Wasteland Weekend
2024 has been a banner year for fans of post-apocalyptic adventure. The “Fallout” TV series (based on the video games of the same name) premiered on Prime Video to much excitement and acclaim (including 16 Emmy nominations), and “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened in theaters to overwhelmingly positive reviews and fan excitement.
Luckily for fans of both, there’s a place to LIVE the experience – Wasteland Weekend.
For almost 15 years, Wasteland Weekend has presented thousands of attendees with a fully-immersive (costumes are REQUIRED for everyone) post-apocalyptic experience in the Mojave Desert. And while the event has always had the “Mad Max” world at its heart, it has always carved out space for “Fallout” as well, long before the TV version was in development.
“Back in 2010 when we started the first Wasteland Weekend, we wanted to embrace Fallout fans too, so we put specific guidelines in our costume rules about wearing vault suits and Pip Boys,” festival owner Jared Butler says. “Our theme rules emphasize the ‘grounded and gritty’ version of the apocalypse, so we’ve told Fallout fans, ‘Just leave the power armor and ghouls at home and you’ll fit in just fine.'” (You can read about how to incorporate “Fallout” to your Wasteland Weekend look without breaking the immersion rules here.)
The festival’s theme page covers specific tips for how Fallout cosplayers, Mad Max enthusiasts, and other post-apocalyptic genre fans can wear their fandom and still feel like they’re all living in the same fictional world for five days.
As for “Furiosa,” the newest film from the “Mad Max” universe energized the fan base in many ways. The Wasteland Weekend team was even called upon by Warner Bros. to bring custom vehicles and costumed performers to Hollywood Blvd for a special promo event that featured stars Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy riding in a motorcycle chariot custom-made by one of Wasteland’s veteran vehicle builders. (You can see more about that here.)
One specific group of Wastelanders feeling the hype are all of the War Boys; fans who are dedicated enough to shave their heads and cover themselves in white body makeup to staff the walls and towers of the gates to Wasteland City as if it were Immortal Joe’s Citadel. The event is seeing a big increase in the number of War Boys “reporting for duty” this year.
A year with BOTH a new “Mad Max” film and “Fallout” series doesn’t happen very often (it may never happen again), so the Wasteland creative team is ready for a particularly momentous festival this September.
“Ticket sales are definitely up this year, and there are a lot of first-timers coming out to experience it,” says Butler. “Not only that, but the veteran attendees have been creatively charged up by both of these franchises and all of the new visuals and world-building in them. I think they’ll be pulling out all the stops this year. And so will we.”
On top of all the usual epic apocalyptic aspects of the festival- hundreds of themed wasteland vehicles, incredible costumes, live bands and performers, interactive themed camps inside an entire ‘Wasteland City’ that even has it’s own Thunderdome- Wasteland Weekend 2024 is expected to have plenty of new “Furiosa” and “Fallout“-inspired immersive offerings.
There will even be a Dementus-style motorcycle chariot leading an epic motorcycle armada through the open desert (for anyone with a motorcycle to participate in), as well as a Fallout-themed event at the Main Stage, complete with old-timey music and swing dance lessons. And that’s just scratching the surface!
You can check out the full schedule of official events as well as links to the many, fan-created experiences and events at the festival here.
So strap on your mechanical arm or slip on that Pip Boy, and get ready for an event like no other, in an apocalyptic year like no other.
Tickets for Wasteland Weekend 2024 are on sale, and they WILL sell out. Get yours now.
