Texas in Denton. It was on the move-in day that Ruby remembers a pivotal moment that took place as she and Mark Sr. were preparing to leave Denton.
“He (Mark) said, 'I’m going to go to school. I’m going to do these four years. I’m not going to waste y’all’s money. I’m going to graduate when I’m supposed to. And I’m going to take care of y’all,'” Ruby said.
RDC continued making videos while Mark was in college. Their following kept growing as the group started creating videos about pop culture, NBA locker room rants and anime.
“They wanted the world to see who we are, and this is what we can do,” Mark Sr. said.
Today, their YouTube channel has 6.71 million subscribers.
Along the way, RDC wanted an opportunity to connect with fans. They thought a great way to do that was to show up at anime and comic conventions as guests for meet and greets, which is a common theme for those events.
The story RDC shares is that many conventions either ignored or rejected their request, saying they wouldn’t fit in.
So RDC created Dream Con.
Dream Con is described as a place where like-minded people can unite to celebrate and enjoy interests in pop culture, comics, art, cosplay, music and more.
The convention is advertised as a place for everyone, whether you’re Black, white, brown, purple, or green like Piccolo.
“There are only 27 Black-owned conventions in the country,” Demetrius Holt said.
Dream Con is the only one in Texas according to blerdandpowerful.com.
Blerd and Powerful is an initiative aimed at growing Black-owned comic conventions as well as providing support to fellow blerds, particularly those who endure daily mental and emotional hardships, according to its website.
Holt founded the organization.
“All conventions serve a specific purpose,” Holt said. “Dream Con is an influencer-based convention to help Black creatives cross over that barrier of knowing how to be an online presence.”
Dream Con is not affiliated with Holt or Blerd and Powerful. Organizers say it is not an influencer convention, adding that an accurate description is an entertainment convention with focus on gaming, anime, sports and film.
The first Dream Con took place at the Waco Convention Center in 2018 with 1,000 attendees. That number grew to 6,000 when the convention moved to the Esports Stadium in Arlington. Then, Dream Con 2023 was held in Austin with 20,000 people attending, but Mark’s parents believe that the number is much higher.
“I got there and started looking around and I was like, all these people are here to see RDC?” Ruby said.
Mark’s parents and sister agree that the future of Dream Con can’t fit in Austin.
“I think it’s going to outgrow the location because it gets bigger and better every year,” Brooks said.
Dream Con 24 is scheduled to return to the Austin Convention Center on July 26 and RDC World is holding its final ticket drop on March 15.